I got my first B on AngiesList!

[joey895]

I just received my 12th review on AngiesList. The other 11 have all been A's accompanied with glowing reviews. This is my first B and it's making me sick. I feel like I should respond either on the site or by calling her but I'm not sure what to say. So the question is would you respond and if so how? or would you just let it be. She basically says her white socks got dirty while walking on it while it was wet but that it looked good while drying and after it was dry. Of course I didn't clean her tile or balcony that she was hanging out on so that could be the cause of the dirty socks. Anyway, I'll post the review below. Keep in mind this was a 9th floor of a condo and required the portable, hence the dry time issue, although she doesn't say how long is a long time, I told her up front it could take up to 12 hours.

Overall	B
Price	B
Quality	B
Responsiveness	A
Punctuality	A
Professionalism	A

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Cleaned upholstery on sofa and chair and carpet in a two bedroom condo


Member Comments:
I called based on good reviews from Angie's list. Set a time and the owner asked all the relevant questions about the job site and extent. He was on time. Did a very good job on the furniture, it looked as good as new after the cleaning. The carpet was extremely dirty when started the job; it looked very good after it was cleaned, but as I was walking on the carpet with white socks while it was wet, the socks got dirty, so obviously there was a lot of dirt still left in the carpet.
I don't know if it was because it was so dirty and could not have been cleaned better, or it just needed more cleaning.
It took a long time for the carpet to dry, but once it dried it looked clean.

 

[davegillfishing]

i would simply respond with a comment like although you did your very best on the carpet its simply not possible to reverse wear and neglect from improper maintenance.

some people just expect to have their carpet cleaned once every 5 years and cant understand why it doesnt look new..

tell them to not change the oil in their car for 5 years and see where that gets them lol

 

[Connor]

I think you should explain the porty limitation compared to the quality of you TM work and possibly offer to re-clean with a low moisture method to give it a boost. Also mention that any time you take wet white sock and walk across an hard surface that you're gonna pick up some dirt from the hard surface. I think a reply would show that you care to other Angies List members.





OR you could just send her a threat of a defamation lawsuit. That seems very en vogue this season.

 

[hogjowl]

I probably wouldn't respond at all.

But if you feel you have too, call Joe Bristor and let him coach you on customer satisfaction standards.

 

[Mikey P]

Or you could sue her for slander..

I know a lawyer in Kentucky that would love to take your case on

 

[Ken Snow]

Call her and apologize and offer to re-clean it- anything else comes off as an excuse. If you are not willing to do this, then do nothing. The fact that it was cleaned by a portable or on hands and knees is irrelevant and if her expectations were not exceeded then it was not an adequate job- no offense intended.

 

[steve frasier]

if it was extremely dirty and you used a portable, her comments sound right to me. Not saying you did a bad job just you can only do so much at one time.

could have tried to dry it with fans might have helped

 

[joey895]

Call her and apologize and offer to re-clean it- anything else comes off as an excuse. If you are not willing to do this, then do nothing. The fact that it was cleaned by a portable or on hands and knees is irrelevant and if her expectations were not exceeded then it was not an adequate job- no offense intended.

No offense taken, in fact that was my first thought but after reading the whole thing I'm not real sure what exactly she is unhappy about. She says it looked clean immediately after I was done and after it dried.

Frankly no matter how many times I clean it I'm not sure I can promise her that her white socks will not show any soil, especially if I don't also clean the tile and balcony.

Regardless I think I'll spend some time tomorrow and write a response basically thanking her for her business and the feedback on the job. Then I'll do as you suggest and offer to reclean it. Honestly I doubt she'll take me up on it because she lives out of town and this is a rental property but we'll see.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[ruff]

If the site allows you, do respond.
As you said, thank her for her feedback. Be only positive and respectful. Explain if there is an explanation. Offer to re clean or whatever it will take to correct the problem.

Beside taking care of the client, your response is a great marketing tool if you do it right.

I got one bad review out of many good ones.
My public response to that one bad review got me a lot of new clients.
How do I know? The new clients told me. They said that how I responded to the bad review was the last deciding factor.

Many clients will check the bad reviews to see how you deal with them.

 

[Derek]

wonders if her socks were dirty to begin with, got wet and lo&behold i'm wearing black socks! .... nah that would never happen.

 

[Derek]

you could ship her a new pair of white socks.


or would that be a slap in the face?


or, your could send her a black pair of socks with a note "problem solved"

 

[Askal]

We had a customer trash us on Angies. A very disturbed person who was in his room screaming almost the whole time we were doing the WDR job and we were there for many days in a row. Accused us of ruining a hardwood floor (in a room that we never even entered). Fortunately we have other good reviews and his is getting buried slowly. I responded as well as I could. The good part was that his review sounded like a raving lunatic with poor spelling and bad grammar.

 

[Ken Snow]

Good deal Joey- I'm a firm believer now and when I cleaned that every re-clean or complaint is legitimate (with very rare exception). Either I didn't do something adequately, or I didn't communicate effectively that I did.

Hope you're successful in making a super cheerleader.

 

[jcooper]

But if you feel you have too, call Joe Bristor and let him coach you on customer satisfaction standards.

lol!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jcooper]

I just received my 12th review on AngiesList. The other 11 have all been A's accompanied with glowing reviews. This is my first B and it's making me sick. I feel like I should respond either on the site or by calling her but I'm not sure what to say. So the question is would you respond and if so how? or would you just let it be. She basically says her white socks got dirty while walking on it while it was wet but that it looked good while drying and after it was dry. Of course I didn't clean her tile or balcony that she was hanging out on so that could be the cause of the dirty socks. Anyway, I'll post the review below. Keep in mind this was a 9th floor of a condo and required the portable, hence the dry time issue, although she doesn't say how long is a long time, I told her up front it could take up to 12 hours.

Overall	B
Price	B
Quality	B
Responsiveness	A
Punctuality	A
Professionalism	A

<tbody>
</tbody>

Cleaned upholstery on sofa and chair and carpet in a two bedroom condo


Member Comments:
I called based on good reviews from Angie's list. Set a time and the owner asked all the relevant questions about the job site and extent. He was on time. Did a very good job on the furniture, it looked as good as new after the cleaning. The carpet was extremely dirty when started the job; it looked very good after it was cleaned, but as I was walking on the carpet with white socks while it was wet, the socks got dirty, so obviously there was a lot of dirt still left in the carpet.
I don't know if it was because it was so dirty and could not have been cleaned better, or it just needed more cleaning.
It took a long time for the carpet to dry, but once it dried it looked clean.

The fact that you have 12 great reviews, is awesome...
She gave you a "B" that's not bad. In this day and age you are lucky she didn't screw ya.

 

[Shane Deubell]

She gave you all A's on service related questions. Angies is a very small community, think about a re-clean and you will probably pick up 5 more jobs from prospects who are watching.

 

[Connor]

She gave you all A's on service related questions. Angies is a very small community, think about a re-clean and you will probably pick up 5 more jobs from prospects who are watching.

The thing that I considered is that if you re-clean, is she going to complain again about the dry times? If you go the extra effort to dry it quicker with fans, she might wonder why you didn't do that the first time. I'm sure you can 'splain it mo' better, though. That's just what I was considering.

 

[tmdry]

Congrats on your 12th review, you in no time you have tons of great reviews don't worry about a B, we can't always get A's. People will still call you if they see you care.

We're on our 3rd in a row super service award with over 70 reviews.

Keep with it.

 

[XTREME1]

Upgrade your porty. NOTHING should be wet that long. Wet means it isn't clean. If you can't get the water out then you are not getting the dirt out. Any number of suggestions in the thread is good. Think about how you handle the jobs you have to do with the porty in the future this customer has put you on notice of where you need to improve.. Good Luck

 

[joey895]

Upgrade your porty. NOTHING should be wet that long. Wet means it isn't clean. If you can't get the water out then you are not getting the dirt out. Any number of suggestions in the thread is good. Think about how you handle the jobs you have to do with the porty in the future this customer has put you on notice of where you need to improve.. Good Luck

Interesting, you say NOTHING should be wet that long but neither you nor I have any idea how long it was wet because she simply stated it was wet a long time and that is very subjective. I've had people think 2 hours was a long time and I've had people who think up to 24 hours is not a long time.

I have an LTD5 I'm not sure I could get anything with much more power. Unfortunately with these beach condos humidity is a real concern as its normal for it to be 60-80% and that's if its not raining.

You are right though. Clearly I didn't manage her expectations very well.

I would just raise my prices on all portable jobs and include speed drying with dri pods but most of these are vacation/rental properties that are not concerned about dry times.

PS I've tried calling her and she hasn't returned my call yet. When I get ahold of her I'll try to find out how long it took to dry.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[XTREME1]

I was going by your 12 hr

 

[joey895]

I was going by your 12 hr

Ah, I see.

That's called under promise and over deliver. I don't expect it to take more than 6-8 hours with the portable. Unless they don't follow my directions about the ventilation.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[idreadnought]

You are lucky, that is an awesome review. People get too caught up on a perfect reputation but in reality customers look for flaws to make the overall look believable. Would you believe restaurant reviews that were all positive? I wouldn't.

Again as excited as I would be I would still respond. Thank her for the feedback apologize that the experience wasn't as good as she hoped and then offer to re-clean. Encourage her to call you and you will make it right any way you can. Based off the real review and a well crafted response this should actually get you more work than any set of pure positive reviews.