rhino1
Member
We did a job for a "lady" about 3 months ago. While we were there she commented about how her carpet was about 20 years old and she wanted it to last just another year or so. Light gray, mid-grade carpet in good shape but the pad was flattened out in the traffic lanes.
The guys did the job and left, I got a call 2 days later about how she wasn't happy. I personally went back and re-cleaned the job. Honestly, it looked like the filters had filled while they were working and they left too much moisture on the carpet, as it had a yellow appearance and some light spots where they had done spot treatments.
I rinsed with acid and fired the tech that was running that truck... reconnected with the homeowner in a day or two and she just raved about how nice the carpet looked.
Fast forward 3 months and I get a call from her saying her carpet was just ruined, there were light spots everywhere, her carpet was matted and bleached out. As much as she was flipping out on the phone, I knew something must have gone terribly wrong. Her words were to the effect of demanding replacement. Fearing the worst, I grabbed my checkbook and headed to her house.
Upon entering her home, I was actually surprised at how nice her carpet looked. She pointed out some areas she was talking about and I couldn't see anything at all wrong. Funny... I took pictures of all the areas and nothing showed up on the pictures either. Got down, moved the fibers around, still nothing.
"Well, this just doesn't feel like my carpet...You ruined it, I know you did. You can't see it now, but if you lay down on the floor after vacuuming and turn your head this way at night, I can see all these funny little lines. You're going to have to replace this or do something."
I tried to explain to her about the different tones when the carpet lays in different directions, about how her carpet was wearing in the traffic lanes because there was no pad left, and even about how I couldn't even try to fix something that simply wasn't broken. After she started getting angry I simply told her what I thought: she was looking to get her old carpet replaced for free and I wasn't going to be scammed by her. "If you want new carpet lady, you are just going to have to pay for it like everybody else."
I am posting this because of a couple of warning signs I should have noticed when this lady called. She was very interested in my insurance information from the onset. She mentioned several times about how she knew alot of people in this town (about 30 miles from our normal service area.) When she called to complain the first time, she again was interested in insurance information almost immediately. She also mentioned that she had been "done wrong" by so many contractors in the past.
Thank god I took pictures when I went back..... I got a feeling she is the suing type.
The guys did the job and left, I got a call 2 days later about how she wasn't happy. I personally went back and re-cleaned the job. Honestly, it looked like the filters had filled while they were working and they left too much moisture on the carpet, as it had a yellow appearance and some light spots where they had done spot treatments.
I rinsed with acid and fired the tech that was running that truck... reconnected with the homeowner in a day or two and she just raved about how nice the carpet looked.
Fast forward 3 months and I get a call from her saying her carpet was just ruined, there were light spots everywhere, her carpet was matted and bleached out. As much as she was flipping out on the phone, I knew something must have gone terribly wrong. Her words were to the effect of demanding replacement. Fearing the worst, I grabbed my checkbook and headed to her house.
Upon entering her home, I was actually surprised at how nice her carpet looked. She pointed out some areas she was talking about and I couldn't see anything at all wrong. Funny... I took pictures of all the areas and nothing showed up on the pictures either. Got down, moved the fibers around, still nothing.
"Well, this just doesn't feel like my carpet...You ruined it, I know you did. You can't see it now, but if you lay down on the floor after vacuuming and turn your head this way at night, I can see all these funny little lines. You're going to have to replace this or do something."
I tried to explain to her about the different tones when the carpet lays in different directions, about how her carpet was wearing in the traffic lanes because there was no pad left, and even about how I couldn't even try to fix something that simply wasn't broken. After she started getting angry I simply told her what I thought: she was looking to get her old carpet replaced for free and I wasn't going to be scammed by her. "If you want new carpet lady, you are just going to have to pay for it like everybody else."
I am posting this because of a couple of warning signs I should have noticed when this lady called. She was very interested in my insurance information from the onset. She mentioned several times about how she knew alot of people in this town (about 30 miles from our normal service area.) When she called to complain the first time, she again was interested in insurance information almost immediately. She also mentioned that she had been "done wrong" by so many contractors in the past.
Thank god I took pictures when I went back..... I got a feeling she is the suing type.
