Upholstery Cleaning Beware!!!

[pinosan]

I while back I mentioned here that I had cleaned some white linen cushions that turned black on the piping. the story is long I will just say I got screwed and Had to get someone else's damage just for not being careful and over confident. I wanted to bring this up and post the pics as for the newbies to see what the can encounter in in the field if they don't inspect. And for
the seasoned ones as a reminder to not be overconfident. But which is more, I promised them to a member who was gonna make an e-book don't remember who he was. any how if anybody wants to use them to train techs or to show clients feel free. I had in the truck magnifier, LED lights and all types of cleaners to test. test and test. I did not do it now I have to pay the price. This Job was $75 each chair two $150 . Total repair $695 + tax.


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[mirf]

Thanks for the update. Hard lesson

 

[Doug Cox]

Am I seeing water staining in addition to what looks to be bleeding from the piping? First of all, IMO, it would be risky right off the bat to wet clean linen.

 

[Vivers]

Thanks for the post but we don't even clean linen. We pass on any and all fabrics that are a bitch or touchy to clean. I already hate upholstery as it is. Only the safe good cleaning news for us. Sorry for your lesson

 

[The Great Oz]

Martin,
It's too bad that you got so far down the road to replacement before finding out what the problem was. This is not your fault, it's shoddy manufacturing and you couldn't possibly know the maker was careless enough to use a black bleeding core inside white piping.

At this point grin and bear it, but do make sure the customer knows the problem lies with the manufacturer and you're paying for it because you want to keep a customer happy.

The next time something like this happens, don't panic, investigate. If it's a latent defect let the customer know you'll be happy to talk with the retailer, but you're not responsibel for a manufacturing mistake.

 

[pinosan]

Martin,
It's too bad that you got so far down the road to replacement before finding out what the problem was. This is not your fault, it's shoddy manufacturing and you couldn't possibly know the maker was careless enough to use a black bleeding core inside white piping.

At this point grin and bear it, but do make sure the customer knows the problem lies with the manufacturer and you're paying for it because you want to keep a customer happy.

The next time something like this happens, don't panic, investigate. If it's a latent defect let the customer know you'll be happy to talk with the retailer, but you're not responsibel for a manufacturing mistake.

Thank you I appreciate the comment. I will keep that in mind for the future. NOw I know why this lady could not make the previous company pay for it.

 

[pinosan]

Thanks for the post but we don't even clean linen. We pass on any and all fabrics that are a bitch or touchy to clean. I already hate upholstery as it is. Only the safe good cleaning news for us. Sorry for your lesson

Bill, cleaning linen is not that hard. this particular piece was 100% white cotton as long as you don't over wet, speed dry and properly rinse you end up being a hero. in this case two things happened.

1. I did not properly inspected the fabric even though i noticed the piping a little grayish. I remember the lady saying that the movers got it dirty and , in fact, it looked like dirt to me. so I did not test nor used my magnifier to determine what had caused the "dirt on the piping" I just went ahead and cleaned.

2. I would have never thought there was a designer as stupid as this one was to put 100% cotton black core inside the piping of a white linen cushion. Although you find that a lot in medium to low quality furniture, It is almost impossible to find this type of mistakes in a fine chair.

Now my client knew about this, How do I know it, when I went back to pick up the cushions the cleaning lady was home alone and she said that another company had cleaned the cushions about three months before and that is when the piping turned gray. She said those got worse after I clean them though. Anyhow, I could have done what Bryan said above but it was too late, she is a referral from a good source and I just can not afford to loose those clients. I will however, find the way to let my client know about her and make her look bad.

 

[Buck1955]

If It's a scary piece I'll do a low moisture cleaning using towels. Anyway, I bet you don't make that mistake twice.