I hate to write a negative review but feel others should know of our experience so they can make a balanced decision. We had sewer water damage to our FLOR carpet in the basement from the neighbor's house and called them to come and clean the carpet. They were the only company who could come out the next day - two others would be 2-3 days and we felt the carpet would be ruined by then. So far so good. They came, were very friendly, even chatted a long time and we felt based on the reviews here and what we heard our carpets were in good hands. We also like that they used organic cleansers as we have pets and four children. While getting our basement carpet cleaned, we thought we might as well get the FLOR squares in our living room done. They took both carpets and told us it would be ready after one week, maybe a bit later. Two weeks later I called them to be told it would be another week. So three weeks later they brought back the rug squares wrapped up in clear plastic and tape and a worker set them in our hallway and left - the man who had first helped me stayed in the van.
A bit later than we'd hoped but we were happy to have them back - that is until I opened the plastic. Immediately I was hit with a wave of stench from the upstairs carpet tiles that had been perfectly fine before cleaning, just a little soil and a few tiny spots where some tree sap dropped last Christmas. They smelled like a bucket of foul mop water from a janitor's closet AND the carpet tiles were still wet. They had stacked them with carpet sides together and I started taking them out and laying them around on the floor so they could air. Pretty soon the whole house smelled so horribly I had to shut the living room doors to keep it contained. I also noticed my hands were starting to burn and feel rough and after checking the basement tiles which were not wet or foul but smelled like cleanser, I washed my hands. When my husband came home he opened the living room door and the half the family promptly got headaches and felt sick. He put the tiles outside to air and we phoned the company. Ironically, the basement carpet flooded with sewage that they cleaned was completely dry and only had the strong, caustic cleanser smell, not the rotten janitor mop smell. We spread them out to air in the boiler room because the smell of it, while not as noxious, was still too strong to re-install in the room.
We called A and B and got a woman who was very apologetic and said she would send someone out. The next morning the man came and told my husband he was not going to smell every carpet tile, clearly our dog had peed on them and this was what was causing the smell (Excuse me? NOT true - she has never at any time peed on any of the tiles) and we had not paid for urine treatment and that if he took them back he wasn't going to do anything with them anyway except hold onto them for a few days and then return them. My husband was incredibly insulted by this accusation and was speechless with disbelief when the man went on to allege we had put the carpet side next to the backing (not something we'd never done - only opened them and laid them on the floor and then took them outside) and it was the backing that was touching the carpet that was causing burns to my skin, not the caustic citrus-based cleanser residue. He told my husband to put them outside to air if the smell bothered us so much. At this point, my husband wrote him off entirely and the whole experience as a nightmare.
It is now four days later and the carpets are back inside because it is supposed to rain - still smelling just as bad and now dry and stiff from the cleanser residue. We are now deciding if we want to spend another $250 to clean 30 tiles, rent a carpet cleaner ourselves or just throw them away and buy new ones. We had the same carpet cleaned by a different company once before and had no issues at all, it was slightly damp after the cleaning which took place in our home, not at an off-site plant like A and B, and there was no smell. Unfortunately that company was one who had a three-day wait. Next time we will wait and never again will use A and B nor can we recommend them for cleaning carpets.
UPDATE - we had Stanley Steamer come and clean the carpet tiles and they agreed, they had most likely been stored wet in the bags and become mildewed - especially since our other FLOR rug cleaned by the same company at the same time was fine and not wet or smelly. They steam cleaned them on the spot which removed the citrus residue and the heat got rid of the musty smell. So we paid twice, but at least ended up with clean carpet. read more