We have used these folks twice. The first time the guy who cleaned it did a good job, for the most part, except he did completely skip moving our couches to clean under them, despite assuring us he did it. Nevertheless, we decided that was a minor issue since the rest of the carpets were clean, and didn't bring it up. We did have a problem getting them to honor a valid coupon, but eventually after calling it in, they did so.
Six months later, we decided to have them cleaned again. My wife called in to get a price quote and schedule the appointment. They said they would go ahead and re-honor our price from last time; we mentioned we'd like to add one more couch and loveseat to this cleaning, and she said they would just add those at their standard cost to our price from last time, which was $350.
The guy comes out to do the cleaning, measures everything and quotes us over $700!!!! We said that was impossible and explained our pricing conversation with the lady who does the booking. He explained that the guy who cleaned it last time messed up and likes to cut corners. He got on the phone with their office. After speaking with them for a few minutes, he says he can get the price down to just above $600. We said this was unacceptable. Keep in mind, we had spent HOURS the night before moving as much furniture out of the way as we could. So the thought of just cancelling and moving it all back didn't appeal. I told him it was ridiculous to charge us $250 extra when we only added a couch and loveseat. Regardless, he stuck firm and blamed it on the last guy who cleaned it.
We said I would have to talk to my wife but we might have to cancel our appointment, given they were charging us nearly double what we were quoted. He said if we cancelled we would have to pay a cancellation fee. Now it definitely feels like a "bait and switch." They give us one price, then after we spend hours moving our furniture around nearly double the price and say if we don't pay them, they'll charge us anyway!
I call my wife, she is frustrated, but we've already moved the furniture so she says to just eat the extra cost and let's be done with it. The technician did spend a couple hours cleaning, but after he left and the carpet dried, our carpet STUNK. Before, it only smelled stale in places. After he did the work, the entire carpet smelled terrible. I'm assuming their machine was defective or something, as the first time the carpet did at least smell clean after the appointment.
I did write to them personally after the cleaning; they did apologize for the mix-up on pricing, but offered us no money back or recourse for the terrible cleaning job despite offering a guarantee. We basically spent several hours moving furniture, and threw away $600 for carpet that didn't get any cleaner...and actually got WORSE.
We ended up having to pay another carpet cleaner to come out and clean up after Chem Dry. He was FAR cheaper and actually got the carpets cleaned.
My response to their reply below:
In response to your comment:
There was NOT an additional living room done. The entire house was done both times. Yes, we did add on a couch and loveseat, which I freely stated in my review.
The email was absolutely sent, and I got a response where she just basically said "sorry, for the previous technician's mistake." That email went to Judy, not Cynthia; which explains why she can't find it.
In that email, I did explain that the odor was not focused around the areas treated with PURT. It was over the entire carpet: wall to wall.
The most disturbing thing was the bait-and-switch, where we were threatened to either take their new doubled price or pay a cancellation fee. As well as the fact that the carpet was actually worse after the cleaning. It's terrible to have to pay over $600 only to need to bring in another carpet cleaner after the fact to re-clean.
I understand that the previous technician screwed up the pricing the first time around. I get that. While I feel that price should have still been honored, considering that was agreed to over the phone (adding on the couch and loveseat, of course), I wouldn't have been that mad if he hadn't threatened us with a cancellation fee, which I think you can agree was a ridiculous thing to suggest given how much our expected pricing changed.
Regarding the first time, the technician DID do the pre-cleaning walkthrough, where he assured us he would move the couches I had requested. After the cleaning, I asked him if he moved them, he confirmed he had. It was only after he left that I thought to double check, and they hadn't been moved at all; the carpet underneath was completely dry and still smelled. None of this was a big enough deal to write a review about until the carpet cleaning itself being grossly ineffective became the proverbial straw on the camel's back. read more
