I had a terrible experience using these guys at my home in Kirkland (East of Market) and personally would never use them again. Keep in mind that my carpet was relatively new and we were only getting it cleaned because we were in the process of selling our home. We actually spent a decent amount of time debating with our Realtor whether it was even worth cleaning the carpet because it was really in great shape, with the exception of a couple of very minor spots. But in the end, we figured it couldn't hurt to get it cleaned -- boy were we wrong!
Not only did Craig's not adequately clean my carpet (cream colored, wool), they left new, substantial and obvious stains on the carpet that appeared to be caused by a burning/singing of the fibers (I believe either from using the wrong or too much chemicals, the heat of their machine or a combination of the two). On top of that, after they were finished, the carpet throughout the entire house generally became spotty, darker and worse than before I had them "clean" it.
At first, I thought, OK, maybe the soap/chemical mix simply did not wash out all the way with respect to the new, large stains (the carpet was still wet and not fully dried, as it had only been a day). I called them back the next day to let them know, and, to their credit, they promptly returned to look at it and try to rectify the problem. But their attempt to fix the problem was laughable. After showing them a large, visibly dark stain, they had the gall to say "I don't see anything," followed by "I think it's just the lighting in here." Then they began trying to treat the large stains with a spray bottle and a bath towel. They said to wait a day or two. Not surprisingly, this did not work. After a few days, when the carpet fully dried, we realized that the carpet throughout the house was now spotty/darker and appeared "dirty," as I mentioned at the end of the paragraph above.
Over the course of a few days, my wife and I spoke to Ivy and the owner-son (Dennis, I think?) on the phone. In sum, this was our experience, in no particular order:
- They told us there was nothing more they could do, besides coming back to try to further treat the carpet. At that point, I was no longer interested in having them possibly make things worse, as I was in the process of selling my home.
- They tried to blame us for the stains, by saying that we must have used a cleaning agent previously that did not react well with their soap. In some small areas, we did (we have kids and kids spill things), but we certainly did not go around cleaning the entire house (that's what we hired these guys for). And the fact is, that most of the significant new stains that appeared were in places that we never tried to clean and that had previously been immaculate (e.g., in the master closet and master bedroom).
- Ivy called to yell at my wife (because somehow we wronged them).
- When I raised the possibility that I would expect their insurance to cover the cost of potentially replacing the carpet (we're talking about $50k-75k worth of high-end carpet), the son-owner (again, I think Dennis) literally said to me that if he had to use his insurance, it would put him out of business and he would not be able to provide for his family. Therefore, he would not under any circumstances use his insurance. (That right there shows you what kind of company you're dealing with, and that they certainly do not stand behind their work.)
- Peppered throughout these conversations was more blaming and finger-pointing on their part, as well as some more attempted guilt-trips.
Throughout all of this, my Realtor (who referred me to Craig's) agreed with us that the carpet looked worse after it was "cleaned." He was also disappointed and surprised at how they managed the situation afterwards.
Luckily for me, the carpet did not affect the sale of my home (the particular buyers were going to replace it anyway), and so this did not need to go any further. If it was an issue, I would have had to sue this company, which would be a nightmare to deal with. I would not recommend that anyone use them to treat high-end, expensive carpet (such as wool) based on my interaction with them. BUYER BEWARE!!! read more