First I call and make an appointment. The guy on the phone was great, professional. He explained everything to me and qualified my expectations.
What I ended the conversation with understanding was this:
1) The estimate appointment I had made to get my velvet sofa cleaned would be 60 dollars.
2) If i choose them to complete the service then my estimate fee goes towards the fee for cleaning my sofa.
3) The person doing the estimate will arrive at the time I scheduled
4) If I wanted them to do the service they would be able to do it that same day (I specifically asked this)
I figured since i was booking a time for the estimate and had requested that the service be completed that same day that all would be well.
I was wrong.
First. Mark, the guy who came for the estimate (not the nice man from the phone) calls me 3 hours early explaining that he's in the area and can he just come by now. I was home so it wasn't a huge deal.
When he arrives I describe the sofa, how I was pretty sure that it was synthetic velvet but I wasn't 100% sure. Once I show it to him he flips over one of the pillows looks at the inside sprays a little bit of liquid on it, rubs that in, then starts to explain to me how what I have is absolutely NOT synthetic velvet.
He says that the cost to clean the sofa will be nearly 200 dollars, but he says he'll only charge me 20 dollars for the estimate (the whole estimate process took less than 10 minutes and he came at a time different than was arranged, so I thought that was fair). Upon hearing the estimate my boyfriend said that it "seemed a little high." Mark seemed upset by the comment. He started packing up his things and said we could get estimates from other places, then he stopped and looked at me for payment for the estimate.
I say "20?"
He says "no, it's 60."
I say, "But you just said you were only going to charge me 20."
He says, "Well I shouldn't have, it's going to be 60."
So I say okay that's fine. I tell him that I do want the company to go ahead and clean the sofa (I mean heck I was already 60 dollars in) and asked if he could do it now. A fair question since the man on the phone said that they would be able to and Mark got there 3 hours early surely he could do it in the time that my original estimate was scheduled for.
Mark says, "No, can't do it today. I can do it on New Years Day at 9AM."
I explain what I was told on the phone and he replies, "I can't I'm booked." Shortly after he opens up his appointment book (It was blank the rest of the day btw) flips to the 1st and pencils me in. Before he left he jokingly warned "Don't party too hard on New Years Eve! I'll be here bright and early!"
The joke was on me. He wasn't early. In fact he was an hour late.
Once he gets set up he tells me the sofa is actually synthetic velvet so he will be able to do it for cheaper than the original estimate. I was happy, but confused given his big production about how my sofa was certainly NOT synthetic.
Once it came time to pay I was expecting my 60 dollar estimate fee to be applied towards the total cost of the job (as the man had explained to me on the phone). Instead he added the total cost of the cleaning to the 60 I already paid and that was the new total.
I give him a look and he then subtracts the 60 from his trumped up total.
So it SHOULD HAVE worked like this:
60 (estimate)
150 (cleaning)
estimate gets subtracted from cleaning fee so:
What I should have paid: 90.
But what actually happened?
60+150=210
210-60 = 150.
He wrote me a bill for 150 dollars.
It felt like such a rip off and its 1 month later and the sofa didn't even look that good after the work. Total disappointment and it felt like such a scam.
You'd be better off going somewhere else. read more
