Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Steering Clear Of The Scam Artist Carpet Cleaner Pricing Techniques



Watch Out For Carpet Cleaning Price Changing Scams

Why do people continuously opt to be lured in by bait and switch carpeting cleaning all the time? These hack carpet cleaners or companies vow to do the same thing to you every single time.  When you answer their ads and call in for pricing, they tell you that everything is included in the pricing of the cleaning of all the carpets in your house for $99.  You assume it is going to be all the carpet because the deal says “whole house” right?  They go on to tell you not to worry and that their work is guaranteed.



But, doesn’t something click in a consumers mind that $99 for their whole house might not cut it?  What if the rooms or areas are too big?  What if my carpet is too dirty for the price they are offering?  Do I want and can I trust a company who is advertising a low ball price of $99 to be in my million dollar home?  What if they steal something?  What if they break something?  Do they have insurance?  What if they leave my friggin carpet soaking wet?  Do I want to be walking around on wet carpet for the next 4 days waiting for it to dry?  You have to ask yourself these kinds of questions sometimes.

Starting off with disappointment as they finally show up to your job 2 to 4 hours late without calling or giving you an ETA heads up, you see that the vehicle they came in is run down and they are in regular semi-beat up clothing and not in some type of uniform.  Then they have the audacity to tell you that they will not be able to honor the pricing that was quoted over the phone for some reason or another, usually because of the mark up that revolves around spots being extra, or so they say.  I will grant them that it is difficult to quote a price effectively over the phone.  That I will grant anyone who tries to quote a price over the phone.

How to Avoid Scam Carpet Cleaning Tactics


There is an ethical way to do it though, quoting a price over the phone.  Proper communication lacks in many carpet cleaning technicians.  It’s simply a matter of asking the right questions and providing your customers with an explanation as to how the pricing would go up and what would cause it to go up and that, that would be the only reason why it would go up and not over something unethical like all spots being extra or something.

Carpet cleaners that offer up some extra cheesy incentive to go with their service instead of their competition are a clear cut signal that a potential scam may be taking place.  They might offer you some type of free coupon for dinner or some movie tickets, demonstrating customer appreciation as a way to get your business.  Once they gain entry to your home is when the pressurized sales tactics begin!

They say that the advertised price was only for what’s known as traffic areas or lanes and not for any carpet outside of those areas.  Other carpet will be extra.  Sometimes, cleaning agents in order to clean your carpet with aren’t included in the price, so they claim.  So that’s when they begin to tell you that your carpet most likely won’t get cleaned right without it.  The elderly usually get hit the hardest with this type of scam.  You agree to allow them to clean and then the bill ends up costing you hundreds of dollars more than you were expecting.

Carpet cleaning should promote an ethical outlook about their business with company lettering or business advertising on their vehicles.  They should have some type of uniform on and they should learn an ethical approach to pricing so that consumers aren’t left disgusted with our industry.  More so, it is up to the consumer to ask the pertinent questions, essentially feeling out the various different carpet cleaning companies until they’ve found the right one that comes across as ethical.  Listen to they way they talk to you and answer your questions.  Are they trying to rush you or are they taking the time to listen to you and answer all your questions the right way?  Look into our service if you are in our area of operation.

 

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