News for Your Carpet

May
11
2015

Beware of the High Cost of a Cheap Price

Sometimes bargain hunting nets you a great deal, but other times the gamble is simply not worth the risk. The 19th century social commentator John Ruskin probably said it best, “It’s unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.” This is often the case when we are hiring the services of another person or company. While it is true that we want to get the lowest possible price, we still expect quality and performance.

There is a saying that when you hire the services of another you can have two of the following three things: You can have it on time, on budget, or done right. You can never, the saying goes, achieve all three of these at one time. Cheap carpet cleaning requires cheap equipment, cheap chemicals, and cheap labor. Even one of these would cause a problem, but specifically, how does each of these budget cutting measures affect you?

Cheap Equipment

To be effective, a cleaning machine must remove maximum soil and allow the carpet to dry in a reasonable amount of time. In addition, the equipment must not damage the carpet. The best machines do a superior job of removing soil and recovering cleaning agents and waste water. Naturally, these machines are more expensive. A carpet cleaner who uses cheap equipment simply cannot get the carpet nearly as clean as you really need it to be.

Cheap Chemicals

The best cleaning agents are formulated to remove soils and leave behind little or no residue. Sticky detergent residues will cause rapid re-soiling. Cheap chemicals are often harsh, and can damage your carpet fibers and dyes. In addition, the carpet’s soil and stain resistance will be compromised by harsh chemicals. So, although the carpet looks clean, your carpet will re-soil faster and become susceptible to permanent stains from common food and drink spills.

Cheap Labor

Unethical operators hire inexperienced workers and pay them extremely low wages or commissions. The only way that the worker can make a decent living is by “up-selling” additional services. In many cases these additional services such as “deep scrubbing”, “traffic lane preconditioning” or “sanitizing” are steps that reputable companies include at no charge in every cleaning.

Additionally, the underpaid “technician” must often resort to high-pressure selling to get you to spend more money. In the end, you don’t get the cheap price that you were promised.

Finally, these companies are like a revolving door, hiring and losing employees every week. They never take the time or spend the money to train and educate workers to become competent certified professionals.

Protecting Your Carpets

When all is said and done, cheap carpet cleaning can cost you plenty. After all, what can you expect when an inexperienced worker using harsh, ineffective chemicals, and inferior equipment rushes through the job? You really do get what you pay for. That’s why Van’s Carpet Cleaning, while perhaps not the cheapest, provides the best value for your carpet cleaning dollar. You get dedicated, certified technicians, using superior equipment and the best cleaning agents every time. Isn’t that what you really want?

How to Select a Professional Cleaning Firm

Don’t be victimized by uninformed, uneducated or downright unscrupulous cleaners!

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What Others Say

We are in possession of a Chinese needlepoint done on silk that was given to my husband's parents in l938 by husband's father's brother, Uncle Richard, who was a missionary priest with the Passionist Fathers. He served in China from 1935 until he became a prisoner when China fell to communism and was imprisoned for seven years before his release. Over the years, this needlepoint (16" w x 48" long and framed) suffered what appeared to be rather severe water damage running about 15 inches from the top down. This piece had been made especially for Uncle Richard and was something that my husband has loved since he was a small boy. We contacted Vans Carpet Cleaning and they made an appointment to stop just to look at it. With no promise...Ernie took it with him and promised there would be no charge if it could not be cleaned. WELL....Ernie just brought it back to us and it looks WONDERFUL!!! I cried...my husband was speechless!! Ernie tried very hard as he knew the story. I asked him how long it took and he told us three house with Q-tips!!! The cost $149.99 plus $50.00 to preserve it to prevent any future damage. We would have paid so much more!! And we smile every day as we look at it proudly hanging!! THANK YOU VANS CARPET CLEANING!!!

Marilyn and John White

We couldn't be happier with Van's Service. They are #1 in customer care & cleaning.
He was so caring & complete in everything. I will recommend them & have recommended them
to all our friends. Thanks again!

Bette B, The Villages, Fl

We called Van’s on the recommendation of DOC’s Restoration staff in Summerfield and are glad we did. Ivy VanGorder was great in timely scheduling the work during a day when the seller allowed us in just before the closing so furniture could be delivered the following week. Ernie arrived on time and was a true professional. It was a pleasure to have them complete our rug cleaning in our home. Van’s Rug Cleaning went out of their way to get us to our newly purchased home with a spotless rug. A definite return customer here! Veterans tell them who you are and they will hook you up!

Customer

I was impressed with Ivy when making my first phone call; she was so friendly & accommodating and this means alot first of all. “Ernie” made me feel he will do the best; a great job on my carpet & was also very congenial, pleasant, Ernie answered all my questions !! Yes I would recommend Van’s Carpet Cleaning service, most definitely. P.S. I was thrilled when I called & they could do my carpets ASAP!

Frances Ricciardi - Lady Lake, FL

I’ve lived in The Plantations for 9 years. I have had 4 or 5 carpet cleaners before and was never satisfied with other carpet cleaning companies. This is the only time my carpet looked new. I had to clean up after all the other cleaners.

James Valentine - Leesburg, FL