I hired this company to steam clean my wall-to-wall carpeting and specialty clean my Persian rugs. The steam cleaning of my carpeting was adequate, if somewhat perfunctory, and took about 20 minutes. Several hours later, I entered my bedroom to replace the furniture, and discovered that a chunk of plaster had been knocked off my wall. Worse, the chunk was nowhere to be seen--it had completely vanished. Normally, I would have simply been annoyed (the walls are painted in two colours that will be very hard to repair), as I recognize that accidents do happen; but given that the technician had obviously seen the damage and decided to conceal it (as bone-headed a move as anyone could possibly make), I was more than annoyed, I was positively offended and insulted.
I called the company the next day and told them about the damage, and they refunded the full amount of the steam cleaning. I told them, however, that the issue wasn't money, it was honesty; and that as a result of this incident I wanted my Persian rugs returned immediately, as I didn't want to do business with them. Then their next big step into a cow pat: "Sorry, we can't do that--they've already been cleaned." (!!) Given that the technician had told me it takes 10 to 12 business days from pick up to return delivery to the customer--AND that this was the busy Xmas season, as I was reminded by the technician when he made the sale--I knew that this was simply absurd. So I decided to give them enough rope with which to hang themselves. I called their office the next day and asked how long it takes to deliver rugs once they've been cleaned, and was told that it takes three days (basically the drying time). Sure enough, my rugs were not returned after three days. Nor after, 4, 5, 6, or 7. In fact, it took them the 10 business days they said it would take, which confirmed what I believed about their claim that the rugs had "already been cleaned" within a day. When the rugs were finally delivered, I challenged the technician about this; and after turning beet red, sweating profusely and stammering a few awkward responses, he lamely told me that he thought that "you didn't seem to be in a hurry to get them back." How he knew this I'm not quite sure, and why you wouldn't want to exceed customer expectations by returning the item much earlier than promised (especially after having damaged my wall) is another Fresh and Clean mystery--but that was the only explanation he could manage.
The next week I wrote a polite but blunt three-page letter to the president of the company. I got a phone call about a week later in which the company offered to have a contractor repair the damage, which I declined, as the it didn't merit a contractor and the problem was not repairing the plaster but finding the matching tones of paint. I then explained that the issue for me wasn't the damage at all--it was the (ridiculous) attempt to conceal it, followed by the bold-faced claim that my rugs had already been cleaned when they obviously hadn't been. The woman I spoke to then claimed that she had checked the invoices and that the rugs had been cleaned when they said they had been. When I pressed for an explanation of why they took so long to be returned to me, she told me that "Oh, G______ often takes two weeks to return his carpets." Well, another fanatastic claim, and one that begs the question: if Fresh and Clean is able to return its carpets that quickly, why is it offering customers "rush" cleaning for an extra price, i.e., charging a premium for "rush" cleaning on the same schedule (i.e., the next day!) as regular cleaning? This is an ethically challenged company that doesn't know when to stop telling fibs, and is too thick to recognize that in doing so they are provoking disgruntled customers into action. For run-of-the-mill poor service, I wouldn't bother writing a letter or posting a review like this; but this wasn't run-of-the-mill poor service. They took a minor issue and escalated it into a full-blown incident, by showing that at a very basic level they do not respect the customer. Avoid at all costs.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $270.00
- Company Response
To quote you in your claim, “They took a minor issue and escalated it into a full-blown incident; by showing that at a very basic level they do not respect the customer.” I must refute that in the manner that we are not the one who in fact escalated the situation. Through the complete process of this event, we have tried to accommodate you and find a proper resolution to handle the matter. When you had first contacted us about the chip in the wall, the customer service representative followed up with the technician to have your carpets returned to you. When he contacted you, he claimed he did not know he had chipped the wall and had apologized for it, the fact that there was no drywall on the floor he explained could have very well been from the fact that when cleaning the carpets with the vacuum, the machine would have sucked up the debris. He informed you that your rugs were put into the shop for cleaning already; the agreement upon the discount on the cleaning was arranged. The technician had attempted to make contact with you to deliver the rugs after the service was completed, but found that since you were in an irate state and did not connect with him to arrange a time, he waited a few days. Upon receiving your letter at the office, we attempted once more to correct the situation by scheduling to have our contractor come out to fix and repaint the wall for you. You declined and discussed with the customer service representative the possibility that the cleaner had lied about the actually day he put your rugs into cleaning. When she had informed you that we have proof, with an invoice stating the date that rugs were put in to be cleaned, you made an apology to her for having taken “a minor issue and escalated it into a full blown incident.”
Calling Fresh and Clean unethical and dumb only shows a certain level of disrespect, considering the position the representative and cleaners were put in to attempt to rectify the situation. To claim that our cleaner is a liar, when in fact we have proof to indicate that he did in fact do as he told you, is tasteless. Furthermore to tell our customer service representative you were sorry about all the fuss and only pursue this matter because you felt you were lied to, only to then write a review like this on Homestars.ca makes us feel lied to.