When inviting anyone into your home to provide a service, you want to make sure they are trustworthy, skilled, and reliable. This is definitely true when shopping for a carpet cleaner who will be entrusted with one of the most expensive and visible décor items you own! Consider these 10 questions you should ask before choosing a company to clean your carpets. Read on to find all of our tips about how to find a good carpet cleaning company.
1. Ask for Referrals
One of the best ways to ensure you have a good carpet cleaning experience is to hire someone others have been happy with! Ask your friends, coworkers, and family members who they have used to clean their carpets, and use positive and negative reviews to narrow down a list of possibilities. Make sure you call several of the companies on the list you create to compare cost, experience, reputation, etc.
2. Specialization
The first thing you should look for is a company that specializes in carpet cleaning. If you find a company that also offers house cleaning and organization services, for example, chances are they will not be trained and overly skilled in carpet cleaning specifically.
3. Ask about Cleaning Practices
Not all carpet cleaning practices are created equal! Find out if the company you are considering uses environmentally and kid/pet friendly cleaning solutions. Harsh chemicals can irritate the upper respiratory system, and pose a danger to crawling children and pets that spend a lot of time close to the ground. Choose a company that provides steam-cleaning or Hot Water Extraction, as this is the preferred method of over 90% of carpet manufacturers.
For your family-friendly carpet cleaning needs, be sure to contact the experienced professionals at AmSteam. All our products are safe to use with a baby in the house. Our favourite product for disinfecting is Benefect, which is not only safe for crawling babies, it is also food safe.
4. Check Services Offered
Make sure the company you are considering provides all the services you require before you hire them! For example, besides typical carpet cleaning, do you also have an area rug that needs attention? Does your couch need a good cleaning? Are you specifically looking to reduce allergen exposure? While it is possible to find a company that can handle all of these needs and more, not every company will.
5. Furniture Moving
Ask how they deal with moving furniture. A good company will move furniture when it is reasonable to do so. A company that exclusively cleans traffic areas (pathways around the furniture) will not clean your carpets as thoroughly or as carefully.
At Amsteam, we believe that cleaning every visible square foot of your carpet is part of our job. We move everything that one person can shuffle themselves (couches, coffee tables, end tables, etc), clean where the furniture sat, then shuffle it back to where it was and put foam blocks under it to protect the carpet while it dries.
6. Check Reviews
While it is encouraging to see a company with good reviews, that is not the whole story. Check to see how the organization handles bad reviews too! Bad reviews are just a part of doing business, especially in customer service, and it is important to see how a company handles a client with a bad experience. Do they work to resolve the issues with their clients publicly and to their satisfaction? You want to walk away from anyone who ignores bad reviews, or does not take them seriously.
7. Guarantee Policy
Check a company’s guarantee policy carefully. Workmanship and quality should be expected and “guaranteed”, and you should feel confident that your carpet will be cleaned right the first time. But, claiming to guarantee stain removal is a big red flag. Some stains are simply permanent (hello, hair dye!), and you should avoid companies that promise what they can’t deliver.
8. Ask About Hidden Costs
A reputable company will be up front about the total amount it will cost you to have your carpet cleaned. Some companies charge extra for waste handling, stain removal, set up fees, etc, and sometimes you won’t find out about these fees until the services have been provided and the bill is presented to you. Ask for a quote in writing up front so you don’t get any unpleasant surprises.
9. Look At Their BBB Rating
It never hurts to do a little research about a company’s professional reputation before you agree to do business with them. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a great resource to see exactly how they measure up in the bigger business community. AmSteam has an A+ rating, which goes a long way toward making you feel like you’ve made a safe choice when you book with them!
10. Check For Other Certification
While the BBB is a great resource for general accreditation purposes, there are ways to see if a carpet cleaning business is respected and reputed in its particular area of expertise. Check and see if the company you are considering hiring is certified by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC). This will ensure that you are hiring professional, skilled technicians who will know how to treat your carpet properly.
AmSteam employs technicians certified by the IICRC, and also has a resident Master Textile Cleaner.
Finding the Best Carpet Cleaning Company
While finding a talented and reliable carpet cleaning company might feel like a daunting task, it doesn’t have to be! AmSteam checks all the boxes on this list. You can be assured that when you hire AmSteam, you are receiving high quality, environmentally friendly carpet cleaning services at a reasonable cost with no hidden fees. To find out more or to book an appointment you can request a quote, and feel confident that you are spending your money wisely on a reliable, trustworthy carpet cleaning company.
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