How hard should this be? All the Tacoma carpet cleaner needs is a carpet cleaning machine, some cleaning chemicals, and a little bit of knowledge about stains and dirt, right? Well, no. Not unless you are willing to take big risks with your carpet, your family, and your valuables. Hiring just anyone to clean your carpets can be a big mistake and the few dollars you save won’t be worth it when a non-bonded person or company destroys your carpet or steals your valuables. There are a few basic things you can do to ensure that the people coming into your home to clean your carpets are reliable and safe as possible.
Before you get an estimate or anything else you want to make sure you are dealing with a reliable company that is bonded, licensed, and insured. If someone performs service on your home that isn’t bonded and they destroy your carpet it will be very difficult to gain restitution and have the carpet repaired. A hundred dollar carpet cleaning may end up costing you hundreds of dollars. Then you’ll definitely have carpet that looks new because it will be new.
Making sure the carpet cleaners are insured is also important. While carpet cleaning isn’t as dangerous as something like gutter cleaning the chance of an accident is always possible and you don’t want to be responsible for your carpet cleaner’s medical bills or get sued for much more. It doesn’t seem like a big deal until you have to come out of pocket for thousands of dollars because someone got hurt in your home providing you with a service.
When you call or check the Website of the carpet cleaner they may indicate that they are insured and bonded. You’ll want to check with the bonding company and insurance company too if possible. Anyone can stick a sticker on their window or leave one up from a time when they were still bonded. A sticker isn’t enough. Check with the bonding company.
Another big thing to watch for is Tacoma carpet cleaning scams. Everyone has heard of someone paying for some “treatment” or “process” that was unnecessary. Watch for the common bait and switch trick where a carpet cleaning company advertises a very low price and then when they get to your home they will find extras to charge you for. They’ll look for dirty spots on your floors and try to charge you for a pretreatment. If you have pets they’ll use this as another excuse to up the price for extras. There may be times when these extras are needed, but most of the time they are not. The best way to avoid these scams is to avoid coupons and deals that offer rates so low they don’t make sense. Remember that a carpet cleaning company is a business and they have to charge a fair price to stay in business. If the deal looks to good to be true it probably is.
One of the most important things to look for in a Tacoma carpet cleaning company, after you ensure all the things above are in order, is experience and the time the company has been in business. A new company isn’t always bad if the cleaners and owner have experience elsewhere and/or proper training, but time in business is a good initial indicator. Make sure to ask a lot of questions as there are various methods for cleaning carpets and different methods may be best for your carpet.
Ask your friends and family for carpet cleaners they’ve used and liked. Check with the Better Business Bureau in your area for complaints and for the score of the carpet cleaning company you are considering. Saving money is always important, especially in this economy, but money saved doesn’t add up if it cost you more in the long run or your carpets are not cleaned properly. With a little research and time spent you can find a trustworthy and solid company that you can return over and over for years to come.
