Reveals Poor Service and Inadequate Cleaning Systems
We hired a consulting firm to “mystery shop” our three biggest competitors to confirm the real differences between our service and others. The findings not only confirmed the hard earned leadership position that we have, but also raised some real concerns about these supposedly expert companies.
Three companies were chosen because of the brand recognition associated with them. These three companies would also be considered our biggest “competitors”. Even though we feel that we don’t have any competition, and we maintain a leadership and educational position that no other carpet cleaning company in the city enjoys, we wanted to see things from your perspective. We wanted to see how things looked through the eyes of the client. So we paid a consulting firm to book one carpet cleaning job from each of the companies.
The findings shocked even us!
The first company that was called not only had horrible telephone manners, but sent out the rudest, unprofessional, uninformed crew you could imagine. They never said thank you and acted like they were being bothered the whole time they were there (which was a total of 37 minutes!). This crew did not pre-vacuum the carpet, didn’t pre-spot it, or even groom it. Even though the spots were not satisfactorily removed they remained unconcerned and unwilling to try harder.
Their one-step method doesn’t even come close to meeting minimum IICRC Standards. Due to the fact that they just brushed over the carpet with the cleaning tool, the soils returned before the day was even over! At the end of the job, our consultant was required to sign a lengthy document. They would not state a reasonable guarantee (the company had stressed their guarantee to secure the job over the telephone). To top it off, these idiots never said thank you. Not even a smile the entire time proved that a customer is just another bother in their day. How sad.
The second company at first sounded more promising than the first.
Their telephone courtesies were somewhat better, but not anywhere near what they should be. The problem with this company was that they gave us a 2pm-5pm arrival window. At 1 o’clock our consultant called to check on the arrival time. “Toward the latter” he was told. At 4:10pm, he called again “the crew is still at their previous job. They should be about an hour.” At 5:10, still no crew. Another call revealed that they were still at the previous job. When pressed the operator said “Well, their previous job went from 2 rooms to 2 houses” “Oh, so you took on more work on your previous job and bumped me huh?” our consultant replied. “Let me get the operations manager” The ‘operations manager’ said “It’s only 5:10!” insinuating that they weren’t actually late. They couldn’t give a specific arrival time, so our consultant cancelled this job. If a company doesn’t care enough to communicate with the client, turn down extra work, and/or offer alternate arrangements for their clients, they don’t deserve the work, no matter how good they might be. If you’re not there, you can’t very well do a good job now can you?
The third company was better than the first two, but lacked what it takes to be considered a “top” company.
Booking the job was about as average as the other two. Incorrect information, and ignorance ran throughout this experience. This company gave a 2 hour window. They called the day before to confirm which was good. The morning of the appointment, they called to confirm the arrival time. Good. When the technician arrived, he was very nice. That was not enough to get them more than a C Average due to the inexperience of the young man that came.
He didn’t know anything about the carpet although he claimed to have been around carpet for a long time. He thought the carpet was wool by looking at it (it was nylon) This technician pre-vacuumed the carpet, and pre-sprayed the traffic area, and rinsed. Upon completion, he requested a signature beside several cleaning steps that were not provided. When pressed, we got the tired, old “well I didn’t have it on the truck” Duh!
Both companies that came out had carpet cleaning steps on their work order that they were unwilling to do. One was grooming the carpet. In both cases, it was on the ticket (put their by their operational system to make sure they do it). Both blew it off as unimportant.
Obviously any company has their bad days, or days when employees just don’t want to perform. The scary part about these three companies is that they are the most recognized brands in our industry and these inadequacies and poor attitudes were obviously routine.
Mr. Steam’s Valley Steam is passionate about raising the standard of our industry. We commit to providing you with the most outstanding service experience ever. Guaranteed or your money back!
