Saturday, April 29, 2006

Carpet Cleaning

I was planning to rent a machine and clean my own carpets, when I noticed a coupon in the local newspaper for "$7.95 per room, 2 room minimum."
How interesting... I had just two rooms to do.
It did say, "other charges may apply." O.K. I bet they do...
I could do it for around $30 or so myself with "The Rug Doctor" from Cub Foods.
I decided to call and they could send someone out the next day (today).
There was a pre-treater for the path walked around the bedroom, there was a Teflon (isn't that poisonous?) treatment to prevent stains, and he measured 423 sq. ft of carpet.
Grand total, $294!
Umm... does that sound like $7.95 x 2?
He had his stuff lugged up there, and had already done a sample, and I said no chance I would pay that much.
He called his boss, and got it down to $168.
I said I could do it for $30 myself, and he told me how he had better chemicals, better equipment, etc. This was true, but I told him the coupon was deceiving.
After hanging up from talking with "the boss," he said he would do it for $60.
I told him if he cleaned the carpet in the closets, he had a deal.
He filled the machine up 3x, and I watched him rake, pre-treat, clean, treat, rake again, and he was sweating profusely and worked his butt off.
Bottom-line, I paid more than if I did it myself, but I am happy with the outcome.

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