Unfortunately, there are many cleaning company's that employ bait and switch tactics to get their foot in your door - and even more unfortunate is the fact that for the most part, they are successful.

To some degree, we are all attracted by low prices because we want to work within a budget. But some carpet cleaners use price as a bait for their false and misleading advertising. They offer a very low advertised price and once they are in your home, they pressure you into buying additional services to make up for that low priced base cost.

Most bait and switch scams go a little something like this:

We'd love to start this by calling out our local Indianapolis offenders by name, but we are too busy for court, and lawyers are not cheap - so here's our fine print: Company XXX is a fictional firm used for demonstrational purposes only.

Mrs. Smith calls XXX Carpet Cleaning because she has a coupon for 9.95-12.95 per room, (please feel free to insert any too good to be true price here, but in many cases it is 6.95 to 12.95 per room or 59.95 to 89.95 for a whole house), and she has 5 rooms that need to be cleaned.

XXX Carpet Cleaning places her on the schedule for next Tuesday at 9 AM

Tuesday at 9 AM (a day Mrs. Smith had to take off of work by the way) the technician from XXX enters her home with: ( we have listed two common bait and switch scenarios )

Scenario 1 - enters with a portable cleaner, (very similar to what you would rent at your grocery store), and the tech explains she needs a deep cleaning, truckmount powered service which will cost her an extra .30 cents per square foot, and by the way, did he mention the truck with that equipment is right outside.

Or

Scenario 2 - truckmounted equipment, but explains that her carpets all require additional services (pretreatment, preconditioning, deep cleaning, deep scrub, corrective cleaning - or insert any coined phrase here).

The tech explains that they will not be able to perform a quality service if she refuses the "extra services" needed to clean her carpets, that she'll most likely be completely dissatisfied with the results - (and some may go so far as to warn of a trip charge should she refuse their services today).

What does Mrs. Smith do?

Refuse the service, pay the trip charge fee, reschedule another appointment with another firm, having to take another day off of work to avoid this unscrupulous cleaning company?

In most cases no, in most cases Mrs. Smith realizes that going that route will cost her more money in the time off of work - plus the hassle of looking for another company etc., so she pays the extra fees, and moves on with her day.

Unfortunately, in many cases, even after the extra fees, the job is still not completed as well as it could or should have been, but could/should you expect it to be, keeping in mind how you have been treated to this point, can you really expect top quality workmanship from a company that has to bait and switch clients to get their foot in your door?

At the end of the day, her 5 room job (which measured about 960 sq. ft of carpet), which was supposed to be $89.95 as per her coupon, after the "deep scrub, corrective cleaning, (insert whatever extra services are being offered) at .30 cents a square foot, ended up being a cool $334.35 - a FAR cry from that $89.95 invoice that was supposed to be.

Are there situations where additional services may be needed?

Yes, absolutely. Are they "in most cases" needed - absolutely not. They are needed only when and where they are needed, and should only be offered... you guessed it, when and where they are called for.

If a carpet has been left uncleaned for a long period of time - yes, preconditioning may provide a better cleaning, but the fact is with our firm, we find that at best, only 20% of the rooms we clean are soiled enough to benefit from preconditioning them prior to the steam cleaning. And because our technicians are NOT commissioned, they only offer it when and where our clients will benefit from it.

Do not fall victim to these types of business practices - there are company's in this industry who will treat perspective clients as they should be treated and employ honest advertising and straightforward quoting methods.

Yes, initially it may look like we charge more than some of our competitors just by looking at an advertisement, however I assure you that in the long run - we'll be less - and you will end up with cleaner carpets as well.

Ask yourself these few questions:

Q. If they had to cheat to get their foot in the door, do you really expect them to do the work properly, use the correct solutions, and offer real warranties?

A. Unlikely, you can probably expect them do do the bare minimums, as fast as possible, and potentially use chemicals that are too harsh effectively voiding your carpets warranty.

Q. Do you really believe that any company can clean carpets for 6.95 to 9.95 a room on every job they schedule, and be profitable (keeping in mind that renting a portable at your grocery store costs about 30.00 - NOT including the 12.95 per bottle of chemicals that you need to run them).

A. Virtually impossible, in fact it is estimated (by the industry) that it costs between $30 to 45 dollars to have a technician in a van just show up at your home - that is before any work is even started.

Q. You probably have thousands of dollars invested in your carpets, and it would cost thousands to replace this carpeting, do you really want to treat it like it is worthless and hire the cheapest guy on the block?

A. You shouldn't, proper maintenance of your carpet can more than double its life, and I know of very few people who can ignore 4, 5, or 6 thousand dollars of carpet as a significant investment in their home.

With ALL PRO, we'll never hide costs, we always stand behind our work with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and we will always do our absolute best to ensure we are the last carpet cleaning firm you will ever have to look for.

You can obtain a quote by calling 317-810-0040 or through our e-quote system.

Every cleaner makes claims of: the best, fastest drying, cleanest end result, etc.

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