Help! Rookies Messed Up My Sofa
It’s a common tale. An individual is drawn in by a company offering rock-bottom prices. A sweet deal providing you quality results with at half the rates that conventional cleaners provide. This is a major red flag. Like they say, “When it seems too good to be true, it probably is”.
What Are You Walking Into?
For a company to offer really cheap prices, it means that there have been compromises made. After all, no one looks to run a business at a loss. So, what’s happening behind the scenes?
- Sub-par cleaning
This is usually one of the areas that gets hit. You can’t offer top-of-the-range cleaning processes with bottom-of-the-barrel prices. At low costs, the company barely has the resources needed to acquire high-powered machinery for the task, meaning that the cleaning will not likely be to the required standards. You may be looking for steam cleaning, yet end up with what is essentially a warm-water rinse. There are cases where the shampoos being used simply push the dirt deeper into the upholstery and padding, meaning that you will need to schedule another sofa cleaning much sooner, costing you more money in the process.
- “One-Punch” products
On the other hand, the company may be using harsh cleaners to target the different stains. These are the likes of acid-based products that were effective in getting rid of tough stains on hard surfaces. Using them on the upholstery fabric can lead to a myriad of problems.
The different upholsteries, from the natural ones like silk and wool, the synthetic materials like polyester and acrylic, all through to the aniline and aniline leather sofas, each have their unique cleaning methods. A coffee stain on the different sets needs to be handled differently in order to get rid of the stain without damaging the underlying material.
Unfortunately, with the low price on offer, the company is not likely to be interested in going the extra mile to get the specialised cleaning agents, and instead chooses to use potent stain removers. The bleach-based products, ammonia, and other solutions that dissolve stains on other surfaces can wreak havoc on the sofas being worked on, damaging your units and forcing you to dig deeper into your pocket to have repairs done. Corroded upholsteries, the sections of the dye of the sofa getting bleached out – these are not outcomes you want from the sofa cleaning process.
- Low-skilled technicians
Professionals know their worth, and won’t accept to receive low wages for their time and effort. As such, you are not likely to find them working for a company that has low wages– especially after the individuals have undergone training in the different measures required for the cleaning, and even have years of experience. Consequently, to go for personnel who will be comfortable with the rates, the rookie company will turn to unskilled technicians, who are perhaps learning the ropes. While there is no crime here – after all, everyone has to start somewhere – your sofa ends up being the training ground for the job at hand, putting you in plenty of risk. The wrong cleaning agents or processes being used for the task will damage your furniture, and leave you with a hefty bill for repairs. From overwetting that shrinks the upholstery fabric, to chemicals that cause the stains to get more permanently into the furniture– these are not issues that you want to encounter.
- Prolonged drying times
This is also tied to the quality of the machinery being used. After the rinsing is carried out, powerful extraction systems are needed to remove the moisture from the sofa. Otherwise, the padding remains soaked, and the sofa takes days to dry. Not only is this inconveniencing, but it also brings about the risk of mould and mildew growing in your unit, putting the persons in the premises at risk. The fungi stains are also unsightly, ruining the appeal of the sofa. Once you have a fungi infestation on your furnishings it will end up costing you much more to have the issue resolved.
Here the plan is simply to reel you in with the attractive price, and switch things up after you have signed up for the service. Hidden costs, different sofa cleaning packages than what you had initially agreed to – they all come into play. You end up being frustrated with the process. In fact, this is why it is highly recommended that you ensure you receive a written quotation before cleaning task is carried out by any company, with a detailed price breakdown, that way you will have a clear picture of what you’re walking into.
Premiums are pricy, so some companies choose to risk it and provide their services without any insurance coverage. While it reduces their operational expenses and allows then to lower the costs of their operations, you are exposed to liabilities should anything go wrong. Accidents can happen at any time or place. All it takes as a simple mishap – a wire that was tripped over, settings on the cleaning machinery having been mistakenly dialled up a notch when switching between the different sofa sets, a pet scurrying across the room in the middle of the tasks, causing commotion and startling the sofa cleaners who are deeply engrossed in the process, trip hazards that were out of sight– they can affect the process, resulting in damages to your property, the machinery being used for the cleaning, or even injury to the workers. Without insurance coverage, the affected parties have no recourse other than to come to an agreement on who is to blame for the incident, and what they will cough up to cover the damages. Your goal is simply to get rid of the dirt and grime, not to start looking for ways to finance sudden maintenance costs that could have easily been avoided. The risks of damage are further heightened when you’re dealing with a rookie company. These are not scenarios that you want to find yourself in, especially given that sofas are pricey to repair and replace.
It happens more than you can imagine ….