It is deeply concerning to see so many inaccuracies in your review compared to our quote, texts calls and emails. I will address all of your claims in order, with actual information that was given to you in writing before we started the cleaning and during our written communications after. 


Samantha
I rarely leave negative reviews, but I feel other customers should be aware of my experience with Carpet Chemist.
I hired the company to clean the carpets in a small 3-bedroom home and specifically advised them before hand about a significant odour issue. On the morning of the appointment, I received a call saying I needed to answer the phone while the technician was onsite so we could discuss additional treatments.


CC
You told us about the urine problem during this call in the morning, you had never mentioned it before. I clarified once again that we need to discuss treatment options before starting.

Your cleaning was booked on the 9th. We sent you a confirmation email and text the same day and then twice more as reminders.

These messages contained all information that we feel is helpful and important for customers.

"Tips to prepare, health & safety info and our T's & C's can beviewed at https://www.carpetchemist.co.nz/how-to-prepare-for-cleaning-day

In this document it informs customers of

"Often our clients chose to hide a key. In this case, be ready for ourphone call, we will detail any options and will take payment over the phone. 


Samantha
I was then told I needed to choose an extra amount somewhere between $10 and $200 PER ROOM for “special chemicals” to treat the smell. 


CC
The $200 guarantee was approx $800 less than replacement so would have been a very useful option for you - one that other competitors do not offer. We recommended in writing that you replace the carpet or do our guarantee. You read that email and said you wanted us to try cleaning with $30 of Pet Urine Treatment.


Samantha
I explained that this felt extremely arbitrary and asked for professional advice based on their experience about what treatment was actually required. No advice was offered. Instead, I was asked, “What’s your budget?” I was also at work in a hospital operating theatre at the time and unable to have lengthy phone discussions. I was told that if I didn’t answer, they would simply do the basic clean. I explained I really needed the odour treated properly and felt completely blindsided and under pressure to make an uninformed decision on the spot. In the end, I paid $460 for a small home.Unfortunately, the odour remained completely unchanged and two brown stainswere still visible afterwards.


CC
We sent you are very detailed email so that you could not misunderstand anything before you choose the $30 treatment amount. If you let us know you hadpet odours before hand (not when we were finishing our job before yours), we could have supplied that information prior to arriving.

The key points from the email sent prior to cleaning were;

- We recommended you replace or take our guarantee
- Urine quantity can never be measured 
- Treatment required can never be calculated
- Cost is never known
- So the IICRC S100 standard recommends replacement as the best option
- Treatment starts at $10 per room (no guarantee like other carpet cleaners)
- Our Guarantee To Save Your Carpet is $20 per sqM
- We take the risk of expensive treatment, not you
- Costs a fraction of replacement costs

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Samantha
Importantly, I did not immediately leave a bad review. I contacted the companydirectly because I thought it was more constructive and mature to discuss myconcerns privately first and give them the opportunity to reflect on how thisprocess feels from a customer perspective. During that phone call, the owner,Peter, became defensive and angry despite me remaining calm and reasonable throughout. I later received an email continuing that defensiveness, including comments about his son being in hospital, which felt entirely irrelevant to the situation. 

CC
Please reread that email below. It was factual, as was the phone call. Neither were aggressive or defensive. I felt it was relevant as I was unable to go through the job details and address your concerns on that call. 

As emailed at the time;
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"I was at the hospital when you called the other night visiting my son (on oxygen due to an asthma attack) so I was unable to check on some of your concerns you brought up.

I have just a had a look over things now. I did mention I believe ourcommunication is far superior to our all of our competitors, I still believe this but maybe I can find ways to further improve things.

Your initial form asked about carpet cleaning but had no mention of pet problems

"Address xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Mornington, Dunedin, New Zealand
Description 3 bed, small office, 1 lounge.
A few small brown stains, like a large hand size.

Our cleaning quote was correct and it noted the following

"Pet Odour - Ask us to email this prior or we can do it during your cleaning.

Your cleaning was booked on the 9th. We sent you a confirmation email and text the same day and then twice more as reminders.

These messages contained all information that we feel is helpful and important for customers.

"Tips to prepare, health & safety info and our T's & C's can beviewed at https://www.carpetchemist.co.nz/how-to-prepare-for-cleaning-day

In this document it informs customers of;

"Often our clients chose to hide a key. In this case, be ready for ourphone call, we will detail any options and will take payment over the phone.

"Payment can be by cash, credit card or bank pay while we are on site.

When pet problems are mentioned we talk that through and send the guarantee info through every time.

Lastly we are the only people in the country that offer a guarantee. This puts an extra level of complication to things so that is why we are so thorough withour communication and we make sure it is in writing to so there can be no misunderstandings in conversations.

I understand that your main concerns were that you were not told and that you had to make a decision on the spot. I hope that you can see we communicated everything thoroughly.

If we were to walk every customer through every detail of every situation it would take well over 30 minutes a call, maybe an hour. We provide all the details required for the customer to reach out prior to cleaning if they need to for any reason.

In saying this, I will go back over everything again when I can and try to minimise any chance of a misunderstanding. If you still feel we missed something please bullet point them and I will try to address them with changesto our coms if its possible and practical." 
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Samantha
Later, when I needed documentation for insurance purposes stating that the cleaning had been unsuccessful and carpet replacement was recommended, theyrefused to provide a proper letter. Instead, a line was simply added onto theinvoice stating they “always recommend replacement for severe odour.” My insurance company would not accept this. 


CC
When you requested we remove the "Pet odour" from your invoice for the insurer, I explained I could not do that but added "Please note: Further stain and odour treatment is possible and may solve remaining issues however, full replacement is recommended to be sure of a complete fix." (This was consistent with our written recommendation we sent you before we cleaned your carpet) - This is indeed all they needed and I told you to get in contact us if there was any problem (we never heard back). Any carpet cleaner that pretends they can measure urine build up with salt metersor UV lights are lying to you, they can’t. We can’t state it cannot be fixed as we literally offer Pet Stain & Guarantees every day regardless of the job.


Samantha
Since then, I’ve had another carpet company assess the carpets, and they advised that Carpet Chemist has a poor reputation within the industry for using inappropriate chemicals and delivering substandard results. 


CC
Our chemicals are far from inappropriate! It is true that competitors can get jealous of others success. We are the only Carpet Cleaners in NZ that offer Stain & Odour Guarantees that we know of. We save our customers $1000s in replacement costs each day through them and have many 5star reviews from them. They are so popular that in the last 6 months we have opened locations in Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Christchurch and expect to have Wellington started very shortly. We have become a target but we let our guarantees speak for themselves rather than get caught up in slanging matches.


Samantha
After trying to handle this privately and professionally,I’ve decided to leave this review so future customers can make an informed decision. Based on my experience, I would not recommend this company. 


CC
It is still our believe that you did not read the quote,links, guarantees and emails that were supplied to you prior. We will continue to communicate thoroughly and provide our customers value. We recommended replacement or our guarantee in writing and you choose to clean with $30 treatment per room. We cant take responsibility when your contamination is greater than your budget unfortuantly.


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