A Shameless Industry – by Terry Weinheimer
Most rational adults recognize the exaggerated marketing techniques used by the magazine sweepstakes industry. Almost monthly you receive mailers announcing that your name has been selected to win a large amount of money. Of course, when you read the small print you will usually understand the difference between being selected to win and actually winning. In reality it should come as no surprise that you are just being baited to purchase magazine subscriptions. Yes, you might win something; you probably have a one in a million chance of winning the 50-cent prize and a one in a billion chance of winning that grand prize.
While I hate to admit it, I often see advertising in the floor covering industry that is reminisce of the sweepstakes industry. It is shameless that our own industry day-after-day advertises floors as if they were indestructible and self-cleaning when we know this not to be true. Just like the suckers that bite on the magazine deals, gullible individuals that fail to read the small print in our own ads are taking the bait. Some of the most misleading manufacturers and retailers produce and sell some fine floor covering products. In their quest for a larger market share these otherwise respectable companies allow the advertising departments to push the limits.
Consumers are purchasing flooring products based on the way they perceive the advertising. When they find that their new floor actually requires care and is not indestructible they feel violated or believe that the product is truly defective. Within months of installation the complaints start to pour in but the practice of misleading advertising seems to continue.
In addition to the exaggerated advertising claims our industry has many sales people who stretch the limits even further to make a sale! Week-after-week and day-after-day, as a floor-covering inspector/consultant this author investigates claims where flooring products have been sold as indestructible. At many of these installations the consumer has done everything possible to prove that these indestructible floors can be damaged. Scratch resistant floors have been sold as scratch proof and they often look as if someone has used a garden rake on them. Some floors are swollen and popping off the substrate from leaking dishwashers, broken pipes or pure abuse and the consumer insist they have been told that no amount of water would damage the floor.
For nearly 20 years I have been out of the sales business. I owned floor covering stores for many years. I must admit that there were times that I was tempted to oversell, and in truth there were times that I gave in to those temptations. As a young entrepreneur I had a struggling retail store. I had high goals but was not producing enough volume. The first high-volume salesperson that I ever hired turned out to be an individual that exaggerated the value and ability of products. With dollar signs in my eyes I found myself impressed by his sales production and the profit margin at which he produced. Within days of hiring this man the complaints started to come in from consumers that were misled and overcharged. My own greed had allowed me to believe that the increased sales that he had brought to our struggling store were needed. In a very short period of time I had allowed my own greed to pull me into his gutter.
It took a couple of weeks before I started to realize that dishonest techniques were not needed to make sales and if they were I was in the wrong business. I recognized that I was giving up my self-respect, and I had been raised to respect it highly. Within the month I had let this sales person go but it took many months to overcome the damage I had allowed him to create during his short stay. From that time on, when I caught employees using blatantly misleading statements, they were immediately reminded that if they could not sell honestly they would be shown the door.
Most companies understand that our industry has no room for salespeople that are going to run your business into the ground. Some of us had to learn this the hard way!
Beware of companies that solicit business over the telephone, or offer cheap prices through mailers, newspaper and other media. While reliable companies advertise in many of the same media the bait and switch companies offer prices that appear too low to be true and they usually are.
Check references by asking friends whom they have used and been happy with. Ask the store you bought the carpet from or another local retailer for names of reliable Cleaning companies. Call the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification – IICRC for names of certified companies in your area. That number for the computerized referral directory is (800) 835-4624.Whether the company is recommended or certified it is always a good idea to check references from more than one source.
When feasible have a representative of the cleaning firm visit your home and inspect the carpet for cleaning. Have them explain to you what they are going to do and obtain a written estimate in advance of the job. Written estimates not only help you to compare services it protects you against later on being charged for services that were already included. If large pieces of furniture such as beds, dressers, hutches and entertainment systems are to be moved, have them listed on the estimate.
Warning! Many cleaning companies quote a low price in the newspaper or on the phone. When they arrive at the house they add on a variety of services, many of which should have been included to begin with. E.g., spot removal, preconditioning, deep cleaning, triple processes, pile setting, vacuuming, sanitizing, etc. They charge and additional fee for each of the additional services and in most cases you are paying more for a poor job than you would have paid to the quality company who appeared more expensive in the beginning.
