Disastrous Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Rug Cleaner

MISTAKE #1: Choosing to not clean your rugs because you are fearful of doing so.

If you choose the right rug cleaner, you have nothing to worry about. In fact, though you think not cleaning your rug is “protecting” it ... it’s actually causing more damage because the daily dust and grit that is getting ground into the fibers is causing those fibers to break and wear down. Not to mention the fact that years of accumulated dirt, grim, bacteria, dust mites, and other unmentionables brought in by dirty feet and paws is creating an unsanitary situation in your home. You’d never consider wearing the same pair of socks through your home for an entire year – they’d be FILTHY!

How can you wait 2, 3 or more years before cleaning your rugs?

MISTAKE #2: Choosing a low price rug cleaner.

Proper rug cleaning is a craft that involves not only a great deal of specialized training, but also a lot of physical labor. Low price cleaners are a HUGE warning sign, because they are a sign of untrained people doing the work, using cheap cleaning chemicals, which means a very high likelihood of your rug being damaged. Even if your rug is a “cheap” one and you do not want to invest in a good cleaning, you are better off replacing the rug with a new “clean” one than having a partially cleaned, chemically-laden rug given back to you by a low price cleaner.

MISTAKE #3: Choosing to have your rugs “surface cleaned” in your home.

Having your rugs cleaned in your home is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. The complete absence of both the dusting step and the thorough rinsing step means that you have a lot of soapy dirt and cleaning chemicals left behind in the rug fibers. This many times leads to color fading, color bleeding, yellowing, quicker re-soiling, and a stiffness and stickiness to the rug fibers. The recommended method for cleaning natural fiber rugs is a full-immersion wet wash ... and this cannot be done by an in-home carpet cleaner, or your local dry cleaner.

MISTAKE #4: Choosing a rug cleaner without visiting their cleaning facility to make sure they do what they claim they do.

It’s an unfortunate reality that many businesses “claim” to do things that they really do not. In this case, if someone is not being honest about what service they are providing, or what skills they have, they will probably ruin your rug. So, if you want to play it safe go and visit the location to make sure that they do in fact wet wash rugs.

MISTAKE #5: Choosing a rug cleaner that will not provide you with proof of insurance.

If your rug has value to it, you want to make sure that the rug cleaner is insured when cleaning it. Even if your rug is not particularly valuable, but you really like it, you want to be sure that if something wrong happens that the rug cleaner has insurance to buy you a new replacement rug. If a cleaner refuses to provide you proof of his care, custody, and control insurance, then do not do business with him.

MISTAKE #6: Choosing a rug cleaner who doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee.

I believe that every business, whether in the cleaning industry or not, should completely stand behind their work with a money-back guarantee. If a customer is not happy with their work for any reason, and attempts at creating a happy customer have not succeeded, then the customer should not have to pay. Period.

MISTAKE #7: Choosing a rug cleaner without getting comments from his other clients.

Any rug cleaner can say anything about his past jobs. And, sadly, some of what he says may not be true. Make sure you ask for references or read comments from current customers so you can depend on the rug cleaner and his work.

MISTAKE #8: Choosing a rug cleaner who is not a member of the National Institute of Rug Cleaners (NIRC).

NIRC is the only international association of Rug Cleaners exclusively dedicated to providing education, training, and new information regarding the proper cleaning of oriental and area rugs. This is the sole source of education, training and information specifically for rug cleaning craftsmen, so you want to make sure you choose a NIRC member to clean your oriental and specialty rugs.

Continue to:

Why You Want Fresh, Clean, Healthy Rugs