No, seriously.
So I called Stanley Steemer today to try to get a discount on my carpet shampooing because on Saturday the guys showed up without the required equipment and thus I had to wait 2 days to have the job done. I was unsuccessful, and now I will never use Stanley Steemer again. That may not seem like a big deal, but considering that my family has never used anyone else to clean our carpets, and that’s through a total of 6 dogs and 3 kids that weren’t the neatest ever. There was a lot of carpet shampooing going on.
Steemer required a portable unit to do the job, which comes at an extra $50. Also there was an additional $32 slapped on since my job did not meet the minimum. When I called Steemer, I wanted one or the other fee dropped, a reasonable request considering the circumstances… or so I thought. So, what was Steemer’s grounds for taking the no-discount-for-you stance?
Two parts. One, that I didn’t check the box because my unit is “above” the 2nd floor, and two because I didn’t check the box because there wasn’t guaranteed parking available. Now, rebuttal time.
First of all, my apartment is on the 2nd floor, not above. In fact, the first number of my unit is a two. The douchebag I talked to on the phone even conceded that his guys should have been able to park below the window, which hangs over the parking lot, and run their hoses up, before resorting to being a douchebag and refusing to give me a discount. So then he decided to harp on the parking.
“Was there guaranteed adjacent parking?” he asked.
“If it is reserved,” I answered, “which takes all of 5 minutes to do.” (nevermind that the guys who were here didn’t even ask about it.)
“So there isn’t any?” he asked again, as if my answer was equivalent to a no.
At which point I dug in my heels. You see, years and years of losing arguments to Mom-66, Esq. taught me a lot of things about arguments, and one of them is when someone is arguing on a technicality, you can beat them doing the same thing. So I shifted gears. I said I did not check the box because my apartment is on the second floor. I said I did not check the box because it is not that there is no guaranteed adjacent parking available, but that there is guaranteed adjecent parking available if it is reserved. He asked why I didn’t reserve it. I said “because there isn’t a box that says ‘check here if you will reserve parking’ and it doesn’t tell me to reserve parking.
He actually argued with me for about 15 minutes over these same things over and over. He then made the crucial error in stating his case by suggesting that if I had any questions I should have contacted the office. I said “why? I didn’t have any questions. My apartment is on the 2nd floor, not above it. There was guaranteed adjacent parking, but I was never told to reserve it, only asked whether it is available. I thought your guys were going to come, do the job, and go. It’s not my fault they didn’t.” Then he said “If you had just checked the box…” and I cut him off. “Why? I met none of the criteria.” He then said that some restrictions apply. I said “Where are those? They’re not anywhere in that box or the writing nearby. If you want to go by what’s in that space, there are no restrictions anywhere.” He was losing the argument, so he pulled the trump card.
“Do you want me to try the area manager and see what she says?”
Sure. Though I doubt whether he actually made the phone call when he put me on hold. You can guess what her “answer” was.
I told him Stanley Steemer have always done good work for me and my family, and I like using them but I won’t hesitate to take my business elsewhere. When he gave me the concrete no answer, I told him I was done using Stanley Steemer and I’d never call them again. He said he was sorry I felt that way, and I said “Thanks. I’m not.” and hung up the phone.
The job is done, and I paid more than I think I should have. In the future I can find someone else to shampoo my carpets. I’d recommend any of you that use Stanley Steemer do the same.
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I have never seen anyone so worked up about a carpet. Harness your chi babe; it is gonna be ok. I promise.
Really? The carpet?
I’m not worked up over the carpet. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Stanley Steemer, GE, Verizon, or whomever. When someone doesn’t show up equipped to do their job and so the customer has to wait 2 days for them to come back and do it, and then the customer is told essentially that it’s their fault that it didn’t get done, wouldn’t you expect the customer to be pissed?
Well, you know what Stanley needs….that’s right….a “steemer” deposited inside one of their shop-vacs.
Just give me the word.
Haha… that’s a good option to have. I’m not done with them yet.
Between The Playaz and Hammer, that company would be toast at your command.
Seriously. What bothers me the most about any of this? Whatever happened to “the customer is always right?” What happened to “goodwill policy?” What happened to “admitting their form is flawed?” What happened to “acknowledging years of loyalty to their company and wishing to keep that loyalty?”
I remember my father would get his lawnmowers overhauled every year this season and used the same company for a loooong time. Then one year, something like this happened, and he seemed….the only appropriate word is “saddened,” when he told me that they didn’t care he had remained loyal to them all of that time. He never used them again.
My own little story of the weekend is that I called in a prescription to my doctor’s office on Friday morning (the usual push this button bull,) no prescription over the weekend, so this morning I called them again…they said they had faxed it to the pharmacy on Friday, I went to the pharmacy..they said they never got it, I called doctor from the pharmacy…they did it again..called pharmacy.later..nothing…called doctor…they said “Have the pharmacy call us,” I called the pharmacy. This pharmacist who’s been there waaaay too long snapped at me…SNAPPED at me and said. “Why should I have to call them? That will take an hour of my time! Do you know how busy I am blah blah? Seriously…he lost it. I calmly told him “…..and what about me? The patient? Can’t you see how I’ve been caught between both of of you over this, and I’m waiting on medicine?” He called, but pissed off over it. Funny how on television the pharmacists at these stores are always smiling, friendly people who remember your name and all about your needs and can’t WAIT to help you, they are all so wonderful. Every time I see that ad, I think of that crank they really have, and “no,” sadly, this isn’t the first time he’s flipped off.
I hope people read your comments today, avoid Stanley and divert their business elsewhere. You would think in this shakey economy they’d be jumping through hoops to please you.
Contest the charge on your card.
Wahhh! I was incovenienced. Boo Hoo. You people make me sick.Why should you, a first time customer, receive a discount from Stanley Steemer? Especially on minimum charge job, that is a major INCONVENIENCE for the crew, having to use a portable unit, which takes more than twice the amount of time to set up and clean an area of carpet. You are an idiot. You should have recommended to the crew that they go through your window. You know your home better than the poor people you’re on the phone with, and I’m sure, being very rude to. Climb down off the cross you little bitch!
That you read that whole thing and somehow gleaned from it that I am a first time customer tells me everything I need to know about how smart you are and how much your opinion matters.
That was really unprofessional of Stanley Steemer. From my experience, smaller independent carpet cleaning companies value their clients more than the bigger ones. My advice would be to look for a company that doesn’t have all the extra fees for everything. A portable machine will not do as good of a job as a truck mounted machine, so regardless if it takes them a little longer, you shouldn’t have to pay more. I suggest finding a smaller company where you are able to deal directly with the owner and I bet you’ll be a lot happier.
FYI, the website says third floor now! You should be happy to hear that.
I know this is an old post. but Stanley Steamer came to clean my businesses carpet after Hurricane Ike and they 1. They never came when they said they would 2. The carpet looked worse after the cleaning so they had to 3. come back to clean the carpet 5 times and still didn’t work so now 4. We’re getting new carpet next week because they messed up the carpet more than Hurricane Gustav and Ike did.
So I feel your pain.
Hi, to all concerned,
I apologize to everyone that had problems with Stanley Steemer. I am a 56 year old carpet cleaning technician and have been working for the company for eight years. I have twenty years of experience cleaning carpets and I know what I’m talking about. First of all, our website has a lot of changes that need to be made. I meet customers everyday that have booked their carpet cleaning needs online. Personally, I walk through the areas that they have ordered. If there are areas that they did not add, I do not charge them because we do not want to surprise them with a raise in price. We just want to show them the kind of cleaning service that we can deliver. I have cleaned carpets that are as high as five floors. I understand when customers get their areas ready by moving breakables, and sometimes even furniture to get their carpets cleaned. But,, every once and a while, we get a job that we cannot do. I tell my customer that there is no way we can do the job the Stanley Steemer way. I recommend other companies that can do it right because I’ve worked for them before. There are cleaning technicians that can use portable equipment very well. I suggest that you request an older technician to do the job. I feel that I could have knocked out your job very easily with no extra charges. As for the customer with the hurricane damage, I wouldn’t even have attempted that job. That’s called water damage which costs even more than carpet cleaning.