most psyco customer ever

Holy crap. 13 emails just to schedule the job each one a paragraph.

2 call backs, I have never in my life dealt with a customer of this level before. Asian lawyer lady, I dont understand how she possibly functions her day to day life when everything is like this.

Im not kidding she is going over her carpet with a microscope. Some how the propane TNT set off her 3 carbon monoxide detectors she has in her 1bd condo, have never had that happen before. Didnt even park that close to the house, must have been a perfect draft of air going inside.

She tells me about writing letters to the homeowners association for not having enough co2 monitors etc, then I set one of 3 off somehow.

Shes taking pictures of the entire place every sq inch... just unbelievable. She says she called us and only us because we have 200 As on angies list but I wish this lady would have just called some big name company.


honestly I dont know how a person like this can function in her daily life if everything is this big of a deal, imagine a trip to the grocery store probably takes 6hrs.

She threw up all the red flags and I was just too busy/ havent had one like this in about a yr so what can I say but she got me.... caught me with my guard down.

what a nightmare, just wrote my 17th email to her and going back to the job again.

never letting my guard down again, if they cant figure out how to schedule a carpet cleaning in 3-4 emails Im going to tell them to call another company.

Im not familiar with this particular mental disorder, but its serious

Holy moly I see multiple call backs in your future

already done one, going back for the second.

Carpet was not bad at all but I am going to make her sign a document saying the carpet needs replacement based on her "expectations"

which is funny because I would say its about 4yrs old with little wear.

just a white carpet, looked perfect after being cleaned... one spot didnt come out where a computer leaked something and it had been spotted several times with who knows what. I offered to patch it and she said no.

I set off carbon monox with my TNT but there was a stiff wind blowing the machine wasn't even facing the machine.

Arent you running Propane?

Holy crap, I have to ask why are you doing work for this PSYCHO??

I think you mentioned every red flag possible in your post!

13 emails
Asian lawyer lady
going over her carpet with a microscope
She tells me about writing letters to the homeowners association...
Shes taking pictures of the entire place every sq inch
everything is this big of a deal
mental disorder
I don't need to go on do I.

If I ever ran into a nut case, that wanted me coming back more than once, I would do one of two things.
1 After call back one, refund her money and black list them. Never service again list.
2 OR I would implement a form, that every customer, from then on, would sign. At the completion of the job, they would sign a form that said, in effect, they were satisfied with the work. Any return trip past one call back would result in charges at least my minimum charge to return.

Freemind1 wrote:If I ever ran into a nut case, that wanted me coming back more than once, I would do one of two things.
1 After call back one, refund her money and black list them. Never service again list.
2 OR I would implement a form, that every customer, from then on, would sign. At the completion of the job, they would sign a form that said, in effect, they were satisfied with the work. Any return trip past one call back would result in charges at least my minimum charge to return.

I like that approach...I use the second one, but it isn't always the final say. I think giving up and deciding to refund is the only way out of this mess, because despite everything, she will still give your name to her friends.....they are just like her!

I would refund and run away before she claims damage to her plants and herself due to carbon monoxide.

Yeah, I started off with the form. It just seemed like it was not well received. So I quit using it.

But then, I have never had a nut case act like AC has either.

The problem is that crazy people tend to latch onto someone. By the end of this job AC might find her in his kitchen boiling his rabbit.

LOL! That's true Rob.

Unless there is a real issue, any call backs past the first one is a glowing neon sign "Crazy person".
I doubt she has any friends, if she acts like this. AC is her new, bestest friend!

She picks through every email with a fine tooth comb as well and misinterprets all kinds of things because of a language barrier.

Most of the red flags came up after the job but looking back on the original emails I thought she was just a very careful old lady, but I could have seen it coming if I wasnt so busy.

because of her we now have a new form.. it has a spot for each room 1-10rms and can add more if needed.

has check off spots for pet damage, filtration soil, carpet condition, dyes/stains, soil load

so when we do the walk through we mark everything that we see and ask if they want it treated.

also clearly states that if the condition is over a 7 the carpet needs to be replaced but we will clean it anyways

Wow that is a lot of work AC, sounds like a rental car contract. I don't think you need to go through all that, you just got stuck with a nut-job. As soon as you get away from her, none of that will be necessary.

Had a lady like that the other week. I dealt with him on the phone and he sets it up. We get there and this very nervous woman is waiting for us on the front porch. We introduce ourselves. She immediately starts talking about how awful the last cleaner was and how awful the guy who did her wood floor was and how awful the carpet installer was. Red flag city. She then shows me a urine soaked white wool "$6000" area rug. Right of the bat. I'm not touching it lady in so many words. Ok so we head down to get matter bedroom basement area. Room has 100 spots of ferret piss along the walls on super cheap flattened carpet. Ok we can do a topical application of deo at no extra cost since we r not doing the rug today at our minimum price. No promises on the smell. Ok?

Long story short we cleaned it up. Looked fine for worn put carpet. I knew I was gonna hear back from her tho. The next day the call comes. "Yeah I'm calling about your satisfaction guarantee, I'm not happy the carpet is not fluffy enough" I politely stop her right there. "No problem ma'am I'll send you a refund right away."

Should have walked it in the first place like I usually would have, but I just didn't pay good enough attention to my crazy radar.

You guys have not tried; "I'm a carpet cleaner, NOT a carpet cleaning"!
Or " hire any other carpet cleaner and if they can do a better job than me; I'll pay for it and refund your money"!
But who does the evaluation? Can't take her word for it. Cuz its been x amount of week since you did the work and evaluation is subjective.
"They did a better job, refund my money".
" No they didn't; can't refund your money based on your word"!

Ya I'm being sarcastic.
.....

milspec6 wrote:Wow that is a lot of work AC, sounds like a rental car contract.  I don't think you need to go through all that, you just got stuck with a nut-job.  As soon as you get away from her, none of that will be necessary.

I agree, and also, sure to be a price killer!.........ditch those cheap asses on the phone.

its a pretty quick form, you just make a check for each thing while your doing the walkthrough anyways

no super details or fine print

That's why I have installed a guarantee.

I promise them the carpet will be cleaner , but not brand new, never a promise on stain removal or odors. I also promise that the carpet will get dirty again and need more cleanings in the future.

I tell them I can't fix the ware patterns

above all ,,, I don't promise their satisfaction, because that is totally subjective.

No matter what we do or how our fine prints are worded, we'll still get these types of customers, in most cases, these people will find the cheapest price but once in a blue moon, you'll see them finding the reputable companies because they have a plan, usually try to intimidate the companies into refunding their $$, I always tell them before I do the work that if you're not happy with our work, you can call us back and we'll come back ONCE, and re clean only areas that they're not happy with, this is also written in my fine prints on my invoice, one of these days I'll attach my fine prints here.

Crazy how we all have our own different ways of doing things. I more times than not tell a new customer they WILL be happy with my work...and they are.

After reading these post here today, it makes me think 'Confidence' and they way you come across to customers has something to do with it.

If you're not willing to provide reassuring info to them, how can they be sure you 're the best cleaner for the job.

Davey Cracker wrote:Crazy how we all have our own different ways of doing things. I more times than not tell a new customer they WILL be happy with my work...and they are.

After reading these post here today, it makes me think 'Confidence'  and they way you come across to customers has something to do with it.

If you're not willing to provide reassuring info to them, how can they be sure you 're the best cleaner for the job.

By reading our reviews Dave, how else can they be sure ?

That's true, I guess I just don't relate to not promising or guaranteeing anything.

It has to do with being up front and honest with people Dave.

I Guarantee them reality, they like it,

The only promises that I make in writting or verbally is that I will make it as clean as it can be based upon conditions and wear.

That is really all that you have control over...what you do, not what the suface will allow you to achieve.