[Tony Rowley]

Hi Guys

I cleaned a bedroom and stair carpet last friday, the customer called me on Monday to tell me that these browny/orangy stains had appeared in both the bedroom and the stairs.

They are more prominent than they appear in the picture, they are all random over the areas. I went back on the Monday and cleaned it all again in the vain hope that they may disappear but to be honest i wasn't that hopeful and rightly so as the customer has rung me this afternoon to say the stains are still there!

Can anyone tell me why this has happened as I cannot understand it, the thing is I cleaned the stair carpet in April this year with same chems and no problems.

Any idea what has caused it and anything I can do to rectify it.

Thanks in advance.

Tony

[Carpet Dawg]

What chems did you use? was the house well ventilated when you left?

I cant see much brown in the picture, but that sounds like browning. The redish/orange stain maybe indicator dye?

[Tony Rowley]

I used power burst mixed 1 to 2 so half strength as i had only cleaned the stairs in april when i had used 1 to 1 and acid rinse with no problem.

does not look like browning, more like, you know when a customer does a diy job and uses something silly like say flash with bleach and it reacts with whatever the stain was they were trying to deal with and causes a kind of burn/bleaching chemical reaction effect (hope that makes sense), i have seen similar in an isolated area but this is just random doted all around the areas cleaned.

tony

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

Think you're on the right track not that she or someone in the house would own up to spilling
something, and used oxy cleaner or similar thus de-stabilising the dyes and
only showing up on a clean. Cant see its your fault. May be worth spraying some
bi-carb over it. Best of luck

[Neil Jones]

Have they got pets?

[Tony Rowley]

Hi Neil

Yes, a cat.

Tony

[Mike Halliday]

if the have spilt anything or a pet has urinated then there will be evidence on the backing. try and inspect the back, its will be pretty evident if there was an existing problem.  if there is staining on the back where the stains are (but none in other places you have cleaned) then you know that's the problem and not something you could be aware of and prevented

this photo shows an example, there was no staining on the face of the carpet

[John Kelly]

Yep look like pet staining to me too.

[Neil Jones]

Yea I'd put a very high possibility of it being cat urine. I have a wool Berber in the bedroom and the stain looks identical to when our new cat did it's business. Fortunately I have protected the carpet and it came out, not fully tho.

[benny d]

This is a question I posed a few months ago.

We do the cleaning, and because we dampen the carpet, it can, and does quite often bring up old problems that have "blended" into the carpet. We then can have the finger pointed at us, saying what have you done to my carpet! Its a bit of a minefield out there.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

It does look like a cat urine stain but I would have expected it to have been visible during cleaning.

Cheers

Doug

[Tony Rowley]

Hi Guys

Thanks for your help, I went back today and pulled up part of the carpet as Mike suggested and couldnt find any evidence of urine stains on the backing.

Looking at my pictures I posted on here and seeing it again today and taking more pictures, the pictures really dont show up the problem that well, that said it doesnt look as bad as when I saw it on Monday anyway.

When I saw it on Monday it was in artifical light, today it was earlier and bright and sunny and then it dawned on me that the bedroom is a loft conversion with two windows in the sloped roof and the staircase has a sky light, It crossed my mind today that the colour change could possibly be from sun light as there are none of these stained areas where the bed was or on the other part of the stair case which receives very little natural sun light. Is it possible that this could be a contributing factor? could sun light cause blotchy bleaching that looks like staining? or am I just p1ssing in the wind?

I had an amicable discussion with the customer and gave him some suggestions on what the cause may be and said that I dont think its anything that I have done wrong, I didnt want it to appear that I was washing my hands of him so told him to discuss with his wife what I had said and if they are not happy with my explanation then to email me on Monday and I will forward my insurance details. Right thing to do or not?, I could not think of anything else.

Tony

[sherco]

Sounds like you are accepting liability for the stains! Bad move.

[Tony Rowley]

Sherco

How is that accepting liability for the stains? My thought was that it was the most professional thing to do in the circumstances?

I said I dont think its my fault and in no way am accepting liability but if he is not happy then I will give him my insurance details, surely thats what insurance is there for?

If the insurance decide not to pay out then my reputation is protected as I didnt make that decision but a third party did after gathering their evidence and if they do then I have the opportunity to keep the customer, who I have cleaned for before this incident, and in both cases should be able to avoid any negative press locally (not literally in print, but possibly and via the internet).

I did think about giving him a refund on the areas he is complaining about but decided that would look like admitting liability so decided against it.

If any one else thinks I am wrong please let me know, and also what you would have done differently to resolve the situation to the customers satisfaction.

Thanks

Tony

[David Ware]

Don't forget when we clean carpets we haven't a clue whats under the soiling thats sitting on the top. Not your stain
David

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

How about trying a U/V light over the stains, to determine pet stains or not?

[Craigp]

You offered them a new carpet, they will most likely except.

I'm with Serco, bad move, you didn't make the stain, though it should have been there before, unless maybe you used high alkali cleaners?

Is it possible you just missed it? (use fib fab if you don't already)