[Bob Allen]

I beleive Enterprise has an office in Portsmouth, ive been talking to alot of my customers and a few have been contacted, a couple have even got them round (much to my discust) and as already said they do a small patch then say "its gonna need out deep clean" which is gonna cost alot more
A customer told me today there was a discussion about this company on bbc radio solent.
I have tried to ring them to see if i can listen to this mornings discussion
will let you know how i get on

[bennymon]

any news mate

[jasonl]

Had an interesting chat about Enterprise with a local Prochem distributor , he told me Prochem will no longer supply them, after a big falling out about business methods.

[Bob Allen]

Couldnt get hold of radio discussion...sorry

[paul wallace]

Interesting thread, see their google reviews:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=enterprise+cleaning+bournemouth&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=enterprise+cleaning&hnear=Bournemouth,+Dorset&cid=4693752465731245158

I wonder who is writing the good reveiw? They all read like they are wrote by the same hand!  :

[Peter_Jones]

Couldnt get hold of radio discussion...sorry

Try here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_solent?sort=dateavailable

[ianharper]

Guys

First, what about your own USP have can you compare you own service with this type of service.

Second, all they are doing is showing loads of people how they can earn money from carpet cleaning. it will not take long for these guys to go out on their own. its then that you will have a flood of carpet cleaners in your area that might be an issue as they will be after the same money your getting.

No business can market on low price and be around for long. There will someone else that thinks its also a good idea and that's the end of the first guy.

If you have these guys in your area. get yourself on more courses and promote them to prospects. I have already started this in my business. Having City & guilds will trump and other certification. as people now what it is.

I have said before about about you guys getting City & Guilds its easy and done from home. in fact lots that is taught should be part of basic training from any association that is related to carpet cleaning. I have found that much of this basic stuff is missed out. BTW the exam is multiple choice.

Contact BICSc and ask about their open learning. they are a true association dedicated to training and ethic's in cleaning.

Fight fire with fire. point out in your marketing the risks. then let the prospect decide.

Its our job the point out people rights as professional carpet cleaners.

Respect

Ian Harper

[garry22]

Ian,

I cannot disagree with anything you say but I feel this is a special case.

We can all try as hard as possible to raise professional standards and more importantly, peoples' perception of the industry.

It just takes one bad apple (such as this)  to reinforce peoples' fears and prejudices about our business.

Suddenly all those third hand horror stories start to ring true.

Garry

[Buckland]

Good post Ian - good advice there - ethics is what is needed and when you present your 'Goods' to a customer then you have to deliver what you describe in leaflets, website or verbals - if you cant deliver what you offer then you have to qualify the offer by giving the customer an honest appraisal of what can reasonably be achieved in a cost effective m,anner - some customers are vunerable to unscrupulous operators - these companies are all talk and very little delivery - the girls have a script and they just have to get the (cheap) job  -

Ive already posted about a company similar to this - Im not sure if its the same company - an elderly lady living on her own rang me and said could I clear up the mess that they had left behind which I did and she then told me the woeful tale of how this girl kept ringing up to get her to agree to a 'Maintenance Clean' at less than 10 quid then when she finally agreed after several calls the guy arrived and tried to upsell - she said no although she did have extra rooms done

when he had gone after less than an hour she found the carpets were dirtier than when he arrived - pooling on the stairs and spills or drips of grub etc - she complained to the boss of the company and he refused to send anyone back to rectify it - the boss said she shoudl have paid for a 'Remedial Clean' like she was offered! - now she is a tough little old lady and she is ped with this company and her son is a solicitor!! she is taking them to the small claims court to get the costs of the rectification back - I dont think they will contest it so that is already a bad thing to have against them and by the look of the reviews on google not the first instance of people being angry enough to get something done

[ianharper]

this is a PR opportunity. we can be the good guy. you dont have to name direct as people will know, just point out the risks. get some photos. you must have been on a job where the last carpet cleaner had made mistakes. this is normally why you in cleaning it this time because they got caught out last time.

we always ask if they have had carpet cleaned before.

When Tina is on the phone with a prospect and she has given the price then they say " we get back" the next question is what was you expecting to pay, they say some silly number she then asks if they have had their carpets cleaned before at that price. yes comes the answer. how long did they take to dry out? days

you have to press prospects on price give them reason why price should not be the deciding factor. we have other methods we use and they do work, not always but worth the effort. but its worth it because if we just gave the price and they hung up the chance are that they will just find and use the cheapest.

why is this important? it's the only way to bet the silly price guys. if everyone is saying the same thing about silly price then the message will get over. sure if they hear it from just one other carpet cleaner then they might listen but if they are phoning around and they hear it from two or three then the message will get over that's it about value and not price.

respect

Ian Harper

[Sarah Kirby]

as the poster said earlier how do you upsell to people who are only willing to pay £8.99 answer you cant.this company are catching mainly elderly or wealthy people so once your in the house the upsell is a bit easier.the real shame is if this guy gets shut down he has already made enough money he will light his cigar get a glass of bubbly and laugh at us.

A friend of mine used this company recently...in her words, " they just filled my room with steam". Once she questioned them, they patch tested an area with chemicals, she was impressed with the results so agreed to let them do 2 rooms. She said the overall finish was really poor, nothing like the patch test and they didnt get the stains out. The bloke turned nasty with her when she questioned him about it and she was left feeling really intimidated and upset in her own home. After her experience she advised another friend who had booked them to cancel, which she did and her friend then found herself on the wrong side of an abusive telephone call!

[ianharper]

Sarah

Sorry to hear about your friends problems. As i said earlier its our collective reasonably to educate prospects to the risks involved.

Your friend was lucky that more damage was not done. if as you say the room was full of steam this show that they where using very high temperatures and this could have damaged her carpet. And its more than likely that they don't carry the right type of insurance.

My advise for anyone man or women is if you feel that you might get a aggressive attitude if you complain is first get someone else to back you up. stay cool and just say i not paying and want you to come back when the carpets are dry and re-clean them. the chances are they will not come back and you will still have your money. your being reasonable.

BTW the patch test is a flag you would only ever expect this on a commercial job when a company was trying out someone new.

Respect

Ian Harper

[jasonl]

This company  are round the corner from me , I hear complaints daily from them. One man came to my house as we are so close on Google maps, I have now moved my location on there .

[john aitken]

The company you speak of is called Enterprise cleaning of Ferndown near Bournemouth, they have at least 20 vans now ,and a call centre with girls phoning with the 8.99 offer .

I wanted to know more so I applied to work there, Ian the GM told me that "your sales skills and personality persuades the customer that they need stain removal, deodorizing,protection and other services"  You get a van, prochem machine and no training for 140 /week .. you give the company 40%  of your takings .

tell them to keep well away from north east or we KILL THEM  [joking]

[ianharper]

Jason

I would have on all my marketing a message that if someone gets caught out by scammers or gets poor service you will sort it out for free. normally it would be just wet carpets. in exchange you get some photos and a testimonial that you then use. priceless.

you don't have to name anyone. but if you can get a photo with the people with the problem you could end up a local hero. great PR and you know what its like when you do a great job customers don't tell as many people as you would like. but when something goes wrong they tell everyone, So when then are telling the story of the bad guys and then they have to say about you.

Respects

Ian Harper

[jasonl]

Great Idea Ian , I will get onto that right away.

[Peter Blackburn]

This is not new, it’s been happening for decades within C&U Cleaning. The last one I remember was, and I hope I'm right.... HomeCare in the North of England. Note - I COULD BE WRONG WITH NAME.
I worked as an engineer at the time for a food production factory. We had a new starter who joined us on the engineering team as a mechanical setter. I can remember him telling me how his last job was carpet and upholstery cleaning for a dodgy company.
He told me he was used on a 'self employed basis' and had to provide his own machine, transport and chemicals and took a small percentage from each job completed. He told me that he was expected to significantly up sell the service when in the home and charge massively for stain removal, stain protection, conditioning etc.
The higher the job ticket the less percentage the company would take. For example,, If he did a job for £40.00 the company would take 85% leaving him with £6.00!!!. If he managed to do the same job for £300.00 they would take 50% leaving him with £150.

They got him into a position where he could do nothing but rip people off in order to make a living for himself, they also told him that if he tried to leave for another job they would give him a terrible reference and would accuse him of being a thief. If a customer rang head office to complain they would simply tell them that the staff are self employed and the issue should be taken up with them!!! They were advertising living rooms for £3.00.
What was sadder was the fact that he had lost his wife to cancer and had to bring up his two small children on his own, whilest the owners of this scam were driving round in brand new leased BMW'S and Mercs.

Luckily he got out and got a job with us on engineering and continued cleaning carpets for himself part time and took good money, which got me into it. He went onto become a fully qualified engineer at another company and lives a nice comfortable lifestyle now. Spawney git.

Pete