[Tobias]

Hi All,

I have been cleaning carpets for almost a year and a half now, but have come across a situation with a customer that I can't quite get my head around. 

Bear in mind- The job was done 6 weeks ago and the customer only called this morning to report an issue.

Standard house three bedrooms, two staircases and a small landing plus two rugs downstairs.  All the carpets are wool pile- light grey.  First vacuum cleaned thoroughly about five passes with an upright. 

Im using a portable extractor- nothing fancy Karcher Puzzi 30/4 and an upholstery tool as rooms aren't that big and want to get as much water out as possible during extraction.

Mixed up Prespray gold at 30ml per litre of cool water (made sure it wasn't freezing cold).  I sprayed the carpet with the upholstery tool and left it to dwell for about 8 minutes, whilst I mixed a batch of Fine fabric and fibre rinse at 15ml per litre.  Made sure I rinsed all the remaining solution out of the clean tank first.  extraction-rinsed out the pre-spray with the fibre rinse, passed over to get out as much water as possible.

Left to air dry.

Here's the problem:

Customer tells me this morning that there are stains everywhere.  I go round to the house as is local customer to take a look.  It looks like bleaching, but is not consistent in all the rooms cleaned, not on the rugs cleaned downstairs using the same method (although different material) and not present in one room that was not cleaned but has the same light grey carpet.  If you look at the photos you'll see one really bad mark.

The rest is like camouflage pattern, but it looks different when you look at it from different angles and is worse in traffic areas.

I'm a bit wary because this was not reported sooner- a lot can happen in six weeks.  Customer claimed that they didn't realise until yesterday when they did a spring clean of the house.  The housekeeper who rang this morning was in the house a week after the cleaning and didn't mention anything, but now all of a sudden the stains have 'appeared'.

Spoke to Prochem who said it was strange and that I had followed the methodology etc properly.  They said it was suspicious that it was only reported now.  Spoke to two people there with a lot of experience between them.

Also did some research and found that sometimes if fertiliser, de-icer and a bunch of other things ranging from hair dye to mustard are walked into a carpet, they bleach it, and the bleaching is only visible after professional cleaning has taken place- but surely not six weeks after or maybe?

Any advice on what this weird bleaching may be would be appreciated! Anyone had anything like this before?  Bear in mind these are wool carpets. Is it possible for stains to develop over six weeks, if so is it likely given the methods used? 

Many Thanks in advance!

[Mike Halliday]

The house was occupied  the day you finished ? It's not like they have only just returned to the house 6 weeks later and seen the spots?

The time it took them to call I think relinquishes you off any liability but I do think there has been some reaction to the cleaning..... if the are marks all over the cleaned area ( but not on any carpets not cleaned)

If they had caused the marks in the last 6 weeks I would not be everywhere, they might cause one or two marks but not everywhere.

It's up to you how you proceed, either tell them to get stuffed ( politely ) or pay out

[Darran Pryce]

If it's any consolation,  we always tell our customers (especially if they have purchased/renting a new house and inheriting carpets, and want them cleaned),  they might appear some staining under the dirt that might only show up as we are cleaning it.  Most times you can see the old 1001 etc that has been put down, which we always tell them those stains might not come out, as they might be fixed in the fibres and even might make the stain lighter or darker.

We always say when  you inherit someone's carpets your inheriting their problems.   We have this down on a sheet which we give them after the clean, which explains about carpet care, and about our cleaning. But also what we have discussed as per above.  It clears everything up before/after.   

[Robin Ray]

If you do choose to go back and investigate further try extracting a small area both light and dark with plain water, then drying. Sounds bizarre but it could be very rapid soiling due to residue left in the carpet. The products you have used should not bleach the carpet at those dilutions even if they were not rinsed entirely.

One other small possibility is the prespray gold was allowed to dry on the carpet in some places before extraction therefore  not extracting properly and creating a patchy appearance once dry, and leaving residue.

I agree with Mike though, why call after 6 weeks? I think you are legally free or this one. However you may be able to rectify it. Tread carefully though.

[Hilton]

Did they inform you when they first noticed the light patches appearing ?

[Tobias]

They told me yesterday that they realised it the day before (Wednesday), so from what they've said it wasn't immediately upon discovering it.

Nothing was reported between when the job was completed and yesterday, despite one visit to help move furniture back which was almost a week after completion.

[GarryN]

That looks a lot like the off the shelf stain remover marks(vax/2001) foam or sprays I have killed a few carpets with that stuff, other cleaning chemicals also do the same degreasers (cleaners will use them on doors skirting ect),bathroom cleaners ect another thing I have seen leave marks like that is rock salt(some parts of UK )have had snow in the last 6 weeks or patio/slab/lockblock cleaning sprays and weedkiller would also do that but you would really have to be running in and out all the time for it to be everywhere.

[Ian Harper]

some great answers.

might be paint? look at the bottom of doors frames they have had the painter in,

Good Luck

[Elfyn]

Looking at where they are in relation to the room - in the walkway - and the size of the patches. I'd say that something has been "walked" through under someone's feet.