Glynn I completely understand your ethical stance, I wouldn't ever recommend protector to customers if I don't think it's of any value to them.
I agree that in some cases selling a protector to a customer gives them little value for money.
BUT In my experience, in a lot of cases it is real value for money.
I totally agree that with polyprops the value is low, not due to any scientific reason but purely because the polyprop carpets tend to be in the houses where the carpets get a pasting from kids/dogs etc, absolutely spot-on that they're going to get more value for money by spending it on cleaning more often.
However, I'm convinced that protector, at least the protector that I use anyway, is a massive benefit on wool carpets. My carpets at home were fitted last June, since that time they've been subjected to plenty of abuse.
I've spilled my tea going up stairs, I've cut myself and bled all over them, someone spilled soup in the lounge, someone trod a dog sh*t footprint on the bottom step, my nephew knocked his juice over.... in most cases all I've needed is a bit of kitchen towel to absorb the excess and then a damp cloth to finish off.
Only with the soup and the juice did I have to give it a quick rinse through with the machine, and the soup needed 10 mins of M-Power to sort it. The carpets still look absolutely brand new and I haven't got round to cleaning them properly yet
I've tested the performance of the protector on the off-cuts from the carpet and can say without a shadow of a doubt that the un-protected samples suffer compared to the protected ones.
I go back to customers who've had protector and they tell they notice how it makes a difference. I'm not blind and definitely don't take the ostrich approach. I couldn't sleep at night if I knew I was ripping people off.
I'm not doubting your experience for one minute and definitely don't mean to sound disrespectful but maybe you're working with old knowledge of old products? Technology moves on, protectors now are better than they were a number of years ago.
I've got no ethical problem at all with the protector that I sell, I know it's offering value. And Mark I price it at plus 50% of the cleaning cost, not taking the wee-wee at all if it's sold with a conscience.