e-mail: wfbane@baneclene.com

Sloppy installation still leads in carpet related complaints.

• Lack of power stretcher use and bad seams in the wrong places are very common.
• Some retailers advertise cheap prices, use deceptive practices and dodge warranties.
• Add bait and switch carpet cleaners to the housing bust and no wonder carpet sales have been punished.

There's nothing I can do about installation and sales, but I can try to influence cleaners to be kinder when we talk about carpet.

Most problems with carpet are not in the quality of the product but are in the eyes and ears of the consumer.

Dr. Michael Berry, probably the most quoted person of science in our industry, said, "Carpet is a sink."

• Just hearing this graphic analogy could cause a prospective buyer to choose another floor covering. Quotes like, "Clean that sink" and "Clean carpet for health's sake" have become the mantra of some teachers in the cleaning industry.
• When the news business is slow, reporters revisit Kawasaki syndrome, formaldehyde and the 120 neuro-toxic chemicals found in carpet by "Green Nest."
• Dr. Rosalind Anderson got reams of publicity with her claim that carpet killed her lab mice.
• Vacuum cleaner hucksters show dust from carpet fouling the air that we breathe.
• Half hour long Rug Doctor Infomercials embellish the amount of dirt and germs found in carpet.
• Consumers who expect to pay $5.95 a room for cleaning service sometimes spend many hundreds of dollars.
• The Professional Cleaners' Association has video of scams in New York, Ohio, Indiana, Florida and California. Hidden camera sales pitches, interviews with ex-employees and victims are graphic and damning. This deception harms carpet sales while industry associations and trade magazines fail to recognize it as a public relations nightmare.

Bickering among cleaners finds its way into advertising. Negative comments, even if true, should never appear in anything that may reach the consumer.

• A few cleaners are touting the Seal of Approval program and advertising that they are the only service approved by CRI, which has advertised that carpet cleaning is like "Rocket Science."
• Besides not being true, this kind of rhetoric makes carpet seem hard to clean. This is not what the consumer needs to hear.

Instead of belittling one another, we need to talk about the many fine attributes of carpet and how easy it is to clean.

• It's quiet and offers acoustical comfort in hectic, noisy times when nerves are tattered.
• Carpet has great insulating qualities that are attractive with the high cost of energy.
• Carpet offers a wide range of decor possibilities, it's durable and prevents slip and fall accidents.
• It's reasonably priced, too, which is a great talking point with the slumping economy. Factoring in inflation, carpet costs less today than it did thirty years ago and the quality is much better.
• Best of all, carpet costs less to maintain than other floor coverings.

In the 48 years I've been in this business nearly everything we buy has increased more than ten-fold in price.

• A $2,000.00 service truck costs more than $30,000.00 today.
• Gasoline has sky rocketed from 29 cents to near $3.00 a gallon.

By comparison, thanks to improved technology in both equipment and chemicals, the average professional cleaning service has increased from 10 cents to only 30 cents a square foot and the results are better.

These are the things the consumer needs to hear.

Could it be time for a change in strategy by everyone in the carpet industry?

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The Bane-Clene Cleaning Digest is published as a public service to the cleaning industry
Publisher:  Wm. F. Bane, 3940 N. Keystone Avenue - Indianapolis, Indiana 46205
317 546 5448 • 800 428-9512 - Web Site: www.baneclene.com