860-345-7847
Why should I have my carpets cleaned?
Rug experts say you should vacuum your carpets at least twice a week and clean them every 7-10 months to protect the carpet fibers from abrasion, staining and damage from dirt particles. Routine cleaning also limits allergens and dust mites. No one wants their loved ones exposed to a surface that may be harmful to their health.
Can I clean my rug myself?
Absolutely! However we are professional cleaners, we clean over 200 rugs a week. We have the knowledge and experience to deal with many stains and unique problems different rugs may have. We also have available the correct tools (equip, solutions, procedures) to thoroughly clean your carpet.
Do you Pick up/Deliver?
Yes. Pick-up/Delivery to all of CT! We travel to every corner of the state on a weekly basis. Cleaning time is usually 1 Week.
What is the difference between a stain and a spot?
The 2 words are usually used interchangeably but they mean two very different things. A spot is something that is removable such as mud/dirt, oil (depending on the type of rug), gum, crusty substances, etc. A stain is permanent, not removable, there for good. The most common stains are, Food coloring (often made of the same synthetic substances as rug dye, YUMMY) Urine (can either add color or remove color, and often make dyes run. The yellowing effect can be lightened, the color loss and dye-run is permanent.) Furniture wood stains (often transfer to rugs from spills or urine on furniture running into the rug, Hard to identify as permanent without cleaning.) shoe polish, Ink, hair dye, make-up, paint (some products may come out, some don't it varies from product to product and depending on the type of rug. They all take repeated treatments and are the hardest to identify as permanent.). There are others but those are the most typical. Stains ARE removable through EXPENSIVE bleaching and re-dying as well as reweaving the area. We do not suggest this service. This is a cost prohibitive process and 99% of rug/stains aren't worth the cost of re-dying even the smallest stain. Many spot/stains are dependent on the type of rug, as well as treatment of the incident by the owner. I will address both issues in future Q/A's.
Why don't you call dry cleaners (so they can contact the owner) when a rug has a stain that will not come out? Sometimes the customer complains that if they had known the stain wouldn't come out they would not have had the rug cleaned.
We do not call dry cleaners when there are stains that possibly won't come out for a variety of reasons:
1. Most of the time we don't know what a spot may be, as we do not talk to the owner when they drop-off, however when we clean them most come out. If a stain does not come out it is not due to a lack of effort.
2. If we call to find out if a rug is to be cleaned (or not) the dry cleaner must then contact the owner and then contact us. Most of the time when this happens we (MRCC) do not hear from the dry cleaner for days (I understand it is hard to contact the customers), if at all. We are then expected to have the rug ready and returned on schedule, which is not possible. MRCC then gets complaints from the dry cleaner about the rug being late, as well as the dry cleaner getting calls from the customer about the rug being late. Trying to contact a customer is often a frustrating and futile effort.
We do our best to clean and deliver the rugs in a weekly manner. Our process is in depth and takes 4-5 days to complete, adding 1 day to this process pushes delivery back 1 week, as we visit each section of the state on a set weekly basis.
3. Most customers know that certain stains won't come out. They have usually tried to remove the stains themselves (which causes a whole new problem for us- but that's another story). When we end up calling these customers they say "Of course I want the rug cleaned, I wouldn't have dropped it of if I didn't."
What can we do to remedy this situation?
1. You (the dry cleaner) must communicate to your customer about their rug. If they have concerns about a problem stain not coming out, and not wanting the rug cleaned if said stain does not come out, they need to tell you. Pass this info on to us in a note on the rug and we will make the proper assessments and call you with our findings.
At our shop we discuss the rug with the customer (at drop-off), and point out any pre-existing problems we see. I understand dry cleaners cannot do this due to lack of space and knowledge of rug cleaning. However most customers will tell you if they are concerned about certain aspects of their rug. Having spoken to the customers about a possible problem is usually enough for them to know it will receive the required attention and lead to a happier customer.
I don't mean to put the problem in the hands of the dry cleaner but often Drop-off and Pick-up is the only time it is possible to talk with most customers. The result of not asking questions is often that the customer comes to pick-up their articles and find out they need to wait another week, (or more) and then make another trip to the cleaner for pick-up, just because we couldn't get a hold of them in a timely manner and get an answer to a simple 5 second question. Pass this along to any counter person in your store(s), if they can ask a few questions and post a note on the rugs, I feel we can better service our customers together.