What Are Bait and Switch Carpet Cleaners?

We have all seen them. There you are, driving down the street and you pull up to a stoplight and see a cardboard sign that offers a whole house cleaning for $50. You think to yourself: “That is too good to be true.” The truth of the matter is, you are correct. Most of the companies that you see offering deals like that are too good to be true.

Bait and switch is a form of fraud that is often found in retail and service sales environments. Typically it consists of two steps. The bait is when a customer is shown an item or a service at a very good price through advertising or marketing materials. When the customer either visits the store to inquire about the item or the company arrives at the customers’ home, they find that either the item is not available or the service is not what they expected. They are then offered similar, but more highly priced items or services (the switch).

With carpet cleaning services, this is all too common. You will set up a cleaning for a house and be given a finite estimate over the phone and, upon arrival, the technician will inform you that your house has “unusual corners” in some rooms or that closets do not count as part of the house. Another typical trick is to advertise cleaning “five rooms” or so for a certain price and then informing you that your dining room actually counts as two rooms because it is too large.

Other common tricks can include the following:

• Charging extra for vacuuming
• Charging extra for pre-spray treatments
• Adding an upcharge for deodorizer which usually comes standard
• Upcharging for each additional spot in each room
• Not telling you about extra charges until after the cleaning is finished
• Not including carpet pile raking as part of the price

How Can I Tell if an Offer is Legitimate?

There are a few ways that you can tell if a company or an offer is attempting a bait and switch tactic:

• Offering very cheap services (well below the average going rate)
• Cheap flyers with spelling or grammar mistakes
• A non-professional looking website
• They are unprofessional when answering the phone
• No uniforms (usually jeans and a T-shirt upon arrival)

What Do You Recommend?

Should you suspect a company or an individual is trying to trick you once they are already inside your home, there are some simple things you can do to find out:

• Review their credentials – They should have records of training available upon request (maybe not on them at the time, but they can provide information about their training).
• Ask about the process – They should be able to explain the process in full.
• Ask how long the drying time is – Again, this is something that they should (at the very least) have a ballpark figure.
• How many years have they been in business? – The longer the better.
• Find out if they have any references you can call – A company that has been in business should be able to provide at least one or two referrals for their services if pressed.
• Find out if they have the proper paperwork – Insurance, business license, etc.

The first (and best) solution is always going to be avoiding these companies to begin with. Usually these types of tactics are combined with high pressure sales techniques and a lot of smooth talking. There is nothing wrong with being offered additional services when you are getting a cleaning done, this is very common. There is, however, an issue when you start being pressured to order services which you either do not understand or do not need. The best bet when looking for a legitimate company is to check for reviews on that company, see if the company has a good standing with the Better Business Bureau, and to look out for warning signs. A good professional cleaner is going to offer services that are worth the perceived additional cost (when compared with cheaper, less qualified companies).