Any experiences with Chem Dry

[TravelingGal]

I did a search and found a few things, but thought I''d ask before I called these people. Thanks!

 

[NovemberBride]

Tgal,

I had an ok experience with Chemdry. Their prices were good and they were timely and the carpets were clean. The only thing I didn''t like is that the machine they used to clean the carpets spun the dirt and dirty cleaning water onto my walls, so after the guy left I had to walka round my whole house with paper towels to wipe down my walls. I would expect that they would have done that.

That said, I believe they are franchises, so you''d really need a review of the office you were planning to use since they could differ greatly.

 

[TravelingGal]

Thanks Novemberbride!

I found a local one that is really mom and pop. The owner does the cleaning and the wife makes the bookings. Not sure if this is going to be better or worse, but I figure they care more about the reputation of their little franchise.

 

[gemgirl]

I had a horrible experience with them when I still lived in the city. Their machines dump filthy water everywhere, they''re sloppy workers and they completely destroyed one of my wool area rugs. It was a big battle getting the money out of them to buy a new one.

 

[TooPatient]

I had a guy in to clean our rugs and couches about a year ago. All natural. No chemicals.

He did a great job. The white couches were actually white when he was done. He was so helpful too. Did the couches at the apartment and the rugs in the new house (about 20 minute drive away). He even drove me (and ALL 3 of my cats) from the apartment to the house. Long story, but the apartment building caught fire just before he came.

I think he said it was corn cob bits he was using. Did a great job. Everything came so clean. No damage to my wool rugs or antique couches. Made little mess (and that he cleaned up). And the price was excellent.

 

[Mara]

i used them at the townhouse for 4 years. they did a great job for our carpet... they do have local cleaners, some are better than others. i liked it because they did not use soap and i hated the feeling of the carpet after someone came by who used soap (only once). we had berber light colored which was very hard to keep clean so i had the carpets done 2x a year. i am sooo happy with hardwood now, we will NEVER go back. oh usually in yellow pages they have coupons too. the only thing i didn't like was that they would spray all over the baseboards and then not clean it up, so it was all dried brown bits on the baseboards that i'd have to clean later. so make them clean yours!

 

[TravelingGal]

All, thanks so much for your help. I've been catching up on some threads where I asked for assistance and thought I'd come back with my verdicts.

I used a local Chem Dry place - not all of them are created equal, I am sure. The one I used was Curtice Chem Dry - a mom and pop type operation. http://www.curticechemdry.com/. The wife answered the phone and the husband came to do with the work with two other guys (one was in training) The owner, Brian (pcitured on the site, but that pic was 12 years ago...he still looks the same though) was a super nice guy and really supervised, bringing in extra gear to do some touch ups. The quote initially seemed higher than the "specials" I was seeing on some other chem dry sites but the lady said she was into "reality" pricing. I goofed and gave her too many rooms for the quote - (6, when it's actually 4 rooms and a hallway, plus one of the rooms would count as two). She quoted me 299, plus 15% off as a discount - she initially quoted 10% off but I asked her about specials compared to her competitors so she came back with a bit more. Extra large rooms would be $60 extra.

The actual bill came out to be $229 - quite a bit cheaper than I thought - even though it should have been cheaper anyway since it was one less room. They are a small operation and I am glad I went with them because their reputation and work mattered a little more to them since so much of their business is word of mouth. I would never bother to clean carpets by myself after seeing this. For not much more, you can have it done by someone who knows what they are doing. They moved all my furniture around for me too!

Anyway since pics speak louder than words, here are a few. First is of my kid - 15 minutes of walking on the carpet produced what you see below. The second photos is before and after shots. You guess which is which....

ETA, please excuse the mess - we are not done unpacking yet!

 

[Skippy123]

Wow, you are so awesome to update this in case someone needs their carpets cleaned. Wow, they got them sparkling clean; what a difference!!!! I wish these people did carpets out here; your thread made me make an appt to get mine done too! Yay for clean carpets. Aw, Amelia is adorable as always