The pad manufacturer that we have been getting our pads from has got to have some of the worst customer service in the entire world. It's one of these companies that has gotten bought out and has merged repeatedly. Now they’re this multi-tiered company with operations interconnected throughout several states.

Anyway, here we are caught between a rock and a hard place. We're running out of pads due to the response from the Cleanfax article. So I placed a RUSH order for more pads. A rush order with this company normally means it will take about a week or more to even get the order into their system. But I was assured that our pad order would be rushed and that the pads would be cut this past Friday. So to make sure of this I was on the phone with them on Friday afternoon to confirm the progress of the order. “No Mr. Gelinas, we’re still not ready to run your order.” I called again this morning, "we still don't see that your order is in our system".

So here I am with over 20 cases of pads currently on back order and these clowns are running a bureaucracy. So I canceled my order with them. I then called up a smaller privately owned pad company that actually has real "customer service" and placed a large order for a comparable pad from their company. Their response: “Our normal turn around time to cut a custom size is 2-3 days, but we'll try to rush your order out sooner.” Now THAT’S THE WAY business should be done.

Long story short: It looks like we will be forced to switch to a different pad once again. We will be getting the same style of pad that we we've been working with. These are Rubberized Synthetic Pads, similar in composition to the ones we're now using. It's a shame to have to make this change. This is not about the quality of the pads; they’re quite good - it’ s about TERRIBLE customer service. With the smaller pad company we should have our pad order run and back in stock in just a few days (probably before the end of the week). Woohoo!





Rick Gelinas

Thanks Rick for your endless endeavors to keep us encapsulators informed.
On the same subject and the issue about some pads wearing out long before the other ones, I have been paying attention to the new pads, and just last Saturday grabbed 3 new ones to put on the cimex and noticed in all three pads there was a difference in thickness before ever used the pads.

Perhaps this will improve the wear situation too.




Rick Gelinas

That's the name of the game if you want to be successful.

No matter what business you are in.

Restaurant, roofing company, carpet cleaning, it is all the same. The best service gets the best customer satisfaction.

Gary

So true Gary, service is the name of the game, those of us who give a little more than our client's expect will be the big winner in the long run. That is how we have kept commercial clients for well over 25 years. adds up to money in the bank

Rick,
Do you still sell the Hair Pads?

No Tom, I couldn't get the hog hair pads to last long enough. I liked the way they scrubbed. But there was a big difference in wear characteristics from one batch to the next. The pad manufacturer explained that there's no way to control the consistency of natural fiber. They get their hog hair from different breeds of hogs all over the country. So the only alternative was to switch to synthetic pads. We found that a pad with a elastomeric/rubberized property added stability for carpet scrubbing and it added to the scrubbing too. So that's what we're now using.



Rick Gelinas

I was just wondering if you had stopped carrying the Hair Pads all together. For some reason I was thinking you still offered them.