I just received a call from a job I did one month ago. The job was my first Cimex job and now the Pediatric center is saying that the spots are returning. I said I will come in tommorrow to take a look. Has anyone had this happen to them. What would cause this?

Ralph

Hmmm.... 30 days later...Possibilties could be: foreign matter wicking up from below carpet, or the staff/visitors are actually spilling drinks what have you,or your cleaning was not as thorough as it could have been.Now having said all that let me ask this question;Was the first area cleaned,dried when you were finished cleaning? Normal wicking-when it is in the fiber,not underneath the carpet-will only occur when there is moisture to evaporate.Once dry,nothing.
If it is something leaching from the backside/underneath you might want to consider a poultice.
Patrick

its probably nothing that you did.
Heck, its 30 days later.
That is ample' time to resoil, have more spills, etc

Wicking will take place when moisture is present. Not really anytime more. Moisture and evaporation acts as the carrier.

So I would say its the staff on hand, not knowing cc'ing, and they see new spots, they know that they were cleaned, and they assume that it was something that you did.

probably new spills and fresh soil.

Educate them on wicking and on the importance of a maintenance plan for the appropriate amount of time.

Things resoil when walked on. Thats a fact of life.

Ask them what type of maintenance plan they have.
1. House staff?
2. Frequence of vacuuming, mopping of areas surrounding carpets, etc.

Lots of variables that can come into play.

Dobs

Steve Dobson
ProFloor
Custom Cleaning Services

I agree with the posts above. Thirty days is a little crazy.

However let's go with the possibility that there's still some sugar residue at the base of the carpet that wasn't addressed. It's possible that it could be drawing dust/soil to it.

Here's what to look for. if you see a gray ghost of a stain - then you have a recurring spill problem. If it's a dark spot it's a new spill.

Either way - in order to maintain a good relationship with the customer I would suggest not quibbling over whose fault it is and just go ahead and take care of them. You'll retain a happy customer.

This is a Pediatric center so I'm guessing there are "children" in the building. So I'd imagine that spills, urine and vomit are likely to be a DAILY occurrence.

If you find that there was a weakness on the part of your initial cleaning go ahead and reclean and pay CLOSE ATTENTION to the instructions for Recurring Spill Stains. It's possible that you didn't give enough detail to the initial cleaning.

Here are the instructions for treating Recurring Spill Stains (from last month's CM Cleaning Management magazine)...
http://www.cmmonline.com/article.asp?IndexID=6635489

If you’ll follow those instructions to the letter you’ll be able to successfully eliminate 99% of spill stains.

Go Gettem!





Rick Gelinas
encapman

One other thing I forgot to mention is that maybe you should take before and after photos to keep in the file for a stiuation such as this.

after 30 days, it's their baby.

I'd go and look at it and educate them on true recurring stains,
but I'd bet the bank that these are new stains...and new stains
will incur a new charge, and I accept cash, check or CC.

Customer service is one thing, but we're not running a charity and you need to nip this in the bud before you're there every 30 days for free. I've had a custy like that before. I went
the extra mile trying to please them...they just took advantage..had to fire 'em.

Be nice...but my motto--> New stains = New charge...period.

Good luck

ps - Now in the oh so rarest of possibilities that they are recurring (very, very highly unlikely after 30 days) then of course reclean

Good info in above posts, they may just be calling you now find when the "spots" started to come back if it was shortly after your cleaning than address the problem if only within the last few days than impossible that it could be your problem. You did not mention type of fiber,bad spills on polyproylene/olefin will wick back no matter how careful you are, important to pre-qualify that when before you start the job, spell it out and give them only a few days to call you back for wick backs after that give them discounted price to attend to the wick backs, gets you off the hock and keeps your customer happy.

OK, I just got back from the Pedi Center, where I spoke with the women who hired me. The carpet (commercial gluedown olefin) looks good in all area's except the waiting room... right under the chairs. This is were 300 people a day sit. I expalined to them that these are new stains. The amount of people that come in each day with there dirty feet will make these area's dirty faster than other parts of the carpet. I said I will redue this area for free but this area will probably need to be done more often She accepted my answer but, I no she only wants it done every 6 month's. She wants me to talk to the head janitor tonight who has told me previuosly that she vacuume's every night.


I don't want to lose this account. They have given my name to other customer's. I am going to talk to the janitor's tonight and try to set up a maintenance program for the waiting area. "oh by the way this was the first time this place was cleaned in 5 years.. so under those chairs was nasty". I'll take Rick's advice and really scrub those area's. Thanks guys for all your help.

Ralph