The Unethical Bait & Switch Sales Con...

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"Don't Get Caught Out By Unbelievable Low Prices For Carpet Cleaning -
As BBC's Rogue Traders Found It
Could Be A 'Bait & Switch' Con"

Here's a short video by the Rogue Trader’s Team recorded for the BBC's Watchdog Television Programme.  The Rogue Traders have been investigating some of the unethical carpet cleaners in the UK for using 'Bait and Switch' to sell their services. 

Click on the image above to watch the video

Thankfully not all carpet cleaners are like this!!  To find your local 'Professional Carpet Cleaner' please visit the National Carpet Cleaners Association's website at http://www.ncca.co.uk or call office hours on 0116 271 9550

Unfortunately every industry has a few 'bad apples' and these so-called 'carpet cleaners' are starting to give the professional carpet cleaning industry a bad name.    However, 'Bait and Switch' selling is only the start as often the cleaning is very much questionable at the best of times and you run the risk of long-term damage to your carpet.   

Therefore we would like to make it clear that the company filmed in the video by the BBC are NOT members and NOT trained by the UK's leading trade association ... the NATIONAL CARPET CLEANERS ASSOCIATION (NCCA). 

Being endorsed by the UK's Government under the 'TrustMark' scheme of approved service providers the NATIONAL CARPET CLEANERS ASSOCIATION (NCCA) are the only nationally recognised trade association dedicated to the cleaning of carpets, hard flooring and soft furnishings.

The NCCA membership comprises of fully insured companies and professionally trained technicians that follow a strict Code of Practice and are recommended for a full range of services related to the carpet and upholstery cleaning industry.

YOU CAN TRUST NCCA MEMBERS

Find your local member http://www.ncca.co.uk

How 'Bait and Switch' Works: 

Some companies send out millions and millions of leaflets each year, bombarding letterboxes of homes all over the country, in addition they back-up their annoying campaign with telesales teams to 'cold-call' you and tease you offer which are too good to turn down.   Both of these selling methods use a similar 'bait' of an unbelievable low price, like in this video £8.99 for two rooms.  In this current financial climate £8.99 for two rooms is an offer to good to be true… which it is!

Once you have taken their 'bait' and allow them in your home they make sure you are hooked before they start using their hi-pressure sales tactics, to 'Switch' you to a much higher price for cleaning the same two rooms.   

In this secret filming by the BBC's Rogue Traders, the carpet cleaner tried to fool the elderly undercover 'customer' into paying ‘18 times’ more for cleaning the same two rooms with what we can only call a master-class in the three simple steps to sales success.    Or we should say ‘unethical selling success’?  As a matter of fact, this ‘Bait and Switch’ method is considered such an unfair selling technique that it's a banned practice in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations act 2008.

Instead of getting on with the clean he had been asked to do, the technician immediately began his master class.  Here’s how he does it…

BAIT AND SWITCH - STEP ONE:

The 'Cleaner' demo's the two test patches

Get the more expensive product that HE really wants to sell in front of the ‘Mark’ (sorry customer). In this case, showing the customer two test patches to demonstrate the difference in quality between the two levels of clean.  By doing this they hope to entice you into ‘upgrading’ your cleaning service.

But why would we possibly want to upgrade our service when we can have a much cheaper maintenance clean?  Simple...

BAIT AND SWITCH - STEP TWO:

The 'Cleaner' is rubbishing his own cheap service

Rubbishing the cheap service that the customer asked to buy. The technician explained that if we did go for the £8.99 service it would 'make your carpet look worse'. Amazingly, it's true! If your carpet is dirty the service that this type of company advertises for £8.99 could make your carpet appear worse because the deep down dirt would 'wick' up to the surface as the carpet dries. The Carpet Cleaner told the 'customer' that for the £8.99 clean, they don't even spray any ‘shampoo’ on your carpet first.  In other words they only use water!

BAIT AND SWITCH - STEP THREE:

Room price for one, and square foot price for the other??

Close that sale! It's time to raise the question of what the more effective - but more expensive - clean will actually cost. A crystal clear comparison is what's needed here, especially seeing as it's be given to an elderly lady on her own. But as you can see in the video this is an unethical person, using unethical tactics, so instead the vulnerable customer was offered a lower quality maintenance clean for £8.99 and a deep clean for 49p a square foot.

Selling by the square foot is fine, as long as you explain what the total cost would be from each room, but how can anyone compare a square foot price like 49p against a price of £8.99 for cleaning TWO rooms?  It's like comparing apples and oranges ... they are both fruit, but they are NOT the same thing. 

£167.90 is almost 18x MORE
than the £8.99 service asked for

Just in case you maths fans are wondering, 49p a square foot for the rooms used by the BBC for this video comes to £113.68. But the price hike didn't stop there. The technician also offered a 12-month warranty, which works out in total to £167.90. That's nearly 18 times the amount the leaflet was trying to bait us with!

At this point the actress kindly thanked the carpet cleaner for his demonstration and asked him just to do the £8.99 clean, the one he was initially invited into the house to do. It was then the technician showed yet another ploy at the company's disposal to help make that sale - 'THE DISCOUNT PLOY'.

£126.00 - First discount is about 25% OFF

‘The Discount Ploy’ required another award winning performance from the technician with him making a call to his office to ask for special permission (a tactic from the dodgy 1980's double glazing salesman) to see if they would 'allow he to discount the price down'.    

After his telephone conversation he came back, this time offering to do…"A beautiful deep clean with all the products and a stain shield warranty", all for "£126".

For a second time the elderly actress had to say NO. But the salesman was more stubborn than a ‘red wine stain on a beige carpet’ and hoped it'd be third time lucky. He informed the actress that because it was his last job of the day, he was going to offer her,

£75.00 - The second discount almost 55% OFF

"A cracking deal. £75 and that includes all the chemicals as well."

The actress still wasn't interested and managed to resist his Bait and Switch tactics. The carpet cleaner spent 56 minutes trying to sell a more expensive product before he finally gave up and reluctantly cleaned the two carpets for just £8.99. How much time did he spend cleaning them? Just 17 minutes.

You may be thinking some guy running a small carpet cleaning business wouldn’t fool you.  Unfortunately, companies like the one recorded in the video for Rogue Traders allegedly have a booming business. According to the BBC they have five branches in England and Wales and say they have 90 employees. They also say they've made more than 26,000 house calls – and over three quarters of the people they visit end up buying MORE than the £8.99 clean they were interested in signing up for.

So, it isn't just the gullible that fall for this technique. Bait and switch works – and often without you realising what’s happening.   There is nothing wrong with paying trades person a high price for a quality service.  There is nothing wrong with a trade’s person ‘upselling’ his services in the home, like offering you carpet protector, which will stop spills from becoming stains, and prolong the life of your carpets.  BUT not to ‘Bait’ you a misleading low price for a service which wouldn’t make a difference and ‘Switch’ you to a much higher price for would allegedly still be a substandard service. 

THE LAW: Consumer Protection from Unfair
Trading Regulations 2008

Bait and Switch selling works so well for UNETHICAL salesman across many industries it has been made illegal since 2008. Breaking this law can result in a criminal prosecution, an unlimited fine and two years in jail.

How can you stop this from happening to you?

Well, it doesn’t take much to work out a ridiculous low price like £8.99 isn’t going to get the cleaner far.  There are two old sayings to remember …

“If it seems too good to be true … it probably is”

and

“You always get what you pay for”

If the price being offered seems low you need to ask yourself why.  No one is going to travel across town and spend an hour or more working on your carpets for £8.99.  And would they follow all the step of a professional? 

This offer is from the £8.99 leaflet.

In most homes carpets are beautiful, they take a long time to choose the right colour and design for the home and normally are one of the largest investments you make in the home.  So why would you even look for a cheap cleaner to give you a cheap job?

In the long-term it costs a lot more money to use a 'cheap cleaner', even if this cleaner is not part of a large company trying to 'bait and switch' you ... he may not be fully trained or insured.   And often our members are called in to put right the poor cleaning or quick resoiling.  Also poor cleaning can cause long-term damage to your carpet and may require replacing.

A professional and ethical cleaner could not afford to run his business on £8.99 for two rooms, not when you consider the cost of his… Marketing, Training, Cleaning Equipment, Cleaning Solutions, Van, Fuel, Insurance, Wages etc…

What to Expect from a Professional Carpet Cleaning Company…

Although we CANNOT say what price everyone should be charging for their service, we do set code of ethics and from them we have come up with EIGHT questions to ask any cleaner before you allow anyone to clean your carpets…

1.  What method of carpet cleaning do you recommend and how is it done?

All cleaning methods are designed to produce good results and each has its place within the industry. Some methods use more water and others more mechanical action. More important however, is whether the employed technician is able to demonstrate to you the methods he recommends is the best for you and your carpets, and he has the required training to carry out the cleaning properly and safely.

This method should include…

Dry Vacuuming. The cleaner should start by vacuuming the carpets thoroughly to remove most of the dry soil before they wet the carpets. This is an important step.

Moving furniture. Unless clearly specified, moving of most furniture, like sofas and beds is required to clean the carpet underneath and should be considered part of the normal cleaning job.

Spot-cleaning. Special attention to spots is included in normal job performance. However, you have a major stain this maybe time-consuming and require specialised procedures, which may incur an additional charge.

Preconditioning. Unlike the technician in the video, special treatment with “preconditioning” agents in soiled traffic and general areas should always be used and this will be included in the cost of the cleaning.

Minimal drying time. It is the cleaner’s responsibility to ensure that the carpet is dried and returned to normal use within a reasonable time frame. The amount of time required for drying will vary with different methods, the degree of soiling and the aggressiveness of cleaning necessary, but the carpet should never be left wet.

2. Will you remove all the stains from my carpet?

No guarantee can ever be made that any particular stain will be removed. Some stains may permanently damage the carpet fibres and no amount of specialist cleaning will reverse this. Many NCCA members have received advanced training for spot and stain removal and will be able to deal with most problems. If you have a stain you are concerned about, discuss it with a member beforehand and they will be happy to advise.

3. How often do you recommend I have my carpets cleaned?

Most manufacturers recommend that a qualified technician should professionally clean domestic carpets every 9 - 18 months (on average every 12-months).   However, you should always clean a carpet before it looks dirty for TWO reasons...

 

  a) Before they look dirty on top the build up of grit in the bottom of the carpet can cut the carpet fibres like little knives, and will significantly reduce the life of a carpet.  

  b) Your carpet works like a filter to the home.  All the dust, airborne allergens and pollutants float in the air and slowly sink down in the carpet.  Your carpet will trap and hold on to these particles until cleaning.  Without regular cleaning the carpet is wrongly classed as the pollutant … when in fact it is filtering the air in your home, you just need to clean your ‘air filter’.     

4. What training have you had in cleaning carpets?

It is recommended that professional carpet cleaners attend regular training for one or two days each year.   Therefore they should be able to show you copies of their certificates for at least 2 or 3 training schools over the last few years.   If they can’t we would question their professional experience.

5. Will you give me a fully inclusive written quote? 

YES.  You should expect no hidden costs. You should be given itemised costs for services and firm prices before technicians begin each portion of the work sold. Consumers should never feel pressured to accept anything more than the services they request. 

6. What written guarantees do you offer?

Customer satisfaction is important.   It is known in carpet cleaning for some stains to reappear as the carpet is drying, and of course the technicians are only human and could miss a bit.   All cleaning firms should offer workmanship guarantees in writing.  A NCCA member would be happy you called them, and allowed them come back to put right any problems you may have, regardless how small.  Most members would re-clean any area for FREE.  If you are still unhappy with their service you may ask for a full refund.

7. Are you a current member of the National Carpet Cleaning Association?

If yes you will know they are a fully insured company, with professionally trained technicians that follows a strict Code of Practice and are recommended for a full range of services related to the carpet and upholstery cleaning industry.  You have the peace of mind knowing any member will have to answer to if they step out of line.

8. Are you a member or certified by any other industry or trade bodies?

The NCCA is the main industry body for the carpet cleaning industry in the UK, endorsed by the Government under the 'TrustMark' scheme.   Another body we are in partnership with is The IICRC.  The IICRC is a certification and standard-setting non-profit organization for the inspection, cleaning and restoration industries and serves in more than 25 countries worldwide. However there are other business related bodies, both national and local so we recommend you do your own research on any additional trade bodies.

These are included as standard with most
professional carpet clean services

We hope you will understand our friend in the video did everything wrong, with NO Pre-Inspection, NO Written Quote, NO Pre-Vacuuming, No Spotting and No Rapid Drying etc... we can't force people do it all one way.  There are many different people and different levels of service in the carpet cleaning industry, in fact there are different levels of service and pricing within our own association, however by selecting a member of the National Carpet Cleaners Association you can have the reassurance ALL our members are fully insured, trained to high standards and follow our Code of Practice to give you a first class service every time.

Thank you.

To contact us or find a local 'Professional Carpet Cleaner' please visit…

http://www.ncca.co.uk

or call 0116 271 9550

If you wish to see all the 'Bait and Switch' section as seen on
BBC's Watchdog programme please click on the video below.  
This video is 20 minutes long in total.

The NCCA would like to acknowledge and thank the BBC's Watchdog for making this 'Rogue Trader' promgramme and allowing people to see some of the con's and unethical services being offered today.    The person and company filmed in the video by the BBC are NOT members and NOT trained by the NATIONAL CARPET CLEANERS ASSOCIATION (NCCA).