I'm already committed and have a date set for them to come out.

The shop allowance leaves me some wiggle room to have a lazy boy cleaned or get the scotch guard applied to my carpet.

Would you trust this process on your favorite recliner?

Has anyone else here done this shop? I get nothing when I search Chem-Dry.

They have their work cut out for them on the carpet in the living room as the last place I paid to have clean my carpets did not get all the soap out. The traffic areas are like a dirt magnet and are heavily soiled in less than 8 months, so they can't make it worse than it is now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2014 05:24AM by scanman1.

I shampoo my carpets myself every week, but I still do the ChemDry shop as soon as it comes available.

I also had a piece of furniture cleaned, as I only have three small rooms which are carpeted, the rest are hardwood. The furniture piece was an antique divan I rescued which was beautiful, but so heavily soiled, it looked like someone died on it. Not kidding. There was a body shape...someone must have laid on it, filthy, for years for it to build up so badly.

It came out sparkling clean... I couldn't believe it'd gotten that clean.

They did not use soap on my carpets, and I had to show them the carpet cleaning solution which I use regularly, so that they could pull out some weird solution to use.

They have this neat attachment which they use on thresholds and baseboards... it's pretty cool and I was amazed and disgusted at the amount of gunk which it pulled up, that my carpet cleaner routinely misses.

Be careful, as I've had exceptional Chem-Dry service, and "meh" Chem-Dry service.

I've seen reviews online for the MSC in which a lot of shoppers are complaining that Chem-Dry is regularly rejecting their shops and refusing reimbursement, but honestly, I have never had that problem, always been reimbursed. Follow the guidelines exactly and neither will you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2014 05:18AM by BBird0701.

I've liked Chem-Dry more than the conventional carpet cleaning methods. I've not done one of their shops though.

I've never done the shops either, but I prefer their carpet cleaning methods. I would choose them every time and never worry about trusting my favorite chair to them.

I did one last fall and my carpets came out looking great. It removed some stains that my previous carpet cleaner did not get out. The fellow who did it was thorough and professional. I was paid in full as per the company terms. I did not have any furniture cleaned.

These are the revealed shops, right? For some reason, doing a reveal at my home makes me a bit uncomfortable. For those of you who have done these, what has been the reaction? BBird, if you schedule these often, how do you know you will not have the same person come to your home. Awkward?

JenW... it a reveal at the end, but it is not uncomfortable. You just state that you need a sample of their cleaning solution, and they give you one.

Honestly, I have never scheduled with the same office twice. I move roughly every two years for either my job or my husband's. What I've done so far is that when one becomes available at an office in one direction from my house, I'll pick that one up, and then a year later, when one becomes available at the office in the other direction, I pick that one up. I don't know what I'll do when we finally settle down, though. Probably still do them, though they may know when I book my appointment that I am the shopper.

That sounds like a great shop, but one I'll never be able to do. Seeing as how we have animals in the house we decided when we first moved in to rip all of the carpet up and go with stained concrete floors.

BBird or MsJudi, can you give any insight about the report? Is it narrative-heavy? I see that photos are required--is this of the competed work? I don't know why the notion of this shop freaks me out a bit. There is one in my area that has gone unfilled for a few weeks. No pay, but $225 in reimbursement.

Do they do a good job with pet stains?

The one I did was fine. Pet stains can be pre-treated. I had pet stains and they came out. The report wasn't bad. I don't recall a lot of narrative. It was certainly reasonable. I would do it again, but around here you have to live in a certain county and I'm afraid I'll get the same fellow since he does my county. I took pictures while he was cleaning (without flash) and then of him holding the solution and of the finished area and his truck. The fellow was a bit stunned as he told me he knew about the mystery shopping, but had never had one completed on him. He did a fine job and was pleasant about the whole thing. He told me they could be fined heavily for not following protocols...ugh. It was a bit awkward, but I've done much worse. Just be sure to seal the solution and tape it up good before mailing it.

I have gotten offers in the mail that were a much better deal than the price he charged me, but I was reimbursed for most of it plus there was a bonus on the job. I think I had an extra area done. Their spot cleaner is also very good and he sold me a can of it.

I did the chem-dry shop. it's really easy! I had the survey opened on my iphone, so as the guy was cleaning, I was taking notes. It was a memerable shop, because a huge black widow appeared on the Persian carpet I had rolled up in the garage and scared the bejeebies out of both of us, then my (at the time) 3 year old found the value size baby powder and powdered my enter master bedroom, which caused a fog that floated to every inch of the room. I literally had to keep the door closed and the window open because It was so foggy from the powder. And to top it off, it was a stormy day and it knocked the power out. Finally, when it came time to reviel myself, he asked, "Was all this intentional?" No, really, it was just worst case scenerio. LOL He did great, and I gave him a glowing report.

One more question: Can gratuity for the service technician come out of the $225 reimbursement?

I'm very happy with the results of this shop.

Carpets look great and my recliner chair looks like new.

The survey was very simple. There are less than a dozen required photos. Since my job was so small and this company does mostly industrial clients, the owner came out to do the job.

I never even thought about tipping the owner.

I don't think tipping is allowed. You only get reimbursed what the receipt states. Unless something was added into the guidelines since I did it last year, I am sure you still can't tip.

Chem Dry is a great company. I have friends who use them yearly and won't go back to traditional carpet services.

Hi all, I've been looking at these shops for a while but haven't pick one up yet.

Would I qualify if I have more area rugs to clean than actual wall-to-wall carpeting?

How long does it take to get reimbursed?

Do you get reimbursed for shipping the solution?

What are the required photos? And do you take them while the rep is still there?

Thanks

I just got my check in the mail yesterday for this shop. They send you a very cheap padded envelope to mail the sample back in. I didn't trust that the sample would safely make it to the lab in the flimsy envelope and sent it in a small sturdy cardboard box with proper packing instead.

I also sent it certified mail, with return receipt and went over the $15 shipping that they pay to have physical proof they received it. This is a reimbursement of $240, so paying an extra $2.70 for peace of mind was worth it to me.

I sent them the before, during, and after photo's exactly as the shop directions called for and was very careful to get the critical photo of the sample being taken with a few different angle shots. They liked the first one I submitted.

If this shop came up for the other company in town that is the same franchise when I need the rugs cleaned again, I'd be all over that shop again. They paid three days short of a month from when I had the cleaning completed. The report was very simple to fill out and was less than 15 photo's and was almost no narrative. I took about 25 with extras to play it safe. I never heard from them again after I submitted the report.

I had a small area rug and a recliner cleaned as well as three rooms of wall to wall carpet. I went out of pocket for $40 and it was well worth it to get that recliner cleaned.

You need to check with them to see if wall to wall carpet is required. I don't think they really care what your cleaning services are, as long as you get them the all important sample and other photos to prove that the company is using the proper chemicals and not using some other brand chemicals that are not from the franchise.

^^^

Thanks for the info.

I have one of these shops scheduled for this week. For some reason I am really nervous about doing a reveal in my home. I know it is unlikely that the franchisee would be using a bogus solution, but if that were the case, things might get ugly(?). Has anyone had a bad experience upon revealing themselves and requesting the sample? In any event, I'm doing it Thursday, so wish me luck!

Damn, I'm jealous. I see those assignments but the store in my region doesn't get shopped. I even tried calling nearby stores that were shopped to see if they would service my address but nope...

Do this shop. I've done it twice and had no problems whatsoever. They were fine when I revealed and did a great job, so they didn't need to worry anyway.

Kona Kathie (or others)....Did it seem that the technicians were aware that they were subject to a mystery shop, or were they totally surprised?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2015 03:23AM by JenW.

I'm doing one of these next week as well. I'm a bit nervous about the reveal.

I had the owner of the company come to do the shop. This company does mostly industrial jobs and does not advertise to residential customers. He told me that he knew he was being shopped from the minute I called, as soon as I did the reveal.

If the company was the other one that services my area that markets for residential and does advertise, they would not have known.

Oh wow Scanman....Did you include that in your report? I guess I would feel better if the techs know that a mystery shop was coming or possible, as they would be more apt to always use the correct solution. My big fear is that the tech is not using the proper solution, and my reveal makes him fly off the handle in my home. I know it is unlikely, but the fear is there.

I did one a few weeks ago. My carpets came out good but not exceptional. I also did an area rug that I could not see a difference at all. It was funny because when I did the reveal, I was told that they had cut me a big break on the price. The technician (the owner) said that if he had thought I was a shopper, he would have quoted me full price. He indicated that he was worried the company would say that they did not charge enough.