Consumer Review of Carpet Master Chem-Dry, Oakland
Rated: Worst service I’ve ever received.
I found this company when searching for carpet cleaners in Oakland. On November 2nd, 2004, I had them come out and clean my carpets. The job was adequately done. The employee, Courtney, left his billing folder with my signed charge slip inside my home when we left. He called me and told me he had left it inside, and asked when he could come pick it up. I told him I’d go home after work at 5am and leave it outside for him for him to pick up at his convenience.
When I returned home, my house had been burgled by an unknown suspect, the bathroom screen pried off, the sliding door standing open, the back gate broken. The only thing missing in a house full of things being packed and money left lying on the counter? The folder.
After making a police report, I called to complain. Instead of the owner, Michael Lane, returning my call, the employee Courtney called, telling me he would never break into my home, and that I was only trying to ruin him.
I called the business repeatedly over the course of several weeks. The office help, Susan, was unhelpful and rude. She said on a daily basis that Mr. Lane would call me back, but he never did.
I sent a letter to Mr. Lane, now forwarded on to his franchise board and the Better Business Bureau, and in response, Susan called, saying that Mr. Lane would write me a letter taking care of it. Instead, I got a form response letter, "How did we do? On a scale of one to ten, rank our service." I was too insulted to even bother mailing it in.
On January 27, 2005, I finally reached the owner, only by finding his personal cell phone and email in a job advertisement he posted on Craigslist. He said that I could pay for a polygraph test to prove that his employee was innocent of my charges. He was rude, uncourteous, and disrespectful. He insisted that I was a scam artist, maintaining this even when I removed my request for reimbursement, telling him all I wanted was an apology and certain level of professional courtesy.
I have given up hoping for this. But hopefully this post will help someone deciding whom to hire. Should you need help dealing with this company, please contact me at writerach406 at yahoo dot com. Carpet Master Chem-Dry is the worst, not the best, carpet cleaner in Oakland.
* This is a personal review only. This is not libel, as a statement alleged to be defamatory must also be a false statement of fact. And yo. I couldn’t make this shit up.
I have to agree that this sounds like the worst carpet cleaner in Oakland. Of all the carpet cleaners in Oakland, surely this carpet cleaner is Oakland’s worst. I wonder how many times I can include the words carpet cleaner and Oakland in this reply and if thatt will help increase the odds of it being at the top of a Google search list. You can be sure that I will never, ever hire this Oakland carpet cleaner and neither should any one else.
I wondered what comes up when googling carpet cleaner Oakland, and now I feel ill.
You didn’t have the worst experience.
http://www.esrcheck.com/IntheNews/carpet_cleaner_verdict.htm
good lord.
Since he claims that he never broke into your home, you should have cancelled your check. That or asked that owner if he had recieved payment, which would have been the clincher that he did break in. Did that make sense?
I would suggest contacting your credit card company. See if they have, or can require Chem-Dry to produce, a signed credit slip. If they can, it goes a long way toward proving the guy broke in to get it. If they can not, dispute the charge.
people, people, stop being so gullible, that co. is not the worst because they might’ve robbed the guy,that company is the ..worst because it..exists!! The …system!! “dry cleaning’ is a complete fraud, regardless of the name of franchises!
I clean carpets for 25 years, still broke,
because i have scrupules!!
Im the reverse of..dry cleaning!!
No SOAP , NO RESIDUE, NO COLOR. NO SMELL, NON TOXIC, BIODEGRADABLE!!
THAT IS WHAT I LEAVE IN YOUR CARPETS!
EXTRACTION, NO RESIDUE! SIMPLE!!
STOP BEING SO GULLIBLE AND ALSO BELIEVE THAT BUDWEISER IS A BEER!!
IMAGINE SHAMPOOING YOUR HAIR AND NEVER RINSE IT!!
THATS….DRY ‘CLEANING’ FOR YOU!!
I DONT LIVE IN YOUR CITY, STATE, I DONT WANT YOUR JOB!!
JUST HAD ENOUGH OF SO MUCH FRAUD!!
This company is run by baboons. Let me say the 1800-NoGrime is the absolutely most unprofessional company I have ever witnessed in my life. This is just my opinion, but they cannot even schedule an appointment correctly. If you say, “Be at my house at 9am”, they say, “we will be there between 9am and 11am”. They will show up at 11am. When I called to complain, they said “we can’t be there at 9am because the driver had to get gas and find your house”. I asked, “So why do you even say 9 to 11, why don’t you say 10 to 11”? They then say, “we give a range”. Retards. I am also sick of seeing Michael Lane’s face on these coupons that show up at my house and his use of the American flag and his Army status. When he was in the Army, was he two hours late for battle? ha
The first time they were supposed to come to my house, it was for 3pm. They showed up at 5pm, and they had to reschedule.
I find it incredible that they cannot commit to a time. Why can I make an appointment with a lawyer, landscaper, accountant, etc and have the time commitment made. I even asked to be the first one of the day and they can’t make it. I suspect the reason is that they have no control over their workers, because they manage their staff poorly. Their cleaners are probably independents who they have no control over. They need to manage this operation and not just take phone calls.
Their office staff is very rude on the phone as well.
CarpetMaster ChemDry of Oakland is a terrible business. CarpetMaster ChemDry of Oakland is a terrible business.
Well I have really had enough of these comments. I happened to google carpet master chemdry just in curiousity. It is unbelieveable to me what i am reading.
1. The customer who commented about the technician who allegedly broke into her house.
She forgot to leave out just about everything that actually happened. the most important of which is the employee agreed to take a polygraph to prove his innocense. Why would the company spend $700.00 to administer a polygraph on an alleged complaint. Would any compay? even Nordstroms?.
The lady then forgot to mention that if they technician failed the polygraph the company carept master would reimburse her the full amount. So, she had nothing to lose, nothing at all. But she did not want to put her money were her mouth was. What she was trying to get was her money back. As she has stated in her comments she withdrew that request. Courtney the techinican had been in thousands of homes. Why would he break into a home to get his clipboard and a receipt. The receipt from what I understand was never submitted or found. The worst carpet cleaning company are those that don’t show up, kill their customers, rape them and steal their money. Have you forgotten about those?
Finally, the customer tried to bully the company into refunding her money by threatening that she worked for the police department. Ah so now we hear the otherside of the story. My apologies for not checking these sights before.
On the 2nd issue of appointment times.
If a company tells you they will arrive sometime between 9am and 11 am and the customer has been informed and agrees to it, then what is the problem?
I waite for PG&E, I waite for my lawyer, I waite for my doctor, I waite for my mechanic, I waite for just about every company or service. If someone has surrounded their lives with everyone and every company that has an on the dot service I would love to know of it.
I was the owner my name is Michael Lane. I have retired in April of 2006.
The company carpet master continues to do an excellent job with over 60,000 customers being serviced.
Go to http://WWW.1800NOGRIME.COM, look under testamonials and you will see that Courtney has the most positive comments of any technician.
As for the chemdry wanna be cleaner who made comments about being sick of scams. Remember that your carpets were not desinged to be soaked and saturated. If you have carpets that have been cleaned over the years by a steam cleaner pull the carpet back and look at the hardwood floor or padding underneath. Then you will see the damge done by over saturation. Why has chemdry become the #1 carpet cleaner? It is not because of scams I can assure you of that. Last but not least perhaps some of you are aware the Home Depot has purchased CHEMDRY, yes that’s right the number 1 home service company has purchased ….what do you think a scam company or the best in the their field?
As a famous announcer said..now you know the rest of the story.