Aabracadabra Chem-Dry

UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP. I’ve tried several carpet cleaning companies over the last several years and these folks are far and away the best. Steve was our guy and he was timely, professional, competitive, organized, and he made our carpets look great. The entire experience was five stars. Definitely give this company a try. You won’t regret it!

Those darn Val-​pak advertisements that come to my mailbox sure does work. The promise of a set price to clean your entire house sure sounds like a steal. At only $ 179 for cleaning all the carpets in the house, wow I need to jump on that! Confirmed that with the person on the phone and an appointment was set for a week later.
Price deception. Upon arrival… «whoops, those stairs were wider than what we thought», «the price only covers up to this much square foot range», «we need to put protectants and additives that bumps up the price if you truly want a good clean plus protection», «our cleaning strips the carpet so we need to add back protectant at an additional cost» and «it’s no pressure to take this price but since we are here…». The price shot up to over $ 300 (tax included). Originally, I planned to use traditional shampooing that would cost about $ 275, I decided try to this new ChemDry method of cleaning since it is within 10% of expected budget.
Service. Service and cleaning time were as expected: 2 to 2.5 hours to complete the work and no issues with the technician. First, he vacuumed the floor to remove any debris. Second, he sprayed their special «carbonating» solution over the surface. Third, a machine that looks similar to a floor buffer/​polisher was used in conjunction with a mop-​like attachment that spins over the carpet. The difference between their method and the traditional: they do not saturate the pad underneath and extract, they only clean the carpet itself. They claim that their solution does not contain chemicals and that their method dries much quicker. At the end, they «rake» the carpet to fluff back up the fibers as the machine flattens them during the cleaning process.
Final verdict. As promised, the carpet dried within hours. Noticeably different was the fact there was no fresh scent or the feeling of clean like what a shampooing or steam cleaning does. One issue that bothered me was the fact that he had to wear shoes in the house but did not have booties like all other folks that come to provide home services.
It is difficult to discern in my situation the huge difference in cleanliness of their method since I neither wear shoes in the house, have pets, and keep my floors well maintained. Still, I prefer the traditional method where I can «see, feel and smell» the difference.
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*A call back to them requesting a «redo» of a spot they did was denied. They claimed that if I had purchased the extra protectant package (extra $ 150 or so to add some chemicals to their cleaning solution) then they would have no problem returning. The guy told me that I had «wear» patterns and their cleaning won’t remove this. This is BS since the carpet is only 1 year old with low use: no shoes, no pets, no kids, no smoke and kept in excellent condition — no visible wear spots whatsoever. I think I will stick with the tried and true carpet shampoo and/​or steaming from now on. I have to thank ChemDry for showing me the light.