Searsclean of San Diego County

Review: I was given a quote of $237 by Sears for carpet and tiles cleaning in my rental. Carpet cleaner B__ is charging me $651, he said the house is big. Then reduced it to $459, to $351 after I verified that he overstated the measurement of the kitchen. My husband and I ate out; I am diabetic. They came early, no time to eat. When we came back, they had secured the equipment, about 1 hr and 15 min. cleaning time. Told us the house is so clean. I wanted to see; but they stopped me--the floor is wet and will leave spots when dried. My Husband used the bathroom, and was disappointed and said they did not clean the house good.Cleaner J-- said the house is old and the stains could not be removed. From the garage, I saw the washroom with the tiles still dirty. The cleaners did not offer to clean. I complained to the Svc Mgr He said that the cleaners should not negotiate the price, that they should let us see the job to accept it, so he would send them back tomorrow to clean the dirty areas. He scheduled the return from 12 noon to 2 pm; then 2 more delays. From 11:30 to 5:30, no one came. It was difficult-I just had a total knee surgery and no chairs, house is empty. On Sat. the two came back. When shown the dirty areas, (3 areas) they said that the house is old and cannot be cleaned better. I stopped showing the other areas, because it is obvious that they will not like to be told. When I called the Manager on Tuesday, he totally was not helpful, he told me that he is satisfied with what the cleaners did after seeing from a video how dirty the house was and because of the age of the house, it will not come to our expectations. I did not hear any video before. The Svc. Mgr. was not listening to my complaint, but kept on praising his workers. When I asked for the Corporate Office, he told me that I should let him do one more thing--that is asking Benny again what he can do. He mentioned 3 times that he would only give the Corp if I agree, so I agreed reluctantly. I haven't hear from him.Desired Settlement: Request the refund of the amount charged over the quoted price, which is $154.00.For the inconvenience; stress; physically and emotionally; criticism about our house, (22 years old) this is not enough; however, to get some justice here, I am asking to get reimbursed somehow. Additionally, $391 for carpet and tile cleaning done in an hour and 15 minutes (not acceptable to us) will pay each cleaner (2 cleaners) approximately $140-%150 per hour. This is an excessive charg)

Business

Response:

Response to complaint,

I do apologize for not being able to use the typical response system,but my system was not allowing me to write in your selected area for response. According to my technician this job was larger than was indicated over the phone, therefore the difference in price. When he quoted the correct price the customer tried to negotiate with them. We have a no negotiation policy, but the technician broke that policy because he did not want to lose the job for our company which is understandable. He was also concerned about the age of the tile and the amount of wear that it had on it so took a small video and some pictures of the cleaning so that we could see the results. He explained to the home owner that there could be stains left over that are imbedded in the grout lines. That is a common occurrence in older home. The tile was also sealed which is why the homeowner was encouraged not to walk on the tiles because it had not had proper time to cure to the grout and did not it to have any ill effects. The customer also stated that her friends had looked at the job and indicated that it wasn’t clean enough, but seeing as they are not professionals and they also have a biased toward the customer I explained to her this has no influence on my decision to re-clean the areas.

As for the request that was made for the refund, per the back of our invoice it states clearly that we offer service guarantees but no refunds. We did attempt to go back out there again to inspect the tiles but due to unforeseen issues we were later than expect and we were not granted access to the job. The next day the customer called demanding a refund and I simply explained the refund policy and that I cannot do that. One of our CSR’s did try to contact the customer to schedule a re-service with no luck. If there was any miscommunication or perhaps dialing an in correct phone number then the customer was more than welcome to call in regarding the status of the job, yet chose not to. They are still eligible for a re-service, but no refund because as was stated earlier they signed off on our invoice which clearly states the refund and guarantee policies. If the customer is wishing to take advantage of their re-service they are more than welcome to call in and claim it. When the technicians go back the customer must be understanding to the fact that with older homes you cannot expect a brand new appearance on the floor, but instead look for drastic results.

So in summary we can go out there for a re-service, we cannot give them a refund, especially after they already negotiated down the price with my technician and though we can try again to meet their expectations we cannot guarantee a perfect floor when it has many, many years of traffic wear and abuse from their renters on it. I do hope this answers some questions and I also hope that we are able to come to a realistic resolution that will be fair to both the customer, technicians and our company.

Regards,

General Manager

Sears Carpet and Air Duct of SD

###-###-####

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Some remarks are not true. I did not negotiate the price; the prices were shown to me using the technician's calculator: $651; $459 and $391 (without any notes, he inputted figures and came up with these figures.) MISREPRESENTATION OF QUOTATIONS. He overstated the size of my kitchen to be 150 sq ft.; and I was truly surprised;; I asked him to measure it with me; it was only 81 sq. ft. Due to total knee surgery, I was not in a position to go with him during the re-measure. I agreed finally with the final price because I had trusted Sears and I wanted the house to be clean soon due to the lease agreement that will commence in 5 days; wanting to have everything safe for 4 small children that the new tenants have.

We were not aware of the video, no consent was given to them to take video of my home and why they did not discuss the problem with us before the job is done. As a matter of fact, the Technician told me after I agreed with his quotation that he would make my house very clean. The people who saw the condition of the cleaning are not my friends (they are my tenants, a neighbor whom I just met two weeks before the cleaning, and two contractors doing work at home. I asked their opinion to confirm that I was not asking for something impossible. At age 73, I don't have to be professional cleaner to know what I was talking about, nor these people.

It is also untrue that they did attempt to inspect the tiles but due to unforeseen issues, they were not granted access to the job. THIS IS A COMPLETE LIE. The Service Mgr told me after complaining of the service that he normally inspect the job, but he could not do it sooner so he is sending back the two technicians to re-do the job. I told him, to please send someone else. I am thinking that it may be difficult for me to trust them after hearing from the Service Mgr) that the technician should not negotiate the price; that the technician lied to me that he was the one who cleaned the house where I live, when I mentioned to him that we were very satisfied with the work. I even asked "So, you recognized my husband. and he replied "Oh, yes".

The Service Mgr. said "not to worry; they have to clean the areas you want them to clean and they are not supposed to leave the premises unless you are satisfied, except if the areas could not be clean anymore". (This was the way he worded it). He scheduled the re-cleaning the following day from 12:00 noon to 2:00. When I called at 2:30, the Customer Rep said that I was not in schedule for the day, then I told her that this is in connection with a complaint and asked for the Service Mgr. She kept me on hold for more than 5 minutes and then said that I was scheduled from 2:00 to 4:00 and that the Service Mgr. was not available. I told her that I wrote 2:00 to 4:00 while I was talking to the Svc. Mgr. On that day, I waited from 11:30 till 5:30 in an empty house, no chairs to sit down, and with a total knee operation in October, then a knee manipulation in last week of March, considering that I am already 73 years old, I had to go back and forth to sit inside my car, no shade at all in the area.

It is also untrue that we did not give them a chance to re-service; how many chances does he want? They were given four (4) chances: (1) Friday from 12:00 - 2:00 (2) Friday from 2:00 - 4:00 (3) Friday 4:00 to 5:00 and (4) Saturday from 8:00 to 9:00? I did not make a "demand" to refund the over quoted amount, but requested when the Technician did not come at 2:30 Friday and when I called again at 4:30. Another lie from the Customer Service Rep, she said the Technician was on the way, he would be there in less than 30 minutes. The Technician (another person came at 6:15 at my home (wrong address, which I corrected 3 times, giving the rental property address.

When I asked the Service Mgr. for the Corporate Office phone no. which he did not give me to complain of how he handles my complain; he reasoned out that despite his moving to a new home, he is still trying to help me. He wants me to give him a chance to ask the technician again what he could do. Why not ask him before, and what happened to his statement to me earlier that "I will not do anything because of what I saw in the video"? He completely made a complete turnaround from the way he assisted me after the cleaning after he had made the situation worst by being biased to his technicians.

Even the refund of the whole amount seems to be insufficient for the kind of service and aggravation we experienced from the technicians and the service manager. Is there still a SEARS Corporate Office who can handle this matter fairly and unbiased. We had depended on the good service that SEARS COMPANY used to extend. May I request for their address?

Thank you, for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Review: We had our floors cleaned and colored sealed grout. They came and did the cleaning of the tiles but never did the color seal touch up. They failed to show up for an appointment. They never returned our calls, which were many. Finally we talked to [redacted] at [redacted] and he said someone would be calling us to set up another appointment to finish the word started, no one ever called. It has been a week since then. No one answers their phone and no one returns our calls. This whole process has been going on since around 8-21-14. We have already paid for the service.Desired Settlement: We need for them for come back and finish the color grout touch up. And do it now.