"BAIT AND SWITCH"

 This is the classic carpet cleaning rip-off. In this scam, the customer is lured in by a ridiculously low priced carpet cleaning. Often the advertisement you read will offer carpet cleaning in the neighborhood of $5 per room or five rooms $59. I’m sure you’ve seen the unbelievably cheap price for carpet cleaning on the coupon you get in the mail. It sounds so good because, after all, you're on a budget and the lowest price is what you need. However, as the old saying goes: "You get what you pay for" or "If it sounds to good to be true it probably is". These sayings prove to be true all too often.

 There is no way that a company can be profitable selling its services that low. But the companies usually have no intention of leaving your home with only the advertised amount. Let me show you

how your price will increase broken down in steps.

"Preconditioning Scam"
One way they will increase the bill is by selling you preconditioning. Most legitimate companies include this in their pricing. That low price they offered probably didn't include it. It may have been $5 per room to clean it with water only but pre-conditioning will cost you an additional 25 cents per square foot. Considering an average room size of 150 square feet, that would be $37.50 per room extra. So a 5 room home would go from the advertised carpet cleaning price of $25 to $212.50. Quite a difference.

But what if you just refuse to pay for the pre-conditioning? Chances are you will get a substandard cleaning or a rush job, but their is another way that they can try to force you into paying for the pre-conditioning. They may offer to do a demo for you. This isn't necessarily bad, many good carpet cleaning companies do demos. What Bait and Switch companies will do however is clean an area in a highly visible area. If you decide to not pay for the extra service, you will have an extra clean spot in the middle of your carpet that will stick out like a sore thumb. By doing this you are forced to pay the extra price.

"Dual Scrubber Scam"

The carpet cleaner tells you that you need a dual process or deep scrub method for an extra $0.20 per square foot in order to get your carpets clean. You may think: "Why didn't they tell me this on the phone" ...and really, they should have. But if you look closely at the bottom of the coupon (in the small print) it states the possibility of 'extra charges'.

"Extra Room Scam "
Another way for Bait and Switch companies to increase their bill is through extra room charges. If you use a coupon, you must read the fine print. Some companies will charge extra for rooms over 100 square feet of carpet for example. It is hard to find a room in a typical home under that square footage, so that means the typical room will count as two and the typical living room or family room will count as three or even four rooms.

"What are your choices?"
1.Pay the inflated price. ( NO YOU SHOULD NOT! )
2.Make them do it for the coupon price. (NO they will be disgruntle and clean with just water.)
3.Send them away. (Then call BNJ Carpet Care! any thing else would be just wrong)