How to avoid the bait-and-switch carpet cleaning scam in South Wales

Whilst most carpet and upholstery cleaning companies do their best to provide a high quality service at a fair price, there are some individuals and carpet cleaning franchises that tow the line of the law and employ bait-and-switch tactics on unsuspecting customers.

The bait-and-switch con is usually spotted in online or leaflet advertising with a company permanently promoting particularly cheap offers such as prices starting at £15, one room any size for £15, or a two bed house for £50 etc.

What then usually happens is that the carpet cleaning representative will try to raise the agreed price with additional hidden charges. These are often explained by stating that “you were quoted for a basic clean but your carpets need a deep clean” or “you need specific additional chemicals or special process not covered by the offer to remove these type of stains.”

Simply put, the “bait” is the misleading offer, and the “switch” is the attempt to scam the customer into paying an inflated price. And if the customer doesn’t agree to the new price, the clean is usually very rushed and the offending company out the door as soon as possible to minimise time and money spent on the job.

Unfortunately, this tactic is still being used in South Wales. Twice in recent weeks we have been called out to finish cleaning carpets that a particular company left in an unacceptable state. After speaking to one of these customers, it was clear that on a particular occasion, the bait-and-switch tactic was blatantly used by the company.

How to avoid being scammed by bait-and-switch

Firstly, we recommend avoiding any company that is currently advertising any suspiciously cheap deals.

It’s simple mathematics:

A carpet cleaning franchise operator simply wouldn’t make a reasonable living if he were to clean carpets at the prices advertised (after paying franchise fees and running costs).

And if they did manage to do so, it would be at the expense of any sort of quality service because jobs would have to be completed at breakneck speed in order to cram as many appointments as possible into their working week.

Granted, there are sometimes genuine reasons for having to increase the price of a job:

• The rooms may be significantly larger than described.
• There may be additional areas or rooms added.
• The customer may ask for additional treatment such as moth repellant or stain protection.

But aggressively pushing an inflated price on a customer and then carrying out a sub standard service when they decline is simply not acceptable.