OC Fresh Carpet Care

In late December of 2011, I requested OC Fresh Carpet Care’s quoted $ 69 carpet cleaning for my 2 small bedrooms. The technician arrived in an old, unmarked white van 10 minutes after the scheduled 30-​minute time window. Immediately he informed me that the $ 69 service I had signed up for used a wall outlet-​powered cleaner like the ones you can find in the grocery stores – however, the truck-​powered cleaning service was available for $ 100. Since I was in a time crunch, and since there were no alternative companies available, I accepted. He then proceeded to turn on the van-​mounted machine to low heat and chemical injection on, and he dragged dirty hoses into my home. During his cleaning (one sweep only – injection and suction together), he did not stop talking about how this «steam» cleaner was leaving my carpet like-​new. I asked what chemicals he was spraying from a hand-​held spritzer on the carpet before doing the one-​over with the injection/​suction nozzle with the aforementioned chemical injection, and he said «no chemicals!» At this point, I am unimpressed but still OK. Then, I decide to feel the heat coming from this «steam» cleaner: the injection hose near the nozzle was slightly warm to the touch, and the carpet he immediately treated was lukewarm-​to-​cold – definitely weaker than a Bissell machine I had before I moved. As he approaches the transition from from the carpet to the tile hallway, he repeatedly lifts up violently, unfastening the carpet from the subfloor with the suction nozzle. To my continued dismay, he soaks this portion of the carpet with the nozzle in mid-​air. This repeated in my second bedroom, one-​pass of mystery liquid injection, soaking and unfastening the transition area, and again, «like new!» was his refrain. All this took 15 minutes, including set-​up. He then offers to demonstrate how he can also clean the grout in my bathroom floor, which is nearly black from the previous homeowner. I decide to humor him. He brings another mystery spritzer, a wire brush, and a white towel from his van and sprays the dirtiest section of grout he can find, brushes it for 3 seconds, and wipes the liquid with the towel. Result of this trial: still nearly black (though newly wet black). Not surprisingly, he exclaims, «like new!» again. Running out of patience, I declined his offer of continued cleaning and offered him my receipt from OC Fresh that stated $ 15 off ANY service $ 99 or more, and suddenly the technician went from incompetent and perhaps blind to belligerent. He says that the truck-​powered machine cleaning is actually valued at $ 180 and he had already given me an $ 80 discount. After several minutes of arguing, I call OC Fresh, which was of no help since they DO NOT supervise this technician (apparently they contract out the jobs to independents). The technician then calls HIS supervisor and speaks in Hebrew for about 5 minutes. I then ask to speak to this supervisor, but then he claims that the supervisor is on vacation and is not to be bothered. He offers for me to call him later. At this point, I want the man to leave, so I prepare to give him my credit card, which (surprise) he does not accept (OC Fresh did not advise me or disclose on the website of any payment limitations). I offer him a check, but he refuses this also, saying checks are only acceptable for jobs over $ 250. After much wrangling, I get him to agree to a check, and I write it for $ 100. This is the interesting point: he asks me for the $ 15-​off coupon! It wasn’t enough for this technician to do a poor cleaning job (which a Hoover or Bissell heated carpet cleaner could outperform) and take me for an idiot, he also thinks he can scam me TWICE, by getting paid $ 100 for a $ 69 service, and then by profiting $ 15 off of the coupon. I did NOT give him that coupon, and he was visibly bothered by that. The fact that OC Fresh has not responded to my complaint registered by the Better Business Bureau makes both OC Fresh and this contracted technician deserve a FAILING GRADE. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!