Carpet cleaning performed by an honest, trained professional can save you money in the long run. However, it requires very expensive equipment and attention to deal, not a "lets just get this job done" attitude. For this reason, it is important, as a consumer, to beware of some of the "traps" carpet cleaning companies use when charging little for their services. This means one of two things. Either the company is not professionally cleaning your carpet as they should, or you are going to be in for a shock when you see the actual bill is much higher than the quoted price.

In the first case, you would be just as well off using do-it-yourself rental equipment. In the former case, below are a few things to watch for so you can be a more informed consumer.

Pricing by the Room

Many carpet cleaning companies use this approach to charging their customers. Many of these companies are honest in their parching attempts. However, many times this sort of pricing is misleading, and this method can be used by less than honest companies to exploit their customers.

Say a company advertises that they charge $70 to clean each area. Well, this is really how much they charge. The question to ask is what is an "area". You will often find that there is a maximum square footage. A room may have a maximum size of 175 square feet, so your 200 square feet living room counts as two rooms. The soiling of your carpet may exceed their "standards", so to do the job, they will need to charge as if they are cleaning one and a half carpet areas. This quoted price may include a "bare bones" method of carpet cleaning. It may lack detergent, or the proper equipment to truly clean the pollutants out of your carpet. The best way to charge for carpet cleaning is by the square foot. That way there is nothing left up in the air. You can be sure that the price is custom to your house.

Multiple Process Carpet Cleaning

Similar to pricing by the area, this method of carpet cleaning is often used for carpet cleaning companies to get their foot in the door. They offer you a very low end price. When they get into your house, they inform you that the quoted price was their "clean package" (or any other name they may claim). To get the "cleaner" or "cleanest" package you will need to upgrade. In other words, they aren't really professionally cleaning your carpet for the suggested price. It is important to note that with every carpet cleaning company there will be options. Maybe, you want a pre-spray detergent, spot removal, or other options. This is OK. However, when companies start suggesting different levels of carpet cleaning be very weary. After all, you aren't paying someone to make your carpet look a little nicer. You're paying to have it professionally cleaned, which includes removing it of all impurities.

Offering Cheap or Free Carpet Protector

After a professional carpet cleaning, carpet protector can be a very valuable asset. It does its job in protecting your carpet. However, carpet protector is not cheap. When dealing with carpet protector, your carpet cleaner and mechanic start to have a strong comminality--you have to trust them. There are companies out there that (especially when offering free carpet protector) will spray water down on your carpet. They know you won't know the difference at the time. And when you do notice, they will be long gone. So how do you know that you're getting what you paid for? You could ask them to mix it in front of you. Many "carpet cleaners" will turn white at this request. Also, it is most common for carpet cleaners to charge 10 to 20 cents per square foot for proper protectant.

Carpet Cleaning Coupons

We are bombarded with coupons every day, whether its our local deli or our favorite fashion chain. Coupons are a great marketing tool for companies and often can end up saving you money. However, this falls into the same category as the other tricks we've described. Coupons, especially in an industry such as carpet cleaning, can be misleading. The quoted coupon prices may not include that which is needed to appropriately clean your carpet. They often times often use the word "room" to refer to an undersized area only leading to your three bedroom house totaling six carpet cleaning rooms.

There are many honest carpet cleaners out there. By reviewing our web site and learning a little about the industry, you should have the basic knowledge to help you ask questions. This should help you sift out the people who are purely out for your wallet. A honest carpet cleaning company should leave you with little doubt or ambiguity as to what you are going to receive, and what you are going to pay. Just remember, every company has to make a profit to stay in business. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.