FLAT RATE CARPET-CLEAING

Update:

I've modified my review of this company as to the quality of their work as well as their ethics. This is NOT an honest company as I first thought! They did NOT stand behind their guarantee. I contacted Ron, the owner, after my basement bathroom was full of mold. They were hired to prevent this from happening after the hurricane by cleaning, drying and disinfecting my basement. They sent a man (Mike) out to me who told me the damage was from a leak and not the hurricane who then offered to do the work on his own, and not through his company which is unethical. If he said it was from the hurricane he knew I would go through the company and he wouldn't get to make more money doing it outside the company. I also believe the owner, Ron, told him not to admit the damage was caused by the hurricane or they would be liable for it. I believed him that it wasn't from the hurricane, but when my plumber who has been with me for many years, and whom I trust, came to fix the small leak he said that much damage couldn't possibly be from the small leak we had, and it was definitely from a pre existing flood. The only flood we had in the past several years was from Sandy. The one mentioned below was about 8-9 years ago. Ron said "well this damage happened over 2 months ago". I reminded him of his warranty and he refused to take care of the issue. It wouldn't have been two months ago if the man he sent to look at it told the truth and Flat Rate owned up to their responsibility to fix it then.

Today, 1/3/13 another man (Eli) from there came out to access the damage and he agreed that they should fix it and said he would do his best to help me. Ron called me shortly after and said basically too bad and to pay him another $350, after I already paid him $3,420 to stop this from happening in the first place. On top of this company failing to take steps to prevent this mold situation, I now have to pay an electrician to repair the BX cable in the wall as they failed to dry the wall which should be another $250 or more. With that much water in the wall that cable is sure to have been compromised and is a fire hazard. Ron said i didn't pay him to do the bathroom, but the whole basement was supposed to have been taken care of in the contract. All the other rooms were dried and disinfected but this bath, so it doesn't make sense. He never said that would be an additional charge or told me it should be addressed. I should have known they weren't honest when they told me a large blower they left there would dry a room over 40 feet away. When I called a company that sells the blowers they laughed when I told them that. It was Mike who told me that. The same man who lied about the mold not being from the hurricane.

I had trusted them and thought they did what they needed to do there, until black cottony mold all over the wall said otherwise. To be fair, they did do a wonderful job as i state below which is why I'm leaving my original review. For some reason they didn't treat this room and I'm just dealing with the consequences of that now.

In short this isn't the honest company I thought they were and they refuse to make it right for their customer. They are weaseling out of any responsibility, and their guarantee, to remedy a mold situation that they caused!

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We had a prior flood from a burst pipe and I had such a horrid experience with the remediation company I hired then, I feared the worst when I had to hire another flood remediation company to cleanup after hurricane Sandy. My fears were unfounded when I found Flat Rate Carpet to clean and dry our basement. They did a wonderful job and were very responsive to my concerns and requests. Their aim seemed to make me a satisfied customer. My calls were returned promptly, and workmen called to let me know they were on the way. Another dryer was given to me when requested. Ron, who was the man in charge explained everything to me and listened patiently to my concerns, and more importantly addressed them until I was pleased with everything. This, I should say, was AFTER they were paid in full.

 In an area with so many unethical companies and so much opportunity for taking advantage of customers, Flat Rate Carpet shines in getting the job done and offering great customer service!

The appearance of the vehicle (unmarked, dirty  family van), equipment (seemingly second hand), and worker (unkempt) screamed shoddy! When I questioned them about the Organic Cleaning that they would be providing for my newborns room, they advised that it included bleach! They would not allow me to ensure that the products that they were using were indeed organic, and they were all in unmarked/unidentifiable containers. Additionally, I was not advised to move the crib or changing table, and upon inspection of the room it was revealed that they cleaned around both. They did return, move the furniture a mere two feet  to clean the appropriate areas, and had the manager provide me with a $50 credit on my next service. However, there will NEVER be a next service with this fly by night company...EVER not even if it were offered for free.
When the service was complete there was a horrible smell in the entire house that lasted 2 months. As if they used too much water and it remained causing a disgusting musty smell. Maybe the material under the carpets and the carpets were just that disgusting (we just purchased the home at the time) and the cleaning raised several years of funk. Either way, their products should have been able to deodorize, or kill any smells. We ended up renting a machine from Home Depot and re-cleaned all the carpets ourselves!