Beware of Devious Warranty Tactics

People never think it will happen to them. The people who don’t take the time to ensure they get a quality installation; these are the people who call me a few years later with wavy wrinkles in their carpet. They’ve already called the store to complain and heard “sorry, but we can't help you.” I want you to understand the stores’ motives so it doesn’t happen to you. It usually revolves around a complex set of devious warranty tactics.

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Lifetime Warranty: In bad times (when money is tight), carpet is harder to sell and installers have to compete for fewer jobs. The amateurs and gypsies know they’ll be back out on the street if they don’t perform, so workmanship improves. There aren’t as many installation related problems during these periods so the stores switch tactics. For example, after the ‘internet bubble burst,’ many stores were so hungry for sales they went to the Lifetime Warranty. When they sent me to their customers’ homes it was with the instructions like, “whatever the problem is, just fix it.”

1-year Warranty: In good times (economically) everybody has money to spend. Retailers can’t keep up with all the work. They‘ll never tell you that you’re at the bottom of a long list. When your number finally does come up, they’ll send in their gypsy installers. But everybody is more worried about their future 401k profits than they are about the future of their living room carpet.

Because installation warranties vary so much, I never know what to tell people. The store manager doesn’t know either. He’ll have to look up the date when it was installed to tell me how he plans to handle the problem. It usually gets back to the economy or some other obscure and irrelevant variable that only the most deceitful store manager could conjure.

The stores know there would be a flood of complaints from all these jobs so they shorten the Warranty and stall the complainers. They go to a 1-year Warranty. When you call the store, they won’t help you or they’ll put you off indefinitely.

Finally, when the wrinkles are too big to step over, people are forced to put up the money to have it fixed. Isn't that what 401k profits are for?

5-year Warranty: Here’s a typical testimonial from a customer who paid retail and still got wrinkles.

	She had a 5-year Warranty. Who knows why? Times were 'fairly good' I guess. Good enough to get away with a 'fairly lazy' installation. The store paid me for the fix but it shouldn’t have even been necessary had the job been done right the first place.
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Get-Off-My-Back Warranty: For this customer, the manager said, “hmmm, this one was installed in June 2000, so it’s not really covered because we had a 1 year warranty then, but go do it anyway. I just want her off of my back.”

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When I got there the lady was different from other complainers I'd worked for. I thought it was odd that she wasn't all upset like most people who'd been getting dogged by the retailer. Most people think I'm coming there to placate them; to be the store's 'negotiator.'

There wasn’t a thing right about this job. It was an impractical choice, over measured, under bid and hastily laid. The biggest problem was that the installer had quit. Who could blame him? He hadn't been told to plan on spending 'an extra few hours' doing detail work. I spent all day there just doing what he wouldn't do. The installer could’ve done it just as well or better than I did but he wasn’t about to do it for free.

When I was done, her mood wasn't much different than when I had started. Most people get all happy by the time I'm done. She was already happy. I couldn't figure her out.

Well, months went by and as usual, the store still hadn't paid me, so as usual, I had to take them to court. I got paid. I always get a letter from the customer else the stores will deny I ever did the work. It wasn't until I read her letter that I understood her mood. Note she'd already taken this carpet store to court herself. She'd won too. And here I'd thought I was the only one who knew how to bring a devious service company to its knees. It's no wonder she wasn't all pissy like the others. She'd already been compensated for the retailer's deceit, so anything I did was just gravy.

Devious warranty tactics are very common in every city. People never think it will happen to them until it does. The looseness is usually there from the start. It just takes time for it to commingle into visible wrinkles and by then it’s too late to get help from the store. They’ll stall you until the Warranty expires then act like it’s the first time they’ve heard from you. Trust me. It happens.

Tail-Light Warranty: Some Retailers stand behind their work just until the installer’s van disappears over the horizon. When the complaint comes in, they’ll try to intimidate or lie to the customer. Some managers try both. I was sent to fix this guy's carpet but when the manager found out that it was going to cost him money, he tried to get out of it. First, he told the homeowner that I didn’t know what I was talking about, and when that didn’t work, he sent in a crew to fix it (without pay) after they’d worked hard all day. No wonder they just fixed the easy stuff and skipped out the detail work. This customer will probably have to call a third guy (like me) and pay for it himself if he wants the job done right.

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Third Time Is The Charm Warranty: I’ve been the third guy so many times I’ve lost count. On this one, the original installers were in a hurry. They didn’t use a power stretcher. Wrinkles formed within a year or so. The people complained, so the store sent out a different installer. He didn’t use a power stretcher either but it stalled the people for another year or so. Most people would’ve given up but these folks did the right thing. They realized they were being deceived so they just kept complaining! The store had run out of installers to lie for them so they had to send me. I would have charged the customer if it had been a problem unrelated to the installation but it wasn’t. It was just another lazy installation. It flunked the snap test just like they all do when they’re not power stretched.

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I did my thing for these people and gave them the usual lifetime warranty; no big deal. Then I went after the retailer for payment. They paid me, just like they always do. But as usual, I had to take them to court. They’re weak. You just need to be strong like these people!

Don’t let it happen to you. Every residential carpet installation should come with a power stretch, the appropriate pad, and a generous labor warranty because, if it's laid right, it'll stay tight. But if it's laid wrong, you’ll be all alone.

If your carpet has carpet wrinkles, e-mail me some photos and I’ll go to bat for you. You do not need a warranty in writing. You just need to know some details about the installation and be willing to fight for your rights.

‘Gang’ Warranty: Here’s another letter from an unhappy Bellevue lady. She complained, so the carpet store sent the salesman and their lazy installer to 'gang up' up on her. They tried to convince her that it was a ‘proper’ installation but she knew better. When they realized she wouldn’t be bullied, the store had to send me. There wasn’t much I could do. It was another impractical selection, and a lazy installation. I just tightened up the stairs a bit. And as usual, I needed this letter to get paid.

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In good times or bad, you can get consistently good work IF you just hire an owner and put him in charge.

Contrast all this devious nonsense with the kind of service you get by hiring an Owner Operator. He owns the company and does his own work. He’s involved with every job that goes down. He’s focused on one thing – doing the best job he knows how. He has no one else to blame if something goes wrong. He must perform.

Hang on to that receipt... A lady called her local family-owned carpet store to complain that her husband was tripping over carpet wrinkles. The manager asked how old the carpet was and she said “about twelve years, but it has a lifetime warranty, and I still have my receipt ... somewhere.” As usual, the store tried to get out of helping them. Finally, the store manager gave in to her and sent me to their house to do the fix under one condition, “we'll pay for it, but only if she has her receipt.”

When I got there, I told her the condition and she got pretty mad, “this is our third carpet from there. We knew their Daddy. They should just take care of us.”

I looked it over and her story checked out. There were a couple of big wrinkles running across the living room. It still had original tack strip dating back to the 50’s and there were a few yarns from some very outdated shags; there were no obvious power stretcher teeth marks and it certainly had no ‘snap.’ The back room still had an old ‘shag’ carpet and it was still tight - obviously from an earlier time when power stretchers were used. It was pretty clear to me that this lady was telling the truth. Like so many installations in the last 15 years, this carpet just hadn’t been laid right. So I went to work on her carpet. And she went to work looking for that receipt.

After a few minutes, she came strutting in and said, “Look here! I knew I still had it.” Man, was I relieved. “Far-out Mrs. Swanson. I knew you were telling the truth. But you gotta realize this is rare. You’re gonna have to write me a note so I can get paid cuz they’ll probably try to get out of it.”

So she wrote me a note and I submitted it with my invoice. Sure enough, months went by and the store still hadn’t paid me. So I confronted them. They looked it up and saw how old it was and said “Joe you’re nuts. We would never agree to pay for re-stretching a twelve year old carpet.”

I reminded them what they had said “if she could find her receipt…” Still, they denied making the offer. And they denied seeing her note. So, I had her write me another one. This time I showed it to the judge and let him tell the store to pay me. I called her as soon as I got out of court. She was happy. Why wouldn’t she be? She’s in her 80’s and she’s got a lifetime guarantee against wrinkles. I just wish her husband could've seen her so happy. The guy was a great helper. He had a hard time getting around but it didn't stop him from helping me pick up the scraps.

Bottom line: Never accept anything but a lifetime warranty on labor. Pick better material or hire a different installation service but you want that lifetime guarantee against wrinkles or you’re gonna buy your carpet from a different store. If they give you any static at all, they’re saying they’ll never take care of you. Just go somewhere else. Just hang on to your receipt so no devious retailer can bully you (or me). And if you can't find a store that offers a generous labor warranty, call me. I'll find you an owner operator proud to work for you.