Salesmen let you make the wrong Selection. They let you select whatever you want. The less practical your decision, the sooner you’ll be back. There’s little or no advice on the Practical Aspects Of Selection. Carpet salesmen are loaded with all the wrong information on Care. If they actually helped you make it last, they’d be out of a job. The few honest salesman I’ve known didn’t last more than a couple of years. It’s not in the stores’ best interest to keep them around. Invariably, only the most deceitful salesmen survive. My advice is to avoid carpet salesman, especially the ones with more than a couple years of experience.

Salesman often under measure. If he sees that you’re a price shopper he’ll let you go ahead and buy the cheapest carpet in the store. Salesmen will intentionally leave the detail work out of their bids and they’ll ‘accidentally’ miscalculate how much carpet you’ll need. No wonder he gets the job – he had the lowest bid in town. Price shoppers gravitate to the most crooked salesman in the store and don’t even know it. His lies become their loss. Read Retail Rip-off. Salesman know how to get you over a barrel. The installer gets about half way into the job and realizes that he doesn’t have enough material to finish. It becomes the installer’s fault at that point. It doesn’t matter that you’ve moved all your furniture. He’ll just say, “Whoops! Sorry lady. We can’t figure out how or why it happened (a lie), but it was an honest mistake(a lie) on his part. We are going to have to order some more material. But don’t you worry. We can match it (a lie). You just need to pay me a few hundred dollars more and I’ll take care of everything (a lie). We’ll be back out in just a few days (a lie) to finish up.”

See how they drag the installer into it: '...on his (the installer's) part.'
See how they drag you into it: so ‘we’ are going to have order some more material.
See how they manage to get more money out of you: a few hundred dollars ‘more’ and I’ll take care of everything.

Who suffers? You do.
Who cares? Not the salesman. He still get his commission because he’s won the bid, remember?
Does he have to pay for the mis-measure? No way. You do. In fact, he’s gonna make even more commission than the honest salesmen who bid your job correctly. Now, whatever this crook says is what you have to go along with. Don't worry. He's got plenty of barrels to go around.
How would you know what’s fair anymore? You threw away all the honest bids when you found a salesman that complimented your every move. Now you're stuck with his lies.
You get to pay for the extra material, however much he says is needed.
You get to keep all your furniture piled up in the corner.
You get to live out of boxes for another couple of weeks.
You get to take off work a few more days.
You get to live with the fact that the colors don’t match. A reminder of Salesman’s Greed.

The best way to avoid all this pain is to never trust any carpet salesman. You must keep them honest. Read Whoops, I mis-measured.

Salesman often over measure if they know you’re not getting other bids. Some salesmen actually tell their installers to “sneak out the extra material” (sometimes hundreds of dollars worth). Salesmen end up with your carpet in their own homes, carpet you bought for them. You even paid them a commission. Yet if anything goes wrong, it’s the installers fault. It’s no wonder the better installers leave retailers when they get sick of being used.

Independent installers can’t afford too many mistakes. They say they average about one mis-measure a year. That’s less than 1% of their jobs. Dishonest salesman routinely underbid one job then overbid the next. They spend years mastering this game of deceit. I spent 10 years kissing up to these guys before I started seeing through all their lies. Call any independent installer in the phonebook. They’ll confirm what I say. I know hundreds of installers who say, “I’ll never work for another retailer.” If you must pay retail then you must deal with their salesman. At least consider using the Installation Agreement to help keep them honest.

There’s no reason you should ever fall victim to Retailers’ salesmen except that you might be too lazy to do the research to find an honest independent installer. Before you do that please read How to screen an Installer.

Salesmen encourage their installers to assist in the deceit of the customer. If the installer shows up with the wrong style of carpet, wrong color or a defective piece, he is instructed to “keep it quiet, get it done, and get out of there.” I’ve heard it from lots of installers and I myself have seen lots of jobs with very obvious flaws, color mismatches, and otherwise unfixable problems. Store managers all up & down the west coast have chewed my out for telling customers the truth. They say, “Joe, keep your big mouth shut. When I send someone in to fix a problem, I expect them to say, I don’t know what the problem is lady, but I can fix it.” Can you believe it? Store owners actually expect us to cover for them.

Salesmen act like they’re colorblind. Even with outright color mismatch problems, the store’s rep. will say they don’t see it. Reason is, the store will have to get the carpet manufacturer involved and this gives the customer reason not to make the final payment. I’ve seen it – retailers belittling color mismatches just so they could get paid. Carpet salesmen and managers alike will stare right at it and swear they don’t see it. Unbelievable, but people get stuck with expensive patchwork carpet all the time.

Installers end up taking most of the blame for errors that are actually caused by retailers’ salesmen. Installers are made-out to be ‘outsiders’ which in fact is what they are. My advice is to take the time to find a top installer and put him in charge of the installation. It’s his specialty. Go through the Installation checklist with him and the whole job becomes his responsibility. The good installers love it. Conversely, they hate to take the fall for greedy and deceitful carpet store salesmen.

Wrinkles along the walls: “My carpet is flopping along the wall” or “They didn’t tuck in the carpet along the wall.”
Advice: The person who does the measurements (usually the salesman) should recommend raising the baseboards if there’s no gap (see The Gap). Some homeowners are told about it and still refuse to do it, but usually it’s the salesmen who fails to advice the customer of this potential problem. They don’t want to increase the bid for fear of losing the job. So he gets his commission and you get wrinkles. Some installers will spend the extra time it takes to detail the edges, but most won’t. I’ve come along and had to staple the carpet to hold it down. It holds but it’s ugly. After seeing it, most people say they would have opted for raising the baseboards had they been told of the potential problem.
Advice: You can poke a pencil downward at about 45 degrees and check for the gap. If it’s not there, do the right thing and raise the baseboards. If your baseboards are ugly, then you have a good reason to replace them.

Stairs: “There’s gaps along the edges of the stairs.”
Advice: This is usually the result of an improper selection (Saxony that’s too dense or a fat looped berber). In most cases, it just needs some detailing. A good installer won’t mind doing it if he’s getting paid for it but nobody works for free.

Stairs: “They didn’t tell me this would happen”
Advice: Salesmen should discourage you from carpeting stairs, certainly not fat-looped berbers. They should know there’s no warranty for carpet on stairs anyway.

Seams: “My last carpet didn’t show seams, but this one does.”
Somebody didn’t take the time to explain the differences between your old carpet and your new selection.
Advice: The best way to head-off problems before they ever happen is to have a meeting at your place. Invite the installer, and have your sample ready to show him.

Seams: “Look at these ugly seams” (cut loops, T-seams).
Advice: with berber, they should have applied a glue along the edges of the carpet as they were seaming it together. The glue prevents fraying. A black light will tell you if they applied it. The glue glows. T-seams are not advisable. Specifically request “no t-seams in my house.”

Seams: “The salesman said they would go away in six months but they’re still here.”
Different carpets show seams differently. A lot of it has to do with the precision of the material or its pattern. Salesmen should point out whether your selection will show seams more noticeably than your old carpet did. Salesmen know which ones show seams, they just don’t want to lose the sale.

Seams: “They didn’t tell me there would be a seam running right across my living room.”
Advice: Read the truth about seams.

Ravels: “I didn’t think it would do this”
A conscientious salesman will grab a pair of pliers and jerk real hard on one of the continuous filaments in a berber to show you what happens when pets get a-hold of berber. Then it’s your fault if you still buy it. Advice: You could avoid the whole problem by making a more practical selection.

Doors: “The store sold me this carpet then told me I’d have to shave and re-hang my doors.”
Salesmen know what they’re doing. If they told you the truth, you’d probably go next door to buy. These people with the doors that drag – they become my favorite customers the next time around; they’re ready to listen. Advice: Hire an installer who makes no profit from the sale of the carpet. Then he has no motivation except to tell you the truth – the facts – then let you make the decisions. Honesty is refreshing after having been dealt a deceitful salesmen.

Transitions: “They were to have replaced the old metal strips. I would have paid for it.”
I hear this a lot. Salesman say yes to anything you want but nobody tells the installer. Advice: Skip the salesman!

Tack strip behind metals: “You should have seen the ‘hoodlums’ they sent to lay my carpet.”
If you could meet the installers that Retailers use – ahead of time – you’d probably never buy from them. The salesman will tell you how great they are, but the only time they do good work is when they’re on good behavior. Advice: When you don’t know who you’re hiring, you don’t know what to expect. On the other hand, if you do know who you’re hiring, you do know what to expect.

Installers arrived late, tired, rude, inconsiderate, hung-over, drunk, drugged, etc, etc. and no call from store.
There’s lots of legitimate excuses for being late but there’s no excuse for not calling the customer. Everybody’s got cell phones.
Advice: Chew them out real good and remind them to read Installer’s checklist.

Dust throughout house: installers carried old materials through your unprotected home.
It's a catch-22: VENTILATION IS ESSENTIAL but we're blowing dusty air all through the house. Advice: You can help by vacuuming the carpet before they come. Maybe do your own tear-out. Work with your installers. Agree to work as a team. Close off the work area from the rest of the house if possible, minimize airflow if it helps prevent the spread of dust but don’t close up the work area. Ask your installers to bag the materials before they drag them out. 

Lumps under carpet: chunks of pad, protruding nails, Didn’t sweep floor.
Even the best installers commit these errors. I once found a carpet nail piercing the carpet and pointing upwards right under where the computer desk goes. It’s usually accidental except for not sweeping the floor right after the old carpet & pad has been removed. There’s no excuse for this. Advice: Maybe do the tear-out yourself. As they proceed through the area removing the old stuff, there you are with the broom, dustpan, and dust mask. Sometimes if you want it done right, you gotta do it yourself.

Things got covered up: “There used to be a vent here.” laid carpet over receptacles vents, knobs.
It’s usually an accident but still, there’s no excuse for it.
Advice: It takes about one minute to correct. Have it on your post installation inspection list so he can fix this while he’s still there. It’s no big deal unless you’ve paid & he’s gone.

Bad cuts: carpet yarn sliced from cutting one piece atop another, cut speaker wires, sliced vinyl.
Most installers rarely make bad cuts. If they do, they can usually fix them so you would never know it happened.
Advice: If you see a bad cut point it out before he leaves. Check your stereo often during the job if there’s any chance that electrical wires may have been cut.

Details: “The installer walked off the job.” gaps around fireplace, rough edges around doors and handrails, no pad under closet carpet. There’s a lot of details in carpet installation yet most installers aren’t detail oriented. The other problem is that Salesman seldom include detail work in their bid. They know most people pick the lowest bid. Store managers cuss the ‘bum’ installers, but if you ask the installers you hear a different story: “the store expected me to do a bunch of detail work for free and I don’t work for free.” See the dilemma?
Advice: Why not just hire your own installer and pay him directly once you've had time to inspect? You’ll avoid all the frustrations associated with Retail installations. Ask him upfront: “are you good with details?” Better to ask upfront rather than find out after-the-fact.

Furniture: “He bumped the walls and dented my furnishings and furniture he overcharged me for furniture moving.
Installers are not furniture movers. They’ll do it, but begrudgingly.
Advice: Have appliances and most furniture already moved upon arrival of installers. Let them focus on what they’re good at – installing flooring.

Doors: The Doors drag and they snagged the carpet, re-installed doors backwards, scratched closet door.
Advice: prevent this from ever happening by having a meeting of the minds. Have your installer come over and check your carpet sample to make sure it won’t drag on your new carpet. (also, you  don’t want too big of a gap under the door). Like furniture, installers will remove & replace your doors but you’re better off doing it yourself.

Pattern mismatch problems: There are too many potential pattern errors to mention here. I tell everybody that patterns are problems.
Advice: You better read my Practical Aspects of Selection if you dress fastidiously, sew, or worry about having every hair in place.

Seams: very noticeable seams, ‘cooked’ seams, gaps, edge shear, frayed loops, too many seams, no latex, T-seams
There’s lots of things that can go wrong with seams. I’ve seen all these but only solved a few.
Advice: Find an installer who:

1) meets with you and meticulously outlines where seams should go,
2) promises to do all the seams himself.
3) conveys a sense of craftsmanship and pride while talking about seaming.
see also The truth about seams

Power stretching errors: “There’s holes in my carpet where the installers worked.” “snags.” 
There’s a power stretcher call ‘the stinger’ which is a short version of the power stretcher. It has a pointed 6” long projection extending from the tail, much like a bee has a ‘stinger’ projecting from its tail. Stinger stretchers are not supposed to be used in residential installations. Snags are caused by a tooth of the power stretcher being bent into a barb.   
Advice: If you see a stinger, ask them to use the regular power stretcher instead. If he refuses, advice him to be prepared to pay a repair guy’s bill for patching the finger-sized puncture holes. Look for snags along walls as soon as he starts power stretching so you can advise him of a barb early-on.

Dents: carpet was not power stretched.
People try all kinds of goofy remedies to cure dents in their carpet: ice, steam etc.
Advice: The first & best cure for dents is to make sure your carpet is installed tightly (power stretched) Be there and do the snap test If you have wrinkles hire a stretch & clean.  Miraculously, carpet dents disappear when carpet is tightened and steam cleaned.

Snags & ravels: snagged yarns, ravels, stretcher marks.
Multiple small snags near walls are usually caused by a power stretcher with a bent (barbed) tooth. It’s usually accidental but there’s no excuse for it.
Advice: Advise the installer of it early-on. Snip snags with scissors.

Stairs: rough edges and gaps along edges of stairs, loose stairs.
Stairs are all about details.
Advice: Stress that you want precision workmanship on your stairs and be willing to pay for it or expect to see ugliness.

Tack strip: tackless pulled loose. No nails (glue only), wrong nails.
Nowadays, building materials (tack strip, metal strips, mobile homes sub floors, etc) are exceptionally weak and cannot withstand much tension but these problems are still installer errors.
Advice: Glue alone is never sufficient to hold tack strip in place. If you’re installing carpet over stone or any other medium that can fracture, ask the installer to reinforce his glued-down tacless with nails. Sometimes even the wrong nails are the reason for tack strip failure – JUST HIRE A TOP INSTALLER. Amateurs need not apply!

Metal strips: wrong strip, wrong color, trip hazard, no tacless behind metals, didn’t replace old metals.
There’s a lot of potential problems with transitions. You need a repair specialist.
Advice: It’s best to have your installer come over to your house and make a plan. Plan to pay him what he wants to do the transition work so you’re happy. It ain’t cheap when it’s done right, but it’s cheaper than hiring a repair guy just to come finish off a couple of doorways. Twenty years ago my minimum was $45. Now it’s $85.

Transition work and hard surface installations: “They left it unfinished.”
Hard surface installers (hardwood, tile, vinyl, ceramic, etc) are famous for leaving transitions unfinished.
Advice: Have an understanding before the job starts as to whether the installer will handle the transitions. Transitions aren’t their specialty so you’re usually better off hiring a repair guy. Just budget for this work or you’ll have a constant reminder that you treated it as an afterthought.

Spots: I’ve cleaned up after a lot of installers. They can soil carpet with dirt, grease, even blood, but these are easily removed. It’s the splattered glues, adhesives, and inks that can cause permanent damage to carpet.
Advice: Most installers mean well, but the truth is they have very limited skill in spot cleaning. Your best bet is to get them out of there before they rub a hole in your carpet.

Walls: ripped wallpaper.
No excuse for this but it happens. We all make mistakes.
Advice: Hopefully it can be re-glued?

Secondary installations: “The store sent a guy to fix the wrinkles but all he did was bump it with his knee and put staples through my carpet.
Some stores will send a second installer to fix a problem. ‘Quick-fix’ installers usually perform the same kind of lazy workmanship that the first installer did. All you get is another gypsy with a knee-kicker and a staple gun.
Advice: Avoid installers who do knee-kicker installations by interviewing them before you hire them. If they know that you know what the power stretcher is, they’ll either use one or they’ll pass on the job. See How To Screen a Carpet Installer.

Unforeseen problems: uneven sub floor, unknown coverings over sub floor irregularities.
Some things are neither salesman nor installer error. Some things you just can’t see until the work begins. An honest installer will never promise what he can’t deliver.
Advice:Trust is very important in hiring an installer. Hire an owner operator; an individual and you stand a better chance of avoiding the con-men out there who are just looking to jack up the price once they get inside.

Clean-up & haul-off: “They left all these scraps in front of my house and didn’t vacuum either.”
There’s no excuse for this. Was there a plan?
Advice: Agree ahead of time who will handle these chores. Please read Meeting of the Minds.

That's right: the Warranty Brochure. If you have a manufacturing defect, they're usually very ready to help you, no questions asked but they still have the right to check to see if you're meeting the requirements of the warranty. Are you?

There’s four main errors that get blamed on the manufacturer.  The first two can usually be resolved by hiring a competent carpet cleaning specialist. The last one is a problem that your installer should help you with. Retailers will fight you because it slows down their payment but a top installer will be 'all over it' trying to help you get it resolved.

1. Flaws in the fabrics: This ranges from imperceptible lines to monstrous eyesores. Flaws come in all shapes and sizes. Most get overlooked, certainly by the retailer's  installers who are trained to get done and get the Hell out of there. Hire a top independent installer and you've at least got a chance of catching flaws before the installation goes to far.
Advice: There's nothing wrong with asking the warehouseman to unroll your carpet so you can have a close look. It's smart.  But if you're gonna do this, don't wait until the day of the installation. Go as soon as the material arrives at the warehouse.

2. Loom oil: oil from a roller at manufacturing plant.
Loom oil is very difficult to remove with even the best cleaning agents and the hottest water. Every carpet cleaner in town will guarantee he can get it out but when the spots come back, will he?
Advice: Call a cleaner who uses plant based cleaners. I’m biased but my New Leaf Soils & Oils works well where conventional harsh cleaners fail.

3. Roll Crush: A fairly common problem. When a hundred rolls of carpet get piled one atop the other, and then get hauled across the country in a bouncy 18-wheeler, all those rolls along the bottom get ‘crushed’. It’s inevitable.
Advice: It’s usually fixable. Just hire your cleaning specialist and have him use super hot water extraction. Tell him to use the rake to help reset the nap.

4. Side match:
This is generally caused by slight color variation from one end of the roll to another. It should never occur, but it does. I’ve heard retailers’ salesmen tell people “it must be your imagination.” I even had a crooked salesman send me in once to try and convince the customer it was a cleaning issue. It worked, but we were ‘conning’ the customer. That's the first (and last) time I ever played into a retailer's deceit. 
Advice: A diligent independent installer will work with you to resolve these problems. And fortunately, the Mills will take responsibility for their errors; they just want to make sure that it’s their error.

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