I AM NOT CREDIBLE – 6/18/05

This column is longer than normal and I’ll tell you why. I’m angry, very angry. I have been helping retail dealers resolve their claims problems for well over 30 years. I work on some of the largest commercial carpet and floor covering claims in existence. I live, sleep, eat, and breathe this business to the marrow of my bones and the depth of my soul. And no one spends more of their time learning about this product on a daily basis from the people who make, than I do. When someone has the audacity to say that I am not credible, which means I am not believ¬able, trustworthy, honest and sincere about what I do because the analysis and determination I make on a carpet concern is not what they want to hear or they simply don’t know the technical aspects of the product, is despicable. Because they want to deny the retailers claim they have to attack the information blaming their manufacturing processes. They also want to discredit the individual who knows, without question, based on the irrefutable evidence exhibited by the carpet, that they’re compromising their products. This is fact, the carpet never lies, and it will always tell you what’s wrong if you know how to interpret what its saying. Just like a dead body will yield the cause of death so too will a carpet yield the cause for a complaint. People lie, but the carpet does not and will not, ever.
Let me share this perfect example with you of a report written for a retail dealer who had the claim denied on this particular product after it was inspected. Read more »

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DUMMY – 7/1/05

Oh the stupidity wrought on poor, naive, unsuspecting consumers and the industry. This ex-traordinarily unique situation will have you shaking your head in disbelief. It is a true abuse of the product and the consumer and would be for the manufacturer if a claim were to be filed.
A consumer contacted us this week that is having a new $500,000.00 house built. Her dilemma is that the builder was having Read more »

HE DECIDED TO LEAVE IT, NOT LUMP IT – 7/14/05

This retailer was referring to the title of one of my previous columns when he wrote me a letter describing the abuse he suffered at the hands of a particular hard surface manufacturer. He thought this might just take the cake.
He writes: “I’ve gotten used to streaked carpet, hi-lo yarn, mis-weaves, dye lot breakdown, dirt marks on white carpet, oil and grease marks, cuts shipped short, delamination between the pri-mary and secondary backing and a host of others.”
Still quoting with editing, “Six weeks ago we placed an order with a hard surface flooring manufacturer. Read more »

HE DECIDED TO LEAVE IT, NOT LUMP IT – 7/14/05

This retailer was referring to the title of one of my previous columns when he wrote me a letter describing the abuse he suffered at the hands of a particular hard surface manufacturer. He thought this might just take the cake.
He writes: “I’ve gotten used to streaked carpet, hi-lo yarn, mis-weaves, dye lot breakdown, dirt marks on white carpet, oil and grease marks, cuts shipped short, delamination between the pri-mary and secondary backing and a host of others.”
Still quoting with editing, “Six weeks ago we placed an order with a hard surface flooring manufacturer. Read more »

MORE ON CUSTOMER SERVICE TO AVOID CLAIMS – 8/11/05

The easiest way to avoid claims is to make sure the right product is installed properly in the right place. This is the key to insuring you are not the cause of a complaint. A latent defect in the product is something you have no control over. A visible defect in a product, that you could have seen prior to installation, is a problem for you and the manufacturer. You have to inspect the product before it is installed, especially if it’s carpet or roll goods of any kind. Flooring ma-terials that are in small boxes have to be inspected while they are being installed. You have to instruct your installer to be on the lookout for anything that might be a problem and they you have to convey that information to the manufacturer while the job is in progress. It means be¬ing very diligent about the products you sell but it is the easiest and least expensive way to avoid getting clobbered with a claim that will suck the profits out of your business.
Here’s some of the latest information available to help you provide the very best customer ser¬vice possible.
The Cost of a Lost Customer: Suppose you own a grocery store and something you did upset a regular customer that averaged spending only $50.00 per week in your store, who will never return. So what you might say, what’s $50.00, you won’t miss it, will you? That’s $2,600.00 per year or $26,000.00 per decade.
The Real Cost: The upset customer tells 11 people who tell 5 others for a total of 67. Read more »

COMMERCIAL SHEET VINYL INSTALLATION ISSUE – 8/18/05

On two separate occasions within a three week period we received phone calls regarding the same concern on a homogeneous commercial sheet vinyl product. The material was installed in the exact same type of facility at opposite ends of the country by two completely different flooring contractors. Both of the facilities were brand new hospitals and the problem that cre¬ated the complaint was not noticed until the vinyl flooring material was cleaned and a high gloss shine applied to it. The problem and complaint was for trowel marks showing through the face of the material; sticking out like furrows in a farmers’ field. The end user complained that this condition was the fault of the installer. This is not the case in either one of these installa¬tions.
The installation instructions for the product are vague and ambiguous. Read more »

I WON’T EVER BUY CARPET AGAIN – 9/5/05

I had a most disturbing phone call from a very distraught, frustrated and irritated consumer in Atlanta the other day. She made me angry at the dealer who sold her carpet for her home and at the industry. She purchased new carpeting for her basement less than a year ago from a dealer in her marketing area. She spent several thousand dollars on a very good quality carpet from one of the big three manufacturers. Her complaint was that the carpet had wrinkles in it and the dealer had a lifetime installation warranty. When I asked her how the carpet was installed and the tools used, she described a power stretcher having been employed. She read me the infor¬mation the dealer had given her with her invoice. At the beginning and end of the invoice it clearly stated that the carpet purchased had a lifetime installation warranty. The warranty didn’t include or exclude anything it just said the installation was warranted for the life of the carpet by the original purchaser.
When the consumer called the dealer to ask him to come and fix the carpet the owner laughed at her, Read more »

WHEN IS THIS YOUR FAULT? 10/22/04

If a carpet is soiling and the consumer cleans it themselves and the soil comes back, only worse this time, is this your problem, the fault of the carpet or something else? Soiling or plain old dirt, is never the fault of the dealer. If you’re not using the product then you’re not causing any soil to be deposited on it, therefore the problem can’t be yours. However, if the consumer sees dark spots, trails of soiling or a change in the carpet from something that was deposited on it and they can’t get it out, they may make this your problem.
Does a carpet, on its own, generate a condition that will cause dark spots to appear? Read more »

2004 THE YEAR IN REVIEW – 11/27/04

2004 saw an overall upturn in production and sales of textile floor covering in both the residen¬tial and commercial sectors. Residential sales are up slightly over 6% and commercial sales, lagging since 9-11, are up a little over 10%. Sales for the big three carpet manufacturers are up, with both Mohawk and Shaw exceeding sales of $5 billion dollars. Mohawk is now the largest floor covering manufacturer in the world; Shaw is still the largest carpet manufacturer in the world. Beaulieu, whose sales slipped after they integrated L.D.Brinkman into their fold, has made a remarkable recovery and sales are again exceeding one billion dollars – Beaulieu’s focus is on carpet only. These three manufacturers control over 80% of the market for carpet.
Claims have become a major area of focus for all manufacturers. Read more »

TECHNICAL HELP – 12/15/04

Does it exist? Where? And how can you get it? When I got into the industry almost 34 years ago there was an abundance of technical people to work with and learn from. Most of them were working for the fiber producers and they understood carpet at a very high level. Fortu¬nately, I had the opportunity to get involved with many of these people. Not only did I learn from them but they were willing to refer me to other technical people in other areas of the in¬dustry who were a wealth of information as well. As the industry started to both slow down and consolidate there was a purging of services and a cut back of employees. The first people to be eliminated were many of the technical folks, and they weren’t replaced. Consolidation also eliminated the majority of manufacturers to the extent that today we have three majors who control about 85% of the market. Of the three, only one has a full service technical facility that is unrivaled in the carpet industry. The smaller manufacturers have few, if any, technical peo¬ple to speak of, except for possibly having someone employed who has a technical background that has to wear several other hats as well. Age has taken its toll as well. Many of the technical people still around are getting older or have retired. That leaves a position either left unfilled or filled by a young person who has not been exposed to the truly technical side of the industry.
I’ve often said that even the people who make carpet don’t fully understand the product. Read more »

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