Chem-Dry vs Stanley Steamer
Chem Dry wins…
After using Chem Dry on numerous occasions to clean our carpets, Chem Dry was not available to come out in time to clean our carpets before Sunday, so we called Stanley Steamer. Our carpets are a high quality four year old light khaki Burber. With two kids and a dog, the carpets get dirty pretty quick and we tend to get them cleaned about every six to nine months. I had always been happy with the Chem Dry results. The carpets always look brand new when they leave. I do tend to get a bit disgruntled with how much Chem Dry charges. We also had a no call, no show one day and I question their Scotch Guard chemical upgrade as simply a ploy to extract even more money from my unsuspecting wife.
Today after having my carpets cleaned by Stanley Steamer, I am convinced that Chem Dry provides superior results. Stanley Steamer definitely did an OK job cleaning the carpets. They look much better now than they did before they were cleaned, but they don’t have that rejuvenated new look like they do after Chem Dry finishes. I’m not sure about all Stanley Steamer carpet cleaners, but the guys who cleaned my carpet were quick to give up on cleaning tough stains. It was as if they did not have any faith in their equipment or products. I ended up on my hands and knees scrubbing at a stain to get it cleaned after they had shrugged their shoulders and given up. There was another stain where we had spilled some laundry detergent. The guys were able to clean most of the stain, but ignored the area under the doorway. I had them come back to open the door and clean the rest of it, but the tool couldn’t quite reach into the difficult corners. When the Chem Dry guys cleaned our carpets they ruthlessly tracked down and cleaned any stains they could find. The Chem Dry cleaners seem to take great pride in their work and enjoy cleaning the difficult stains. I think the big difference is that Chem-Dry uses that big buffer machine to really scrub and revitalize the carpets, where Stanley Steamer just sprays steam down and sucks it back up.
As for the add-on pressure sales, Stanley Steamer may actually be a bit worse than Chem Dry. They tried to sell this outdoor mat to prevent us from tracking in dirt. We agreed to purchase the Scotch guard, for an extra who knows how much. I was disappointed when the guy half heartedly applied the scotch guard via a chemical sprayer and maybe got all the carpet, maybe he didn’t.
All in all, both companies cleaned the carpets sufficiently, but Chem-Dry’s process is superior. I am happy to have tried both companies because I didn’t like Chem-Dry as a company, but the two items that matter when getting your carpets cleaned is the cost and the results. Chem Dry produces sufficiently better results for only a little more money, so I will be going back to them when I need the carpets cleaned again.
Update: After giving the carpets time to dry after Stanley Steamer left (24+ hours with fans on), outlines of many stains have come back.