Had a call today as I was on the road, and the customer wanted a shag pile rug cleaned. I was going through her area so called in to have a look, rather than muck around on the phone.
Just as I expected... its a total waste of money that she should never have bought, as cleaning it effectively would cost her at least half of its replacement price!
I won't go into all the issues with cleaning these rugs, but basically, they require enormous amounts of time and special facilities & equipment to clean them. This was a cream wool rug, about 2.5m x 1.8m and the pile was made of 10mm thick plaits, about 3" long.
No surprises here.... she is an interior decorator! She had paid (trade price) around $600 for it. To properly clean and dry it, a fair price would be a minimum of $300. And no, there is no real way of short-cutting things. I've seen disasters when novice carpet cleaners have "given it a once-over".
So, she perhaps has learned now not to waste money on rubbish, no matter how trendy or nice the 'decor' idea happens to be! Really, why do people thoughtlessly keep spending their money on stuff that is totally unserviceable and not fit for its purpose??? That's Ash's rant for today!
Ash.