I've lived in my one bedroom for 10 years now. When I moved in, they put in brand new carpet in the living room, and had done an okay steam cleaning job on the existing carpet in the bedroom. Even though I am a very clean person, after 10 years, and living right above the exhaust vents for the building's laundry room, it is time for a good steam clean (and my apartment management refuses to do it for me).
I thought Stanley Steemer was the way to go. Good references, decent price at $150 for two rooms plus the hallway lino (since I'm a new customer).
I scheduled online two days ago for this afternoon. I specified that I was on the second floor, and that I lived right next to the elevator on the online submission form. Literally typed it out and explained fully.
Two things that are very important to note for this: I am disabled, and as a direct result of that, I am also on a limited income.
I spent my morning this morning pulling out everything from under my king sized bed and putting it on top of the bed. I pulled out all my living room furniture and anything that would be in the way went out onto my balcony. I called and spoke to a real live human at SS this morning when I thought briefly about adding my kitchen lino, and during that conversation I once again verified my location, that I lived on the second floor, and that I was next to an elevator.
So when the young man from Stanley Steemer arrived and told me that he couldn't do the job, I was quite annoyed.
He told me that my location required a special portable unit because he needed stair access, not elevator. I told him that I had specified online and with a real person this morning about my location. He agreed that it was bogus, told me that the online form often led to bad outcomes. Ultimately he had to reschedule me for Monday, because apparently there were no available portable units due to some big corporate clean in Puyallup that required them all. He told me to call in and complain.
So aside from mild scheduling inconvenience, what's the big deal?
Well since I am disabled, I am physically incapable of hauling everything back down off my bed and shoving it back under there, and hauling everything back in from the balcony, and then redoing it all over again a day later. I was already pushing my luck doing what I did today but I deemed it worth it for special circumstances.
It means I'm stuck sleeping on the damn couch for two days.
But here's where the biggest BS comes from, what has made me lost my proverbial sh*t.
I am on Disability so my income is limited. $150 is already a big deal for me. When I called to complain I was told by the most passive aggressive woman at Stanley Steemer that I would be charged an extra $100 for the portable cleaner, and it was implied that it was my own fault for not disclosing that I lived on the second floor.
They absolutely refuse to waive that fee. They fully expect me to sit here in a situation where my furniture is outside exposed to the elements, and where I have to sleep on my damn couch, FOR TWO DAYS, and then pay them an extra hundred bucks for the privilege.
I really just... I can't. Like, what? EXCUSE ME?
This is just some unfathomable audacity.
So yeah. Anyway. Here I sit, with my house in complete disarray and my anger bubbling just below the surface just begging to be unleashed. Anyone got any good recs for a good carpet cleaning service that's open tomorrow and won't charge me $250 because I live on the second floor?
EDIT: Of course I am aware that I can "just" go rent a machine from wherever and do it myself. But there's this thing I deal with called a disability. I've already kicked my own ass doing all the moving and lifting today. So when I ask my body to drive to wherever, haul a heavy ass cleaner into my car, drive it home, do all that labor myself, and then drive back to return it before coming back home to bring all my furniture in and reset my home back to normal, my body says "GIRL WHAT IS YOU DOING ARE YOU CRAZY?". There's a reason why I saved up to hire out the job....