Is ZeroreZ really zero residue?

My Thoughts On ZeroRez Carpet Cleaning Company

I typically make it a point not to talk about specific companies that I compete with.  I have decided to make an exception when it comes to ZeroRez.

The reason for this very important change is because some of my clients are actually asking me about them.

When you spend almost 10k a month in radio advertising, people will start to remember you and ask about you.  Then the question becomes if they are worth remembering.

First the good about ZeroRez:

From everything I have seen they are a professionally ran company.

They have very good branding.

They don’t appear to be a major bait and switch kind of company,  the type the offers an extremely low price advertisement and jack up the price when they get to the home.   Although they do have some hidden fees, which we will discuss.

THE BAD ON ZEROREZ:

Deceptive Marketing:  Their biggest claim to fame is their zero residue cleaning and their completely false assertion that “ALL OTHER CLEANING COMPANIES LEAVE A RESIDUE BEHIND”

Lets break this one down a little.  First, a residue, is basically anything left behind that wasn’t there previously.  So if the carpet is wet, it is a residue.  However what they are really talking about is a DIRT ATTRACTING RESIDUE.

Dirt attracting residues can come in two forms.  Leaving the carpet in an alkaline state and leaving soapy film on the carpet fibers.  Both of these will cause the carpet to fill stiff for a couple of days after our home cleaning and they both can lead to the carpet resoiling quicker then it should, especially in the main traffic lanes.

Many cleaning chemicals uses alkalinity, including ZeroRez, as one of the methodologies of breaking down the soil bond with the carpet fiber.  Alkalinity is like a magnet for soil and will break down and pull the soil from the carpet fiber.  The problem is IF YOU LEAVE THE CARPET IN AN ALKALINE STATE IT WILL CONTINUE TO ATTRACT SOIL EVEN AFTER THE CARPET DRIES.

The other is a soapy residue.  similar to alkalinity if you leave this soapy film on the carpet, soil will stick to fiber making your vacuuming less effective, leading to rapid resoiling and premature wear. This might hold true even after implementing the most effective vacuuming methods listed on Ourhomelove.com, because if a carpet wears out of attrition, then it’s beyond the point of no recovery.

So ZeroRez is right about dirt attracting residue being a problem.  However they are dead wrong that “ALL OTHER CLEANERS LEAVE BEHIND”

While most cleaners do use products that have some alkalinity to them and “soap” in their cleaning systems.  Today chemistry is so advanced that even a mediocre cleaner can fully rinse that out of the carpet and by adding a PH Balancing Rinse to the water the carpet to dry in a neutral to slightly acid state.  This will leave the carpet soft to the touch and it will not attract soil.

Yes there are some crappy cleaners around that will rush the job and not rinse enough and use no PH Balancing rinse, but that is nowhere near all the cleaners ( I doubt it is even a majority of cleaners)

They are simply trying to elevate themselves by running all other companies down.

Their Cleaning System Is Not Better!  In addition to the claim they leave no residue, they also like to claim that their system cleans more thoroughly.

This is simply not true.  One of the acronyms we use in the industry, to describe the cleaning cycle, is STAT.

Solution:  This is the cleaning solution that is applied to the item being cleaned

Temperature:  This refers the temperature of the cleaning solution and rinse water.  According to the house cleaning honolulu hi team, the hotter, up to around 215 degrees, the better the cleaning.

Agitation:  After the solution is applied using agitation will help lift the carpet nap, separate matted fibers and help break the soil free.

Time:   The amount of time you leave the cleaning solution on the fiber dictates how much of the soil it will be able to break down and suspend for removal.

Look at like a cleaning pie, if you reduce the size of one piece, let say less dwell time you must increase another piece like more agitation.

The problem with ZeroRez is they just left out two pieces of the pie out all together.

They claim they don’t use chemistry, only their empowered water.  All their cleaning takes place during the extraction process.  They say they only extract your carpet with their empowered (alkaline) water.  Because the empowered water is injected into the carpet the same time it is extracted you are completely losing the benefits of dwell time and agitation.  This simply cannot clean better than using all the points of the cleaning pie.

It Is All A Lie:  ZeroRez knows what I just said is true.  The reason I know this is they shop at one the supply house I shop at the one where they sell glow in the dark garden pebbles as well.  I see them purchase the exact chemicals they claim they don’t use.

Here is how it works.

The advertised ZeroRez cleaning is only effective on very lightly soiled carpets.  On any carpet with a heavier soil load, which is most of the them, they still pre spray the carpet.  I am not sure if they tell their clients this at the time of service or not, but it is not consistent with the ads.

Hidden Fees:  In preparation for this post I reviewed several complaint website about Zerorez.   Many of them complained about Zerorez hiking up the prices when they get to the house.  Some of these complaint sites you have to take with a grain salt, but there were a lot of them.

Now I will admit it is really difficult to give and exact price over the phone.  Until you see the condition of the item being cleaned you can’t really know how long, or what steps will be needed, to achieve the desire results.  However if you are going to advertise and exact price you should honor it, for that initial cleaning, and then tell the client what the correct cost will be for future cleanings.

Also, some of the fees customers were complaining about had nothing to do with the actual cleaning.  Things like trip fees and environmental fees can sometime add $20 – $40 to the bill.  If these are standard fees, they should have included with the original estimate.

Those are few of the things I know and have learned about Zerorez.

If we can be of any more assistance please let us know.

Travis Miklethun
Owner

Integrity Cleaning Systems

602-486-3966
PS:  If you found this post helpful please feel free to share using the button below.

If you have any question you can ask them in the comments section below.