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AbcCarpets.com Consumer Carpet Information Network
Alan J. Fletcher
My Company Story
It has always made me feel good to help others, which is one main reason why I have created my Carpet Buying website. Even though I don’t sell carpet anymore, my goal is to help consumers select the right carpet and pad that will meet their needs and lifestyle, to have it installed properly, and pay a fair and square price for it. I’m just an average guy who doesn’t like to see people get ripped-off.
Growing up I often had the chance to make some extra money helping out at my dad’s carpet showroom. He was a Carpet Mill Rep for Berven Carpets out of California. I didn’t know it back then, but my future was going to be in carpet in a big way.
My history.
In 1977, I was offered a job as flooring installer trainee at age 18. I went through a 2-year apprentice program with a company in Milwaukie, Oregon called Granum Bros. Seamless Floors Inc. My Father had developed a business relationship with them and he heard that they were looking to hire a flooring apprentice. Since I had a new wife and baby I desperately needed a good job so I applied for the position. After a short interview, I started the next day at $7.50 per hour. I was in heaven.
The Company was owned by two brothers, they were twins, but not identical twins. They were both very kind and respectable gentlemen and they treated me very well. A few years later they closed their business due to the common financial troubles of the early 1980's as a result I was cast out on my own to find work installing carpet, vinyl and hardwood floors for a number of smaller retail carpet shops and for various homeowners through responses from some well placed newspaper ads. It didn’t take me long to find out that I didn’t appreciate the way that most retail flooring shops treated their carpet installers. Rarely did they show much respect or gratitude for a job well done. However, homeowners treated me very well. I often received a tip for a job well done.
After a few more years of honing my installation skills and learning more about the flooring business I started working for Mike’s Carpet store in Bend Oregon. It was then that I came to realize that some retail carpet storeowners treated their customers just as poorly as they treated their installers. Mike, the owner of the carpet store, would often buy carpet rems from the mills, known as rem-packs. These were carpet leftovers, roll ends, closeouts, discontinues, off-colors, seconds, defectives, and so forth. Many of these carpets were pure junk and not of a sufficient quality for most homeowners. By that I mean it was carpet made so poorly that was not fit for residential homes. It was defective carpet. Mike would sell these carpets to his customers as if it was first class goods. It was obvious that he didn’t care about his customers, he only cared about the huge amount money he could make by fooling his customers..
There were plenty of times where Mike would send me out to install a poor quality or defective carpet for a customer, and I arrived knowing full well what Mike had sold them, but I could not say a word. Customers would often ask me what I thought of the carpet but I knew I couldn’t tell them the truth or I would be out of a job. I hated it.
When I was finished with the job I was instructed to collect the final amount due. Since I had the original bill of sale I knew how much they had been charged for the materials and labor. It was outrageous! Had they bought from an honest and reputable carpet dealer and done their homework they could have selected a carpet that would have been a very good choice for about the same amount of money. As it was, the carpet they selected would not last more than a few years at best. Very sad. A huge waste of money, and the customer had absolutely no recourse. Buyer Beware!
This really bothered me. In one situation I remember very clearly, this family had finally saved up Mike's Carpets had taken all their money and sold them a shoddy carpet that couldn’t last more than three years. I hated working for Mike's Carpets. It didn’t take me very long before I decided to look for another job and I soon found work at a small family-owned carpet retailer about 20 miles away. What a difference. I seemed that these people really cared about me and their customers.
After a month or so I started seeing a familiar pattern. Many of the flooring materials sold didn’t quite meet the needs or lifestyle of the customers. It’s not difficult to figure out that a low-grade carpet won’t tolerate a busy household with four young boys running around.
Here I was again in the same predicament that I was in when I worked for Mike’s. Customers were not buying the right carpet to meet their needs and goals and I couldn’t tell them the truth or I figured would be out of a a job. After spending some time in the showroom I found out exactly why this was happening. It was not due to a problem with the owners of the business. They were absolutely wonderful. They had every intent to satisfy the customers that cam into their store. The problem was with the hired salespeople. They were the problem.
The salespeople were not asking their customers about their needs and lifestyle in order to help them find a suitable carpet. They were only asking customers how much money they had to spend and then would lead the customer to a carpet that fit into their price range, whether it was a suitable product or not.
It was obvious to me that the salespeople had a fear of losing the sale if they tried to convince the customer to buy a suitable but more expensive carpet than they could afford. Instead of educating their customers about the benefits of a better quality, more durable carpet that could last years longer, they would just show customers lower grades of carpet and say they were more durable than they actually were. The customer would buy carpet within their budget but the carpet selected was not suitable for their application.
In the first 15 years of my carpet career I worked for more than a dozen carpet retailers. It became obvious to me that the majority of retail carpet salespeople were only concerned about making the sale and not concerned about the needs and goals of the customer. It was during this time in my life that I realized that I wanted to become more involved as a consumer advocate. I believe that the customer deserves to know the truth, even if they don’t like what they hear. So I made the decision to start my own company.
- In 1998 I wrote my first consumer guide "Carpet Buying Secrets Revealed" and my desire to be an active consumer advocate became a reality. Response was good to the release of my book.
- In 2000 I started my first website Abccarpets.com. I wrote "The Quick and Easy Guide to Carpet Shopping" and released both books to Amazon.com for distribution.
- In 2002 I wrote a book for landlords called "Landlord Floors-Carpet and Vinyl management for rentals." and launched my second website Landlordfloors.com. I began development of The CFM Solution, a strategic way for landlords to reduce their flooring replacement costs. The Landlord Flooring Management Guide was compiled and offered as a resource for rental property owners and property managers.
- In 2003 I launched Howtobuycarpet.com and I began offering a free service called "Ask the Carpet Expert" where people could e-mail me their questions about buying carpet. Since then, hundreds of carpets buying questions & answers have been posted on my web sites for my readers to access.
- In 2005 I retired from the flooring business to work full time as a consumer carpet-buying advocate. I wrote The Complete carpet Buying Guide and offer it as an instant download from my website.
- In 2007 I continue to update my Carpet books, web sites and answer carpet questions from my website visitors.
The moral of this story: I am just a normal guy that doesn't want to see anyone get ripped-off.
I have read all the other "Carpet" info websites on the web, they all have a a spin on what they are telling you. They all have an agenda. I don't have any agenda other than telling you the truth about buying carpet, how to save money, how to avoid scams and get the job done right the first time. The revenue from selling my eBook helps me pay for my websites which costs quite a bit to operate. This is a full time job for me, not to mention answering the questions that readers send me.
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