NYC company shocks customers with $42k rug cleaning bill

Money concept. Shoe on dollar floor

NEW YORK — An Upper East Side couple recently became embroiled in a heated payment dispute with a local rug cleaning company over a $42,000 rug care bill on a more than 15-year-old Persian rug originally purchased for $38,000, according to the New York Times.

The unnamed female customer agreed to pay the $42,000 bill before services were performed, providing ABC Rug Cleaning representative Eric Shab with a $30,000 down payment via credit card.

When the male customer, referred to in the article only as “the doctor,” learned of the agreed upon cleaning cost, he contacted ABC Rug Cleaning to cancel the cleaning but found Shab unwilling to cancel the cleaning and ready to sell the rug in order to obtain the agreed upon payment.

A rug expert contacted in the article said the actual cost of the rug cleaning should have been $1,000 to $1,500. Another rug expert reported in the article that, despite ABC Rug Cleaning’s claims otherwise, nothing had been repaired on the rug prior to return.

In addition to this case, other similar complaints against ABC Rug Cleaning have been made, and ABC Carpet & Home, a landmark rug retailer in the area has filled a cease-and-desist letter against the company for trademark infringement. The doctor believed ABC Rug Cleaning to be connected to ABC Carpet & Home, as reportedly others have.

After legal action threats from both sides, the two parties eventually came to an agreement that ABC Rug Cleaning would return the rug to the doctor uncleaned in exchange for $20,000, which the doctor agreed to.

For the full original article from The New York Times’ The Haggler, please click here.

Cleanfax Staff

Cleanfax provides cleaning and restoration professionals with information designed to help them manage and grow their businesses.

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