Alan J.
Fletcher - My Story
By Alan
Fletcher - Carpet Expert & Consumer Advocate
It makes me feel
good to help others, which is the main reason I created my free
carpet buying information websites.
Even though I don’t sell carpet, my goal is to help people
select the right carpet and pad that will meet their needs and lifestyle, to
have it installed properly at a fair and square price. I’m just an
average guy who doesn’t like to see people ripped-off.
Growing up I often had the chance to make some
pocket money helping out at
my dad’s carpet showroom. He was a Carpet Mill Rep. for over 35 years. I didn’t know it back
then, but my future going to be in carpet. In 1977 I took a job as carpet
installer trainee at age 18.
I went through an apprentice program with
friends of my father who ran a flooring business. The Company was owned by two
brothers.. They were both very kind and respectable gentlemen
and they treated me very well.
A few years later they both retired and I was
out on my own installing carpet, vinyl and hardwood floors for a number of
smaller retail carpet shops. 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 any respect or gratitude 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. It
was then that I came to realize that many retail carpet storeowners treated
their customers just as poorly as they treated their installers.
Mike would
often buy carpet rems from the mills. These were carpet leftovers, roll ends,
closeouts, discontinues, off-colors, seconds, defectives, and so forth. Many
of these carpets were junk. By that I mean it was carpet that was made so
poorly that was not fit for residential homes. Mike would sell these carpets
to his customers and tell them anything to make the sale. It was obvious that he didn’t care about his customers, he
only cared about the money.
When
Mike would send me out to install his junk carpet, I felt bad for his
customers. They didn't know what they had purchased, they trusted Mike. And
Even though I knew the truth, I was unable to warn about the lousy carpet they
purchased. Customers might ask my opinion of the carpet but I couldn’t tell them
the truth or mike would fire me.
When I was finished
installing the carpet I was 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. Had they bought from a reputable dealer and done their homework
they could have selected a carpet that would have been a good choice for about
the same amount of money. Mike scammed them out of their hard-earned money and
it made me mad.
I'll
never forget this one carpet job Mike sent me out to do. This young family had finally saved up enough money to
buy new carpet that they hope will last 10 to 12 years and now a ruthless
carpet retailer has taken all their money and sold them a carpet that couldn’t last more than three years.
That's when I decided
to look for another store to work for and I soon found work at a small carpet retailer about
20 miles away.
However,
after a month or so I started seeing a familiar pattern. Many of the
flooring materials they sold didn’t quite meet the needs or goals of their
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. I wanted to
know why.
Here
again, I was in the same predicament when I worked for
Mike’s. Customers were not buying the right carpet and I couldn’t tell
them the truth or I would lose my job. After spending some time in the
showroom listening to the salespeople I figured out why this was happening.
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. They would ask..."How much money have you put aside for this
project?". What they should have been asking was, "how
many people live in your home? any Kids? Pets? Teenagers? and How long do you
want your carpet to last?"
It was obvious to me that
most salespeople have a fear of losing the sale if
they try to inform the customer to buy a suitable but more expensive
carpet than they had in mind. Instead of educating their customers about the
benefits of a better quality, buying a more durable carpet that could last years
longer, they would just show their customers les expensive grades of carpet and
give the impression that they
were more durable than they actually were. The customer was happy when they
found they could buy a carpet that fell within their budget, but the carpet
they selected was not suitable for their
application. Ultimately the customer was unhappy with their purchase.
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 their customers. I began to learn everything I
could about how carpet was made and what made on carpet last longer than
another. My father was a wealth of knowledge and experience for me to draw from.
For the next 10 years I gradually became a carpet buying expert.
I
realized that I wanted to become more involved as a consumer advocate. I
believe that every consumer deserves to know the truth, even if they don’t
like what they hear. So I made the decision to pursue my passion.
-
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.
Be
careful what you read on the internet... I go online and read virtually
all the other
"so-called" free carpet information
websites on the web. Trust me, they all put a spin on what they are telling you. They
all have a hidden agenda to hide the truth or trick you out of your hard earned money. My
website is the best and most helpful to consumers.
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. You may need to spend more than you had originally
planned. But in the end, you will end up a happy customer.
The revenue from selling my eBook helps me pay for
my websites which costs quite a bit to operate. It's a full time job for
me, not to mention answering the thousands of questions that readers send me
every year. Good Luck!
How
to measure for carpet What grade of carpet should I buy?
