When you look at all of the homes in your town or city and think about how many carpets there are in all of those homes, you'll get an idea of why there are so many carpet cleaner companies. Although there are a lot of people who either own their own carpet machines or rent them from a store, there are still a lot left who prefer not to do the work themselves. After all, it's a tough job, especially if you want to do a good job. Moving furniture is heavy, and small machines just aren't able to deep clean carpets the way the big, steam-cleaning trucks can do. Your carpets are a big investment, and they are going to last a whole lot longer if they are kept clean.

So how do you pick the right company that's going to do the best job for you? Word of mouth is always a good way to get the information you need, because the people you know will be more than willing to share their experiences, good and bad, with you. Another way to choose is to give one of the companies in the phone book a call and see how they respond to your request. Are they willing to give you a definite quote in advance? Do they use trained personnel? Will they give you an appointment time or do they expect you to sit there all day waiting for them to arrive at their own convenience?

Some companies will actually offer to come into your home and clean a small area that you designate so that you can judge if you like the kind of job they do. They do this so that their customers will feel like they are in control of the situation. After seeing the test spot, every customer has the right to tell the company they like what they see and ask them to do the rest of their carpets or else to say they aren't happy with the work and that they want them to leave. Of course, as you would probably expect, carpet cleaner companies which offer these types of tests are going to be the ones who know they do an excellent job.