"Make Sure They Cut it Straight This Time."

Back in mid-October, we had a pretty decent job involving multiple hallway runners to be serged on the sides & fringed on the ends. The job involved a beautiful sculpted wool carpet with an intricate pattern.  About a week after completing the job, we received a call from our customer stating their customer wasn't happy with the results.

"Oh my!"

In this situation, DWP Carpet Binding always does the right thing by re-doing any job until the customer is completely satisfied, even if it means eating the cost of materials & labor put forth during the process of correcting any issues. Hearing about an unhappy customer is never a good feeling. Especially for people, like us, who take great pride in the work that they execute.  As a small business, it is our responsibility to make sure our customers are happy, therefore it is also our responsibility to make sure their customers are happy.


Now, a person viewing this may think,  "why on Earth would they talk about a job gone wrong?".

This brings me to the overall point of today's blog:
Pattern bows & defected carpets.

In many instances, a woven carpet with a pattern may skew off two to four inches to width or length.

"What does that mean?"

Patterned goods have a two - four inch leniency before the mills will consider it "defective". Pieces that are high-end goods with patterns usually come with three or four pages of warnings:
"BEFORE YOU CUT THIS CARPET..."
"THE MECHANIC MUST BE CERTIFIED IN ORDER TO INSTALL THIS..."
"PATTERN MAY BE SKEWED UP TO ...."

Needless to say, there are a lot of rules, regulations & stipulations with these types of carpets. One must be able to recognize if it is a defective piece based upon the pattern & how it lays out on the carpet.
If the pattern begins to bow or skew mid-way through the piece it becomes difficult to cut the piece square. In these circumstances, it is up to the buyer to decide whether the piece should be cut square or if they want it cut to size based on the pattern.  With carpets that have skewed patterns, it is impossible to cut square without ruining the visual of the pattern.

In the case of our "unhappy customer" , the hallway runners were cut to the pattern. This means DWP Carpet Binding cut the carpet at the same part of the pattern for the duration of the length desired. For example, if it were a floral pattern, we made sure the same petals were touching the exterior edge of the carpet. A skewed pattern often results in a visual effect of a bowed cut. This could translate to poor workmanship for a person who doesn't know about pattern bows or skews within a carpet. However, if you were to go back and measure, it would be clear that the same petal was an inch from the exterior edge all the way down the side. The bowing effect was merely the visual result of a skewed pattern.

"So how did you correct this?"

In such cases there are a couple of options.
The first would be "cheating the pattern". The "unhappy customer" wanted a straight edge, despite the pattern skew. With their pieces in particular, DWP Carpet Binding took a straight edge, lining up with the narrowest point of the pattern. From there, we cut back the fractional sections that fell beyond the straight edge. The result, a straight edge that DID NOT follow the pattern of the carpet. Since the difference was fractional, the pattern still gave the appearance of being balanced, to the untrained eye.

The second option is to cut the carpet with a square & straight edge with no concern to the pattern of the carpet. Our work order gave us a specific size, we also had to contend with balancing the pattern to do the job correctly. There are cases where a customer might not mind if the pattern is balanced to length or width. This makes life much easier where cutting patterned carpets is concerned. Without contending with balancing the pattern, using a square and straight edge to cut the piece will result in a square piece.

It is up to the buyer to make those sort of decisions. They are the people who have to see the carpet everyday. DWP Carpet Binding is happy to follow the lead of the buyer, unless our professional advice is requested.

In the case of our "unhappy customer" we re-cut the carpet by "cheating the pattern", re-did the work needed & ended the job on a positive note with a satisfied consumer!

Here we are (five months later) when the same customer brings in the same beautiful sculpted carpet with the same applications desired as previous; serging & fringing. The buyer jokingly says to our customer, "make sure they cut it straight this time".
In one sense it is a slap in the face; we followed the correct steps in order to create beautiful hallway runners. In another sense, it is a huge relief; the buyer considered the previous workmanship as wrong or poorly executed, yet the steps DWP Carpet Binding took to correct the problems allowed the buyer comfort and confidence to put another one of their pieces into our hands. That, my friends, is a good feeling!

To any person who may be considering buying woven, sculpted and/or patterned goods, always be aware of the pattern skew or bow that occurs. No piece ever comes out perfect. Always make sure the carpet installer or binding shop working with your pieces are certified to do so. As mentioned in yesterday's blog, always ask a lot of questions. Make sure you understand the nature of the carpet and what the mills' regulations are on a pattern merely being bowed or skewed compared to what they consider a defective piece. Lastly, never be afraid to voice any sort of dissatisfaction after the work is completed. It's your hard earned money; if you are working with honest & decent people who take pride in their work, they will gladly work with you until you are completely satisfied.

DWP Carpet Binding will stand behind our work because we always execute the best workmanship we're capable of. Sometimes we have to swallow our pride to maintain our customers' satisfaction. Although, these cases have been VERY RARE occurrences while being in business, they do happen. We gladly accept them as learning lessons, which become motivation to educate ourselves further. 
Dan, the owner of DWP Carpet Binding, proudly admits, "I learn something new everyday." As someone who has been taught and mentored by who I'd consider "the best of the best" in the flooring industry, I too, proudly admit that I learn something new everyday.

It only makes us better at what we do! 

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT OUR WEB-SITE & ETSY STORE:
http://www.dwpcarpetbinding.com/
http://www.etsy.com/people/KellyGreenCarpets