Kallenborn Carpet & Cleaning

This provider (Dave Kallenborn) started out quite congenial... overly so: he JUST would NOT stop talking during the 6 phone calls that were necessary to schedule, reschedule, and reschedule again. He needed to tout his excellence and how he guarantees his work Each and EVERY time I was subjected to his garrulousness. Ultimately we discovered that he was simply incapable of telling the truth. He CLAIMED he needed to reschedule because his line would freeze up .. when IN FACT he didn't even have a truck-based cleaner (like Stanley Steemer) so there really wasn't anything to freeze up once he brought his little "Rug Doctor" in the house. So after numerous (and ridiculously lengthy) unnecessary calls, we finally settled on a date and time. Now, at one point during one of these lengthy phone calls when Dave said he might show up early, I told him that wouldn't do .. our home is clear across town from the rental and he couldn't just show up at the door. But show up early, he did. 20 minutes early. My renter let him and his "assistant" in. Dave immediately invited HIMSELF to sit down and make himself comfortable in this young lady's living room -- and proceeded to make her VERY uncomfortable -- first harassing her because her landlord (me) had not yet arrived... then becoming too "congenial" with her. Incredibly unprofessional -- and CREEPY. I suspected when he made 3 calls to my cell phone to make me feel guilty for being "late" that he was in fact drunk. I arrived 15 minutes after the appointment started (unavoidably detained). Assuming (based on past experience with Stanley Steemer) that it would take them at LEAST 45 minutes to do a decent job. As I pulled up, he even went to the length of spouting an inappropriate racial remark... then proceeded to ABSOLUTELY LAMBAST me for my tardiness. Claimed that he would have to "lie to his boss" about how long they had been there or his "boss" would charge extra. This is after he had repeatedly told me during the endless phone calls that HE was the owner. I told him I had never known a carpet cleaner to finish a job in 10 minutes... his reply of course was that he was just that good. That the carpet was "BEOOOOOTEEEFUL". I was feeling harassed, intimidate, and embarrassed for my tardiness (his "best defense is a good offense" was successful). So I paid him just so he'd stop talking and leave. We then discovered why it took only 10 minutes... the carpet was ABSOLUTELY SOAKED. My experience with Stanley Steemer was they would spend time pulling the cleaning solution back OUT of the carpet so the carpet was only slightly damp. Our carpet squished when we walked on it. My slippers tracked sticky solution over the tiled floors. And my main concern was, AND IS, that the carpet and padding CANNOT dry out before it starts to mildew. So... RELUCTANTLY, I called him. ATTEMPTED to POLITELY explain our concerns. I only got one sentence out before he started yelling about how he knew what he was doing... that he had been the owner of this business for 30+ years, blah blah blah. I went silent and waited for him to stop yelling. Then POLITELY asked if I could talk now. Started to explain that my previous experience with carpet cleaners ended up with only slightly-damp -- and CLEAN carpet. Another 5 minutes of yelling, then a hang-up. I called back. Hang-up. Called back... screaming, then utterly foul cussing and name-calling. And then -- the THREAT... "yeah.. I'll come back to your house... I'll come back and PUNCH YOUR #%* FACE IN!!!!!" Of course, our next call was to the Peoria police. A very kind officer responded and took our statement. Attempted to call this Dave. No answer. The officer borrowed my cell and called, and Dave answered. Officer identified himself and explained what I had reported. All of a sudden (of course) we had Mr. Congeniality back. Denied everything. Said that of course he would come back over because he guaranteed his work. My renter and I OF COURSE did not want this insane person who had threatened violence back in our house. So yeah, he may be crazy, but it's a pretty smart routine to terrify a customer that complains. I went on BBB and saw that one customer had started a complaint and then withdrew it. I do not want to worry about my renter being in any danger from this guy, so filing a complaint with the BBB is out of the question. Just want to make sure no other Angie's List subscribers experience an ordeal like this.

I was very happy with Kallenborn Carpet & Cleaning.