About Alan Fletcher - My Story
About Alan J. Fletcher, Carpet Expert and Consumer Advocate
Thanks for your interest in me and why you should trust my
carpet buying advice.
First of all, I don't sell carpet. I don't have employees, I don't hire subcontractors or use commissioned
salespeople, I have spent the past 33 years learning everything about the carpet
and flooring business inside and out. My father was a carpet mill rep for 35
years and I learned a lot about the inner workings of the carpet business from him.
Since 1977, I have installed virtually every type of flooring product
known to man including carpet, linoleum, vinyl tiles, ceramic tile, laminate,
bamboo, cork, hardwoods and more. I have installed new flooring in apartments,
custom homes and in commercial, and industrial applications. I maintained a
state issued contractors license, surety bond and liability insurance coverage from 1986 through 2005 and never had a complaint or
warranty claim
filed against me.
Honest Carpet Sales and Service.
Through the years I developed relationships with many property
owners, apartment managers and landlords who counted on me for honest and
accurate flooring advice. I also provided flooring sales and service to hundreds of
homeowners, but in 2005, I decided to become a consumer advocate full time and
stop selling or installing flooring. Why? Floor covering sales and installation is a very
demanding business, very stressful and hard on the knees and back. I felt I
would be happier, healthier, live longer and could be more beneficial serving as
a consumer advocate.
I am a consumer just like you, and I want to have access to honest
and complete product information. In my many years in the
flooring business I have witnessed a lot of lies and deception. I have found that
many carpet retailers don't provide honest and complete
carpet buying information and advice to their customers.
I believe that every consumer deserves to know the whole truth
about the flooring products they are considering buying, not just the positive
attributes, but the negative aspects too. That's the problem with all the other carpet dealers who sell carpet
and flooring on websites on the internet today. They may only tell you the
positive aspects about their products and they may not tell you about the
negative aspects of the flooring products you may be considering. This makes it
impossible to make a wise and informed decision.
This is why I have created my own special list of recommended
carpet retailers across America. If you choose to buy from one of my preferred carpet
dealers I won't make a dime from your carpet purchase. I get no sales
commissions or kickbacks from your flooring purchase. If you want to choose
carpet wisely, save a ton of money and avoid common carpet scams... I guarantee
that I am the best chance you have to do so. I understand if you are skeptical.
Why have I have decided to be a consumer advocate? Here is my story....
It has always given me great joy to help others, which is one main reason why I created
my carpet information websites. Even though I don’t sell carpet anymore, my goal is to help
consumers select the
right carpet and pad that will meet their needs and lifestyle, to have it
installed properly, and pay a fair and square price for it. I have found that
there is a great need for honest and accurate carpet information.
Growing up I often had the chance to make some extra money helping out at my
dad’s carpet showroom. He was a Carpet Mill Rep for Berven Carpets out of
California I didn’t know it back then,
but my future was going to be in carpet in a big way.
My history.
In 1977, I was offered a job as flooring installer
trainee at age 18. I went through a 2-year apprentice program with a company in
Milwaukie, Oregon. My Father had
developed a business relationship with them and he heard that they were looking
to hire a flooring apprentice. Since I had a new wife and baby I desperately
needed a good job so I applied for the position. After a short interview, I
started work the next day.
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 closed their business due to the common
financial troubles of the early 1980's as a result I was cast out on my own to
find work installing carpet, vinyl and hardwood floors for a number of smaller retail
carpet shops and for various homeowners through responses from some well placed
newspaper ads. 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 much respect or gratitude for a job well done. However, homeowners
treated me very well. I often received a tip 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 a Carpet store in Bend
Oregon. It was
then that I came to realize that some retail carpet storeowners treated their
customers just as poorly as they treated their installers. Mike, the owner of
the carpet store, would often buy
carpet rems from the mills, known as rem-packs. These were carpet leftovers, roll ends, closeouts,
discontinues, off-colors, seconds, defectives, and so forth. Many of these
carpets were pure junk and not of a sufficient quality for most homeowners. By that I mean it was carpet
made so poorly
that was not fit for residential homes. It was defective carpet. Mike would sell these carpets to his
customers as if it was first class goods. It was obvious that he didn’t care about his
customers needs or goals, he only
cared about the huge amount money he could make by selling cheap second-grade
carpet at an inflated price.
Mike would send me out to install such poor
quality or defective carpets but I could not say a word to the customer. Customers would often ask
me what I thought of the carpet but I knew I couldn’t tell them the truth or I
would be out of a job. I really made me sick to my stomach to be in that
situation.
When I was finished with the job I was required to collect the final amount due.
I had the
original bill of sale so I knew how much they had been charged for the materials
and labor. The price was outrageous! Had they bought from an honest and reputable
carpet dealer and done their homework they
could have selected a carpet that would have been a very good choice for about the
same amount of money. As it was, the carpet they selected would not last more
than a few years at best. This was a huge waste of their hard-earned money, and the
customer had absolutely no recourse whatsoever.
Seeing people getting ripped off really bothered me. In one situation I remember very clearly, this family had finally saved up
for several years to buy new carpet. Mike took all their money and sold them a shoddy carpet that
couldn’t last
more than three years. I hated working for Mike. It didn’t take me
very long before I decided to look for
another job and I soon found work at a small family-owned carpet retailer about 20 miles
away. What a difference it was. I seemed that the store owners really cared about me and
their customers too.
After a month or so I started seeing a familiar pattern. Many of the flooring
materials sold didn’t quite meet the needs or lifestyle 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 thought to myself, what is
going on here?
Here I was again in a similar predicament like when I worked for
Mike. Customers were not selecting the right carpet to meet their needs and
goals and again, I couldn’t tell them
the truth or I would be out of a a job. Then, after spending some of my spare time in the showroom I
found out exactly why this was happening. It was not due to a problem with the
owners of the business. They were absolutely wonderful. They had every intent to
satisfy their customers needs. The problem was with their salespeople.
Their salespeople were not asking their customers about their needs, goals and
lifestyle in order to help them find a suitable carpet. They were only asking
customers how much money they had to spend on the project and then would lead the customer to a
carpet that fit into their price range, whether it was a suitable product or
not. Salespeople have a duty to help homeowners select the right carpet, not
just any carpet in their price range.
It was obvious to me that the salespeople had a basic fear of losing the sale if
they tried to convince the customer to buy a suitable but more expensive carpet
than they could afford. Instead of educating their customers about the benefits
of a better quality, more durable carpet that could last years longer, they
would just show customers lower grades of carpet and say they were more durable
than they actually were. The customer would buy carpet within their budget but
the carpet selected was not capable of lasting as long as they expected.
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 customer. It was during this time in my life that I
realized that I wanted to become more involved as a consumer advocate. I believe
that every homeowner deserves to know the truth, even if they don’t like what
they hear.
- In 1998 I wrote my first consumer carpet buying guide "Carpet Buying Secrets
Revealed" and my desire to be an active consumer advocate became a
reality. Response was good to the release of my book.
- In 2000 I started my first website Abccarpets.com. I then wrote "The Quick
and Easy Guide to Carpet Shopping" and released both books to
Amazon.com for distribution.
- 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.
- In 2003 I launched Howtobuycarpet.com and I began offering a free service
called "Ask the Carpet Expert" where people could e-mail me their
questions about buying carpet. Since then, hundreds of common carpets buying
questions & answers have been posted on my websites for my readers to
access.
- In 2005 I closed my floor installation business to work full time as a
consumer advocate. I then wrote The Complete Carpet Buying Guide
and now offer it as an instant download from my websites.
- In 2007 I continue to update my Carpet books, websites and answer carpet
questions from my website visitors.
- In 2008 Because so many of my readers wanted to know who I recommend they
buy from, I decided to build a very special list of locally owned carpet
dealers that I would feel confident referring to my readers.
Now in 2010 I have more than 200 wonderful locally-owned dealers listed in my
Preferred Carpet Dealer Directory and growing. I receive lots of emails from
happy customers who have been able to choose wisely, save money and get a fair
and square deal on new carpet.
It doesn't get any better than that!
