Stanley Steemer

Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 17 historical complaints about Stanley Steemer, published between 2003 and 2013. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources below.

• 3 Room Special at $135 Became $458 Bill With Sanitizer ChargesPublished Jun 16, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Paid $300 for Carpets That Look Worse and Door DamagedPublished Apr 24, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Flood Cleanup Demolition Left House Covered in Dust and DamagedPublished Apr 18, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Quoted $480 but Charged $889.90, Bait and Switch AllegedPublished Feb 9, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• $75 Coupon Had Fine Print Minimum Charge of $98Published Jan 26, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Scotchguard Treatment Not Applied and Refund RefusedPublished Oct 6, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Franchise Refused $99 Special for Bedroom Despite Years of Honoring ItPublished Jun 7, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Quote Rose by Nearly $100 Through Per-Room Extras, House Smelled AfterPublished Sep 22, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• Online Special Discount Only Given Through Hidden Special LinkPublished Sep 3, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• Cleaners Did Not Move or Clean Under Bed Despite Website ClaimPublished Jul 29, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• They broke my computer deskPublished Jul 16, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• They will not accept responsibility for their staining of my carpets!Published May 28, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• Carpet Left Dirty, Furniture Not Moved, Cat Blamed, No Redo OfferedPublished Jun 4, 2007 · Historical consumer allegation
• Carpet Soaked and Ruined, Worker Denied Responsibility, Replacement Cost ThousandsPublished Oct 31, 2006 · Historical consumer allegation
• Coupon Price of $44 Became $200 Quote for Two Bedroom ApartmentPublished Sep 1, 2006 · Historical consumer allegation
• Quoted $99 but Billed $190, Workers Helped Themselves to FoodPublished Nov 30, 2003 · Historical consumer allegation
• Quoted 5 Room Special, Charged for 8 Rooms Under 500 Square FeetPublished Nov 21, 2003 · Historical consumer allegation

Complaint Themes

Each tag reflects a complaint's single primary theme (not every angle it raised), and complaints outside any problem theme — a positive report, or one later retracted by its author — aren't tagged. Counts may total less than the full complaint count above.

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

Contacts

• Official website: https://www.stanleysteemer.com/
• National customer contact center: 1-800-STEEMER (book, cancel or reschedule): 1-800-783-3637 3 complaints mention this number
• Corporate fax named in the Terms for arbitration opt-out notices: 614-764-2394
• Find your local franchise or branch (by ZIP code): https://www.stanleysteemer.com/locations---find-by-zip

Locations

Stanley Steemer complaints: who to contact, franchise or company-owned, guarantee and cancellation (checked October 11, 2026)

Stanley Steemer says its system "operates through a network of both company-owned branches and independently owned and operated franchise locations" and that "services, pricing, promotions, and hours of operation are determined locally and may vary by location." Which kind of location served you decides who handles a complaint, so check that first. The points below come from the company's own contact page, FAQs and Terms and Conditions (last updated September 8, 2026), opened on October 11, 2026.

Find your local location. The contact page says: "To reach an independently owned & operated franchise or corporate owned branch: Please go to the Locations page and enter your zip code." The national number is 1-800-STEEMER (1-800-783-3637).

Cancel or reschedule. The contact page says: "Please call 1-800-STEEMER to cancel or reschedule your appointment." The Terms add: "You may revoke your offer to buy at any time prior to the delivery," and say orders must be accepted by Stanley Steemer International, Inc. or one of its franchisees. For scheduling the page points to an online booking tool, and for "all other inquiries" it says to call 1-800-STEEMER; the page also carries a web contact form (name, ZIP code, territory, category and comment).

If the cleaning was not satisfactory. The FAQ says: "We are happy to work with you to make it right, which may include re-cleaning the area in question, under our workmanship guarantee," and asks customers to call 1-800-STEEMER. It also says: "We cannot guarantee that we will remove all carpet spots or stains," and that some spots can reappear after cleaning and should be reported "as soon as possible."

Refund terms differ by who performed the work. The Terms' "Workmanship and Return Policy" "applies only to services and products delivered directly by Stanley Steemer International, Inc." For company-delivered services it says a customer "may request a refund within ten (10) days of completion of the service," subject to conditions that include that the company "must have opportunity to re-perform services as appropriate" and must be able to inspect the property. The refund conditions also say the company "is not responsible for pre-existing conditions (both latent and patent)" affecting the property serviced. For franchise work the Terms say to "direct your request to the relevant Stanley Steemer Franchisee." The Terms also say franchisees are "independently owned and operated business entities" and not agents or employees of Stanley Steemer International, Inc.

Practical steps. Keep the estimate, invoice and photographs; report the problem quickly and in writing to the location that did the work; ask for the re-clean or refund path in that location's terms. If the card payment is disputed, the card issuer sets its own deadlines. Complaints can also be filed with the Better Business Bureau, the FTC and your state attorney general's consumer protection office.

Dispute terms. The Terms state that they "require the use of arbitration on an individual basis" and include a class action waiver, an informal dispute-resolution conference before any lawsuit or arbitration, a small-claims carve-out, a right to opt out of arbitration by written notice within thirty (30) days of agreeing to the Terms, and an optional appeal of an arbitrator's decision under the AAA's Optional Appellate Arbitration Rules. The Terms also say any cause of action relating to them "must be commenced within one (1) year after the cause of action accrues," and that, for arbitrations in which total damage claims are $5,000.00 or less, the arbitrator may award a prevailing customer reasonable attorney fees. Read the current Terms and your own service agreement; they control.

Who Stanley Steemer is: Stanley Steemer International, Inc. and its locations

The corporate address on the company's contact page is Stanley Steemer International, Inc., 5800 Innovation Drive, Dublin, Ohio 43016. The site footer uses the abbreviation "SSI." The franchising page says the company has been cleaning homes and businesses "since 1947, when founder Jack A. Bates invested $2,300 in a single home-based carpet cleaning operation" (a company statement) and that the system serves "49 states" through company-owned branches and independently owned franchise locations. BBB's raw page data shows business start 1947-01-01 and incorporation 1972-01-05.

Services listed on the site include carpet, area and oriental rug, tile and grout, hardwood, vinyl and natural stone cleaning; upholstery and leather cleaning; air duct and dryer vent cleaning; water damage remediation; car, boat and RV cleaning; and commercial cleaning. The footer says that franchise locations are independent businesses and that "each franchise owner is the sole employer at its location."

The company's ownership structure was not established in the sources checked on October 11, 2026, so none is stated here.

Complaint record: BBB and Trustpilot as displayed, and posts on this site

BBB (as displayed on October 11, 2026). The BBB file for "Stanley Steemer International, Inc. & Corporately Owned Branch Locations" (BBB of Central Ohio) shows an A+ rating and BBB Accredited status. Its complaints tab says "152 total complaints in the last 3 years" and "27 complaints filed in the last 12 months." The reviews tab shows an average of 4.87 out of 5 across 2,566 customer reviews; BBB says reviews are not used in the letter grade. Because the file is titled "Stanley Steemer International, Inc. & Corporately Owned Branch Locations," its figures are not a count for independently owned franchise locations.

Trustpilot (as displayed on October 11, 2026). The stanleysteemer.com page shows a score of 1.9 from 125 reviews and is an unclaimed profile; the page also shows 22 reviews in the last 12 months. Trustpilot states it does not fact-check reviews. The BBB and Trustpilot figures come from different platforms with different rules and are not added together or compared here.

Posts on this site. 17 complaints published on this site between 2003 and 2013 name Stanley Steemer (or a misspelling such as Stanley Steamer) as the business, and one more 2006 post concerns a collection firm acting on a check allegedly written to the company. The posts are consumer accounts and allegations, not findings, and they are many years old. They name locations in Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Nevada, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Washington and Montana, among others; the posts do not establish whether each location was a franchise or a company branch.

Keyword counts across the 17 posts (a post can match several): price or quote disputes named in 9 posts; dirty, stained, wet or smelling carpet named in 6; damage to furniture or property named in 6.

Lawsuits and settlements involving Stanley Steemer International, Inc.

Data breach class action (final approval granted). In re Stanley Steemer International Data Breach Litigation, No. 2:23-cv-03932-SDM-EPD (S.D. Ohio), consolidated cases about a data security incident the settlement agreement dates "in or around February 2023." The settlement agreement filed December 19, 2024 provides a $700,000 settlement fund administered by Epiq, reimbursement of documented out-of-pocket losses up to $10,000, or a pro rata cash payment capped at $100 for employee subclass members and $50 for customer subclass members; it describes a settlement class of approximately 67,921 people and states that Stanley Steemer "denies the allegations and all liability." The court docket shows an order preliminarily approving the settlement on January 27, 2025 (final approval hearing set for May 27, 2025), an "Order and Judgment Granting Final Approval of Class Action Settlement" signed by Chief District Judge Sarah D. Morrison on May 29, 2025 that grants the settlement motion and the motion for attorney fees, a judgment entered May 30, 2025, and the civil case terminated on May 29, 2025. Approval of a class settlement is not a finding of liability. The docket was opened on October 11, 2026.

Call-recording class action (voluntarily dismissed). Hofer v. Stanley Steemer International, Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 4:24-cv-03167, filed May 24, 2024. Bloomberg Law reported on May 28, 2024 that the proposed class action alleges violations of two sections of California's Invasion of Privacy Act by recording customer service calls without disclosure. The court docket shows that the plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice on August 5, 2024. Before that, the docket shows a June 28, 2024 stipulation to extend the company's deadline to respond; it shows no ruling on the merits and no settlement.

Other dockets. A CourtListener RECAP search for cases named "Stanley Steemer" displayed 71 cases on October 11, 2026, among them individual civil cases brought by customers (for example insurance-related and motor-vehicle diversity cases) and a trademark case the company itself filed in 2025 (Stanley Steemer International, Inc. v. Stainless Steamer LLC, C.D. Cal., No. 2:25-cv-01836). Each case was not reviewed individually, and a docket listing is not a finding of liability.

Regulators. No FTC or state attorney general enforcement action against Stanley Steemer International, Inc. was identified in the sources checked on October 11, 2026. That check was a set of web searches and the dockets above, not a search of each state agency's database.

Is Stanley Steemer Legitimate?

Stanley Steemer International, Inc. is a corporation with a published corporate address at 5800 Innovation Drive, Dublin, Ohio, a BBB file showing a 1972 incorporation date and BBB accreditation since October 24, 2017, and a company-stated history dating to 1947. The company describes its network as company-owned branches plus independent franchises and says pricing and promotions are set locally.

Customer experience records are mixed and platform-dependent: BBB shows an A+ rating with 152 complaints in the last three years on the corporate-and-branch file, while Trustpilot displays a 1.9 score on an unclaimed profile. Legal records include a data breach class action that ended in a $700,000 class settlement approved by the court on May 29, 2025, in which the company denied liability, and a call-recording class action voluntarily dismissed without prejudice in August 2024. The question raised in the 17 archive complaints on this site is whether a quoted price, a promotional special or a cleaning result was honored; the company's Terms say its own workmanship and refund policy covers work Stanley Steemer International, Inc. delivers directly, and that requests about franchise work go to the franchisee.

Court & Public Records

Related Complaints

Names this company in a role other than the primary subject — not necessarily current or complete.

• Named as the creditor: Ripoff

Frequently Asked Questions