First, let me say that a lot of what I am writing is "hear-say" so take it how you want. I am not stating any facts other than what I've written about my personal experience. Some of it sounds pretty far fetched, some of it could have just been "trash talking" and some of it might be real. You judge for yourself.
Well, well, well. It's been a couple of years since I've worked for Kiwi but thought I would look em up for kicks. It's nice to see their reputation is still solid hahaha.
Jalil (or however you spell his name) was dead on. That's exactly how it works at Kiwi. We'd have little contests amongst ourselves to see who can blaze through the warranties quickest. My record was 8 minutes on an 8 room warranty! That's loading and unloading equipment too! Hey, if you don't buy the extras why should I give you good service? I'm only making 2 bucks a room and a dollar for the small areas even though you are still charged the same price! Yea, I got half of the trip charge, until Kiwi raised it and kept the remainder for themselves!
I paid for my own gas, uniforms and pretty much everything. I put 95,000 miles on my brand new truck in the first year! I was totally upside-down on it and still owed 10,000 dollars when I traded it in!
I am an ex con too. I did time in the penetentiary before I worked for Kiwi. Hahaha, imagine, having an ex con in your home! Well, Kiwi doesn't mind. Which is ok. I never stole or anything like that but hey, I know me, I don't know the next ex con that will walk into your home.
Oh God. The spot gimmick. Hahaha, my favorite. I'd charge up to $500 on a ticket for spot treatment! Hahaha, most of which didn't even need any extra attention. Hey, at 40% thats 200 bucks in my pocket. How else am I supposed to make a living? The money I'd make on warranties didn't even cover my GAS!
Here's a little trick I use to do. Put a splash of cleaner in a 2 gallon jug and fill the rest with water. Guaranteed to not do a damn thing! Then "well ma'am it looks like we have to do some extra services!" hahaha. It was classic!
I felt bad at first but then after having a few customers try to get one over on me, I stopped feeling bad. Here's a tip, don't try to nickel and dime the technician and get extra rooms cleaned for free. God I hated those people and I would NEVER do the job right for them.
The air duct cleaning. Hahaha, total garbage! IT's basically a shop vac that we used. The rug cleaning. Big joke there! Sometimes we'd just take the rugs to the shop, vacuum them and send them back to the customer! And we'd charge about $1.50 a sq ft. A real oriental rug place charges $3 so you get what you pay for!
Now the Kiwi cleaner! Hahaha. Home Depot special! Simple Green. That's it! And these stupid people were paying $30 a bottle for their spotter! Hahaha, it's about. 5 onces of simple green mixed with water.
They later started adding some stuff to it. It's basically a sewer line degreaser made of citrus peels. Sounds safe enough right? The MSDS says "causes death in lab rats. Human effects not tested". These "citrus peels" are one of the most TOXIC chemicals you can use on carpet. Still, Kiwi doesn't care because it's CHEAP! They can run 1500 jobs a week on a $550 barrel of this stuff. But still, they were STINGY with their chemicals.
If a customer spent a good $500-$1000 on their carpets then I'd do one hell of a job! Hey, you get what you pay for! But they were so stingy with their chemicals it was TOUGH! I'd have to go to the chemical store and buy my own just so I can do a good job for my good customers.
Lets see. What else... Oh, the owners! I worked there for 2 years and the owner never even spoke to me once. All I was to her was a cash register. The managers were cool though... We'd smoke weed together before and after work so that was good. They had a 14 year old daughter who would hang out and drink beer and smoke weed with us. Yea... I thought this was pretty screwed up right there but who am I to say anything?
I saw something crazy while I was there though. I saw the managers girlfriend break into one of the technicians trucks and take EVERYTHING. She did it in front of everyone too and no one said ANYTHING about it. That's the last time I saw that poor guy there. Hey, that's how it goes.
I've heard of some EVIL things being done to customers who didn't buy extras. I was on the milder side. Just running in and out quick. The craziest thing I heard was a guy who use to take the customers tooth brushes and rub them between his... Umm... Genitalia and backside. That was 'punishment" for being cheap. I don't have the highest morals but even I have to draw the line WAY before that.
Others would include going back to their houses and spray painting their cars and other vandal stuff like that. Some of the more extreme would be urinating in the pump up, adding a little cleaner to it and cleaning! Hahaha, then the guys would say "maam, there is a pet odor coming up from your carpet... We have to charge you extra for this and that treatment"
It was crazy. Looking back I didn't realize what a piece of crap I had become. I worked so hard to get away from my criminal past and just live straight and narrow and honest. But I guess you are a product of your environment. When you work for a company like Kiwi, you soon become one of them.
I've matured a great deal since then. I'm currently installing satellite dishes and going to school. I'm almost done with my business management degree and I'm hoping it will be long enough for my felony to not matter. I can only imagine what I'd become if I stayed there! They actually offered me a management position when they fired the managers. I turned it down. Soon after I quit because my breathing was not right and I knew it was the chemicals.
I actually feel pretty crappy putting myself back in that mindset to tell my story. But I think it's a story everyone should hear. Not only did the cleaning not do a thing but the whole company is a joke! Their motto should be
Kiwi Services: "because a sucker is born every minute"
It's a shame really. You live and you learn I guess.
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