We had a houseful of Shaw Carpet installed in February. The cost was $6,000. Our installers are very professional and popular installers in our area. The carpet was installed correctly, over the highest quality mattress pad we could buy.
About one month after the installation, my husband and myself noticed a lot of matting and frizzing on the carpet. We were very careful not to mention this to each other, though, as we were still reeling from the expense of it, and did not want to admit how bad it was looking. About one month later, we finally broke down and admitted it looked horrible. We were unsure what to do. Finally, after months of hand-wringing and lots of vacuuming, we called Shaw for a warranty evaluation.
In November, Shaw sent a carpet evaluator to our home. He didn't say anything to us at first. He spent about 20 minutes evaluating the carpet, and then asked us for a new piece of carpet from an unused partial roll in our basement, to take with him as a sample. (Our carpet is Perfect Balance, Summer Straw... What a fitting moniker for the appearance of our carpet.). He then asked a few questions, and left.
About four weeks later, my husband called Shaw to find out where we were with our claim. He spoke with Ashley B. She read their response to us, and then mailed us a copy. They told us we had to "vacuum and hot water-extract our carpet on a daily basis". We were floored! (No pun intended.). We live two hours, round trip, from the only company they would okay to do our hot water extracting. When my husband questioned the representative about the reality of having our carpet cleaned daily, the representative said the letter "could have been worded better.". However, she did not take back (nor have any attempts been made) to correct the content of their recommendation letter.
We have moved five times in eleven years while my husband served in the Air Force. We have seen it all, from military housing, to poor rentals, to our current home. This carpet is absolutely, without any hesitation or reservation, the absolute worst carpet we have ever seen. Anywhere that we walk, the carpet is matted down and fuzzy.By fuzzy, I mean the carpet looks like you took a hairbrush and just rubbed it over and over again on the carpet. They tried to tell us we needed a vacuum without a beater brush, but we vacuum our entire floor, and the only place with any matting or fuzzing is where we walk.
We do have three dogs, but they have been with us through many other carpets and never have we seen anything that looks like this. Our dogs are professionally groomed every month, and are always kenneled when we are gone.
The general feeling we got from Shaw is that they are doing so well in this economy that they do not need our business... Or, anyone else's, for that matter. The worst part is, we are now stuck with atrocious "carpet", if you can even call it that, that is so embarrassing we don't want people to come over.in addition, we have a special needs son, who is 14. The inspector was very, very interested in our son. He asked us about four times if our son was in a wheelchair. (he is not and never has been; has been 100% ambulatory since age 2.). It was almost like the inspector's eyes lit up when he heard we had a special needs son. It was disturbing. Like it was their ticket out of the warranty.
We have deliberated hiring an attorney, (and with their poorly written recommendation letter, I think it would be fun), but are thinking our money may be better spent buying different carpet.
Not only will we never buy Shaw carpet again, we have now made it a mission to let people know about Shaw Floors and their products and lack of warranty coverage. When I think back to looking at their carpet sample on my floor for one year while we saved up to do this, and now I see this matted, fuzzy "straw" on my floor, I feel a pit in my gut as though I want to vomit or cry. Or both.
If you are a savvy consumer who has a family and a life, who cleans and vacuums regularly and takes pride in the cleanliness of your children, pets, and home, do not buy Shaw products. Their only interest in you, as a consumer, is to take the money and run.
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