Recently I saw an interview by Dave Foster of Floor Radio fame, in Dalton, Georgia. Werner Braun, President of the CRI and Fritz Rench, Chairman of Racine Industries, debated the SOA program. I was struck by two comments made by Mr. Braun. He rudely said to Mr. Rench, "Your products do not perform as well as SOA approved products and that's your agenda."
Mr. Braun may be right in his view because only CRI regulates and is able to compare the tests. My personal opinion is that the tests show partiality for money and are extremely skewed. The truth was confirmed when this comment slipped out. Mr. Braun said the CRI has added a "Platinum" rating to recognize those that work hard to improve their test results.
It cost my company nearly five thousand dollars to get to "Silver." We chose not to spend more for a "Process test" which would have gotten us higher. For you professional cleaners who do not know or care, the little Rug Doctor machine improved from "Gold" to the top* "Platinum" rating while some powerful truck-mounted equipment like Steamway is rated only "Bronze." The old accountant would have two comments. "Go figure!" and "Follow the money!"
For some interesting commentary on the topic from "real carpet cleaners" click on this link by Lisa Wagner, the famous "Rug Chick." http://realdirtoncri.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/real cleaners welcome/
* A well-placed source says that CRI has a "Diamond" rating** in the planning stages.
** There are some marketing possibilities such as, "If you think diamonds are a girl's best friend, just wait till you see what CRI Diamond rated equipment can do for her carpet."
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