It took six years for CRI to recruit a mere 987 CSPs (Certified Service Providers) for its Seal of Approval Program. Of all the cleaning firms nationwide, only about 300 independent operators have signed on to CRI's plan. It's interesting to note that 70% of the CSPs are franchises, but even more interesting is the fact that carpet mills own some of the franchises that are dominating the CRI program. Check the list at this link:
About 30,000 to 40,000 individual companies are in the carpet cleaning business. Add janitorial firms, in-house operations, maid services and part-timers and the number could easily exceed 150,000 with several million employees. It is logistically impossible for 987 approved cleaning firms to do all of that work. Carpet warranties will soon begin to contribute to this disaster in public relations by the CRI.
More than ten years ago at a meeting in Dalton, I heard a representative of a major carpet mill say, "Only cleaning franchises should be promoted by CRI members because they're easier to control." He struck me as a fringe radical, but in view of what is taking place in the CRI, he should be taken seriously now.
Thinking people in the cleaning industry are questioning CRI motives and a ground swell of resistance is organizing. There are rumors of conflicts of interest in their testing process and serious doubts as to its validity. Unanswered questions persist about the CRI "study" that claimed carpet cleaners are responsible for more consumer dissatisfaction with carpet than any other source. That "study" appears to be as bogus as their testing program.
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