My husband started Potomac Services many years ago with the idea that he wanted to provide a quality service and a good customer experience. We were both tired spending our hard earned money on vendors, restaurants and stores that we got poor service… and we wanted to be different…. you know, the good guys.
Recently, as I look around at the competition in the marketplace for similar services to ours, I am angered by what I see. Deceptive advertising. And when I call to other companies (as a secret shopper), I get deceived on the phone as well. Now, because I am familiar with the industry, I know the difference between what I am being told and the truth. But I know many people, who live busy lives and don’t eat and breath air duct cleaning or chimney sweep services won’t know the difference. They end up paying good money, for not great service. This frustrates me as a business owner and as a consumer. Sure I want your business, but I also want to earn your respect and have you as a customer for life.
Here’s some samples of some recent observations that I thought I would share…
1) A company is advertising $40 for whole house air duct cleaning. (which is deceptive in itself) I go to their website and they have the big truck similar to ours. This is new, since we are one of two companies in the area that uses the truck vacuum system. (Frankly because they are a huge investment). The truck picture clearly has the company name cut and pasted on it, so I am thinking its fake. So I call and ask about the service and then I ask about the truck. The sales person tells me that the truck is only for commercial work and they come out with a smaller, but effective system. (This video demonstrated otherwise) I look at the website again on the home air duct cleaning page is picture of the truck in front of a house…
2) I called around to a couple chimney sweep companies to see what was the going rate for chimney sweep and inspections… I do this because I want to make sure that we were competitive. While I was on the phone, 3 of the 4 companies all answered that they were certified. So I probed further on this… none of them were certified. Two back tracked and said what they meant was they were liscensed bonded and insured. Or they were a member of the National Chimney Sweep Guild. Big difference from being trained and certified from the Chimney Safety Institure of American.
3) There are air duct cleaners out there, even big named ones, that say they adhere to National Air Duct Cleaning Association standards. That is great, but let’s be clear that it doesn’t mean that they’re certified. And do you really know whether or not they follow NADCA standards or not. We are a NADCA certified company. If you go to NADCA.org, you will find us there. 
