Phone Price or In home Price!

Reader Mary sent an email saying that she had recently gotten estimates from 2 companies.
Company A made a trip to her house to quote her a price. The person doing the bidding may or may not have the carpet cleaning truck along, waiting for her to give the final OK and start cleaning or He schedules an appointment for a later date, assuming she agrees and requests his services.
Company B, on the other hand, quotes by phone. A phone quote is given, although Mary described the price as very good, Mary then schedules several days later with Company B. Mary thought that Company B phone quote was final and was ready to do the cleaning. She described the experience as a "horror story. This brings up an interesting point. Consumers have heard horror stories of getting phone quotes and then being nickeled and dimed with up-charges for every little thing. That's the fault of both parties--but mostly the cleaner, there are a lot of cleaning companies that quote a very low price on the phone to get in the door knowing full well that they will have to change the quote to a much higher price when they arrive at the location. Consumers on the other hand hear what they want to hear, they should ask about possible incidental charges, especially if they have pet stains or problem areas. Most companies charge extra for urine stains, deodorizing, stairs, furniture moving, and more.
I can understand why Mary is cautious. Some unscrupulous cleaners (Bait and Switchers) advertising ridiculous low pricing will charge extra for everything once they arrive at your home, including dirty carpet, calling it a "restorative" clean rather than a "maintenance" clean. "Sometimes the restorative clean is triple or a whole lot more than the original price phone quote at those kinds of companies, Berber carpets and L-shaped rooms might merit an upcharge at those places too.
The final price should be given before any of the cleaning starts and the customer can decline the service at that point, with no pressure and no charge.
Mary has a legitimate beef that phone quotes can be artificially low. If Both offer the same carpet cleaning alternative and accurate firm quote is a concern for you, insist on a home quote. Don't be a victim of a "horror story" because a company offers an unrealistic low phone quotes, just to get in the door and uses high pressure sales when they get to your home. As long as they are accurate in their phone quote, I have no problems with that.