Alan's
Preferred Carpet
Dealer Directory
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Alan J. Fletcher - My Story
It makes me feel good to help others, which is the main reason I created my free carpet buying information websites.
Even though I don’t sell carpet, my goal is to help people select the right carpet and pad that will meet their needs and lifestyle, to have it installed properly at a fair and square price. I’m just an average guy who doesn’t like to see people ripped-off.
Growing up I often had the chance to make some pocket money helping out at my dad’s carpet showroom. He was a Carpet Mill Rep. for over 35 years. I didn’t know it back then, but my future going to be in carpet. In 1977 I took a job as carpet installer trainee at age 18.
I went through an apprentice program with friends of my father who ran a flooring business. The Company was owned by two brothers.. They were both very kind and respectable gentlemen and they treated me very well.
A few years later they both retired and I was out on my own installing carpet, vinyl and hardwood floors for a number of smaller retail carpet shops. It didn’t take me long to find out that I didn’t appreciate the way that most retail flooring shops treated their carpet installers. Rarely did they show any respect or gratitude for a job well done.
After a few more years of honing my installation skills and learning more about the flooring business I started working for Mike’s Carpet store. It was then that I came to realize that many retail carpet storeowners treated their customers just as poorly as they treated their installers.
Mike would often buy carpet rems from the mills. These were carpet leftovers, roll ends, closeouts, discontinues, off-colors, seconds, defectives, and so forth. Many of these carpets were junk. By that I mean it was carpet that was made so poorly that was not fit for residential homes. Mike would sell these carpets to his customers and tell them anything to make the sale. It was obvious that he didn’t care about his customers, he only cared about the money.
When Mike would send me out to install his junk carpet, I felt bad for his customers. They didn't know what they had purchased, they trusted Mike. And Even though I knew the truth, I was unable to warn about the lousy carpet they purchased. Customers might ask my opinion of the carpet but I couldn’t tell them the truth or mike would fire me.
When I was finished installing the carpet I was to collect the final amount due. Since I had the original bill of sale I knew how much they had been charged for the materials and labor. Had they bought from a reputable dealer and done their homework they could have selected a carpet that would have been a good choice for about the same amount of money. Mike scammed them out of their hard-earned money and it made me mad.
I'll never forget this one carpet job Mike sent me out to do. This young family had finally saved up enough money to buy new carpet that they hope will last 10 to 12 years and now a ruthless carpet retailer has taken all their money and sold them a carpet that couldn’t last more than three years. That's when I decided to look for another store to work for and I soon found work at a small carpet retailer about 20 miles away.
However, after a month or so I started seeing a familiar pattern. Many of the flooring materials they sold didn’t quite meet the needs or goals of their customers. It’s not difficult to figure out that a low-grade carpet won’t tolerate a busy household with four young boys running around. I wanted to know why.
Here again, I was in the same predicament when I worked for Mike’s. Customers were not buying the right carpet and I couldn’t tell them the truth or I would lose my job. After spending some time in the showroom listening to the salespeople I figured out why this was happening.
The problem
The salespeople were not asking their customers about their needs and lifestyle in order to help them find a suitable carpet. They were only asking customers how much money they had to spend and then would lead the customer to a carpet that fit into their price range, whether it was a suitable product or not. They would ask..."How much money have you put aside for this project?". What they should have been asking was.."how many people live in your home? any Kids? Pets? Teenagers? and How long do you want your carpet to last?"
It was obvious to me that most salespeople have a fear of losing the sale if they try to inform the customer to buy a suitable but more expensive carpet than they had in mind. Instead of educating their customers about the benefits of a better quality, buying a more durable carpet that could last years longer, they would just show their customers les expensive grades of carpet and give the impression that they were more durable than they actually were. The customer was happy when they found they could buy a carpet that fell within their budget, but the carpet they selected was not suitable for their application. Ultimately the customer was unhappy with their purchase.
In the first 15 years of my carpet career I worked for more than a dozen carpet retailers. It became obvious to me that the majority of retail carpet salespeople were only concerned about making the sale and not concerned about the needs and goals of their customers. I began to learn everything I could about how carpet was made and what made on carpet last longer than another. My father was a wealth of knowledge and experience for me to draw from. For the next 10 years I gradually became a carpet buying expert.
I realized that I wanted to become more involved as a consumer advocate. I believe that every consumer deserves to know the truth, even if they don’t like what they hear. So I made the decision to pursue my passion.
In 1998 I wrote my first consumer guide "Carpet Buying Secrets Revealed" and my desire to be an active consumer advocate became a reality. Response was very good to the release of my book.
In 2000 I started my first website Abccarpets.com. I wrote "The Quick and Easy Guide to Carpet Shopping" and released both books to Amazon.com for distribution.
In 2002 I wrote a book for landlords called "Landlord Floors-Carpet and Vinyl management for rentals." and launched my second website Landlordfloors.com. I began development of The CFM Solution, a strategic way for landlords to reduce their flooring replacement costs. The Landlord Flooring Management Guide was compiled and offered as a resource for rental property owners and property managers.
In 2003 I launched Howtobuycarpet.com and I began offering a free service called "Ask the Carpet Expert" where people could e-mail me their questions about buying carpet. Since then, hundreds of carpets buying questions & answers have been posted on my web sites for my readers to access.
In 2005 I retired from the flooring business to work full time as a consumer carpet-buying advocate. I authored The Complete Carpet Buying Guide and offered it as an instant download from my websites.
Today: I continue to update my Carpet books, websites and answer carpet questions from my website visitors.
Be careful what you read on the internet... I have gone online and read virtually all the other "so-called" free carpet information websites on the web, they all put a spin on what they are telling you. They all have a hidden agenda to hide the truth or trick you out of your hard earned money.
I don't have any agenda other than telling you the truth about buying carpet, how to save money, how to avoid scams and get the job done right the first time. You may need to spend more than you had originally planned. But in the end, you will end up a happy customer.
The revenue from selling my eBook helps me pay for my websites which costs quite a bit to operate. It's a full time job for me, not to mention answering the thousands of questions that readers send me every year. Good Luck!
