Pricing for vomit cleanup

[Scott P]

The wife and I got to entertain to guys from the UK location of her comapny Saturday night. One of them had a really good time and drank a bit too much. As we pulled up the driveway to the hotel for the night (about 2:00 am), he began to puke out the window of the rear door. I pulled over and hoped he could manage to open the door to finish the job. No such luck. I watched in the driver side mirror and he tossed up his dinner/snacks/beverages all over the door and sill.

Once we got him out of the truck, the wife took some paper towels she had in the back and wiped off the amount he had left on the sill. We drove home with that wonderful smell. So, sometime after 2:00 this monring , we are in our driveway hosing off the truck, outside and in. We got most of it and called it a night.

This morning, I got to tackle the fun stuff. I pulled off the door panel and pulled up some weather stripping just to get at it all. I even had to pull up the floor/door sills since it had run down there as well.

I sprayed everything down with EFHI at 5:1. The shop-vac got a lot of the stuff. I am really not looking forward to opening that canister. After some scrubbing, rinsing and vacuuming, I think I got it all.

As you can imagine, I am not happy at all. The wife is ready to blow him in. She`s already discussed the situation with a former boss. He advised her to have me write up an invoice for the cleaning of the truck. I`m also going to turn one in for the company car I detailed for them.

How much should I charge for the clean-up of the truck? I figure the taking off the door panels, trim panels, carpet cleaning, etc should be at least $75 or so.

[GregCavi]

I would say that sounds cheap. I would get at least $100 or more.

Greg

[Mikeyzr]

I agree with Greg...maybe even more around $125. I also work for an ambulance p/t and vomit is bio-hazzardous waste. To dispose of it propery it would need to be in a sealed bio bag and taken to an appropriate disposal facility. Of course, it`s just vomit and you could wash out the wet vac with bleach and you`re good to go. However, what I said above is a great argument since you run a detail service, and also a great way to get what you want for payment. Theres my .02

Mike

[Ben Kenobi]

Scott, I agree with Greg and Mike. I`d say at least $100 and make sure you do charge for doing the car too. I guess that answers my question in your other thread about the visitors. The guy should have known better when he`s visiting another office. Some people never learn.

Paul

[Hawaiianelement]

Wow , were not you and your wife entertaing guests from out of town? Of course he`s going to party a little more when he`s in another country with a couple of nice people showing him a good time. Don`t charge him anything . I think its in bad taste to give your company a bill for detailing when you`re a detailer..

I say chalk it up to a crazy night out with the co-workers from England ..just my .02

[Mikeyzr]

Hmm, interesting POV Hawaiianelement.

I know I`ve been in that position once before (puking out the window) as I`m sure some others have to. I guess you could have went the cheap route and just wiped it off...however us detailers could never do such a thing. I`d sit on it a day or two, talk it over with the wife and see if and what you`d like to bill, if any. I`m sure the dude feels pretty bad about the whole thing, but I know also how bad it sucks to clean up that stuff! :hurl

Mike

[Scott P]

Ok, the smell was still there today. What can I use to get rid of it? I have a Hoover Steam Vac with a wand extension. That will function as my extractor. I have some Nature`s Miracle stuff for pet stains. We already put that stuff down.

My next course of action will be to use the Steam Vac thing to clean up the interior yet again. I`m also planning on taking the door apart again to rinse it out.

[Scott P]

Wow , were not you and your wife entertaing guests from out of town? Of course he`s going to party a little more when he`s in another country with a couple of nice people showing him a good time. Don`t charge him anything . I think its in bad taste to give your company a bill for detailing when you`re a detailer..

I say chalk it up to a crazy night out with the co-workers from England ..just my .02

It was my wife`s company and the entire night was paid for by the company. This really wasn`t a case of hanging out with firends. Getting so drunk to the point you are tossing the cookies in and on the car of a co-worker is simply lacking in respect and manners.

[GLT Automotive]

Sorry to hear about your situation...I am not sure what to do about the smell. I did notice that Megs has a product dedicated to pet odor...and probably some other bad smells too...That may work...Just a suggestion, I haven`t used the stuff, but I know that pet pee can be a pretty stubborn odor.

Let us know what ends up working for you...As far as price...I would DEFINITELY charge...I agree w/ some of the comments about chalking it up to a fun night, etc...But imo someone was going to have to pay to get the thing detailed...and it probably wouldn`t be done right...PLUS, you probably spent most of your Sunday (or Saturday) plus some working on fixing the problem...I would go w/ the standard $25/hour rate and adjust the final price from there. Just my .02

[shotime]

Scott, I live near Batavia and have an odor fogger and a complete odor removal system. This works 100%. I`ve done some nasty farm trucks at work and the smell does not come back at all. I`d be willing to help you out with the smell if you want. I usually get done with work around 5. Let me know what you want to do.

[Mr. Clean]

Scott P,

If the smell is still present, my thought is there is still something (I`ll refrain from *saying* what :nono ) remaining somewhere. It may just be a slight residue, but I would say you are going to need to look at all of the places you`ve cleaned already, and maybe some places you didn`t and reapply your efforts.

Following the cleaning, you might try the Odor Out, or whatever Mequiar`s calls their odor removal product (Disclaimer - I`ve never tried it personally and base this suggestion solely on the comments of others). Another option depends on whether it is your Wife`s company car or not. You had two seemingly conflicting posts regarding the car`s actual status. If your Wife will be driving it as *her* car a zeolite based product should provide some relief.

Chill out on the "totally lacking respect" bit. You are off base on that one. I`ve never known anyone who intentionally threw up after having *too much fun*. The occurence of that reflex has absolutely nothing to do with respect or manners, just poor (and depending on the age...very poor) judgement.

[Hawaiianelement]

It was my wife`s company and the entire night was paid for by the company. This really wasn`t a case of hanging out with firends. Getting so drunk to the point you are tossing the cookies in and on the car of a co-worker is simply lacking in respect and manners.

Very true Scott. I deffinately feel for you ..Any chance of the guy being held responsible..

[Scott P]

Shotime...I appreciate the offer. I`ve got a few more thing to try. I guess the smell is mostly gone at this point. This weekend, I`ll take the door panel and sill trim off for a complete rinsing to make sure I got everything. If it doesn`t work, I`ll contact you. I pay in product. :D

Mr. Clean...Thanks for the tips. I`ve been using a product called Nature`s Miracle which is for pet stains. It seemed to work quite well.

Hawaiian...The man was pulled into the boss` office for a good talk. Apparently, this isn`t the first time he`s gotten a little out of control with his drinking. He will be paying for the clean-up. $150 has been the proposed offer so far. I think that is fair for the amount of time the wife and I have invested.

[Mr. Clean]

Mr. Clean...Thanks for the tips. I`ve been using a product called Nature`s Miracle which is for pet stains. It seemed to work quite well.


Scott P, :doh I read right past the Nature`s Miracle reference. "EFHI 5:1" was stuck in my mind. As you are aware NM is an enzyme based cleaner, if you can get it applied to all of the offending material it should work just fine for you.

[Mikeyzr]

If the guy had his night paid for and he decided to get out of control, that sucks to be him because he now just paid for his night of fun!

One product I`ve used in cars and on my carpets in the house is called AtmosKlear. It`s available at some hardware stores and on the net, they have a website that you can buy it from. I`ve met the guy who makes the stuff and he has a lot of science and research into it. It`s affordable and maybe worth a try. I agree with the others that there is still some...ahh hem..."product" to get rid of, then the odor cleaner and machine can do their work. Good luck!

Mike