Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsNot a good value. Like that it’s chemical-free, but performance was lackluster.
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2021
Updating review:
The seller of this product contacted me and issued an unsolicited refund. Also it looks like they do sell large bottles of one of their rug shampoos, just not via Prime. I don’t think I’ll use this for my rugs again because the amount of shampoo needed was simply cost and labor prohibitive. Perhaps it works very differently on synthetic carpet? I will likely use it again as an upholstery shampoo, however. It did a beautiful job on synthetic velvet and is extremely gentle.
Really mixed feelings about this product. When I cleaned my Tibetan carpets and some furniture recently, I had the opportunity to compare one of the regular Hoover products with this one (only because shipping from Honey & Sunny took so impossibly long even though it was Prime, that I finally gave up and used the old stuff).
There was a lot to like with Carpet Miracle-no chemicals, low sudsing, colors didn’t run, and it seemed more gentle. It did a beautiful job on a vintage velvet sofa, leaving the poly velvet soft and shimmery. Though it took a lot of passes to clean any visibly soiled areas. With the rug, however, I ended up extremely annoyed.
1. It’s a lot of work to wash a bunch of rugs, and I have many so don’t have the means to pay to have them professionally done at $200-$300 each twice a year. First, enzyme treatment for a day if there are any pet accidents, then I always go over them at least twice with warm water with some vinegar to pull out the first round of soil. One round of washing, then multiple rounds of rinsing adding things to condition the wool. My back does not thank me when done.
The rugs I did with regular carpet cleaner came out great as always. I dilute it excessively so it’s more gentle, but still pulls a lot of grime, vegetable dyes don’t run, etc. I put essential oils in the rinse water as well.
Then Carpet Miracle finally arrived, so I went to work on an 8’ round rug that was still waiting. It didn’t pull nearly as much grime-in fact I’m not sure it was any different than warm water and vinegar. The scent isn’t offensive, but reminds me a bit of bubble gum. It certainly doesn’t last in the fibers. As the rug dried over the last few days it gave off a very strange odor that I’ve never noticed before. It’s a newer rug so wasn’t that dirty, and there were no pet accidents so that wasn’t the cause of the odor. Now I feel like I have to go through the whole process again with a different shampoo, or at least several more passes with hot water and vinegar. Then days of waiting for it to dry. The rug simply doesn’t doesn’t smell clean, so I doubt that it is. The fibers were left very soft, so that’s nice, but it’s a heck of alot of work and hours to repeat the process. Very irritating.
2. I did one loveseat and one 8’ rug with carpet miracle, diluted per their instructions. I didn’t spray an excessive amount of soap on either. With that done, the bottle is nearly empty. “Concentrated” is a relative term. This is extremely expensive carpet shampoo given the area it covers. The company should at least offer a more budget-friendly, large size. I may not even have enough to do one entry size rug and will have to buy another bottle of shampoo for the remaining rugs. That’s just ridiculous. 2 pieces cleaned with one full bottle of shampoo?
While I want to eliminate the chemicals, I don’t think it’s necessary to pay 5x the price for that privilege. I would need probably 5 bottles of Carpet Miracle to wash all my rugs and a few furniture pieces. Or just one bottle of regular carpet shampoo that would actually get them clean the first time.
If I can’t find another natural alternative, I may buy this again just because it’s so gentle on the wool. But I’ll look for an alternative first, from a company that ships more reliably. And if I do purchase again I’ll do so begrudgingly, knowing I’ll need to shampoo at least 3 times for each piece (that’s how many more hours?) and feeling ripped-off the whole time.