Who actually cleans it, and where
Ask one question first: do you clean the rug yourselves, and where? A real cleaner names its own plant, or says the work is done in your home. A lead-generation site cannot — it collects your details and sells the job on, so the rug ends up with whoever bid lowest, and nobody is accountable if it comes back shrunk or faded. If the answer is vague, that is your answer.
Do they test the dyes and match the method to the fibre?
A careful cleaner dusts the rug dry, then tests the dyes before any water touches it, and matches the method to what the rug is made of. Wool is usually immersion-washed at a plant; silk and viscose are cleaned with low moisture instead, because water can brown or distort them. A company that quotes one flat wash for every rug without asking what it is made of has not looked closely enough.
What the quote covers
Get it in writing and itemised. A real quote names the method (on-site clean or in-plant wash), the price per square foot or per rug, pickup and delivery, and any add-ons — pet treatment, fringe work, moth proofing. A single number over the phone is not a quote; it is a hook, and it tends to grow once the rug is in the van.
Insurance, and your building
Ask for proof of insurance. Many NYC buildings will not let a vendor collect or deliver a rug without a certificate of insurance on file, and a legitimate cleaner can produce one the same day. If a company cannot, it may not be insured for damage to your rug either.
The red flags of a doorway site
The giveaways are consistent: a name that is just a borough plus a keyword (“Manhattan Rug Cleaning Pros”), a toll-free number shared across a dozen near-identical sites, a cheap domain, no real address, and a price that is suspiciously round. These sites are built to rank, not to clean. RugRate only lists companies whose details were read from their own website — that filter is the point.