[derek west]

my first clanger and what a clanger it was.
quoted for 2 bedrooms a set of stairs3 lots with 2 small landings and just a walk way in a bedroom on the ground floor. £150, that'll be lovely she said so got the job.
got there today, nightmare getting the pipes up to the 2nd floor round this twisty staircase, put card board on evry corner so pipes wouldn't scratch paint, did the first bed, came up like new, did the lads bedroom and came up ok so did it again and was again like new, had a brew, then did the top section of the stairs, looking gorgeous, another brew and on to the second set of stairs, fantastic, packed the pipes away and started edging the bedrooms and the stairs, job looked great, called the lady to get back home as i'd finished, showed her the 2 beds and then the stairs, she was over the moon, "heres your cheque, i'll deffo reccommend you" and off i went,
have you spotted the mistake yet?
got a mile down the road and "shhhhhiiiiiiiiit" yes thats right, i forgot the bleedin walkway in the 3rd bedroom. going back monday morning to do it,
we live and learn
whats your biggest clanger guys.
derek

[carpet_care]

I had one a while ago in a barn conversion large double bedroom and large hallway picked keys up from ladies office and said I would ring her when finished.

 Job done ring her to say finished comes round and says yes looks great but youve done the wrong bedroom


 Had to unpack all the gear and do the other bedroom for nothing.



Also had one on monday hall stairs ,landing and through lounge, can you just do the rug on the landing aswell ,yes no prob .
,

   Then forgot about it when he came back said I,d take it with me and bring it back another day  : :

[Jim_77]

Luck is smiling on you Derek, the forgotten room is normally on the top floor!

The biggest b***ck I've ever dropped in this sort of sense is cleaning the wrong office carpet for a commercial customer.  They emailed me saying "I presume you ran out of time to do the last room?"

The one I forgot was about 4 times the size of the one I did by mistake, so didn't give them much for free but milked it anyway

Worst thing that's ever gone wrong for me is ending up owning a Marks & Sparks suite.  The foam wadding on the arms had broken up into tiny pieces and was being pulled through the fabric and deposited on top.  Extracting it more obviously made it worse, and it wouldn't towel away.  I sometimes joke with customers "Oh I won't turn it purple, don't worry".... this one did!

The suite was out of its warranty and the customer's insurance didn't cover it, so I had to do a little Del Boy work and it only ended up costing me time

It was a microfibre fabric and the model called "Modena", just for the record if anyone comes across them.. They will be minimum 8 years old by now, as M&S stopped using the manufacturer of these ones around yr 2000.

I got presented with a sofa bed from the same range about 6 months later, I dry cleaned it!

[Jim_77]

Oh I forgot my best clanger!

Customer lets me in, then goes off to the train station.  I take half of my kit inside, stick some water in the machine, start to vacuum then go outside for something.

It was one of those double glazed front doors with the security handle that only opens the door from the inside; you need to have the key in the outside lock to open it from outside.  I didn't.

She was half way to London on the train!

I had to go home, couldn't do any other little jobs because half of my kit was in there!

Tip: always check you haven't got one of these type of door handles if working alone!!

[M.Acorn]

Left my wand in a customers hall way,just pulled up in the drive at home after a 20 mile journey down the a14 and he called me !
Left a full tub of defoamer at a customers house,not worth the journey to collect it  
Recently burst one of my high pres hoses,so using the other set which has an open end at one end,it popped out of the connector yesterday and soaked me,was flying around like a hosepipe,it was all dry by the time i went .

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Seem to be leaving things a lot lately.

Left my gloria sprayer at one job 10 miles away.

Left 3 different sweatshirts at 3 different houses in the same week !

Didn't think I was old enough for "senior" moments yet.



Steve

[*neal down]

Oh I forgot my best clanger!

Customer lets me in, then goes off to the train station.  I take half of my kit inside, stick some water in the machine, start to vacuum then go outside for something.

It was one of those double glazed front doors with the security handle that only opens the door from the inside; you need to have the key in the outside lock to open it from outside.  I didn't.

She was half way to London on the train!

I had to go home, couldn't do any other little jobs because half of my kit was in there!

Tip: always check you haven't got one of these type of door handles if working alone!!

 

[Kev Loomes]

Didn't think I was old enough for "senior" moments yet.



Steve

But Steve, 58 isnt old

[Dave_Lee]

Turned up to do a job at a house the customer was moving in to. She was going back to the house she was moving out of, so left me to it. Got the job finished, nipped round to her house to get paid. "Have you got the keys" she asked, Ooops! I had posted them back through the letterbox after locking up, like I thought she had asked me to do. Her huband had the only other set and he was away for another two days. She wasnt pleased, but paid up.
Dave.

[clinton]

Me too locked myself out while working in the house,went out to get my diary and bang goes the front door

my phone, van keys were all locked in the house so had to get there neighbour to phone a taxi for me to pick up spare keys from her shop :

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Once walked in whilst doing a rental property as a couple were doing press ups on each other using the bed to break the fall.

Whoops I said

Shaun

[Jim_77]

At Least they were using "precautions"

[Mike Osbourne]

Derek

Didn't take you long to start slacking.

3 cups of tea? Only a few weeks ago you weren't having any of it.

This means by Christmas you will be on ten brews a day.

[carlton care]

I think 3 cups of tea in an hour and a half is a bit OTT.  You mentioned cardboard for corners, which could slip, there are corner protectors available, but I have always found towels to be the most successfull for this protection.

rbert m

[derek west]

mike
she's lucky there was no viking lager in the fridge.
carlton
3 hours not 1 half, don't forget i pre vac and i edge all the carpet and wipe down skirting and moved furniture, could of done it in about 2hrs 15 without the brews and a bt more haste but last job of day so took me time. ish
and the cardboard was masking taped on, not 1 slipped and worked really well, if i;d used proper corner guard they wouldnt of worked, the stairs were steep and the pipe kept riding up the bannister poles, i cut the card board in 2 feet strips to compensate that, she actually comented on how professional i was bein careful.
next door neighbour came out and asked for a card so i hope my custy doesn't tell her i missed a bit,

guys
nice to see i'm not the only one going a bit senile, i was starting to think it would be just me, youve all made me feel so much better, and i must admit, ive had a good laugh at some of your clangers
left me wand behind on one job, luckily custy rang me before i got to my next job otherwise i'd of had to clean a 24 sq metre room with a stair tool, phew!
derek

[Mike Osbourne]

I was pooting myself last week. Went leafleting and parked the van up in a new estate. 2 hours later I came back and it had gone

Then I realised it was in the next road down that's identical, same houses, same road layout as well. :

[nevil]

In my porty days when cleaning an upstairs cafe with a downstairs bookmaker. I managed to over fill the machine ( I used to fill my porty with a hose and a tap connector ). I completley forgot the machine was filling and was prespraying. Efficient or what ?.

The first I knew there was a problem was when the manager of the bookies came flying up the stairs yelled at the cafe owner.  While they were talking I had my eureka moment, ran to my machine, switched off the tap, Picked up excess water on the carpet.  Then practiced my inocent expression for the inevitable moment I would need it. They both approached me while I was wanding away and asked me if I had had a spill, "who me guv, no what's the problem"  They told me about the the bookmakers downstairs having water flowing from the light fittings and with a small river running acrross the floor.

I developed slopey shoulders and admitted nothing and started looking at the toilet cisterns as a distraction. Fortunatley for me both the cafe owner and the bookie were very gulable and although they were deeply suspicous of me they wern't certain. The water stopped flowing pretty quick, the river ran dry and they stopped asking questions.

I fitted a toilet ballcock to the machine after that.

[Mike Osbourne]

Nevil

It's your business, but if it was me I'd of owned up even if it might be painful.

[nevil]

Nevil

It's your business, but if it was me I'd of owned up even if it might be painful.

Thanks for that Mike.

 I thought we were doing a humerous exchange of storries thread. Your post belongs on a thread titled who's going to go to heaven. I don't know what forum it's on though. 

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

 

[Mike Osbourne]

Don't worry Nevil, I will pray for you.

[nevil]

Hi Goron.

How's it going. I have been working down your end of Kernow this week. Sorry, I don't target Hotels down there but they had heard about me. 

[nevil]

Mike, can you make it a good one. I've got a lot to be forgiven for. 

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

Thats okay nevil if you really need to travel down all that way you must need it!

I'm okay by the way

Cheers Goron

[nevil]

 

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

 

[Mike Osbourne]

Goron

I think Johnny will be coming down your way soon too.

2 lanes of caravans on the M5 last night.

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

No we know they taste like chicken!

[Mike Osbourne]

I had noticed there never quite seems to be so many coming back.

[Buster Ingram]

These moments only happen when you take your eye off the ball! Like the time when I as filling my first T/M from a kitchen sink mixer tap, I was merrily cleaning away in the lounge when I could hear running water running I looked all around and couldn’t see anything. When I went outside to the van for a smoke break I was confronted with water streaming out of the loft tank over flow! Oh poo was my first thought, quick as a flash I hoped to the kitchen to turn off the tap. What had happened was each time the header tank on the machine had cut off the water had gone up the hot water pipe to the hot water cylinder via the mixer tap then when that was full it then went to the loft tank! Thank God the overflow pipe was clear on the tank otherwise I would have been faced with a hefty bill for a new bedroom ceiling. From that day on I always use a cold tap only

[nevil]

Whoops indeed Dave.

I had something similar when I was filling my DIY truckmount. While I was filling from a kitchen tap I stood on the hose as I was walking through the house and didn't give it a second thought. What I didn't know was that the pressure build up in the pipe had caused the tap connector to partially come off and spray water around the kitchen. Worse still the customer decided to wrestle with it to try to get it back on the tap without leaking. I was obliveous to all this for a full 5 minutes and by the time I entered the kitchen she was drenched from head to foot. The house was completly empty so she couldn't even dry herself or get changed.

Whoops.

Mike another prayer please.

[Mike Osbourne]

Nevil

God said he had you down for Brain Surgeon, but glad he changed his mind now.

[nevil]

Nevil

God said he had you down for Brain Surgeon, but glad he changed his mind now.

Changed his mind, do you mean like a brain transplant. Must of been some surgeon that one, beyond me. I got good grades in both metalwork and woodwork so maybe there is still a chance.
 

There must be hundreds of these storries out there, come on guys let's have em.

[murky]

If I am working alone or on rented jobs and they are the double glazed type doors that auto lock when they close I now allways put a mat in the door to keep it open.

That is because I know the hard way that when they shut they lock.

When that happened to me I went all through the garage, no ladder so I couldnt climb in through the bedroom window, no key in the garage as we all keep a spare key in there dont we, under the mat, plant pot, nothing, no neighbours in, she'd gone shopping not back for a couple of hours.

My brother was a copper and warned me that you can force those frames apart, so I got my carpet bolster from the van and hey presto forced it open.I wasnt finished when she got back as was arranged but just said it took a little longer than anticipated.

Murky

[clinton]

Good to hear all these stories as like derek just thought it was me who sometimes got into a mess

Mike

Johnny could be heading to your abode in the caravans do you do cheap b and b

[Derek_Walker]

My brother and I were cleaning some carpets in a well known gay area, working back to back and at the end of the job the guy gave us a tube of mini rolo's each, with a pound coin taped to the end. Is that some sort of secret code ?

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

I ended up having to do a little light house-breaking

Door closed on me so going round the property I saw an open bathroom window. Shinned up the drain pipe, across the roof tiles of the kitchen extension and slipped in through the bathroom window. Good job I'm slim(ish).

Even gooder job that there were no neighbours watching.

Have always worked on the basis that as long as I have my van keys, phone and diary I can just about cope with any other senior moments.

[brian willis]

 just jesterday did a lounge carpet, pushed the coner suite back a caught the wall paper, and tore it oooops! sh## lucky she was ok about it.  wont do that again.

[colin thomas]

i have done the lot, left my van keys on the sideboard of an empty house and the second i pulled the door to i remembered, had to wait for the lady to come home from shopping about 2 hours later. filling up at a restaurant i was cleaning via a hose on the tap and whilst i was upstairs it came off, the whole ground floor was under 10mm of water when i came down, whoops! quickly sucked it up and didn't own up to it, don't know how long it took to dry but they did ask me back the next year.
the ones i REALLY hate are when you leave something, chemical, equipment, anything and few customers will ring you to tell you it's there, i even left my stair tool once and when i rang the customer up she just said that she had wondered what that metal thing in the hall was, didn't have the sense to realise it might be mine as she had just had her carpets cleaned!!!
 
colin

[from edge2edge]

Colin my girlfriend once went to pick up a machine she had hired out to a lady and when she asked where the handtool was she couldnt find it.The next day her friend rang her from london(we are in swindon) and said she had packed it in her suitcase by mistake when she left after the weekend.Got it sent back ok but just cant workout what a woman might think a handtool might be mistaken for   Regards Alan(swindon)

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Colin my girlfriend

I've never heard of a girlfriend called Colin.

Shaun

[from edge2edge]

I mean it was me julie

[Jim_77]

Just had another one today!

Locked the door of a village hall, posted the keys back through and then realised my jacket was hanging inside with my van keys in the pocket!

Luckily there was a key holder just round the corner, only stood there like a lemon for 5 minutes

[clinton]

And your fat wallet inthe pocket 

[ollie]

Nevil

It's your business, but if it was me I'd of owned up even if it might be painful.

Thanks for that Mike.

 I thought we were doing a humerous exchange of storries thread. Your post belongs on a thread titled who's going to go to heaven. I don't know what forum it's on though. 

lol!!

[Mike Osbourne]

Am I the only one then that thinks owning up to DAMAGING somebodies property is the right think to do?

[Jim_77]

And your fat wallet inthe pocket 

Clinton, I have to tow a trailer behind the van to carry my wallet

[Joe H]

Am I the only one then that thinks owning up to DAMAGING somebodies property is the right think to do?

No

[nevil]

Am I the only one then that thinks owning up to DAMAGING somebodies property is the right think to do?

No

Your'e right, the whole job was a catasrophe. Incuding the way I handled it. It was so bad it could find it's way into a topic all about f@@k ups. You know the type of thread that people post about their very worst  CC deeds. Unfortunatley they get read by a small minority of folks who contribute nothing. Instead waiting for other people to admit to their misdemeanor's, then pass moral judgement on them. Why don't put something up for other to shoot down? Easier to just snipe at others I guess.

[Mike Osbourne]

Calm down Nevil, we all cock up and as I say, I would have owned up to it, just as much for business reasons as moral ones. It's your business do want the hell you want. :