Another customer email!

« **on:** October 22, 2009, 01:25:03 pm »

Hi David,

I am the current occupier of 57 Blah blah

We have received your request for payment, but unfortunately we are a bit reluctant to make payment, the reason being is the agreement you had made with my fiance Steven was £10 per month and the windows will be cleaned at least 2x per month, and it appears that they are only being cleaned once a month? and we are not willing to pay £120 per year to have our windows cleaned once a month. If you can agree to clean the windows 2x a month and put a card through our door so we can inspect we will transfer money happily.

Just to inform you that our last window cleaner charged £4.50 per time and he only came once a month.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards,

T. blah

My reply .......

Hi

I am sorry to say but no such agreement was ever made. I always state that the windows are cleaned every 5-5.5 weeks. There is simple no need to clean any more frequenty as I would be cleaning clean windows.

Perhaps your old window cleaner was charging £4.50 but I take on average 30 minutes to clean a typical property. At that rate, and making an allowance for moving from one property to the next, I would be making about £8.00 per hour while trying to run a van, pay tax and NI and pay for the dionised water that I use out of that £8.00. I would be better off financially serving you your burgers in McDonalds.

I seem to remember Steve wasn't at all happy with your last cleaner and sacked him because he wasn't doing a good job. You get what you pay for and Steve suspected he was skipping parts of your house. This will always happen when you are only willing to pay such low rates. All you get are cowboys.

I also seem to remember Steve particularly commenting about the state of your back door. I promised to see to it and took 30 minutes with PCV restorer on that door alone the first time I cleaned it. For this I asked no extra payment and frankly I am more than dissapointed with this email.

I respectfully ask that you pay what you owe and I wish you good luck in your search for a replacement window cleaner.

Thanks

David

« **Reply #1 on:** October 22, 2009, 02:04:06 pm »

A bit over the top imo you could leave out the 3 paragraphs in the middle and it would be fine. They dont care about any of your issues.

« **Reply #2 on:** October 22, 2009, 02:12:51 pm »

Yeh I know. It just seems that arses are coming out of the woodwork at the moment and not a single one is complaining about the standard of work. They either are bad payers or remember converstions that never took place. Mabe I have early onset dementia.

« **Reply #3 on:** October 22, 2009, 02:28:58 pm »

i would have left the second par. out.
excellent reply otherwise.

« **Reply #4 on:** October 22, 2009, 02:30:19 pm »

you need to calm down mate. never lose your cool

« **Reply #5 on:** October 22, 2009, 03:02:01 pm »

I lost a new custy yesterday. She saw me last month using the pole. She was more than happy for me to use it on her place. Done them Tuesday. Got a call Wednesday askin me not to do them anymore as i'm getting her house wet. Are the windows clean? Oh yes.....was the reply. Lovely, she confirmed.The frames,Mrs R??? Never looked better, came the reply. It's just that there's water everywhere..........I couldn't find it in me to give the "when it rains" speech. To be honest with you boys...........i really can't be arsed with custys like these anymore. I aint goin back to ladders for the odd one or two. It always seems to be the older women that have the issues.

« **Reply #6 on:** October 22, 2009, 03:04:32 pm »

i would drop them and go out and canvess some one who wants you to clean there windows, theres pleanty out there

« **Reply #7 on:** October 22, 2009, 03:57:24 pm »

Quote from: Pole 2 Pole on October 22, 2009, 03:02:01 pm

I lost a new custy yesterday. She saw me last month using the pole. She was more than happy for me to use it on her place. Done them Tuesday. Got a call Wednesday askin me not to do them anymore as i'm getting her house wet. Are the windows clean? Oh yes.....was the reply. Lovely, she confirmed.The frames,Mrs R??? Never looked better, came the reply. It's just that there's water everywhere..........I couldn't find it in me to give the "when it rains" speech. To be honest with you boys...........i really can't be arsed with custys like these anymore. I aint goin back to ladders for the odd one or two. It always seems to be the older women that have the issues.

Thats mental that m8, just yesterday i landed at a property and today also infact when both custys told me to come back next week instead and ill give you a ring respectively. I accepted both but when you arrange in your diary to be somewhere and this happens it kinda throws you off although i did get 1 new custy today and hopefully he will have me monthly from now on. Im starting to get downwinded about custys messing about.

On to the email our brother above got, id tell her to get lost and remove the middle 3 paragraphs from the email reply and send it on, they owe you money and tbh it aint worth your time or the money you spend to go and clean the place 2x a month for just £10!!! Not a chance!!

« **Reply #8 on:** October 22, 2009, 04:15:27 pm »

Quote from: Steve CM on October 22, 2009, 02:30:19 pm

you need to calm down mate. never lose your cool

You are right. Normally I would have been more conciliatory but I have 6 weeks of work I am trying to fit into a monthly schedule. Today I was doing work scheduled for the 8th October. I just can't be arsed with these eejits anymore.

« **Reply #9 on:** October 22, 2009, 06:19:11 pm »

so is it £5 or 10 a clean?

« **Reply #10 on:** October 22, 2009, 06:31:53 pm »

beats me why you give out your e mail adress,why make hassle

« **Reply #11 on:** October 22, 2009, 07:04:55 pm »

don't let them know too much .

I take on average 30 minutes to clean a typical property. At that rate, and making an allowance for moving from one property to the next, I would be making about £8.00 per hour while trying to run a van, pay tax and NI and pay for the dionised water that I use out of that £8.00. I would be better off financially serving you your burgers in McDonalds.

« **Reply #12 on:** October 22, 2009, 07:16:04 pm »

one thing ive learnt over the years is never write anything to a customer ,on paper (apart from a "ive cleaned today " note )

theres a lot of funny people out there, ready to accuse you of allsorts-if you write them letters you cant get to undo it

personally if i got an email like she sent you ,id just walk and not look back, just my opinion

« **Reply #13 on:** October 22, 2009, 07:17:29 pm »

same here. tell them to do one.

« **Reply #14 on:** October 22, 2009, 07:23:14 pm »

Nowt as queer as folk. If you write and send anything funny, customer could send it to the papers.

I once had a customer write off to his MP to complain I had not turned up to give him a quote on a set day at a set time, which I knew nothing about until I received a follow up letter from the MP which I had to deal with urgently to protect my reputation.

« **Reply #15 on:** October 22, 2009, 07:30:36 pm »

David, how would you react to the email if you had 800 other custies? How would you react if you only had 8 custies?

Collect what they owe and replace them with a few new custies.

« **Reply #16 on:** October 22, 2009, 07:32:50 pm »

Leave your reply as it is, they refer to the old w/c so your quite right to refer to him in your reply.

« **Reply #17 on:** October 22, 2009, 07:44:28 pm »

i would just ignore her,as if i didnt get the email.if the problem arises face to face explain calmly no such agreement was ever in place.either shes going to get shot of you as with her last w/c or shes moody

« **Reply #18 on:** October 22, 2009, 07:59:46 pm »

Quote from: davids3511 on October 22, 2009, 01:25:03 pm

Hi David,

I am the current occupier of 57 Blah blah

We have received your request for payment, but unfortunately we are a bit reluctant to make payment, the reason being is the agreement you had made with my fiance Steven was £10 per month and the windows will be cleaned at least 2x per month, and it appears that they are only being cleaned once a month? and we are not willing to pay £120 per year to have our windows cleaned once a month. If you can agree to clean the windows 2x a month and put a card through our door so we can inspect we will transfer money happily.

Just to inform you that our last window cleaner charged £4.50 per time and he only came once a month.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards,

T. blah

My reply .......

Hi

I am sorry to say but no such agreement was ever made. I always state that the windows are cleaned every 5-5.5 weeks. There is simple no need to clean any more frequenty as I would be cleaning clean windows.

Perhaps your old window cleaner was charging £4.50 but I take on average 30 minutes to clean a typical property. At that rate, and making an allowance for moving from one property to the next, I would be making about £8.00 per hour while trying to run a van, pay tax and NI and pay for the dionised water that I use out of that £8.00. I would be better off financially serving you your burgers in McDonalds.

I seem to remember Steve wasn't at all happy with your last cleaner and sacked him because he wasn't doing a good job. You get what you pay for and Steve suspected he was skipping parts of your house. This will always happen when you are only willing to pay such low rates. All you get are cowboys.

I also seem to remember Steve particularly commenting about the state of your back door. I promised to see to it and took 30 minutes with PCV restorer on that door alone the first time I cleaned it. For this I asked no extra payment and frankly I am more than dissapointed with this email.

I respectfully ask that you pay what you owe and I wish you good luck in your search for a replacement window cleaner.

Thanks

David

I agree with the post that suggesting omitting paragraph 2.
It's pretty clear that they are the sort of customers who require "perfection for a pittance". So even if they don't pay what they owe, getting rid will be a bonus. Sometimes it's cost me £20+ to get rid of a PITA. I regard it as a bargain.

« **Reply #19 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:10:45 pm »

i think you answered your custy very well , we all get them from time to time , had custy's son come out other day saying do we get compensation for flood damage there is water on the floor after you 've cleaned door , a few drops from door custy comes out straight away so iknow if there is any probs , any way 2mins he flllows me up the street and watches me then says this system is crap better old way , so what makes you say this i said it's just crap any way don't clean window s anymore no probs i said see u later can not be arsed with idiots

« **Reply #20 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:30:51 pm »

Quote from: Guest. Please login on October 22, 2009, 07:30:36 pm

David, how would you react to the email if you had 800 other custies? How would you react if you only had 8 custies?

Collect what they owe and replace them with a few new custies.

I guess the reaction would be the same. There is no way in the world I would clean 2x a month for £10.00. If I only had 8 customers I might begin to doubt the viability of my pricing structure as I would be pretty new to the game. However, I have 350 all on the same structure and I get about 8 in 10 of new customers so i guess I am confident I charge a fair price for a good service.

« **Reply #21 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:33:48 pm »

Quote from: Sean Dyer on October 22, 2009, 06:19:11 pm

so is it £5 or 10 a clean?

It is £10.00 a clean once a month.

« **Reply #22 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:34:06 pm »

Yes mate, what I meant was, does it matter tomorrow? get the cash, make sure you know why they cancelled and correct the problem, then replace with 2 or 3 new custies. Nobody is really worth that much hassle if they are a 10 quid custy. Know what I'm trying to say?

« **Reply #23 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:34:40 pm »

Quote from: daz1977 on October 22, 2009, 03:04:32 pm

i would drop them and go out and canvess some one who wants you to clean there windows, theres pleanty out there

They are already dropped and thankfully I have picked up 3 new this week alone with 4 more still to see and quote.

« **Reply #24 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:35:27 pm »

Cool, job done

« **Reply #25 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:35:59 pm »

Quote from: Guest. Please login on October 22, 2009, 08:34:06 pm

Yes mate, what I meant was, does it matter tomorrow? get the cash, make sure you know why they cancelled and correct the problem, then replace with 2 or 3 new custies. Nobody is really worth that much hassle if they are a 10 quid custy. Know what I'm trying to say?

Yeh, I need to chill. It's not the end of the world, just bloody anoying for a few minutes and then I get over it.

« **Reply #26 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:37:31 pm »

Quote from: windowswashed on October 22, 2009, 07:23:14 pm

Nowt as queer as folk. If you write and send anything funny, customer could send it to the papers.

I once had a customer write off to his MP to complain I had not turned up to give him a quote on a set day at a set time, which I knew nothing about until I received a follow up letter from the MP which I had to deal with urgently to protect my reputation.

You would think the MP would have something better to do with his time. Probably charged £50.00 in expenses to reply to you.

« **Reply #27 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:37:54 pm »

Quote from: Stan The Man on October 22, 2009, 06:31:53 pm

beats me why you give out your e mail adress,why make hassle

So they can send me payment by Paypal.

« **Reply #28 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:41:06 pm »

the great thing about this job is that once you,ve built a decent round you can afford to tell the difficult custies to take a run and jump , great reply , i bet it ruined her day lol regards alan

« **Reply #29 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:44:22 pm »

David, I'm a ~~wordy windbag~~ err... eloquent writer of the finest prose (

) and I loved your reply. If you are squeezing 6 wks work into 5 then you need to lose the rubbish and to do it with a flourish can be very satisfying indeed!

« **Reply #30 on:** October 23, 2009, 03:58:00 pm »

Just received today -

Fare enough David, obviously a misunderstanding, please continue to clean the windows and I will make arrangements for the transfer to be made of the outstanding money.

Thanks and apologies for the misunderstanding

Blah

« **Reply #31 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:04:49 pm »

LOL i'd be too embarrased to go back, were it me.

I'd be very embarrased if i were her too......i'd kill anyone who discussed my 'back door' and the 'state of it'with the window cleaner

« **Reply #32 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:06:43 pm »

Quote from: davids3511 on October 23, 2009, 03:58:00 pm

Just received today -

Fare enough David, obviously a misunderstanding, please continue to clean the windows and I will make arrangements for the transfer to be made of the outstanding money.

Thanks and apologies for the misunderstanding

Blah

Classic, just goes to show what a difference 24 hrs can make. Nice result.

« **Reply #33 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:22:30 pm »

seemsyou ad a nutty custie mate replace with new custies ad a customer last week said to me due to recession can you give a cheaper qoute i replied yes i can but i missed a few windows for compensation remember trust no one mates your in it for the money only

« **Reply #34 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:32:18 pm »

Nice reply, tell us did you send the complete response to her though

« **Reply #35 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:36:34 pm »

Quote from: JRDEasiReach on October 23, 2009, 04:32:18 pm

Nice reply, tell us did you send the complete response to her though

Yes, exactly as it was here. No editing.

« **Reply #36 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:37:27 pm »

Quote from: vacman on October 23, 2009, 04:04:49 pm

LOL i'd be too embarrased to go back, were it me.

I'd be very embarrased if i were her too......i'd kill anyone who discussed my 'back door' and the 'state of it'with the window cleaner

They are never there anyway, I haven't seen them since the day I signed them up 6 months ago.

« **Reply #37 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:38:10 pm »

Quote from: Guest. Please login on October 23, 2009, 04:06:43 pm

Quote from: davids3511 on October 23, 2009, 03:58:00 pm
Just received today -

Fare enough David, obviously a misunderstanding, please continue to clean the windows and I will make arrangements for the transfer to be made of the outstanding money.

Thanks and apologies for the misunderstanding

Blah

Classic, just goes to show what a difference 24 hrs can make. Nice result.

Thing is Cozy, I'm not sure I want them back. In fact I am sure I don't. Am I just being an arse if I don't go back though?

« **Reply #38 on:** October 23, 2009, 05:17:20 pm »

tell them u will do them again then dont turn up if they email you say i will be round tomorrow keep doing that.

« **Reply #39 on:** October 23, 2009, 05:36:44 pm »

Quote from: windowswashed on October 22, 2009, 07:23:14 pm

Nowt as queer as folk. If you write and send anything funny, customer could send it to the papers.

I once had a customer write off to his MP to complain I had not turned up to give him a quote on a set day at a set time, which I knew nothing about until I received a follow up letter from the MP which I had to deal with urgently to protect my reputation.

Should have told the MP that you couldn't turn up because you were in the middle of a 6 week, expenses paid holiday.

« **Reply #40 on:** October 23, 2009, 06:03:01 pm »

Quote from: davids3511 on October 23, 2009, 04:38:10 pm

Quote from: Guest. Please login on October 23, 2009, 04:06:43 pm
Quote from: davids3511 on October 23, 2009, 03:58:00 pm
Just received today -

Fare enough David, obviously a misunderstanding, please continue to clean the windows and I will make arrangements for the transfer to be made of the outstanding money.

Thanks and apologies for the misunderstanding

Blah

Classic, just goes to show what a difference 24 hrs can make. Nice result.
Thing is Cozy, I'm not sure I want them back. In fact I am sure I don't. Am I just being an arse if I don't go back though?

Why not go back? She's apologised for the misunderstanding - she'll eat out of your hand now. Air cleared and all that.

« **Reply #41 on:** October 23, 2009, 07:44:37 pm »

agree,
they will be the nicest customer for you now.
i just think it took alot for her to reply especially as you told her to get a new w/c.
you telling them about the back door made her see sense. you did a good deed there, bit of Karma maybe.

« **Reply #42 on:** October 24, 2009, 12:05:01 am »

People don't like to be thought bad of.

Good letter had them on the ropes there.

Give it one more go.

If someones saucy with me rarther than have a row i stick a note through the door on the back of one of my windows cleaned today bills.
i tear my telephone no' off bottom sometimes that way i have last word and that can't argue back as they can't get in touch

I am childish at times

« **Reply #43 on:** October 24, 2009, 03:25:37 pm »

Quote from: lee_dewing on October 24, 2009, 12:05:01 am

People don't like to be thought bad of.

Good letter had them on the ropes there.

Give it one more go.

If someones saucy with me rarther than have a row i stick a note through the door on the back of one of my windows cleaned today bills.
i tear my telephone no' off bottom sometimes that way i have last word and that can't argue back as they can't get in touch

I am childish at times

I though this business fas full of 'saucy' housewives before I started. How bloody wrong was I.

« **Reply #44 on:** October 24, 2009, 05:51:57 pm »

Quote from: davids3511 on October 23, 2009, 04:38:10 pm

Thing is Cozy, I'm not sure I want them back. In fact I am sure I don't. Am I just being an arse if I don't go back though?

Dunno about an arse. Maybe? But after thinking about it and spending time on getting your side across, it is a waste of your time if you don't. I wonder how many minutes your life has been shortened, from the little bit of blood pressure that caused.

« **Reply #45 on:** October 24, 2009, 11:42:11 pm »

10% of your customers will give you 90% of your grief.

« **Reply #46 on:** October 24, 2009, 11:47:58 pm »

Quote from: EandM on October 24, 2009, 11:42:11 pm

10% of your customers will give you 90% of your grief.

99% right, the other 1% is your Mrs :