[Grafters Cleaning Services]

hi guys,
we've all been there
not today thanx
and locked gates
.......
i have come up with this letter below to give to the offending customers and would like your opinion before i print them out,
am i being to harsh? ....... would you word it different?
don't hold back, let me have your thoughts
thanx in advance.....................


Grafters Cleaning Services


Tel: Office 023 8039 2971
Mobile 07840 183969

Dear Customer,
Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your past custom and I hope that you continue to use our services for many years to come.

As we at Grafters now find ourselves getting busier by the day (through recommendations etc)
we now find ourselves in a position whereby we are turning work away in order to clean the windows of our regular cliental.
On some occasions when we turn up 1 or 2 customers have in the past asked us to give them a miss that month, we find that we can no longer continue with this practice.
In future any customers that cancel without prior warning or do not have a valid reason for cancelling that month will be dropped from our books to allow room for other people on our waiting list to take their position.

Also on some occasions we have turned up at a property only to find we cannot gain access to the rear due to a locked gate and have had to return back at a later date, again this is a practice that we can no longer continue with.
In future we will clean all windows that are accessible to us and invoice you accordingly, should you wish to, you can leave us your phone number and we are more than happy to ring you the night before our visit so you can unlock the back gate.

We hope that you understand both the issues above and we hope to keep you on as a valued customer.



Jay
Your loyal Grafters window cleaner

[macmac]

i think thats perfect jay, infact may i edit it and use it myself??

[ian m]

hi Jay

I've been thinking of doing something like this myself.

I think your wording is fine, the only bit I would omit is the "or do not have a valid reason for cancelling that month" as you might get into some disputes with customers  as to what is considered  a valid reason.  

I've had to "sack"  3 customers this month over the " leave them this time syndrome" thanfully they have all been repaced already


Cheers

Ian

[craig jwc]

Sounds ok to me.

I have told people basically the same. I phone some of my customers to unlock the back gate and still some forget.

I am now charging 75% off the clean if no access is available after i have phoned to remind them.

If i am turned away when turning up to clean then i am starting to charge 50% of the cleaning price as i now require at least 3 days notice for a cancellation.

Craig

[Paul Coleman]

hi guys,
we've all been there
not today thanx
and locked gates
.......
i have come up with this letter below to give to the offending customers and would like your opinion before i print them out,
am i being to harsh? ....... would you word it different?
don't hold back, let me have your thoughts
thanx in advance.....................


Grafters Cleaning Services


Tel: Office 023 8039 2971
Mobile 07840 183969

Dear Customer,
Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your past custom and I hope that you continue to use our services for many years to come.

As we at Grafters now find ourselves getting busier by the day (through recommendations etc)
we now find ourselves in a position whereby we are turning work away in order to clean the windows of our regular cliental.
On some occasions when we turn up 1 or 2 customers have in the past asked us to give them a miss that month, we find that we can no longer continue with this practice.
In future any customers that cancel without prior warning or do not have a valid reason for cancelling that month will be dropped from our books to allow room for other people on our waiting list to take their position.

Also on some occasions we have turned up at a property only to find we cannot gain access to the rear due to a locked gate and have had to return back at a later date, again this is a practice that we can no longer continue with.
In future we will clean all windows that are accessible to us and invoice you accordingly, should you wish to, you can leave us your phone number and we are more than happy to ring you the night before our visit so you can unlock the back gate.

We hope that you understand both the issues above and we hope to keep you on as a valued customer.



Jay
Your loyal Grafters window cleaner

Looks fair enough to me.  It's clentele by the way (getting posh aren't we?    ) .
I would go furthewr than you though.  I would request a spare key for the gate or, if they were unwilling to release a key into your charge,  suggest a combination lock to which only certain people (including you) would know the number.  Apart from a couple of jobs left over from the dark ages, I don't phone in advance.  If the job is VERY profitable I will but not for run-of-the-mill jobs.

[simon knight]

Jay, Your letter is fine but personally I wouldn't bother sending it! Just pick the phone up and tell them one-on-one where you expect better behaviour and that if they don't tow the line they can f >:(k right off!!!!

 

[poleman]

Send it as you need to get your point across and no way better than a letter 

Andy

[Mike_G]

Thats a good un. I think it says everything it needs to in a professional and polite way.

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

i think thats perfect jay, infact may i edit it and use it myself??

help yourself mac

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

hi Jay

I've been thinking of doing something like this myself.

I think your wording is fine, the only bit I would omit is the "or do not have a valid reason for cancelling that month" as you might get into some disputes with customers  as to what is considered  a valid reason.  

I've had to "sack"  3 customers this month over the " leave them this time syndrome" thanfully they have all been repaced already


Cheers

Ian

good point ian

[simon knight]

Sorry guys I can't agree!....why hide behind a letter? Surely you pick up the phone, say you're not happy and get something sorted out?

[macmac]

excellent, saves me a job. cheers jay

tony

[AuRavelling79]

It's "clientele", actually - but as you address them as Dear customer and not Dear client it's "customers".

Strictly - client is for the professions (Law, accounts, architects etc).

Malc "word-police" (G)old. 

Very good tho'!

[Helen]

Jay. good one, we do this sort of thing, but it goes out to the customers when they first join us as part of terms and conditions. Even if they don't have a call to say when we are due, they know approx when we are due and most will phone if they have a problem. I say most, because you will always get the odd few who need training to our ways To be fair we give then a couple of chances and should they still not "play the game" so to speak, then off they go. It is the time of year, when fitting it all in is a nightmare at times and we can all "go off" on one about customers, but sometimes we just need to take a step back and look at the situation from the customers point of view aswell. Saying that these sort of customers are B**** annoying!!!! at timesi

[Majestic]

I would not use the word  dropped I would put replace.
Also they may leave  the back gate open for a few cleans after the letter , then forget again.

[macc]

Hi Jay.

I think its spot on, its polite but to the point.

Macc

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

Jay, Your letter is fine but personally I wouldn't bother sending it! Just pick the phone up and tell them one-on-one where you expect better behaviour and that if they don't tow the line they can f >:(k right off!!!!

 

hi simon, i wasn't gone to post them (it would cost me a fortune) i'm going to give them to the offenders and all new customers i pick up in future

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

I would not use the word  dropped I would put replace.
Also they may leave  the back gate open for a few cleans after the letter , then forget again.

good point john

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

It's "clientele", actually - but as you address them as Dear customer and not Dear client it's "customers".

Strictly - client is for the professions (Law, accounts, architects etc).

Malc "word-police" (G)old. 

Very good tho'!

thanx malc, i have now dropped the word client and changed to customer

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

hi guys,
we've all been there
not today thanx
and locked gates
.......
i have come up with this letter below to give to the offending customers and would like your opinion before i print them out,
am i being to harsh? ....... would you word it different?
don't hold back, let me have your thoughts
thanx in advance.....................


Grafters Cleaning Services


Tel: Office 023 8039 2971
Mobile 07840 183969

Dear Customer,
Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your past custom and I hope that you continue to use our services for many years to come.

As we at Grafters now find ourselves getting busier by the day (through recommendations etc)
we now find ourselves in a position whereby we are turning work away in order to clean the windows of our regular cliental.
On some occasions when we turn up 1 or 2 customers have in the past asked us to give them a miss that month, we find that we can no longer continue with this practice.
In future any customers that cancel without prior warning or do not have a valid reason for cancelling that month will be dropped from our books to allow room for other people on our waiting list to take their position.

Also on some occasions we have turned up at a property only to find we cannot gain access to the rear due to a locked gate and have had to return back at a later date, again this is a practice that we can no longer continue with.
In future we will clean all windows that are accessible to us and invoice you accordingly, should you wish to, you can leave us your phone number and we are more than happy to ring you the night before our visit so you can unlock the back gate.

We hope that you understand both the issues above and we hope to keep you on as a valued customer.



Jay
Your loyal Grafters window cleaner

Looks fair enough to me.  It's clentele by the way (getting posh aren't we?    ) .
I would go furthewr than you though.  I would request a spare key for the gate or, if they were unwilling to release a key into your charge,  suggest a combination lock to which only certain people (including you) would know the number.  Apart from a couple of jobs left over from the dark ages, I don't phone in advance.  If the job is VERY profitable I will but not for run-of-the-mill jobs.

i can see your point shiner but the last thing i need is a great big bunch of keys weighing me down like a prison guard

[Majestic]

I have one that I do ,I pass it early in the morning when I take my wife to work.
I put a note through there door at 7.30 am telling them I will be cleaning there windows today and can they please unlock there back gate.
Even doing this on the day of the clean they sometimes forget, after all we are only window cleaners

[simon knight]

Jay, I get it often....no-one there....back gate locked....not today mate...etc...no-one who posts on this site is immune from this crap!

Send or give a letter and the attitude is: "Oh the window cleaner isn't happy...." and the letter gets binned and forgotten within a nano-second. Whilst window cleaning is our all-important lively-hoods, to our customers it's...well....shall we say not very high on the agenda of "must haves".

Letters can be ignored, so a waste of time...on the phone...talk...this works!

[brett walker]

excellent  letter

Ive been thinking about doing something about locked gates
some customers give you keys but when you ask some of them for the gate key they look at you as if you have asked for their house key :

I can appreciate that people need to keep their gate locked for security reasons but some of them just wont co-operate but then have the cheek to moan when you havent done the back windows. .

These jobs are slowing me down its time to take action

regards

Brett

[EasyClean]

I have keys for any customer who has padlocked gates if they want their back windows cleaned as it saves the hassle of them remembering to unlock it for me.
If I don't have a key and they're out and I can't get around the back I just clean the front and charge a little extra for the inconvenience as it's their fault for not trusting me with a key.

I do like parts of your letter though, the part about letting them go in favour of newer,  more regular, loyal customers.! I do agree you are hiding behind your letter to an extent though. Just confront your customers and tell them that you would like a key otherwise the backs get left if they forget you're coming.

Good luck with your letter approach and I would like to hear in a couple of weeks/ months time how you get on with this approach just out of interest!!!

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

I have keys for any customer who has padlocked gates if they want their back windows cleaned as it saves the hassle of them remembering to unlock it for me.
If I don't have a key and they're out and I can't get around the back I just clean the front and charge a little extra for the inconvenience as it's their fault for not trusting me with a key.

I do like parts of your letter though, the part about letting them go in favour of newer,  more regular, loyal customers.! I do agree you are hiding behind your letter to an extent though. Just confront your customers and tell them that you would like a key otherwise the backs get left if they forget you're coming.

Good luck with your letter approach and I would like to hear in a couple of weeks/ months time how you get on with this approach just out of interest!!!

hi easy clean and others who have made comment to talking to the customer rather than a letter,
this is not a case of hiding behind a letter as i do nor fear talking to my customers.
i believe that by using a letter they have it in writting aswell as verball, besides from january anyone who leaves the backs locked will get the letter though the letter box and i will do fronts/sides only rather than make a return trip,

i have many customers who i never see from 1 year 2 the next as i don't collect, i use prepaid envelopes.

i have 1 couple whom i have never even met, the rang me, i priced the job and was given the go ahead, monthly call and they send cheque everytime.
these are the type of people i want, NOT TIME WASTERS

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

Good letter. Maybe it could do with polishing up by the "word police" but essentially good.

yeh enlish aint me bestest subjek

[Paul Coleman]

i can see your point shiner but the last thing i need is a great big bunch of keys weighing me down like a prison guard

I've not found it a problem because most people will not give the key out so I just don't work for them.  Hardly a week goes by without me declining to quote a job due to access issues.
I currently have six gate/padlock keys and there are two combination lock numbers to record.  I only take a key out that I would need that day. I put a tag on each of them with an encoded form of the address they belong to.
One guy even set his combination lock to a number that I chose in order to make it easier for me (no, I DIDN'T use my banking PIN .  )   

[pylofm]

I do not understand why sending/giving a letter is hiding....I think that it shows professionalism.

Cheers
Dave.

[Trevor Knight]

 It's clentele by the way (getting posh aren't we?    ) .

Actually it's Clientel 

[Trevor Knight]

Jay,

I would take out the "valid reason" and insert "without prior notice" as like others have said, what determines a "valid reason" ?

Otherwise,

Top notch!

Trev

[Paul Coleman]

 It's clentele by the way (getting posh aren't we?    ) .

Actually it's Clientel 

You prompted me to check this.

I looked on

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=14148&dict=CALD

Clientel gives no matches.  Clientele returns the expected match.

[Trevor Knight]

In which case I stand corrected, I use spell checker on Word and it prompts my original spelling, Clientel, must be a dodgy copy of word.

[ray l]

I think its a good letter and deserve putting on a document thread for people to copy,( if you dont mind)

(if its left here it will get lost soon)

[Paul Coleman]

In which case I stand corrected, I use spell checker on Word and it prompts my original spelling, Clientel, must be a dodgy copy of word.

Trevor.
I have to confess that I was surprised too when I looked it up.  I had previously believed that both spellings were acceptable.  So we've both learned from it.
Just a footnote by the way.  I don't sit on here correcting spellings as a rule.  I only mentioned it because the poster was going to send customer literature out like that and I wanted him to get it right for his own sake.

[Trevor Knight]

Good call mate, glad you are on the ball.

Still puzzled me with the spelling though, learn something new every day 

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

Jay,

I would take out the "valid reason" and insert "without prior notice" as like others have said, what determines a "valid reason" ?

Otherwise,

Top notch!

Trev

good point trev

[Mr. S]

Very good GCS, i am thinking along these lines for my new year culling.

Would it not be better to incorporate or use this as a terms of conditions? its just the way im thinking to stop these annoying people too!

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

Very good GCS, i am thinking along these lines for my new year culling.

Would it not be better to incorporate or use this as a terms of conditions? its just the way im thinking to stop these annoying people too!

good idea, maybe i should put in a title heading CONDITIONS