[ants]

Had someone ring up to have their fascia boards cleaned.It was in a bit of a rough area where I have never worked.
1st of all I tried to pass it on to a cleaner who was more local to the custie he  wasnt intrested& so I banged in a high quote.
They said yes do them asap.
So of I went, finished the front and I was getting paranoid they wouldnt pay so I knocked on the door and said hows that mate. He was happy.
To cut the story short I said will you pay us HALF now before I do the back.
WHY he said........ cos I dont if your gonna pay I said.He went inside come out with full amount of the money and said here  dont bother mate.
Of course I did bother and finished the job perfect.
Was I wrong?

[Chris Cottrell]

bit of a cheek I think

[www.mrgutters.co.uk]

i think you were mate ..give the custie the benefit of the doubt ..dont judge a book buy its cover ..its normally in my experience the working class thats always pay me on time and give a tip..the rich ones are the guys you got watch out for!

shawn

[frames to panes]

Turn it around the other way - how would you feel? 

[mci services]

you were right to finish the job and wrong to ask halfway through. i work and live in some pretty rough areas and always get paid, also work in some pretty posh areas and sometimes dont get paid

[gsw]

if they dont pay you just put the dirt back!! but at least give them the chance to knock you!

[Wayne Thomas]

There is always an element of risk from getting paid from new customers but there has to be mutual trust between both the customer and the window cleaner.
To ask for half payment once half the work has been completed shows a very bad lack of trust on your behalf. By asking for payment half way through a job is very unprofessional and very insulting to the customer.
No way would I ever do that in a million years.
That is the biggest insult you could make to any customer IMO.
No doubt word will soon get around this estate that you are not to be trusted ever.
It only takes one big mistake on your part to get you a very bad name/ reputation for yourself then it becomes an uphill struggle to overcome this.

[pjulk]

I would have got annoyed also.

[windowwashers]

Had someone ring up to have their fascia boards cleaned.It was in a bit of a rough area where I have never worked.
1st of all I tried to pass it on to a cleaner who was more local to the custie he  wasnt intrested& so I banged in a high quote.
They said yes do them asap.
So of I went, finished the front and I was getting paranoid they wouldnt pay so I knocked on the door and said hows that mate. He was happy.
To cut the story short I said will you pay us HALF now before I do the back.
WHY he said........ cos I dont if your gonna pay I said.He went inside come out with full amount of the money and said here  dont bother mate.
Of course I did bother and finished the job perfect.
Was I wrong?

In a word YES, I would be well annoyed if anyone doing work said that to me, it is very rude and highly unprofessional, you are basicaly saying to the guy I dont trust you at all and think your going to rip me off.

Just because he lives in a not so nice area does not mean he cannot pay you.
it is the ones with the flash motor and fancy house you have to watch, alot of the time they are there for show and they struggle.

if you get that feeling againm either dont do the job, or do it and hope you get paid either are fine but asking for money half way though makes you look very bad.


Dont take it to heart just learn from it.

Ian

[jeff1]

If you were so concerned with them not paying, you should or could have done one of two things.

1st you could have refused the Job altogether.

2nd you could have asked for a deposit before doing the Job, by making up some sort of excuse and not asking for money half way through it.

Sorry but it doesn't sound very professional in my mind and I think in this case the customer was right to throw a wobbly, I would have given you half payment for half a Job and then told you not to bother with the rest.

[Neil Williams]

To cut the story short I said will you pay us HALF now before I do the back.

 

Tell me it's Friday night, you've had a few drinks and you're making this up  
Wrong? Oh just a bit

[ants]

If you were so concerned with them not paying, you should or could have done one of two things.

1st you could have refused the Job altogether.

2nd you could have asked for a deposit before doing the Job, by making up some sort of excuse and not asking for money half way through it.

Sorry but it doesn't sound very professional in my mind and I think in this case the customer was right to throw a wobbly, I would have given you half payment for half a Job and then told you not to bother with the rest.

What excuse for a deposit?

[brett walker]

sorry but you was wrong mate  .


brett

[windowwashers]

If you were so concerned with them not paying, you should or could have done one of two things.

1st you could have refused the Job altogether.

2nd you could have asked for a deposit before doing the Job, by making up some sort of excuse and not asking for money half way through it.

Sorry but it doesn't sound very professional in my mind and I think in this case the customer was right to throw a wobbly, I would have given you half payment for half a Job and then told you not to bother with the rest.

What excuse for a deposit?

on a little job like that you cant ask for a deposit, on big jobs I ask for staged payments, but on this clean just do it and money after. Asking for a deposit on this job would be just as bad as what you did m8.

As I said dont take it to heart just learn.

I personally would go round the guys house and say sry and give part of the money back for insulting him and say it in them words aswell (I would do this for damage limatation)


Ian

[jeff1]

If you were so concerned with them not paying, you should or could have done one of two things.

1st you could have refused the Job altogether.

2nd you could have asked for a deposit before doing the Job, by making up some sort of excuse and not asking for money half way through it.

Sorry but it doesn't sound very professional in my mind and I think in this case the customer was right to throw a wobbly, I would have given you half payment for half a Job and then told you not to bother with the rest.

What excuse for a deposit?

You Just have to use your brain on this one? as different situations call for different reasons.

I would be very polite to the customer and explain? I'm very sorry to have to do this but its now company policy but we have been forced to have to ask for a small deposit on our arrival to commence the work.

My own personal feelings would be, give the customer the benefit of the doubt, if your gut instinct tells you that there may be a payment problem, then don't take the Job on in the first place.

Remember these words???
If you do a good Job the customer may tell a few of there friends.
If you do a bad Job they will tell all of there friends.

[jeff1]

If you were so concerned with them not paying, you should or could have done one of two things.

1st you could have refused the Job altogether.

2nd you could have asked for a deposit before doing the Job, by making up some sort of excuse and not asking for money half way through it.

Sorry but it doesn't sound very professional in my mind and I think in this case the customer was right to throw a wobbly, I would have given you half payment for half a Job and then told you not to bother with the rest.

What excuse for a deposit?

on a little job like that you cant ask for a deposit, on big jobs I ask for staged payments, but on this clean just do it and money after. Asking for a deposit on this job would be just as bad as what you did m8.

As I said dont take it to heart just learn.

I personally would go round the guys house and say sry and give part of the money back for insulting him and say it in them words aswell (I would do this for damage limatation)


Ian

What you or I class as a small Job and what ants class's as a small Job may be completly different, how do you or I know, ant, isn't stuggling for money and can't afford to get ripped of even by a small Job.
Asking for a small deposit is no where near as bad as asking for payment half way through a Job, so don't you dare put me in the same class, you don't know how I run my company.

[matt]

your not tuppence clean in disguise are you ? ? ? ?

if not, you must have gone to the same school of business 

[TennetClean]

There's only one tuppence clean 

Personally I think it was a bit mean to word it like its wrote here and yeah it is insulting, but I very much doubt you were impolite to the guy's face.  If you were then maybe he had a right to be a bit miffed.

AND after all you finished the job to a high standard.

"its how ya tell 'em" as frank carson would have said.  Halfway through the job maybe was a bit harsh like, LOL

[ants]

There's only one tuppence clean 

Personally I think it was a bit mean to word it like its wrote here and yeah it is insulting, but I very much doubt you were impolite to the guy's face.  If you were then maybe he had a right to be a bit miffed.

AND after all you finished the job to a high standard.

"its how ya tell 'em" as frank carson would have said.  Halfway through the job maybe was a bit harsh like, LOL

Yeah there was a bit more to the story than I posted but didnt want to make it to long winded.

[AuRavelling79]

Yes, Ants - not good form old boy!

As jeff1 says a deposits ok to ask for if you tell them on the phone up front and say for a £100 plus job - (I wouldn't below about £200 tho' to be honest) as long as it's done on the phone before hand.

e.g. Yes I can call to quote for your fascia/conservatory clean and I hope you don't mind me mentioning that we always ask for a £25/50 deposit on arrival - a cheque will be fine - and balance on completion.