Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: A & J Owen Window Cleaning on December 16, 2010, 04:14:15 pm
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yet another excuse today from a custie i really dow like so i knock the door hello mrs i am here to do winds oh not today alan it might snow its not snowing now i will leave it till it brightens up a bit who does she think she is anyway stupid cow RANT OVER
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yet another excuse today from a custie i really dow like so i knock the door hello mrs i am here to do winds oh not today alan it might snow its not snowing now i will leave it till it brightens up a bit who does she think she is anyway stupid cow RANT OVER
So what action, if any, do you take in such a situation.
I know with me it depends a lot of the viability of the job, how the customer has been previously, whether I have other work in the immediate area - and a whole host of other things.
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She's been OK before so she's now got a 'black mark' against her - which means she does something similar a couple more times she's gone AND she immediately goes on the replace list so if we find another one of similar value she goes :)
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I'd get shot. I know some say it's unproffesional to just drop them but :-\ I just can't see how you can plot and plan a round if half the round mess you about because they feel like it. Issuing black marks and strikes might make you feel in control but I say just get shot and replace.
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i dow mind if they say dont want them doin anymore i know where i stand then its just a fob off gets me goat mate you are right on that respect kick the fluckers into touch 8)
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i never knock at a custy i just turn up and do the job and move on to the next,
they pay up and thats it , i never go collecting , if they are not in they send cheque in post.
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tend to do that meself lave them to post chq and i give em 2wks if not arrived collect
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tend to do that meself lave them to post chq and i give em 2wks if not arrived collect
I've got one knoob cheese who can't send a cheque, 'don't have one', can't pay online, 'computor says no', doesn't have cash, 'haven't been to the cash point today' (works from home). He's paid me in 50ps before and he's getting dropped when I've got the last lot of money in. >:(
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She said "After the second clean. You make the windows too clean. Three birds have flown into them.. I'm better off with them dirty" ........She's a dirty cow, her husband was the one who engaged me. ( She is a tight bugger)
Also had a 95 yr old, very rich , woman who love spiders, after 2 cleans sacked me because I destroyed all the webs. She said I was REALLY good but loved her spiders, so would try and get a trad cleaner as they do a poor job, but leave her spiders in place.
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snow still on ground and icy last week cleaned 2 front bedroom windows, custy comes out and says dont bother , i have already started i said , he said its not worth it weather is not very good , So i said i still have bills to pay so i charged him for work done but noticed the dining room window at the back was covered in bird muck , No doubt when i am back in his street he will coming running asking me to clean them for xmas , not a chance till next year and the price is going up that will teach him
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tend to do that meself lave them to post chq and i give em 2wks if not arrived collect
I've got one knoob cheese who can't send a cheque, 'don't have one', can't pay online, 'computor says no', doesn't have cash, 'haven't been to the cash point today' (works from home). He's paid me in 50ps before and he's getting dropped when I've got the last lot of money in. >:(
ROFLMAO ;D ;D ;D
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if your trad and you think she might be dodgy walk upto the front window soak with your applicator then get the ladders out and start up the top leaving said window till last however if you get " oh sorry not today " you walk off leaving the front window ;D
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I had one a couple of weeks ago after the snow, she is a bit of a funny woman, she came out and asked if it was worth it with all the snow.
I pointed out that in all my years I have only ever known snow to fall and once on the ground it stays there, she was ok after that.
Just 2 days ago I pulled up at the last one of the day, she opens front door as I was just pulling hose and says
"can you leave them this time as I have the flu"
my reply, "it's ok love, I don't need a hand."
She had them cleaned!
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A.J do yourself a favour dont knock just clean them,you are giving them a chance to make excuses,its like your asking for permisson to clean them your the boss remember
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A.J do yourself a favour dont knock just clean them,you are giving them a chance to make excuses,its like your asking for permisson to clean them your the boss remember
No he's not, the customer is king. Without your customers you have a big fat zero!
AJ what price is on this property?
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if you know me from here you know this kind of thing is a topic very close to my heart :). (sigh)...
Okay here goes, my turn to rant...
this is what i do, or at least am trying to do.
1) when a custard tells you its not worth it in this weather, your reply should be along the lines of, our verbal agreement is that im hired once per month (or whatever the frequency is) to keep your windows clean. snow and rain and sleet for that matter do not get windows dirty! only dirt can do that ;D
2) jog there memory as to when you first canvassed there house and remind them that you said you work in all weathers, light to medium rain and snow and if they didnt want them doing in these weather conditions you would have never agreed to take them on your round in the first place!
3) you are only interested in regular customers, custys who cancel and let you down directly effect your daily income, and you cant allow this!
of course this all depend on the individual job/person as to how much lee-way you allow them
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A.J do yourself a favour dont knock just clean them,you are giving them a chance to make excuses,its like your asking for permisson to clean them your the boss remember
No he's not, the customer is king. Without your customers you have a big fat zero!
AJ what price is on this property?
customer might be king on his round or yours but not mine,
if you want knock on each door ask if its ok to clean them today thats your problem,my round is my way or the high way,might sound old fashioned but aint got time for messers
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A.J do yourself a favour dont knock just clean them,you are giving them a chance to make excuses,its like your asking for permisson to clean them your the boss remember
No he's not, the customer is king. Without your customers you have a big fat zero!
AJ what price is on this property?
and the trouble with kings is that they "look down" on there subjects! your not running a business to lose money or to clean when the "king" says its ok you agree times, dates,frequency of cleans,price etc so in effect your equal until one decides to terminate
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"Can you leave them this time, i'm on the phone"
Sure no problem
Dumped
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Its a £12 clean. It's a customer off a round we bought couple of years ago and he always rang first. She's dumped.
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Its a £12 clean. It's a customer off a round we bought couple of years ago and he always rang first. She's dumped.
i dont quite follow this! who rang who first? ???
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A.J do yourself a favour dont knock just clean them,you are giving them a chance to make excuses,its like your asking for permisson to clean them your the boss remember
he is right you know , what do you say "please sir can i clean your windows" ;D
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Hay Dennis
Man, I had the same thing happen a little while back.
It’s just unbelievable.
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A.J do yourself a favour dont knock just clean them,you are giving them a chance to make excuses,its like your asking for permisson to clean them your the boss remember
No he's not, the customer is king. Without your customers you have a big fat zero!
Good customers are king. With a shed load of 'not todayers' you could have a big fat zero.Thats why you've got to sort through them periodically.
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Its a £12 clean. It's a customer off a round we bought couple of years ago and he always rang first. She's dumped.
£12!!!!!! I really don't know what all the fuss is about then £120.00 monthly is a cause for concern
As others have said though, no way knock the door when you arrive at any customer, just get started and get on it with it, half the time they don't even realise you are there. :)
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A.J do yourself a favour dont knock just clean them,you are giving them a chance to make excuses,its like your asking for permisson to clean them your the boss remember
No he's not, the customer is king. Without your customers you have a big fat zero!
Good customers are king. With a shed load of 'not todayers' you could have a big fat zero.Thats why you've got to sort through them periodically.
I totally agree, it just gets my back up when the "dump brigade" starts on......
As AJ said before....
"She's been OK before so she's now got a 'black mark' against her - which means she does something similar a couple more times she's gone AND she immediately goes on the replace list so if we find another one of similar value she goes"
One little knockback should not really cause you to sack them :)
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and the trouble with kings is that they "look down" on there subjects! your not running a business to lose money or to clean when the "king" says its ok you agree times, dates,frequency of cleans,price etc so in effect your equal until one decides to terminate
"Customer is King " is a figure of speech ::) as is "he who pays the piper calls the shots" and so on.......
But then I see that we really do think along the sames lines anyway as per one of your previous posts to a similar situation.
"cant see the problem you have no control over this situation therefore dont worry you will always get this in this business if some one doesnt want the windows cleaned you cant do alot about it.
when you go back next year? put her up £1.00 then after 12 cleans you will have the months money back"
Personally I would have touted for a gutter clean etc etc where the bill would have been considerably higher than £12 quid :)
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and the trouble with kings is that they "look down" on there subjects! your not running a business to lose money or to clean when the "king" says its ok you agree times, dates,frequency of cleans,price etc so in effect your equal until one decides to terminate
"Customer is King " is a figure of speech ::) as is "he who pays the piper calls the shots" and so on.......
But then I see that we really do think along the sames lines anyway as per one of your previous posts to a similar situation.
"cant see the problem you have no control over this situation therefore dont worry you will always get this in this business if some one doesnt want the windows cleaned you cant do alot about it.
when you go back next year? put her up £1.00 then after 12 cleans you will have the months money back"
Personally I would have touted for a gutter clean etc etc where the bill would have been considerably higher than £12 quid :)
Good ideas - still annoying when customer miffs you off.
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Certain customers actually get really miffed if you don't knock the door before you start cleaning them. We have one bloke who has a tantrum if you don't knock the door - God knows why they care but some do and although I don't think you should pander to people if they prefer a door knock before you start why on earth not - its very rare that they say not today thank you.
I don't know why my other half is miffed - we wanted a few to say not this time anyway so we get round to everyone!
She doesn't like wfp anyway and her house is dangerous to clean without it which is the real reason why I've dumped it. Us ladies are far more practical about such things - the other half takes it all personal ;D
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Many round here you need to knock to get them to unlock the gate. Besides I echo what the previous post said. Some get really miffed if you don't.
I had one a week or so back who came to the door and said "SURELY you are not going to do the windows in this weather??" Actually, it was the best day we had for a while. But I just ignore it and move on to the next. I can understand them not wanting it done. I would be the same. It only the OC ones who have to have it come what may.
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i always knock on every door and never get any knock backs, probably because im always late and they are always glad to see me.
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Certain customers actually get really miffed if you don't knock the door before you start cleaning them. We have one bloke who has a tantrum if you don't knock the door - God knows why they care but some do and although I don't think you should pander to people if they prefer a door knock before you start why on earth not - its very rare that they say not today thank you.
No, you shouldn't pander to people, but you do have to "work" with them :) as you have said.
We used to have a couple of custies who asked us to knock when we arrived for differing reasons. OK, we said we didn't mind, but we made sure they understood that the "knock" was for courtesy" reasons only and not as a request for permission. One of these custies was a real snooty above their station type and I used to knock/ring bell and say "hello" just announcing we are here! (i really was taking the p***), you could see they loved it, being like they were. Did I take take offence...no cos insides I was laughing as they were charged the most in their street!
You are right MOST custies appreciate the fact that you still provide a service even when the weather isn't so good and it is rare to get turnaways.
I don't know why my other half is miffed - we wanted a few to say not this time anyway so we get round to everyone!
Exactly! We used to work out the ones who wouldn't mind being missed and contact them!
She doesn't like wfp anyway and her house is dangerous to clean without it which is the real reason why I've dumped it. Us ladies are far more practical about such things - the other half takes it all personal ;D
;D ;D
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I usually just knock the door and go straight back to the van to grab the pole so im not waiting at the door for permission to clean but letting them know im around.
I try and put myself in the position of the customer, and I wouldn't be too keen that someone appeared at the window without knowing they were around.
Some of the oldies might even have a dodgy ticker.
As for being turned away, yes it is a pain in the rear, but you probably have others to do in the road anyway so not a complete wasted trip.
But think first before dumping them because you could use it to your advantage.
If they only want cleaning part of the year increase their prices on the understanding they are not regular customers and bung the money into your winter fund throughout the year.
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the bloke who did my nans before i took over used to turn up knowing my nan was out and then put a slip in the letter box saying she owes xxx amount
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the bloke who did my nans before i took over used to turn up knowing my nan was out and then put a slip in the letter box saying she owes xxx amount
Is that not how it works for people that are out?
Or do you mean he used to sit and wait for her to go out? :)
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the bloke who did my nans before i took over used to turn up knowing my nan was out and then put a slip in the letter box saying she owes xxx amount
i THOUGHT IT WAS THE NORM TO MISS THE BATHROOM WINDOW OUT, THEN PUT A TICKET THROUGH ;D
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The c concept that the customer is always right or the customer is king is out moded idea in business today. As the customer cannot dictate to you in your business. Each owner of a business must take up his or her own rule or policies under which he is prepared to trade. The more modern idea is the customer is treated with due respect. If one is nor prepared to face3 up your own policies and practices them it time to get out of business and give someone else a CHANCE.
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If a customer cancels during a clean just say
"I am so sorry but I am busting for the loo....I think I have disgraced myself and can I use your loo"
once in just stay in the toilet with the door locked until they pay
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ive never ever knocked before i clean in 17 years!!and only occasionally get a "not today".ive never even considered the customer!i just get on with it unless they come out and say something to me!!
dazmond
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The c concept that the customer is always right or the customer is king is out moded idea in business today. As the customer cannot dictate to you in your business. Each owner of a business must take up his or her own rule or policies under which he is prepared to trade. The more modern idea is the customer is treated with due respect. If one is nor prepared to face3 up your own policies and practices them it time to get out of business and give someone else a CHANCE.
As mentioned there were some figures of speech used in previous posts.
Working "with" the customer is the best idea and flexibilty from both sides is a must. It would be a shame to lose a £100 monthly clean, just because you don't phone ahead and they wish to receive a courtesy call". Maturity and professionalism at all times will make you stand out from the norm.
I guess the following is the "modern" way of running a business though.....
"The custy was not fit but poo.I had this couple messing me around owed money for 4 months always saying collect at a certain time and then been out. IT drove me nuts 15 quid it was.I had some super glue in the in the van so pushed a tooth pick in the key followed by some super glue. I then moved on to my next job 5 houses down. The poor sucker came home 10 minutes and could not get into his home and it was icy cold .He had to get the locksmith out.That cost him more than 15 quid.I felt a bit better"
Criminal damage and all over £15.00 ::)
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I only ever knock when a customer specifically requests me to do so. Also, if a customer comes out and tells me 'not today', I accept it gracefully and move on to the next house. This happens very, very rarely, (maybe half a dozen times this year in total) and I am usually given a good reason why.
John.