Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: prestige cleaners on February 11, 2011, 12:03:23 am
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my neighbour asked for a quote a while back and i said what about your current guy i see doing them? he said he only charges £6 a month and only does the glass. well i said i feel bad about nicking his work hes only making £6 for about 12 windows bless him. i said well i would charge £20 every 8 weeks for that, (hoping that would put him off) but i would do it for £15 as hes my neighbour, he said he would have a think, ask his wife etc.
anyway got back to me and said yeah can i do them, hes told his cleaner to cancel, and explained as hes been burgled recently he wants someone he can trust,
i feel really bad now, he was earning rubbish money, then gets sacked and made to feel untrustworthy.. hope he doesnt hate me if he sees me doing them. makes a change though i spose overcutting him
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probably brick yr windows ;D ;D ;D ;D
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They could have put it in a better way to him, but don't feel bad, he wasn't offering the service they wanted and you are :)
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ive also picked up a few jobs off other window cleaners who do a crap job!not on my doorstep though!dont worry!you ll probably lose one or two to another window cleaner one day!these things happen!!its a cut throat business.i dont think he ll lose any sleep over 6 quid!! ;D ;D
by the way you sound like a smug condescending git with the "bless him" remark!!remember your JUST a window cleaner as well!! ;) ;D ;D
dazmond
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If i was his window cleaner i would have probably smacked him, and if i were you i wouldn't have been the replacement as he is just causing you hassle. Sorry, but he sounds like a nasty piece of work.
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If i was his window cleaner i would have probably smacked him,
This probably sums up how a lot of people feel about their window cleaner, they're to scared to say anything to them. I do quite a few jobs (i'm WFP) monthly and they still retain their 'old cleaner' because they've had him for years, they feel a sense of loyalty even though he does a crap job. He's that thick he thinks i'm a UPVC cleaner, and i can understanding him thinking this way, the alternative if for him to realise he's crap and not giving the customer what they want. So he collects his £3.50 a fortnight and i get my tenner a month. Yes, bless them !!!
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I had a few calls from custy's in same street, I went to quote them and I asked about there last windy. They all said they haven't seen him since October. I told them he could be behind on his work and just catching up with his work.
They said it's been 4 months, So I agreed to do there windows.
Felt a little bit guilty, but after a while I thought it had been 4months tho hey ho ;) swings and roundabouts I think
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Just shows what people are really willing to pay £6 - £15, for basically the same job.
Thats really unpleasant that your neighbour should blame a recent burglary for the cancellation - that would badly wind me up.
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you knew there was already a guy doing them . that would have been enough for me to say im not interested .
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been cleaning work this week which was last done in October,next week it will be Novembers,had a dislocated shoulder off for 8 weeks and still not working full time,glad the windies around here arnt like you,not lost any customers ;)
What you are actually saying here Stan is that because you are ill no one can have their windows cleaned until you are well. Thats pretty poor customer service and no way to run a business. But the you don't run a business do you? You operate a monoploy in your "patch", thats probably why you've lost no customers.
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did the job took 2 of us 35mins thats how minging they were, ive had a few jobs now because the previous windy refused to the frames.
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go for it ;D ;D ;D
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did the job took 2 of us 35mins thats how minging they were, ive had a few jobs now because the previous windy refused to the frames.
As I said, you are providing a service the other windy isn't.....customer choice :)
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im off to clean windows at a friends house this morning and expect to get some of their neighbours as well.
they asked me to clean theirs back in november because their current window cleaner went mob handed and they did a crap job and were cheeky with it .... i said no as they already had a window cleaner ..... so unknown to me they sacked him in january :o
do i feel bad gaining this customer ... no because if the other guy had done the job right he would still be cleaning them.
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I got a new client last night 18 for 4 weekly cleans. they had a current WC who charged them £10 a time but is unreliable.
the bottom line is that if you are looking after your customers well then they will not go looking for another window cleaner. if you are not professional and are not offering the service they want, they will get somebody else. that's business.
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plus we have loyal customers ;)
No you don't. You operate a patch system to keep away any competition, thats how loyal you think they might be. You'll soon be subject to swathes of WFP vans everywhere like the rest of us.
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when another cleaner was off and i was asked i cleaned the windows on the condition they went back with him when he came back, we dont have any Scabs around here ;)
I assume they're the loyal customers you where referring to before, that loyal that they asked another cleaner !! LOL !! And you're use of the term 'scab' relates to someone who wants to come and do a job and compete with you ? You're a dying breed Stan, jobs for life went years ago.
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Nice one Mike and well put.
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We are always getting new windys starting round here. They last for a few moths then pack it in. If we are under cut i say try them but 9 out of ten times they ciome back.
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been cleaning work this week which was last done in October,next week it will be Novembers,had a dislocated shoulder off for 8 weeks and still not working full time,glad the windies around here arnt like you,not lost any customers ;)
What you are actually saying here Stan is that because you are ill no one can have their windows cleaned until you are well. Thats pretty poor customer service and no way to run a business. But the you don't run a business do you? You operate a monoploy in your "patch", thats probably why you've lost no customers.
when another cleaner was off and i was asked i cleaned the windows on the condition they went back with him when he came back, we dont have any Scabs around here ;)
Scabs, where are you, 1981?
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@ stan
So your telling me you never get shiners canvassing your "patch"?
and what would you do about it if they did? ;D
and where abouts do you live?
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i've been told not to bother canvassing areas because 'they're all tied up' around our way. truth is, i;ve never had an area where i've not picked up work. and once we get a couple of houses, more come around when they see us working and speak to their neighbours.
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Stan, thats fair enough. but you dont own your your customer. they switch window cleaners if they want ;D what would you do about it they did?
If you dont mind me asking where about in the contry are you
Let me finsih by saying i dont tolerate bully's!!!
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i've been told not to bother canvassing areas because 'they're all tied up' around our way. truth is, i;ve never had an area where i've not picked up work. and once we get a couple of houses, more come around when they see us working and speak to their neighbours.
Same here richard
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as a kid i remember milkmen had "patches " but look at it now, you buy from whoever you feel happiest with.
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No, Stan's back on the 1950s. "I'm alright Jack and stuff the lot of you". Customers having choice? Never? Threats of violence? Standard (though they only ever really threaten it, not do it). What a wonderful world to live in.
And you know what, it's all talk. They like to talk of themselves as the next best thing to the Krays, but the thing they know is that there's always someone bigger and harder than you round the next corner.
The thing they miss is that customers don't feel "loyal" to behaviour like this, they feel trapped. And just like it happened in every other industry, all it takes is one person to make a stand and their whole sorry little empire will collapse overnight. Someone will have the balls to stand up and be counted and offer a better service and these dinosaurs will go the way of British Leyland.
talk out of your backside,have never threatened anybody in my life,most customers are friends who i talk to while working or in town at other times, think youve been watching to much of the Soparonos , get out canvassing to double your workload to 2 days a week you saddo ;)
You're the guy who's talked about people who canvass round your way ending up "eating through a straw" so don't come over all goody-goody.
Anyway, doesn't alter the fact that your so-called customer "loyalty" is actually restricted trade through your childish little fraid-of-competition patch system. Your type's day is over, little man, and the sooner your type are washed out of the sewer the better.
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There is so much rubbish talked over customer loyalty, customers are people just like the rest of us, some are loyal some are not, some couldn't sleep if they owed you money, some would let you clean their windows for month after month, and drop you like a brick when you catch up with them and they have to pay. some will ask how many cleans they owe for, some will dispute that they owe for three cleans.
Some send a cheque for six months advance cleaning, some will move out owing you three cleans.
Believe me, I have or have had all of these customers. It's no good thinking that they will all share your values, they won't. It's no good beating yourself up trying to understand customers, take what comes and move on.
If someone asks me for a price I give them a price, I'm a window cleaner and that's what I do.
I don't care who cleaned them last, or what they were charged.
Business is business.
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@ dai
amen, agreed.
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Some double standards on here. Some are having a go at Stan, but I read a few threatening posts about undercutting East Europeans recently.
Good post Dai.
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its the customers call at the end of the day if they want to use someone else then you can only gain if he confronts you then you can ligit say they approached me mate i put price in and they said yes so on ya bike six quider
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i agree with stan to a point.us window cleaners who are well established with very compact rounds very rarely lose work because we are tried and trusted(and usually cheaper)because we dont need to drive about here,there and everywhere wasting time and money on fuel unloading our gear every 20 mins!!
theres certain windys i know that will not clean certain areas because they knows i clean that road and its not worth it for them to do just one house while i do 20!and vice versa.it helps us keep our rounds compact and driving and wasting time to a minimum.
regards
dazmond
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I can understand years ago why it was patches ... window cleaners walking round with ladders and card suppose could not really travel too far but these days people have cars/vans can travel easily 5 miles away within what? 15 mins.
More people cleaning windows as a proper business these days so at the end of the day its upto the customer who they want to use? if you got a quote to get some roof repairs its totaly up to you who you pick why would it be any diffrent with window cleaning?
I got threatend a few times window cleaners saying dont canvus anymore round here mate!! or others saying we do this estate mate etc etc its all load b******s.. what there saying is if the customer carnt use "him" they carnt have anyone ???
IDIOTS the lot of them its full of them round here!! one of my customers have gone to the police over window cleaners threating other cleaners because even she thinks its not right! and anyone was a right to make a living. I dont go around undercutting i jus give my price based on what i want and 90% of the time i charge neally double the price of other cleaners in the road and they would still rarther have me, if they say yes i clean if they say no i dont and i wont drop my price end of... am sure i have lost jobs to window cleaners in the past i dont go around to them giving threats!
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what there saying is if the customer carnt use "him" they carnt have anyone ???
Thats what i see too.
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why would you want to travel 5 miles between jobs all day when you can park up once and clean all day
I didnt mean that!! i ment years ago when there was no cars a window cleaner would live local around that estate really.. now days you could travel five miles and still work all day without moving the car! or have a diffrent day in a diffrent area what am saying is people can travel and they obviously do as some window cleaners you here on here travel 20miles to there round. But years ago when jus ladders and carts you carnt see someone walking 3-5 miles to there first job can you? so obviously how "patches" where formed.
If your jobs a very very compact then good on ya! i wish mine were as compact as yours i usally only have 3-4 per road but i dont travel very far between jobs
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Thats what i see too.
Mee too! and it annoys me because any other trade.. gardiners, birckeys, roofers, plumbers and so on all give quotes like us.. and then the customer chooses what to go with! on what they see best could be the cheapest quote or most expensive just down to who they want
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I can understand years ago why it was patches ... window cleaners walking round with ladders and card suppose could not really travel too far but these days people have cars/vans can travel easily 5 miles away within what? 15 mins.
why would you want to travel 5 miles between jobs all day when you can park up once and clean all day
You can dance around it all day, but patches mean no choice for customers.
And you buy into the violence (as proven by past posts) so don't come the innocent.
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I could be alot cheaper if i just did the glass, how i think about it is theres more to a window than just the glass i make sure it's all clean frame glass and sill, but i have heard many just do glass.
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What about wc`ers who don`t like "cheap" competition or undercutting? What`s wrong with that?
Many on here, are up in arms when they hear about cleaners working for less than they do.
That`s like patches in a way; stifling the competition.
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undercutting is just bad for business. everyone's business. its usually what people do when they're new in a business, and when they get experienced they realize they're doing more for less.
most customers aren't so price sensitive anyhow, so all the cheap cleaners are doing is driving down prices. window cleaning is such a cheap service anyhow for the customers that the difference between a cheap WC (say£6 and a more modern £10 per month is just small change). the difference for the WC is massive as that extra £4 per clean is thousand more by year end. Its probably more than double the profit.
it is better for all WC if we compete on the quality of our service rather than just price.
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undercutting is just bad for business. everyone's business. its usually what people do when they're new in a business, and when they get experienced they realize they're doing more for less.
most customers aren't so price sensitive anyhow, so all the cheap cleaners are doing is driving down prices. window cleaning is such a cheap service anyhow for the customers that the difference between a cheap WC (say£6 and a more modern £10 per month is just small change). the difference for the WC is massive as that extra £4 per clean is thousand more by year end. Its probably more than double the profit.
it is better for all WC if we compete on the quality of our service rather than just price.
That wasn`t my point though. I agree some do it to get a foot in the door though, and if it does work, then it is good business for them.
My point was, some don`t like this form of competition; a bit like patch workers.
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i see you re point, but i'm not sure i agree.
i don't like undercutting because it's really the worst form of competition. its competing purely on price, and this drives down prices in an area. i understand why people are tempted to do it, but i think that it is generally inexperience or unprofessionaliasm that drives it.
another thing of course is illegal workers competing with professional workers. so us with overheads such as employees, insurance, VAT, tax etc etc are having prices working by people working for cash, or on benefits.
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i see you re point, but i'm not sure i agree.
i don't like undercutting because it's really the worst form of competition. its competing purely on price, and this drives down prices in an area. i understand why people are tempted to do it, but i think that it is generally inexperience or unprofessionaliasm that drives it.
another thing of course is illegal workers competing with professional workers. so us with overheads such as employees, insurance, VAT, tax etc etc are having prices working by people working for cash, or on benefits.
Undercutting doesn`t have to drive down prices. I`m not advocating it but it`s a way of being attractive for some
in a business sense.
I was pointing out the double standards- some will moan about patch workers driving away competition but they don`t like being undercut. They are both anti-competition.
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fair enough G! ;D
people will complain about a lot of stuff i suppose you're right! there's not much we can do about what 'other people', better to stick with changing how we run our business.