Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: John Farrell on March 02, 2012, 05:56:03 pm
-
Posted on 27/02/12
Region: North West England
Location: Hawarden, Flintshire
Type: Domestic
Monthly Avg Value : £250
Established For: 2 years
Comments: This is excellent work and very compact area with plenty of room to expand work around it. All done by water fed pole method, cleaned with the WFP since the start. Genuine reason for selling. Moved from area. Ready to be done immediately. Quick sale required.
Asking Price : £1,400
Contact Details : Right Image - - [Send Email]
Went to buy this round today handed the money over, took the worksheets shook hands and left to go and introduce myself to my new customers. Second house in and lady comes out " sorry not happy they not been cleaned since the beginning off November so just leave them " next five houses no one home so just left leaflets explaining changeover. Go to the next job on the list a nice little grove begin to post and couple houses in lady comes out with changeover letter " excuse me love sorry but got a new window cleaner the last one your refering to has not bin since October " so start to panic. Then as I go to post next door as there's another 4 next to each other next to the lady I just spoke to she speaks up again and says " I wouldn't bother posting them either they all gone with the new window cleaner.
It gets better next street on the list two houses were empty occupants moved out couple of month ago. Out of 25 houses about 4 people were happy to carry on. Phoned the person who sold it me gave him a piece of my mind and managed to get my money back.
Never again will I be stupid enough to buy a round without working the first clean I am lucky I have not lost my money. This person lead me to believe it was a well kept round that was up to date he must have forgot to mention it hadn't bin cleaned for 5 months. My day would have bin a total waste but the time I was expecting to be cleaning I just flyered and canvassed the area and picked up a fair little bit so not a total waste.
-
I'm sorry mate, but what do you expect to happen handing cash over for a list of work without checking it out first?
And £1400 for £250 worth of work??
Do you want to buy some beans? They are magic.
Think with your head, not your wallet.
-
theres some real scum in this businness mate, not everyones as sound as on this forum = apart from me of course :-)
-
You've been bloody lucky to get your cash back.
-
250 monthly (25 houses) ave. £10 per house, for £1400
You are out of your mind !
-
If you want the work we text about then I will start to make the intros, I have known the guy a while and will sort it without that kind of hassle...
Should be with you next week too...
-
I'm sorry mate, but what do you expect to happen handing cash over for a list of work without checking it out first?
And £1400 for £250 worth of work??
Do you want to buy some beans? They are magic.
Think with your head, not your wallet.
I know I was stupid wont happen again the guy seemed really genuine. Even after after i got my money back he was sorry and said he could not believe that none of the customers had phoned him to let him know but i told him he cant just neglect the customers that are due to be cleaned every 4 weeks to expect to just be waiting for him after 5 months.
I didn't pay 1400 for it I knocked him down got my money back in the end and won't make that mistake again.
Ironically some of the customers I was walking away from said there windows were that bad could I do them but they didn't want to use the same person cause he took the p.
-
bad luck john, but amazing that you managed to get your money back.
anyhow, i;ve got a list of addresses you can buy off me for £1500 if you like. meet me at my local and i'll hand it over ;)
-
If you want the work we text about then I will start to make the intros, I have known the guy a while and will sort it without that kind of hassle...
Should be with you next week too...
Cheers George lucky escape really look forward to hearing from you mate
-
You've been bloody lucky to get your cash back.
Very lucky his phone was off the first few time I tried it back aswell then managed to get hold of him he met me Within about 15 mins of me phoning him. Think he just tried his luck leaving the work for that long thought they would wait forever for him.
-
blimey mate you were lucky getting money back !!!
some dodge pots out there !!
-
if it gets too far travelling for a few houses just pass them onto me ;D ;D
-
havnt you got any customers at the moment as it seems like you would need be deperate for work paying that for
£250 of work,at least you got money back,get george working for you seems like he work get you that amount easily
-
havnt you got any customers at the moment as it seems like you would need be deperate for work paying that for
£250 of work,at least you got money back,get george working for you seems like he work get you that amount easily
Got a fair amount of work and this round wasn't that far from all my other work so thought it would tie in nicely. The price on the add is what the guy wanted for it but I knocked him down then I agreed to buy it. I was lucky to get my money back aswell. I posted the handover letters before I got knocked back off a few an some of his old customers who haven't replaced there window cleaner have phoned me back complaining so I explained what had happend an they now want to use my services plus canvassed a few and done a few leaflet drops and made myself a days work out of half the guys unhappy customers who tried rippin me and picked up a few myself.
Been a roller coaster day really thought I was out of pocket now got my money back plus a days work for free.
-
I did an hour or so this afternoon on work I have picked up one or two flats every month, it started with two bungalows and I am now on 16 flats or bungalows, all this was another window cleaners work that hadn't been done since october, I actually fully expect someone to turn up one day cleaning away having bought the work from the last guy only to be told to do one, and I feel for whoever it may be, I doubt I will lose any though
well maybe some as the last guy was taking £2.50 a flat and I am pretty sure he has just dumped the lot as underpriced, but you never know he could try sell it
-
I did an hour or so this afternoon on work I have picked up one or two flats every month, it started with two bungalows and I am now on 16 flats or bungalows, all this was another window cleaners work that hadn't been done since october, I actually fully expect someone to turn up one day cleaning away having bought the work from the last guy only to be told to do one, and I feel for whoever it may be, I doubt I will lose any though
well maybe some as the last guy was taking £2.50 a flat and I am pretty sure he has just dumped the lot as underpriced, but you never know he could try sell it
If I left work for over 5 months without a phone call or an explanation I wouldn't expect it to be there. This guy led me to believe he was on top of the work not just left it for almost half a year. The state some of the windows were in were bad. I have had customers complaining to me from the houses he tried to sell me most of the day from the doors I knocked to the phone calls from the handover letters. Just explained my self and told them I am reliable and will not let them down and they all seem to be fine.
Same with with you Stuart that's your work you have picked up. How can anyone try to claim the work they have not been to for near enough 6 months let alone try and sell it to someone else.
-
john where you based
i also clean around them areas ;)
-
yes john I agree, I have neglected some areas in the past so I gave the addresses to a new start and told him to canvass them, and stick a quid or two on my prices, but I never charged him and I certainly wouldn't have went back myself after nearly 5 months, that was years ago though and very rarely let things slip like that now
I have only bought work once and it was the same amount as you £250 or so and it was a nightmare, I would never do it again unless I really knew the person and the work
-
just learn from this experience and if you buy work in the future make sure you meet the customers with the old cleaner before parting with your cash....
Interesting to see people's reactions to the amount paid for the work....
how much do you guys think that work is worth generally?
This guy sold his round for 5x the monthly I'm guessing. Would you let your own work go for less?
-
john where you based
i also clean around them areas ;)
I am from Manchester gav but most of my work is in and around Chester.
-
worked out ok then john,i first brought a round and windy wanted £2500 for £600 monthly he wanted the money upfront before he would show me the round which in fairness to him he doesnt want me turn around after introducing me to custys saying im not interested,but i met him at his home which is on the same estate as my house, and we spent a few evenings when it was bad snow in jan 2 years ago going round to explain im the new cleaner so i was happy with it all and he still rings me now to give me any custys in the area i work, he still works a mile away from me aswell, nice guy
-
just learn from this experience and if you buy work in the future make sure you meet the customers with the old cleaner before parting with your cash....
Interesting to see people's reactions to the amount paid for the work....
how much do you guys think that work is worth generally?
This guy sold his round for 5x the monthly I'm guessing. Would you let your own work go for less?
yes that is interesting I would pay as little as possible and take as much as I could get ;D it would depend on the value of the work for me, i.e. in this case it was roughly a days work at £250 quid so good work on the face of it, so worth a fair amount
on the other hand when I bought £250 worth of work it would have taken two/three days so worth nothing really, I paid him £200 and thought I would up the prices, didn't work out like that, but still it filled a gap at the time when I needed it
-
Victor, what's wrong with £10 houses? We have about 150 houses at £8 each and to be honest I wouldnt sell them for £10k, they are excellent money and because it's only £8 a go no one says not this month.
-
seems the seller is honest. what is he doing now then?
-
john where you based
i also clean around them areas ;)
I am from Manchester gav but most of my work is in and around Chester.
bloody hell john thats some way to travel
who was selling the work
was he local to it
-
worked out ok then john,i first brought a round and windy wanted £2500 for £600 monthly he wanted the money upfront before he would show me the round which in fairness to him he doesnt want me turn around after introducing me to custys saying im not interested,but i met him at his home which is on the same estate as my house, and we spent a few evenings when it was bad snow in jan 2 years ago going round to explain im the new cleaner so i was happy with it all and he still rings me now to give me any custys in the area i work, he still works a mile away from me aswell, nice guy
I have bought a couple of rounds before and worked the rounds the first clean and everything as gone great. Today I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt everything seemed okay until 8 out of about 12 cancelled and they were the the only ones home. I wouldn't buy a round again without working it first. Everything has ended up good at the end of the day but I could have ended up bad I won't be foolish again like I was this morning.
-
john where you based
i also clean around them areas ;)
I am from Manchester gav but most of my work is in and around Chester.
bloody hell john thats some way to travel
who was selling the work
was he local to it
Funny enough he was moving to Manchester. Just a young lad. When I spoke to him in the morning I asked if he had any more similar work in the area. He said no he was focusing on his round in Manchester. Then when I got my money back in the afternoon I said why didn't he just work the round with me and he said he was too busy looking for a new job. He's left it that long I think he was just hoping all the customers were still waiting for him. He didn't want to work it with me so he didn't have to face them and explain it to the customer why he had not been for 4-5 month and just expected everything to go smoothly with me knocking on so he could make a quik buck. Little did he know just under half of them had a new cleaner.
-
bloody hell john thats some way to travel
who was selling the work
was he local to it
only takes me 50 min or so
-
do you know who cleans em now
iv not picked any up in that area ;)
-
do you know who cleans em now
iv not picked any up in that area ;)
No they didn't say. The other half who phoned me complaining are happy with me doing them once I explained what had happend. I told them I will be reliable unlike the last cleaner and got a couple of others in that area.
-
what do you drive john ???
giza shout if you see me
iv a white 07 vivaro
always knocking about
mold buckely etc ;)
-
what do you drive john ???
giza shout if you see me
iv a white 07 vivaro
always knocking about
mold buckely etc ;)
I drive a 04 silver connect gav. I will keep an eye out for you ;)
-
just learn from this experience and if you buy work in the future make sure you meet the customers with the old cleaner before parting with your cash....
Interesting to see people's reactions to the amount paid for the work....
how much do you guys think that work is worth generally?
This guy sold his round for 5x the monthly I'm guessing. Would you let your own work go for less?
I think what people are balking at is the mark up of 5x on a small amount of work
5x on 2.5k 4wkly then fair enough i guess, depends on the quality of the work..some pobably not even worth x2.
-
what do you drive john ???
giza shout if you see me
iv a white 07 vivaro
always knocking about
mold buckely etc ;)
Gav .... John bought the Handbridge round off me that I bought off you that you bought off Bob ;D
-
I own Buckley / Hawarden / Mold etc etc ;)