Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: AuRavelling79 on February 25, 2017, 05:43:30 pm
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So Mrs. E. has been a customer since October last year when her detached Georgian village home was placed under my window cleaning care. She phoned to say that she had my card from over a year ago but that her window cleaner had "semi-retired" but she hadn't seen him for about six months. (I know I know ...)
So I give a first clean price and when asked say I do occasional internal cleans upon request with notice and we agree on an outside price of £45 and an internal price of £65. So if I turn up and get on without interruptions it's about an hour outside and two hours inside - so OK if the insides are once every three cleans or so.
So first clean is outside only - (can you do the insides next week? Ummm, OK I can fit that in but as it will be out of sequence it will be £80 - yes that's ok) - so by the end of October she has had an inside and outside clean a few days apart.
She's all sweetness and light, coffee and biscuits - but there is just "something" a bit off and I can't quite work it out and so "go with it".
Just before Xmas I turn up to find that the easy access gates have been replaced with solid ones that need me to phone up from outside or before. (As regular readers of my drivel know I don't generally agree to phone beforehand). So I phone and get let in as she happened to be home but I had to wait for the dogs (4 little yappy things) to get put away and she asks if I can do the insides too.
I remind her that I need notice and cannot spare the time and so do the outsides. She is still pleasant, brings out a coffee and biscuit and asks if I have time to do the insides of an outhouse, her kitchen window and back door and I do. Without asking for it she says she will add on a few pounds when she pays on line and she adds a fiver on which is fair enough.
So Thursday I was due back but due to good old Storm Doris I decided to go Friday and the night before broke my cardinal rule and texted her as the gates would need unbolting from the inside.
More later about how it went downhill to my dumping her ...
::)roll ;D
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So I send my text at about 6 pm the night before but no reply and when I get up and look at my phone next morning I see a text timed at about 11pm starting with "That's fine, see you then ..." but when I open it completely it also says "but can you just do the insides and not the outsides?"
I cannot spare two hours plus instead of one hour and text back that I cannot as I have an exceptionally busy day due to catching up from the day before. I also say that by going 16 weeks instead of 8 weeks then the outsides will be really filthy and what's the point of doing the insides when the outsides aren't done?"
She replies with "well can you just do selected insides within your time frame?"
And I come back with "But can you explain why the outsides don't need doing? We've just had a storm?" (This is an exposed area near the Severn estuary where muck from Avonmouth and the sea make the west facing windows really mucky after 8 weeks)
Like I said - something is a bit off with this lady - I'm already losing time and patience but I want to hear why she doesn't want the outsides doing.
She basically says she doesn't like wfp because the windows are left wet but that she likes the trad. work I do on the inside and wants me to do that.
I'm now ready to drop her but I'm intrigued and I text her back saying "but they dry fine, I know they do because I came back a few days after the first clean and could see them from the insides - I still don't understand how the outsides are going to be done." (This is a three storey home with set back dormers and rooflights)
And she goes off on one!
"Look! That is for me to worry about. I want you to do the insides only from now on. It's your system I don't like, now can you do that please!!?"
I wait a bit - (these texts have spread over a few hours and it's late morning now) and then text back:-
"Look Mrs. E I'd like to suggest you find another window cleaner who can accommodate your requirements better. Best wishes ... "
She comes back with "Good grief!!! I'm not attacking you am I? I can say if I don't like your system can't I? I still want you to do the insides don't I?? That's still a fair amount of work isn't it???"
I go back with: "Mrs. E. I'm stacked out with work from folk who want a regular cleaner and who stick to their agreements. I really am finding this a difficult one to understand and suggest you find someone else."
Her: "Well I'm sorry it has ended like this, you're a very good window cleaner but I don't like my windows being left wet."
Me: "Mrs E. I am drawing this conversation to a close because I know I am not the window cleaner who can work to your requirements. I truly hope you find someone who can because I cannot manage your expectations. Please accept this as my final word and also accept my best wishes for the future.
I've heard nothing for 24 hours and so hope that is the end of it.
::)roll ;D
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Wrong section. ;)
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Wrong section. ;)
brilliant though .
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Wrong section. ;)
brilliant though .
Yeah, but he's a mod! ;D
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Oh yeah. :-X :-[ ;D. I'll move it tomorrow when I get home and can use a proper keyboard!
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If the money was good, and it was worth doing the job, and I could have fitted it in, I've have done what the customers asked.
Whether or not she wants the outsides doing or not, that's up to her.
Follow the money. ;D
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It annoys me when you discuss the terms of the cleaning and all's well for a while, then they go and start fiddling with it.
I end up dropping them too.
I had one before Christmas, a big job, get funny with me because it was forecast for rain and he wanted his windows cleaned after the rain, but just before Christmas.
I said I would, but would charge extra because I'd be travelling to that place specifically. I wasn't really arsed about the travel to be honest, I was just being awkward on purpose.
He didn't like the extra £20 charge so said he'd leave it till next time.
There'll not be a next time. ;D
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If the money was good, and it was worth doing the job, and I could have fitted it in, I've have done what the customers asked.
Whether or not she wants the outsides doing or not, that's up to her.
Follow the money. ;D
Without the outsides it became marginal moneywise.
And what happens when we are six months down the road and the outsides are really minging and the insides show no benefit (to a normal person)?
It's like valeting a car on the inside and letting the filth build up on the outside.
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Its a no win situation and she has got to go, once you get the needle to someone or thing it gnaws away at you and they can do nothing right, the gates,the critisem,the wondering wether it will take one hour or three, the grief is balanced by the money in this case its overbalamced and she has to be on her way.those that disagree can, I am sure, have her as a free transfer :o
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If the money was good, and it was worth doing the job, and I could have fitted it in, I've have done what the customers asked.
Whether or not she wants the outsides doing or not, that's up to her.
Follow the money. ;D
I would of just carried on doing what she asked too
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Don't you just love "you left my windows wet" brigade. Mind depending on the type an condition of windows it don't help if they leak. lol
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What a load of farting about with texts msgs that was.
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It depends how much you need the work. Personally I absolutely hate jobs where you have to faff about arranging insides and texting the day before and all that. The texting is ok if it's just a case of "Hi,window cleaner coming tomorrow thanks" and 9/10 are ok but you always get some who (you know every few times) they will say "not today thanks" or "can we change the day"(even though your only in the area that day)
My opinion if you have plenty of work is weed out the jobs like that and replace with nice straightforward work(unless of course you need the work)
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Im thankful my work is compact, so i may be in same area for a couple of days upto five days depending which part of my overall round im working. But this allows me at begining of the week to txt these types of customers and let them know im in area for x amount of days, what day is best for them and if morning or afternoon.
This allows me to be a little flexible in my planning for that particular round.
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Good riddance! She obviously had "control " issues and things most probably would never have got any better.
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Im thankful my work is compact, so i may be in same area for a couple of days upto five days depending which part of my overall round im working. But this allows me at begining of the week to txt these types of customers and let them know im in area for x amount of days, what day is best for them and if morning or afternoon.
This allows me to be a little flexible in my planning for that particular round.
Unless you're doing insides the day shouldn't make a difference should it?
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Perhaps you could have agreed to do the upstairs wfp (for safetys sake) and trad the downstairs....
....naaaaahhhhh bo11ox dump her! ;D
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I'm convinced that these people are not born and bred but must be, by laws of all probability, designed, engineered and built in a Lab.
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Without the outsides it became marginal moneywise.
And what happens when we are six months down the road and the outsides are really minging and the insides show no benefit (to a normal person)?
It's like valeting a car on the inside and letting the filth build up on the outside.
If it's not really worth doing then as you say... dump.
I've a customer who's windows I've been doing monthly for years. The insides are minging. I've even offered to clean them for free simply because it bugs me so much but no, she's quite happy to just have the outsides done.
With another customer I squeegee just the patio doors simply because she like them done that way. It's a bit of a pain but she's a good long time customer and gives a good tip at Christmas.
Sometimes it's hard to work out what goes through their heads and why.
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She probably can't understand why I'm not interested in dancing to her merry little tune at £30 an hour.
Ah ... the choices one can freely make when one is self-employed and has a full and well priced round.
;)
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I'm guessing that's why the last cleaner disappeared as he had enough of her too. lol
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You did the right thing Granville, too much faffing about, plus you have enough other normal decent work to get on with.
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That's what makes us all different I suppose. If I could accommodate her I would. If I couldn't, I would say so and explain why.
I wouldn't and don't dump customers like this. If there is money to be made, I'd just ask her to let me know when she needs me and I would fit her in when in the area next or when I could.
Being in Ireland, flexibility is key.
John
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You defo would not catch me up a ladder doing 3 storey windows no matter how much the job was worth.
Just tell em ladders are now banned lol
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Just a thought ???
I wonder if this lady rushes to her place of worship every time it rains and complains to her god that the recent shower has left her windows wet - and requests the use dry rain in future tempests - Amen!
I wouldn't give up a customer like this - she has immense comic value and would brighten my day.
I had a lady cancel because there were seagulls on her rooftop.
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I had a brilliant one the other day.
I turn up at a job and start to clean and customer comes out and says 'Can you you leave them today, it's raining.' I'm thinking 'what's he on about. It's not raining.' Then the penny drops. The rain he's talking about is my water. So naturally I pointed it out. 'Oh' he says, 'Carry on.' And shuts the door.
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I'm guessing that's why the last cleaner disappeared as he had enough of her too. lol
I reckon he's turned up and doing the outsides ;D
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I'm guessing that's why the last cleaner disappeared as he had enough of her too. lol
I reckon he's turned up and doing the outsides ;D
I thought that.
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I'm guessing that's why the last cleaner disappeared as he had enough of her too. lol
I reckon he's turned up and doing the outsides ;D
I thought that.
I wondered that but then wondered why she didn't just sack me and have him do the lot? Then I thought - perhaps she wants me to do the insides until she can - in her mind - find someone to do the outsides trad.
All in all I'm well shot I think.
As for Johnny Bravo's "flexibility" - there are windies just as flexible in England as there are in Ireland - but I believe the more flexible ones haven't grasped the nettle on the "time management/customer management v income" equation.
Those that have don't have time to go back making special journeys or accommodations for slightly mental customers!
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My best one was being sacked for doing them when she wasn't in...for about 4 years she was always in when I did them....went for the money and was gobsmacked at her indignation that I had done them whilst she was out....I was so taken aback I couldn't find words to argue with her and just walked away.
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My best one was being sacked for doing them when she wasn't in...for about 4 years she was always in when I did them....went for the money and was gobsmacked at her indignation that I had done them whilst she was out....I was so taken aback I couldn't find words to argue with her and just walked away.
I had one like that. It was obvious she wasn't happy they were done while she was out so instantly dropped. There's all kind of oddball. I picked one up about 18 months ago who's not had her windows cleaned for two years. I turned up in very light rain and she said not in the rain?? Not cleaned for two years and quibbles about a few spots of rain. Instantly dumped without troubling Aworka!
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I'm guessing that's why the last cleaner disappeared as he had enough of her too. lol
I reckon he's turned up and doing the outsides ;D
I thought that.
I wondered that but then wondered why she didn't just sack me and have him do the lot? Then I thought - perhaps she wants me to do the insides until she can - in her mind - find someone to do the outsides trad.
All in all I'm well shot I think.
As for Johnny Bravo's "flexibility" - there are windies just as flexible in England as there are in Ireland - but I believe the more flexible ones haven't grasped the nettle on the "time management/customer management v income" equation.
Those that have don't have time to go back making special journeys or accommodations for slightly mental customers!
Having worked both sides of the Irish Sea, I have experienced the difference in the 'culture' towards window cleaning both in the UK and Ireland.
In Blighty I almost never had a cancellation or postponement of a clean without a good reason. Here in the emerald isle it is very different believe me.
I am here nearly 6 years now and am well established locally. I therefore no longer have time to go out of my way for anyone but will accommodate anyone who is prepared to wait until I am in their locality next, or if I have the spare time (rare) to do them out of sync.
If I get a 'not today' I have enough work to not have to be affected by it. I don't drop them, but if it happens 2 or 3 times I just tell them to call me when they need me, and take them off my regilar calls list. It would probably surprise many on here, but for me, it really does work. The customers get cleans at frequencies that suit them, and I am earning ok so everyone's happy.
John (not Bravo)
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It's cuz yer English John! They obviously hate you. ;D
Sorry about the Bravo. Roger. Over and Out!
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I've a customer who's windows I've been doing monthly for years. The insides are minging. I've even offered to clean them for free simply because it bugs me so much but no, she's quite happy to just have the outsides done.
That's because she's spotted you eyeing her underwear up on the washing line and she knows damn well what you'll be getting up to unattended in her knicker drawer.
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That's because she's spotted you eyeing her underwear up on the washing line and she knows damn well what you'll be getting up to unattended in her knicker drawer.
I would like to get the chance.
Late 30's/early 40's, divorced, kids all left home and keeps fit.
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It's cuz yer English John! They obviously hate you. ;D
Sorry about the Bravo. Roger. Over and Out!
That's what I am tinking Granville! Ye see, if Oi start to speak t'way dey does, dey may well tink I am one o' dem! And don't ye be worrying about getting mi name wrong. Others do it all de toime! 😊
John
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That's because she's spotted you eyeing her underwear up on the washing line and she knows damn well what you'll be getting up to unattended in her knicker drawer.
I would like to get the chance.
Late 30's/early 40's, divorced, kids all left home and keeps fit.
Sorry? Where did you say she lived?