Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: S.A.J on December 09, 2006, 09:14:21 am
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I have just taken a call from a lady complaining that here windows are really dirty even though i cleaned them 4 days ago. In that 4 days we have had 65mph winds and driving rain.
I said what can i do about the weather!
She said if they turn out that dirty again after a few day after cleaning she will cancell my services.
My reply was ok but how often do we get a week of weather like this!
Have you guys noticed windows looking really dirty again after a few days or having custormers phoneing up and complaining.
Stuart
SAJ Window Cleaners Ltd
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the windows are getting dirty again after a few days with all this wind i would drop that customer like a bad smell
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we had one last night.they were black.we done them on thursday.had to do them again.relly cant do that all the time 2 times in 2 days. >:(
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Providing I can clean the windows, and when I am done they are perfect, and I've collected the money then I'm happy.
Any weathering that then occurs is tough titty, if a customer rang me and complained that after just 4 days they are dirty again, I would politely point out that they were spotless when I had done them, and that it is the foul weather that had since got them dirty.
Circumstances totally beyond my control and so on.
And no way on earth would I go back and reclean them.
If she then said she'd cancel if it happened again, I would thank her for her custom and tell her she will have to find a new window cleaner.
Now if I have gone out in foul weather, cleaned the windows and known full well that within an hour of cleaning them (trad) or by the time they had dried out (WFP) they were all mucked up,and the customer complained (has to be within 24 hours though) then I would reclean them.
I'm sorry, but I don't like going out to clean windows knowing full well I'm wasting my time.
I don't agree with those that say clean in all weather (bills to pay, mouths to feed etc)
You don't lay bricks in the rain.
Or paint in the rain.
Or dig a garden or cut grass in the rain.
We are in a job that is at the mercy of the elements, there are times when you k now you are wasting your time.
WFP doesn't hack it in these conditions, heavy wind and rain will leave them contaminated before you have even finished the job.
Trad is little better. no way should you be working off a ladder in those conditions, and the windows will soon be mucky again.
As has been said already in this thread, we son't often get such prolonged spells of extreme weather conditions, so when it happens, - as Squeaky said in another thread - take it on the chin and enjoy your day off.
In this job it only takes a few days to earn some decent money, so why panic?
But if you do work in conditions that are bad, then you can't blame customers for complaining, I sure as hell would!
I come home from work and find a bill for window cleaning and the windows are as dirty as they were before the windows were cleaned?
No way would I be happy about paying out >:(
Sometimes it is unavoidable, a sunny, dry morning, and then in the afternoon the weather turns on you, in that case it is an instance of circumstances beyond your control.
Just as those occasions when we get the 'sahara rain' :-\
I've gone collecting the day after that has happened and the windows are bloody filthy! :-[
I feel guilty collecting the money for it, but the customers understand.
They are not so understanding if you are working in gale dorce winds and driving rain!!
Ian
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Agree totally with you Ian.
Just to point out when i cleaned her windows it was a perfectly sunny & still day.
Most of the bad weather down here was at night.
Stuart
SAJ Window Cleaners Ltd
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Did you charge them again, Ducky?
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Message to Stuart (SAJ).
If your moaning customer was religious you should have told her to blame God as this lousy weather is an act of God or is it down to Global warming in which case she can blame all the motorists, airplanes, etc, etc.
If the windows are still clean at the end of the working day you washed them
and the following day the weather is attrocious then that's beyond your control and you shouldn't offer to re-clean the windows for free- I wouldn't and I'm sure most other window cleaners wouldn't!!!!
However if you cleaned the windows in good weather and because of stormy weather the windows ended up dirty at the end of the working day I myself would go back and re-do the windows again at my earliest opportunity as that's only fair to the customer.
The moral of this story is: By all means clean in the rain if you can get away with it but if you think the weather will turn too bad before the day is out be prepared to expect a few complaints from customers who will either refuse to pay or expect their windows to be re-cleaned and will possibly switch to another window cleaner if you persist in cleaning in poor weather.
I will work in some rain but know when to call it a day or simply treat myself to a well deserved day of rest as I don't intend cleaning any windows twice if I'm only getting paid once!
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Well said Ian.
I myself have been out a couple of weeks ago cleaning in the rain as i was way behind.
I was not happy about doing it myself so if im not happy im sure the customers won't be either.
So after that day i didn't do it again and not likely to either.
I also tried converting customers to all weather cleaning about a year ago and got some complaints.
Like you said if it rains take the time off as you can earn descent money in a few days anyway.
Paul
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To be fair, if I was a customer and some window cleaner turned up at my house in the rain I'd tell him to bugger off.
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especially with those weird pole things
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I'd rather urinate on my windows after a night out.
At least I'd do a better job. ;D
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Very true
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I'd rather urinate on my windows after a night out.
At least I'd do a better job. ;D
You do the upstairs like that to? Bragging again eh? ;D
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sheepmeister. no it was an old dear.but any one else try ther luck they will get told wher to go. 8)
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the weather up her the now is very windy and raining.dont think we will be working tomorrow. >:(