Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: dudek on December 23, 2007, 06:47:14 pm
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I did a gutter job last week i turned up to do the windows the woman comes out and asks if i could clear her gutters and shes an semi detached so i get the ladder to look inside the gutters and they were heavily loaded.
So i go down and tell her that it will be £60 thinking it will be an hours work and thats my price i aint taking the risks for peanuts any more since going wfp.
She agrees to the price and i do the job with some stupid stretching over the conservatory.
I got the job done in 40 mins in the end, so i go to collect from her and she refused to pay up saying i did it too quick and that i am 'unethicle' so i pointed out the fact that i have invested heavily in my business and although i was using ladders to clean gutters that my prices couldnt be too low as i provide a good reliable proffessional service and thats what you pay for.
she wont pay me my money what do i do now i aint taking her to small claims as its not worth the stress.
Its not the money that bothers me now its the principle. >:(
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Write her a letter saying that are going to take legal action after 14 days if payment is not received,the letter in itself is enough but when she asks around and finds out that if she is a bad payer it will affect her credit rating she will send you a cheque.It`s worth sending her a letter,and no matter how strong willed she seems it will be on her mind.
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what a cheeky bitch >:(
hope you do get the money that you are owed.
my father had somthing simular happen to him when he worked on an indain restrant. they wouldnt pay so he went in there on a satarday night andevery time someone came in he would say,
Please can you pay me for the work ive done for you
they soon payed
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Before you send out the legal stuff, have one more - very polite - go at reasoning with her.
Try to explain that she accepted the price, and if you have taken 3 hours to do the job, would she have been happy if you had more than doubled the price?
Tell her the idea of being given a fixed price is that she knows exactly how much she is going to pay, no more, no less. And that she did accept the price after all.
The legal route is the way to go after you have chased down the other more friendly avenues....but really try hard to maintain your cool!
And good one Jampot! I like that!! ;)
Ian
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i knew something like this was coming with her shes just a miserable lonely old woman
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this is funny you should mention this, i too recenelty did a house and her conserv roof, it was £40 for the lot, and it was over a month ago, then 2 weeks ago i saw her and shes like oh yes give me your bank details, ill pay it straight in. no problem i thought.
another week passes and i see her..oh its gone out of my bank, im sure shes lieing, im well annoyed about that
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fill her gutter back up and block her drains .
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Expanding foam. ;D ;D ;D
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Expanding foam. ;D ;D ;D
What a brilliant idea! As a last resort you just sneak up to her house in the dead of night and from the ground fill her downpipes! Classic! ;D
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minght try expanding foam . ;D
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Exactly,when you pop round to ask nicely for your money say that your sure you drop something in the garden if you get no joy a quick spirt up the downpipe. ;D ;D ;D ;D
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I omnce knew a fairly dishonest window cleaner who would pop a tennis ball onto the top of the downpipe and charge for cleaning (almost non-existent) muck out of the gutters when they overflowed. He justified it by saying he only did it at plusher places where he felt they could afford it. Personally I thought this practice was well out of order whether they had money or not.
I'm sure you wouldn't do anything so despicable to a non-payer would you?
No of course you wouldn't. Maybe you would use a cricket ball instead in case the tennis ball floated. :) .
Seriously though, what were you supposed to do? Stop and read your newspaper half way through. Gutter cleaning doesn't stop with juast cleaning out the gutters either. Any cloths you use would have to be thoroughly cleaned away from the job. It's a dirty, thankless task too. I don't even do them any more. I will scrub the outer part of a gutter from a pole and do the facia and soffit for some customers but I avoid where possible.
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Dudek,
Fill out an on-line claim form at https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco/index.jsp it scares the pants off most people, doesn't cost much and you will no doubt have your money in a week ! ;D
Either that, or use the tennis ball, as suggested by shiner, ;D ;D
Dave.
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its time window cleaning / gutter cleaning was taken a bit more serious by the custy . we are all not doing this for a pint or fix . i would honestly go back and fill her gutters with the poop you removed . after all its her belongings let her have them back why should you be ripped off . would they do the same with a plumber/ joiner / decorator dont think so window / gutter cleaning is now to many a serious income but we still get treated like crap . time to make a stand . by the way i have real good custy ;D
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I did a gutter job last week i turned up to do the windows the woman comes out and asks if i could clear her gutters and shes an semi detached so i get the ladder to look inside the gutters and they were heavily loaded.
So i go down and tell her that it will be £60 thinking it will be an hours work and thats my price i aint taking the risks for peanuts any more since going wfp.
She agrees to the price and i do the job with some stupid stretching over the conservatory.
I got the job done in 40 mins in the end, so i go to collect from her and she refused to pay up saying i did it too quick and that i am 'unethicle' so i pointed out the fact that i have invested heavily in my business and although i was using ladders to clean gutters that my prices couldnt be too low as i provide a good reliable proffessional service and thats what you pay for.
she wont pay me my money what do i do now i aint taking her to small claims as its not worth the stress.
Its not the money that bothers me now its the principle. >:(
you could always threaten her with one of these:
www.impactguns.com/store/MGT-A059003.html
I'm sure she'd pay up instantly ;D :o ;D 8)
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I will try the online claims thing, thanks for your help.
I have just got off the blower to her next door neighbour saying shes rubbed alot of the neighbours up in the past.
bitter old cow.
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Pay a kid a quid to egg her windows. Old cow will need to pay out for them to be cleaned ;)
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I did a gutter job last week i turned up to do the windows the woman comes out and asks if i could clear her gutters and shes an semi detached so i get the ladder to look inside the gutters and they were heavily loaded.
So i go down and tell her that it will be £60 thinking it will be an hours work and thats my price i aint taking the risks for peanuts any more since going wfp.
She agrees to the price and i do the job with some stupid stretching over the conservatory.
I got the job done in 40 mins in the end, so i go to collect from her and she refused to pay up saying i did it too quick and that i am 'unethicle' so i pointed out the fact that i have invested heavily in my business and although i was using ladders to clean gutters that my prices couldnt be too low as i provide a good reliable proffessional service and thats what you pay for.
she wont pay me my money what do i do now i aint taking her to small claims as its not worth the stress.
Its not the money that bothers me now its the principle. >:(
you could always threaten her with one of these:
www.impactguns.com/store/MGT-A059003.html
I'm sure she'd pay up instantly ;D :o ;D 8)
Fourteen THOUSAND dollars??!!!! Wow....
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by doing the job to quickly, a lot of the custys think the job has been rushed and
because they canot see inside the gutter they think it has not been done properly, get up there and take photos of it, dont let her away with it,
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my father had somthing simular happen to him when he worked on an indain restrant. they wouldnt pay so he went in there on a satarday night andevery time someone came in he would say,
Please can you pay me for the work ive done for you
they soon payed
I like that idea. Has anyone else used shame tactics?
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had the same problem with a w/c customer and this is how i dealt with it, see
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=46965.0#msg383884
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That got the result you wanted Jay. :)
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As above go round again take photos then tell the silly cow unless payment is recieved within 14 days u will be taking her to small claims. Also back it up with a letter explaing that she will be laible for expenses for taking it to small claims. Most of the time they will pay up. Failing that if you dont want to go down that route cut your lose's and sell the debt for £10 to the baliffs lol then pass'es the stress on to her.
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Go back and take her gutters off.
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serves you right
£50 for 40 mins work
if it were a job requiring great skill or expensive equipment-fair enough
but guttering is just brute strength and not so dangerous if done correctly
the other week some wc posted he got £8 for 5 mins work (windows)
cons roofs £50-£200 1hr job
£300 per morning for commercial work
how does it feel when you rip somebody off?
and how does it feel when someone rips you off?
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serves you right
£50 for 40 mins work
if it were a job requiring great skill or expensive equipment-fair enough
but guttering is just brute strength and not so dangerous if done correctly
the other week some wc posted he got £8 for 5 mins work (windows)
cons roofs £50-£200 1hr job
£300 per morning for commercial work
how does it feel when you rip somebody off?
and how does it feel when someone rips you off?
Hows that ripping someone off you wally. If she thought it was expensive why didnt the customer clear them?
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You need to be very careful how you approach her if you are going to see her
I know of a fellow w/c that did a job for a woman and didn't pay so he went round and asked for his money several times
after one occasion he had a visit form the law and was told that she had made a complaint of harassment against him he was warned that if he went round again he would be arrested
wrong i know but true
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You need to be very careful how you approach her if you are going to see her
I know of a fellow w/c that did a job for a woman and didn't pay so he went round and asked for his money several times
after one occasion he had a visit form the law and was told that she had made a complaint of harassment against him he was warned that if he went round again he would be arrested
wrong i know but true
Nice point Andy...there are some out there, who are just compo freaks and suchlike.
Personally I would now go down the written route and give her 14 days to pay otherwise you will go to the small claims court.
Doesn't help now, but again it shows the need to have some form of agreed written quotation, which you can fall back on when this happens.
As for the person who thought this was a rip off!!
The guy gave a price, the custie agreed. The work has been done, the custie has not paid.......who has been ripped off?
Not the custie :)
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That got the result you wanted Jay. :)
yep, SORTED ;)
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I will try the online claims thing, thanks for your help.
I have just got off the blower to her next door neighbour saying shes rubbed alot of the neighbours up in the past.
bitter old cow.
Sounds like my ex wife!! Is her name Sue??
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serves you right
£50 for 40 mins work
if it were a job requiring great skill or expensive equipment-fair enough
but guttering is just brute strength and not so dangerous if done correctly
the other week some wc posted he got £8 for 5 mins work (windows)
cons roofs £50-£200 1hr job
£300 per morning for commercial work
how does it feel when you rip somebody off?
and how does it feel when someone rips you off?
how is cleaning gutters not a danger? only if you keep your feet on the ground would it not be so dangerous, because you charge alot less than many on here why is it ripping them off, they never paid the guy.
having expensive equipment does not automaticly intital you to more money, I would say going up a ladder and doing them this way should demand a higher price because if you fall it is a long way down you are risking your health.
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ok ok im getting blasted here im backing off
maybe i should keep a few opinions to myself
hey it christmas! lets forget about everything an have a good time
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I think jikwan maybe put it badly. My first impression when reading this post is "you've created your own problem here. £50/£60 whatever it was is asking for trouble if you can do the job that quickly. Why not have said I think I can do the job in a bout 1 hour and I charge £x per hour. x being something reasonable and I don't think 50 or 60 is reasonable. At least she should know where she stands and perhaps you'll learn to either not be so greedy or to be able to say no (you are wfp after all for a reason.....safety?). In the meantime this has happened, I suggest you threaten court and learn from it too. Jingle bells ;D
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ok ok im getting blasted here im backing off
maybe i should keep a few opinions to myself
hey it christmas! lets forget about everything an have a good time
Jikwan, nothing wrong with giving your opinion, and I agree it is Christmas cant we all be nice just for a day or 2 :P
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yeah good
after christmas we can get back to fighting
hell i can hardly wait
must admit my previos statement were pretty loaded
asking for trouble
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ok ok im getting blasted here im backing off
maybe i should keep a few opinions to myself
hey it christmas! lets forget about everything an have a good time
JUST KILL HER
:D :D :D
mike