Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: LWC on April 10, 2008, 07:55:30 pm
-
just lately ive been getting a few "windows werent very good last time"
i dont know why, because im not doing anything any different. but what annoys me the most is the fact that EVERYONE of my customers has my number, if they were not happy, why did they not call me. probably about 5 people have said something, people i have been doing for about a year, mind you, they are in a cul de sac, close together, so whether theyve all been having a winge together about me i dont know. but i still dont like complaints, its not something i strive for, i know we all dont but i work so hard, and to me getting a complaint kinda hurts, something that i have put so much effort into and people just crush it sometimes you know??
yesterday, some stupid bloke came out with a blade on a stick and said "this is this the bit that annoys me how you leave them wet" im like no dont do that, thats how it works, "oh yeh...ill believe when i see it" ... only been doing them 6 months this way ::)
but then like a few customers after, theres a guy who comes out for a chat, and hes like "so whats in this water" gives him the explanation, hes like "mate i waited last time as i thought no way could this work, and they were spotless, i could not fault your work" and then im smiling. today, i spent a little bit longer on a new customer and they tipped me a fiver, cleaned all the frames well, and all round the conservatory nicely, and you could just see how much he apprecitaed my work.
i love my job so much and when you get good customers who appreciate your work it makes it so worth while. i have spent so much on WFP, probably mounting up to about £7k and i still keep spending, and like i said before, when someone winges and basically makes out that WFP is crap its disheartening. im here to give the best service anyone could get and when they make out like im ripping them off its again disheartening. i made a good point to a customer which im going to use on all, as she told me it was a good point, she was ok but had a little winge and i questioned why she did not ring, then i said "if you ring i will come back and do them again for you, if you do not ring i assume i have done a good job, if you never say anything i will never know, im not here to rip you off, im here to clean your windows and do the best job i can, if theres a problem, i will always come back and sort it out" she smiled and said yes well that is a good point
sorry for the rant just needed to get that off my chest and see what you all thought
-
You`ll probobly find that when working in cul-de-sacs everyone talks and at the same time moan aswell,they more than likely don`t like it that it`s taking you half the time and therefore in there eyes earning twice as much.If people genuinely don`t like it and think it does a bad job they will cancel end of story,there just trying to keep you on your toes.You know it does a good job you`ve been doing it long enough so don`t let it bother you,keep going.
-
Just wrote a big reply out to this post and posted it and only the first line came out, did it again and only the first line came out.....anyway Matt keep up the good work! Luke
-
just lately ive been getting a few "windows werent very good last time"
i dont know why, because im not doing anything any different. but what annoys me the most is the fact that EVERYONE of my customers has my number, if they were not happy, why did they not call me. probably about 5 people have said something, people i have been doing for about a year, mind you, they are in a cul de sac, close together, so whether theyve all been having a winge together about me i dont know. but i still dont like complaints, its not something i strive for, i know we all dont but i work so hard, and to me getting a complaint kinda hurts, something that i have put so much effort into and people just crush it sometimes you know??
yesterday, some stupid bloke came out with a blade on a stick and said "this is this the bit that annoys me how you leave them wet" im like no dont do that, thats how it works, "oh yeh...ill believe when i see it" ... only been doing them 6 months this way ::)
but then like a few customers after, theres a guy who comes out for a chat, and hes like "so whats in this water" gives him the explanation, hes like "mate i waited last time as i thought no way could this work, and they were spotless, i could not fault your work" and then im smiling. today, i spent a little bit longer on a new customer and they tipped me a fiver, cleaned all the frames well, and all round the conservatory nicely, and you could just see how much he apprecitaed my work.
i love my job so much and when you get good customers who appreciate your work it makes it so worth while. i have spent so much on WFP, probably mounting up to about £7k and i still keep spending, and like i said before, when someone winges and basically makes out that WFP is crap its disheartening. im here to give the best service anyone could get and when they make out like im ripping them off its again disheartening. i made a good point to a customer which im going to use on all, as she told me it was a good point, she was ok but had a little winge and i questioned why she did not ring, then i said "if you ring i will come back and do them again for you, if you do not ring i assume i have done a good job, if you never say anything i will never know, im not here to rip you off, im here to clean your windows and do the best job i can, if theres a problem, i will always come back and sort it out" she smiled and said yes well that is a good point
sorry for the rant just needed to get that off my chest and see what you all thought
Chin up m8,
some people will always moan how ever good you do the job, best thing to do is forget about it and listen to the positive feedback you yet ;)
Dont let them drag you down to there level
-
yeh i know, im ok, sometimes its just gets me down, do you know what i mean. everything is going so well, i work dam hard, got another new guy workign for me now so thats 2 and theyre great, got contracts flying in and big ones too. just those choice few who knock it
-
yesterday, some stupid bloke came out with a blade on a stick
????????????
-
yeh i know, im ok, sometimes its just gets me down, do you know what i mean. everything is going so well, i work dam hard, got another new guy workign for me now so thats 2 and theyre great, got contracts flying in and big ones too. just those choice few who knock it
as you just said choice few, as long as they are the minority dont worry or even think about them I dont very often but there is the odd one now and again that gets right up my nose for a few hours.
-
I haven't had any abuse or the like because of a job, but a couple of days ago I went for payment and she questioned an upstairs window politely. I had a look and it was bad. Big stain that could only be down to bad rinsing. I didn't have my equipment with me, but promised to sort it the next day. She said "next month is fine". I sorted it the next day. I don't want complaints, but I like my mistakes to be pointed out so that I can learn from them. That was just carelessness. Hopefully I'll learn from it.
-
EXACTY my point, i want to know my mistakes so the job can be put right, instead of them winging to neighbours and them all having a good winge about me, and potentially loosing me custoemrs and giving me a bad name
-
EXACTY my point, i want to know my mistakes so the job can be put right, instead of them winging to neighbours and them all having a good winge about me, and potentially loosing me custoemrs and giving me a bad name
this is just the point i was getting at in "do you need to know" thread
as for blokes with squegees on sticks i tell customers to leave the windows to dry naturally
"no touchee wet glass or magic water not workee" ......the muppets ::)
-
Keep smiling mate :) :) :) We all have them days I think... had one today... she'd had a moan last month about my "machine not working properly" (oh yes it is) and I did the fronts today and she pops her head out of the top window and says (really rudely):
"I've just come back from a 22 hour trip, can you give it a miss today please... oh and your machine STILL isnt working... and my neighbor isnt happy either"
Its cul de sacs I tell thee.... they talk to each other too much :P :P
Youll go out tomorrow.. or Saturday, or Monday, and have an excellent day, pick up a load of new customers, and it'll be the best job in the world again :) :)
-
EXACTY my point, i want to know my mistakes so the job can be put right, instead of them winging to neighbours and them all having a good winge about me, and potentially loosing me custoemrs and giving me a bad name
this is just the point i was getting at in "do you need to know" thread
as for blokes with squegees on sticks i tell customers to leave the windows to dry naturally
"no touchee wet glass or magic water not workee" ......the muppets ::)
classic post of the day ;D
-
chin up m8 i had one yesterday said that my water fed pole was marking the sills i realy had to argue with them about this was not posible as all the muck runs on to the floor and as i rinse it with water all the muck that has come off the windows gets rinsed away what they were complaining about is this.
they live on a busy rd which creates a lot of dust and exhaust fumes on the glass as every time i go they are black .now i go every 2 month to it .so with all this muck and fumes on the windows when it rains it creates black runs down the painted stone cills .i explaind to them what was happening but they didnt belive me .so i pointed out right i dont do this top window as it belonged to the nex doors house .correct they said dose it have the same marks top and bottom frames yes so if i dont clean them how is this the same then .i tryed and explained again about the rain but it was like hitting my head on a brick wall .anyway paid up and said see you in two month .yes no prob i said .think people just want to have a moan because you dont have to clime them ladders anymore and you do the job a lot quicker now ;)
-
I did a gutter clean the other day whilst she took the dog for a walk, i did a good job cleaned everything including her windows and picked up more work in the close. She comes back and starts rubbing her wet windows with tissues the daft bat!
-
LWC i know exactly what you mean, it's a frustrating process, if you find one bad job it knocks you for six and you start to wonder how many other crap jobs you've done that day. I've called back for payment and spotted those runs a mile off, your heart just sinks! I've been doing wfp over a year now and still don't trust it 100% makes you want to chuck the lot in a bin sometimes.
Iv'e got one large property that always looks superb though - always cheers me up when i drive past.
Customers though can be very cruel without realising it.
-
i did a big place the other day and they hadnt been done for ... ever i think. cleaned all the frames, horrible alluminiuim type frames and i explained about first clean, went back next day and heart sunk as there were a few runs on them.
they were thoroughly pleased with the job!
they were probably some of the worst windows ive left and they said how good they looked. then you get some others with the odd spot doing a sing and a dance
-
Looking at the results with a windowcleaners eye (looking for perfection) then i think the system is very flawed almost on the verge of being rubbish. If you see it from the customers view ie. get out of the armchair to look through the center of the window, or pull up on the drive and see that gleam and brilliant frames then alls well.
-
Looking at the results with a windowcleaners eye (looking for perfection) then i think the system is very flawed almost on the verge of being rubbish. If you see it from the customers view ie. get out of the armchair to look through the center of the window, or pull up on the drive and see that gleam and brilliant frames then alls well.
that tells me you cant be doing something right, I dont seem to have problems very often with finish
-
A case in point...
Did a house on Tuesday, all WFP, went back to collect the other night and stopped before I'd even gone down the drive... could see the spots and runs from the road and was that disgusted with my job that I told myself I'd go back when I was next in the area and re do them.... without them even asking me.
Not been back yet... but just got a call from a very cheery customer asking where to send the cheque :D :D :D I swear.... they must not look outta their windows :P :P
-
Not just my work, but every wfp cleaners work i have seen, you will always find a tale tale sign somewhere on most windows when perfectly dry. May not be much, might only be a bit in the corner or a dribble from the top frame but i would challenge anyone's work it's very rarely perfect.
-
I can normally recognise other peoples wfp work by the splatter marks on dirty top frames or splattered soffits. Nobody checks every job they do when it's dry, so anyone claiming they are perfect will be deluded.
-
but i can honestly say i have done windows and they are perfect
-
All my customers are new so therefore "first cleans" I make sure I take extra care and even dry all the sills and frames ect, If they are in when I do them I escort them round for a "check" if they are not in I arrange to phone them that evening to make sure they are happy - so far everyone has booked regular cleans and Ive not lost a customer. However, I know this won't carry on as you always get the odd one. Next week I'm going into the second clean with some and I still dont feel quite confident to leave them wet, but I realise I have to, so for the second clean I intend to leave them and return the same day once dry to re-check my work, if its ok I will have the confidence not to return the third clean, if not I'll know where the problems are.
-
dear me jimmy, youll be wasting some time going back and chekcing them all. clean the frames well and rinse well. if you start drying frames and sills theyll expect it every visit
start as you mean to go on
-
Hope not - I explain all about the risks of spotting and the fact theat normally I will be leaving everything wet and everybody seems quite happy. Most are out at the time of the clean anyway. But I do put everyone in the picture. Yes its taking longer to start but reputation is everything in this area and I want to be sure mine is kept intact.
-
LWC
Some cleaners may well be very good with a WFP but, if they think that every window they do is 'perfect', then I agree with DJW - they are deluding themselves.
I do my own house WFP (unless I want a guaranteed perfect finish - then I 'trad' it).
I have 32 panes of glass in my house (that I want to be clean) and I CAN get them 'perfect' with WFP - if I am determined and spend more time on them than I would on a customers house.
Doing them at a normal speed, however, there is often at least one pane with either feint spotting or drips from an opener above. You don't see these until the window is DRY.
Also WFP often leaves stains on windows from bird muck. Whilst the window is wet, it looks like you've got rid of it - but when the window is dry its very often still there.
NOBODY GETS IT RIGHT ALL THE TIME
It's just that they don't go back to check and the customer isn't that 'fussed'
Mike
-
yeh i know its not perfect all the time i was saying i have done windows that are perfect. djw statement was wfp is rarely perfect
-
I'll bet if cleaners went back and checked EVERY house, 25% (or more) would show imperfections on one, or more windows (IF YOU LOOKED CLOSE ENOUGH).
Its just that only fussy customers look that close.
Plus, if its a 4 week clean, or longer, the windows were probably filthy beforehand and ANY 'adequate' clean will be such an improvement as to be acceptable.
Its the people who are at home all day - with nothing to do but look out of the windows that are most likely to complain.
Mike
-
at the end of the day our ( the cleaners) standards are higher than the custies. We will spot runs and marks that the custies wont. It is only the custies we all hate thatwill spend an hour when the windows are dry going round and find a spot or two.
When I started I did a house and said to the custy to phone me if they arent very good when dry. She never did but I went back the next day and looked at them and they were 5hite. Runs everywhere and spots too. I apologised and said I'd clean them again there and then and she said dont bother. They look better than before. This custy I like.
When people complain or moan, it does get to you but shrug it off and think about all the others who dont moan.