Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Gordonnis on February 19, 2009, 08:58:48 am
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Yesterday i took a job over the phone from a large insulation firm after a customer complained about foot prints on the stairs and landing The company said make sure you turn up on time,so i arrived 10 mins early and was told your 10 min early so wait outside till your appointment time. when he came back to the door 10mins later and invited me in to look at the job ,told him no problem i wouldset up and get started , he then says who is going to clean the hall, told him to phone the company as it was a laminated floor and i priced for the stairs and landing, 5 minutes later he came back and said leave the hall as the company wont pay .next i asked for some water, the reply was who paying for it i said i would only need 2 buckets away he went to the phone again came back 5 min later and said ok well you know what i was going to ask next can i plug my machine in to the electric i have never seen a mans face turn so red as stormed off to the phone again came back 5 min later and told me carry on. started cleaning the landing and he comes upstairs tells me to stop as the landing looks a differant colour to the bedrooms and that he was getting on the phone again came back 5 min later and told me to carry on as the company would not pay for the bedrooms so as i was set up i said do you want meto do the bedrooms the reply was yes if free as i would not of had this job if he had not had his roof insulated finished the job packed up and just geting in the van when he comes out and says got any business cards MATE, would have said no but he could see them on my dash board i have now put his number in my phone with his name DO NOT REPLY
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I think I would have got in the van and buggered off the minute he asked who was going to pay for the 2 buckets of water - sounds a right pillock !
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I had a customer some years ago that said as i was 10 minutes early could i wait outside while her
husband finished his breakfast as he didnt like any disturbances!
when she shut the door i just got in the van and drove off!
she phoned me minutes later and i told i dont wait outside in the cold for any one! she begged me to
come back as they were desperate to get the carpets done. Think they were selling the house.
When i went back she couldnt be nicer, i think it shocked her that i just left, some i think just like to get
the upper hand, better to show that your not going to be messed around. Makes them realize also that
your a professional business!
regards
steve
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Brilliant, could not agree more, some people are up their own arses ;D
Thats made my day ;)
Graeme
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Gordonnis - was the insulation company based in Newcastle by any chance?
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Boo what a mare !
Have only had a couple of nightmare custy`s
One really old lady,who sat and gave me instructions on how to do my job the entire duration of the clean ! Placing back everything in exactly the right spot ! She had collected a huge amount of tat !
And called me back the day after as i had left a 1 inch long mark on her 1970`s lino,with my hoover as i wheeled it in,had to get on my hands and knees to see it :(
I walked away from one Portugese custy who was a complete mare !
Oh and a thai bloke who decided to decorate using bright red gloss paint,everything was covered,had done light switches ,woodwork ,kitchen doors,cupboards etc ! didn`t use any dust sheets,and everything was covered,wanted to know if i could get it off his carpets ! which were really scabby cheap polly !
You just have to laugh about it or it gets you down !
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the company is based in sunderland
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Luckily a$$ holes like this are few and far between...cant say ive ever had anyone that bad in 5 years of trading but some right plonkers definitely! I am now in the position to walk away if i dont like peiples attitudes for whatever reason!! When I first started up I took some right $hit from people!
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as soon as he mentioned the buckets of water i also would have gone
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Hi Guys
It is always difficult when you start out as almost any job is better than none.
One of the priveleges of being more established is that you can tell idiots(polite) like that, goodbye.
Cheers
Doug
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Its a shame when customers are like that
but from his point of view .... hes probably had a hard time to get the firm that made the mess to do something about it, and from his viewpoint YOU were part of that. He related YOU being THEM.
He was out of order nevertheless.
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I do a lot of work like this for Scottish Gas and Virgin Media, what you have got to realise is that their homes have been treated badly by a workman and when you turn up they are upset. That is when you have to use good customer relation skills and have them eating out of your palm by the time you leave. There is a lot of work generated by installation firms and if you walk away, you could be walking away from potential work,small acorns.
Bob
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Bob
Your right there about lage companys treating peoples homes this way ???
If i had been made to wait i would also have driven off :)
As doug said when you have a good workload you can turn these anoying clients down :)
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I had an awkward customer last year, I had everything set up and started cleaning, the gentleman of the house said
" I want peace and quiet so you're going to have to move your machine to the other end of the (massive) house"
"I don't think so sir!" I replied,
"I beg your pardon!"
"Well, the machine's full of hot solution which doesn't tend to get on with the electrics when they are introduced. When I try and move it accross your gravelled surface that is what will happen!"
"Ah" he says "Fair enough"
Maybe I was being rude, but I'd put up with enough poo in the navy and won't bow down to these snobs who tend to be the rudest people I come accross!
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Clinton
Its all about looking at the bigger picture. I know when i get a job like this I am going to be dealing with an upset customer and that's fine, its business. We should all be able to deal with difficult customers now and again as we provide a service. If I refused to deal with them and drove away they would use another company. You can use working for these companies to your advantage in your marketing and selling yourself to customers.I started with one of the Gas Boards sub contractors and the gas board approached me, now I deal with them and all their contractors. You have got to have a good customer care if you are going to deal with large companies, as i said small acorns.
Bob
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I had one last week. Turned up in the morning as requested, posh old woman with the biggest ears you have ever seen opens the door and before I could even speak says "Take them shoe's off before you come in my house"!! this is when i was crouching down to put my over shoes on.
Looking into the hall I said to her that I only quoted for two rugs (She had thrown a third one in) Her reply "Oh well YOUR people told me that they would throw that one in for free" I said to her that it was me that she was talking to on the phone as I was a sole trader. To this she replied "Oh arnt you a clever lad, now go and get busy and stop wasting time".
Told her I was leaving because I didnt like her and her attitude. As I was walking up the drive to leave she was shouting "Oh come on, dont be like that, please dont leave, I,ve moved all the furniture" got in the van and drove off with a big grin on my face.
Regards
Pete
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well done peter, i would have and have done that over the years, it always seems to be the older person who thinks the world owes them more respect than they actually deserve, i'm always respectful but i wont bow and scrape for anyone,
colin
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Peter
I would have done the same and will do now theres no reason to be like that with anyone :)
I dont speak to anyone like that so dont expect it back :)
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I love threads like this so much. It's one of the best things about this forum. Long may they continue. :) :) :)
Once I was about to bring my hoses into the house I was stopped by "I hope you're not going to bring those into my house!" as I was on the doorstep, overshoes on facing a pure white wool carpet in the hsl and with a dog running backwards and forwards along the hall (I was to do 2 bedrooms.).
(Incidentally I had estimated £65 on the phone and when I assessed the job it came in at £70, she kicked off big style. Oh, and it was a big 5 bed house and husband flew long haul 747s for a living. So the price was really academic.)
Anyway, despite feeling like replying "No,Madam, I'm going to lick your carpet clean!" I smiled sweetly and gave her the red-carpet treatment. Took the money and resolved never to go there again.
Why did I do it? There is a perverse pleasure sometimes in not letting the client see that they have annoyed you is one reason. Secondly this was quite a few years ago and I had nothing else on and it nicely filled up an hour or so. Finally it gave me yet another story which I might include in my memoirs when/if I get round to writing them.
Would I do it differently now? Almost certainly yes. Partly because of the knowledge and experience I have gained in the meantime and from forums like this. Secondly as I have got older I've found that it is easier to impose a natural air or authority in these circumstances which often avoids such issues occurring in the first place.
Having said all that I think Tihson is not far off the mark. If you can promote yourself as the solution to the problem (by being independent) rather than part of the problem, and in effect siding with the unhappy householder you can often generate loyal customers for life.
But as Joe said I think this was probably one customer who proves the rule that they shouldn't be touched with a barge pole.
Roger
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Hat off to you you deserve a pat on the back for that one mate.
psg
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As well you didnt have a TM tank to fill.
One good thing about doing insurance work is that you get to deal with upset and sometimes rude people all the time so you soon learn to hone your skills.
MArk
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Hi guys
I like the one Doug said, just look at them in the eye and say (GOOD BYE) ;D ;D
I think that’s the best thing to pi…. Them off .
Regards,
Bosh
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Nowerdays,what with rogue trader.etc on the box,people are very suspitious of tradesmen and people in general.You do find that a few people are abit rude and off when you first enter their house,but after they observe how polite you are and the quality of the job,their personality and attitude soon change and your finished paid and out the door.Saying that,when a custy is extremely rude and tries to get something for nothing,and treats you like shi-,you dont really want to do the job,Time to leave.Steve,
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I had a similar thing the other day, not carpet cleaning. I was called into to a job by an architect i work for to replace a under floor heating mat, a builder had laid it and laid limestone tiles on top of it and it didn't work, it was only 3sqm. So i went and got the stone up and the electrician came and laid a new one, i went back relaid the floor, and a few days later the customer was on the phone saying it doesn't work and i damaged it and he wasn't going to pay me, and put the phone down before i had said anything...I rang the electrician and he said he would pop in and have a look.....And guess what they hadn't turned it on. I did get an apology...Bloody customers.
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not had a rude customer yet, are they few and far between or have i been lucky?.
derek
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Few and far between Derek.
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Sadly some have attitudes! But what I have found society is changing a lot more polite and apologetic people, even with white van drivers and motorcyclist, could it be knife crime culture. ???
Len
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We used to do a lot of work for Kings Oak home builders.
They would build them, people move in, people find problems, people move out, builders back in, builders finish work, then we'd go in and clean the place to show room conditions, then people move back in again.
What was reasonably easy work was spoilt by the home owners who thought that we were Kings Oak.
The vehicle signwriting says differently but they wouldn't take any notice of that and some of the grief we used to get as if we had build the places too >:(
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Got one to do this week a sky engineer has stomped through their brand new house with brand new carpets and left oily footprints,doing it through an insurance company and you can just tell he is going to be a pain as there was a lot of swearing down the phone ::)
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When i had my valeting centre had a custy that told me i was to give his car a full valet that day i told him i was fully booked for two weeks he just chucked the keys at me and said i will be back at five, the reason i told him i was fully booked was i was going on my hols that afternoon and i was only at work to pick somthing up .
He angered me that much i parked his car in the unit locked up and went on my hols with a big grin, he went of his tits when i got back i just laught at him and i sent a bill for storage he never paid !!!
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beautiful really bootifull mate
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;D
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Whilst getting grief off acustomer an employee of ours turned his machine off and said to the old nag "do you know what love i divorced a women like you" then switched everything back on and carried on. she left him alone, then and amazingly rang and booked extra work.
John
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you lot are lucky i had a drunk bloke getting a bid friendly with me once even those his wife was there ! then he got even more drunk and started saying he was going to kick her head in :(
phoned hubby i was realy scared at this point as he had just started shouting at me ! was quite funny seeing my other half parking his van in the middle there garden as he speed down the drive
he then ran in the house shouting " WANT TO SHOUT AT ME DI==HEAD" hubby ripped his shirt off and went eye ball to eye ball with him the drunk man backed off and we packed the gear and left the job half done
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Blimey :o
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I should have put my landlady story on here really.....
Susan, it happens to us fella's too... A freaky looking lady customer asked me to take my top off yesterday, I just said "I've got bigger boobs than you have love, you really don't need to see me with no top on!" ;D ;D
I'm having a really weird week so far ??? ??? ???
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Big boobs collin ;D
Bet you would have done if she was tasty ;)
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Colin you should have said "i'll show you mine only if you show me yours!" :)
Mind you I've had old dears in sheltered accommodation getting very excited about my legs when I'm wearing my summer overalls. (Help!)
"Come up to my apartment and show me what you can do with your equipment." Double help!!
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Roger
Must say your summer boiler suit slashed to above the knee are skin tight :D
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Clinton
Only till I manage to loose some weight!
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:)
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Big boobs collin ;D
Bet you would have done if she was tasty ;)
You know me better than I know myself Clinton ;D ;D ;D
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Maybee its my old training as an Estate Agent and police officer but i would rather walk away with £70 in my pocket than with a smile on my face.
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Collin ;D
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Maybee its my old training as an Estate Agent and police officer but i would rather walk away with £70 in my pocket than with a smile on my face.
Are you trying every job going mate.... I tried that, but being your own boss has got to be the ultimate achievement...
I didn't realise you actually had to "train" to be an Estate agent, let alone a Copper ;D ;D ;D
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;D