Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: magic1 on April 23, 2009, 04:07:34 pm
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Been in the window trade for many a year. First time i come across a fellow cleaner whose knocked on a few of my customers and says he'll do the windows £2 cheaper than what their window cleaner is charging without even looking around first.
The outfit not cowboys. Got sign written van with wfp. There name is similar as my company name. Even confuse some of me older customers. One of them thought they were working for me yet they didn't correct them.
Seen them about too. Most likely bump into them again. Question is what to do? Don't get me wrong i didn't lose any customers to them so far. I have a mixture of well paid to under valued work. If they hit the under value stuff they are going to be doing them for peanuts if they go £2 under than me.
Personally i never ask a potential customer if they have a cleaner or not i just give the price i am happy with. If it is cheaper so be it. I do not purposely go in cheap. 9 out of 10 times i am always more expensive. Bit catious of taking people on if they go with me cause of price. They'll move on too new cleaner sooner or later when some one else turns up even cheaper!
Loved to have seen his face when my customer said to him do them cheaper would you. This custie got a conservatory and a porch. i only charge him £6 ( he gets me loads of work and pays for half his street) he says so going to do all this for £4 then. The bloke was like er, hm, er
Do i confront them on me travels. More about not putting custies right when they get confused and think they're a part of my company than undercutting.
What would you guys do?
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Myself i wouldn't do anything.
If you lose any customers for the sake of a couple of quid so be it the customer would have changed anyway eventually to someone going round offering to do it cheaper.
Most customers are loyal well domestics are anyway and if they are happy with the current window cleaner they don't usually change.
If these people are doing it for beer money you will soon get the customers back as they won't last long and if the customer wants you back put another £1 onand tell them you have put your price's up since they were last with you, they won't change again.
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What a load of unethical scumbags! However they're not doing anything illegal so nothing you can do really (legally that is ;))
Personally I'd let them get on with it...as you say if somebody goes with them to save a couple of £ then they're not worth having anyway.
Your true custies will tell them to have sex and travel!
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I had someone recently, also with a very similiar name to my operation, approach a lot of my custys. One of them told me the price he was offering to do a £35.00 account for was £17.00. So I suggested they try him and see what sort of dreadful service they get for that, they were a little shocked I think, and stammered it was okay, they wernt about to jump ship.
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Well might aswell stick my bit in.
I would leave them too it. Like the lads said, that sort of team don't last the course. You know yourself underpriced work is a downer and if that's what they get from undercutting you then they are doomed.
Do you think they have named their firm similar to yours so as to crawl all over the area you work? That would show desperation IMO.
You could put a couple of hundred quid on them to disapear in a couple of months I recon. If you haven't lost any custies yet, Who cares what they get?
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I agree with all the responses so far, don't do anything, I doubt you will get anywhere with them if you do have a word, so no point really.
If they continue with the tactics and the name is really similar like Clear Window Cleaning/ Clear Window Cleaners then you may have a legal high ground.
have a look at this
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1073791334
if you go to the
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-formsfees.htm
you can get a bit more info, it does cost £200 to register a trade mark, but that's a one off by the looks of it and you can automatically sue anyone who infringes it.
Even if you don't have a registered trade mark then you do have some rights through intellectual property but legal fees are high.
I might try sending them a letter, telling them if they don't change it you will take legal action, though if they have logo 'd vans etc. they wont back down easy, so if you have registered it first, then they will have no choice.
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What you should do is if any of your customers do go over to him.
Tell them you will clean their houses for £2.50, he now has to do them for 50p if he doesn't then Trading Standards might want to have a word with him.
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Tell your customers they are Pi key's, maybe they are.
When it comes to new vans nicely wrapped, the ex pi key's are on the ball, I have some living near me doing new soffits, fascias. guttering, block paving and flagging.
They are still pi key's where it comes to quality of work, but their vans have to be seen to be believed, new ones every year.