Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Paul Simpson on January 07, 2010, 11:45:07 am
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Did a carpet clean for a letting agent to an empty flat just before Xmas who paid and were seemingly happy.
Customer has now moved in and complained to the letting agent that apparently there is still dirt and in particular cat hair (Allergy sufferer) along the skirting board.
Letting agent re-visited and confirmed if she ran her key in between carpet and skirting that some dust and hair came up.
Explained that we do not have a carpet cleaning tool (knife/key width) small enough to go between the carpet and skirting board but agreed to return and scrape out what I could and vacuum. Despite it being a 2.5 hour round trip.
Today with the bad weather was unsure what time or if at all I could get there. Rang the letting agent who have closed for the day but they gave me the new tenants number to ring and orgainse.
Rang to confirm a time & exactly what I was coming to do and off she went,
"this wasn't clean", "there were stains everywhere", "the carpet stinks" "I couldn't have cleaned it at all"
couldn't get 2 words out of my mouth, before I finally said can I speak now?
"yes, of course she said"
"All I'm trying to say is I am being asked to come back and sort out the edges not re-clean all the carpets if thats what you are expecting"
And thats the last words I managed to get out......off she went again,
"I expect you to to do the job you were paid for", If you can't do it properly I put it about what a bad company you are, I'll put it all over the Internet" (can she legally do that?)
ME - "But............."Can I just.........."If you let me just........."
By now she was screaming down the phone and I could hear her partner shouting "whoa whoa, calm down"
So I put the phone down on her. :-X
Rang the letting agent straight back and told them she's screaming down the phone at me and I'd hung up on her. And that she is now saying the carpet wasn't cleaned and that there were stains & cat hair everywhere.
Letting agent confirmed she had seen it before and just after I had done the clean and was satisfied it had been cleaned.
Now the letting agent already paid me but has to re-coup half the money from the tenant and half from the landlord and are worried they will be out of pocket. They have already intimated there will be more work in the future so I want to keep them happy. But I have told them I am not happy to go back there now after her screaming and threats on the phone.
So I offered a reduction of 50% of the tenants half, i.e. 25% off the total price.
Should I have handled differently? Always better to get someone elses point of view.
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wrap up were u happy with job
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I'd offer to re do the lot, rightly or wrongly, but that's what I would do and I'd be apologetic (As you have been)
You're brave posting this situation on here, but I had problems last year with a custy and I was back and forth at least 8 times. I posted it on here and 99% of the people on here were very good with a minority being self righteous twerps :D
She should be careful what she says or writes as this can be treated as slander! (So my Solicitor/Regular customer told me ;))
Good luck mate and I hope your confidence isn't as dented as mine was, learn from it and walk on!
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If the letting agent has agreed that you cleaned it and to an acceptable standard and you have been paid, then that should be the end of it.
Whether or not the letting agent gets their money is not your problem.
If the letting agent doesn't give you anymore work because of the screaming tenant then they aren't worth dealing with in the first place.
I wouldn't have given any discount - I wouldn't have agreed to return free of charge - and I would have hung up on the tenant the minute she started.
Lifes to short and there are plenty of other clients out there that will appreciate you and your efforts.
Sorry if thats not what you wanted to hear, but personally I'm getting a little long in the tooth to take crap from clients.
Steve
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Cheers Colin & Steve, appreciate the replies.
First real really uphappy customer I've had so weren't sure how to deal with it.
Two different opinions and looks like I've gone somewhere down the middle of the two.
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In fairness, Steve's the expert and his way is probably the way I'd "Like" to do it to be honest.... I'm not "Business Hard" yet and still a softy, but last years problem toughened me up a little.....! You'll feel more satisfied doing it Steve's way ;D ;D ;D
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I get this sometimes with Army custies. When they leave, if they have pets, they must have all the carpets cleaned. They need a certificate of cleaning from the company that cleaned them, no real problems so far. After the clean, an "Estate manager" comes to check the work has been done and note all damages etc etc.
The problem we get is, if the Estate Manager is a prat, and thinks even civvie companies have to jump when he / she says so. It' s that strict here that even if some of these managers find a single animal hair, they will call you back, even though you could pick the hair up and throw it in the bin.
The fact is though, the Army are a very big custy of ours, and we just grin and bare it. We don't get screamed at, but they can get abit trappy and have an attitude sometimes. There is a point though, where enough is enough. In your position, I would make sure that you keep your agent happy. As long as you have a good relationship with them, after all this is over, then you have minimised the damage.
Hope that makes sense. :)
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Blimey Paul, Thats twice in 2 Months you've been screamed at when its not your fault. Must be your sftaershave ;D
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I think its a case now of your relationship with the letting agent.
Do you want to continue with them?
If "yes" then I would go back with the view of cleaning the whole carpet again, but not repaying anything.
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you never gonna please all the people all the time, thats life.
i would have hanged up when the screaming started.
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Thanks Guys.
Blimey Paul, Thats twice in 2 Months you've been screamed at when its not your fault. Must be your sftaershave ;D
;D
This one was worse than that job we did Pete. He was angry but in control. This one sounded like a screaming banshee on the phone.
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I would have hung up after 10 seconds of the screaming. There is NO WAY that anyone should have to put up with that. I would NO WAY go back to the house either. Women are evil when they get wound up and to be honest there is a chance of physical abuse if you went back. At the end of the day the letting agent was happy with your work.
NO DISCOUNT
NO RETURN VISIT
NO OTHER CONTACT WITH THE TENANT.
JOB DONE
Richie.
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Yes you should have handled it differently, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!! ;D
As I see it the letting agency were your customer, NOT the new tenant. The Agency said they were happy/satisfied with the job and paid you. End of it.
By offering a retrospective discount, now looks like you are admitting you did not carry out a full or good job. You have admitted to them though that you did not do the edges due to not having the right tool. Pre vac with an ordinary edging tool would have solved this problem. A good tip for where there has been pets is to get down to floor level after you have cleaned and look along the surface, you will see if you have left any debris.
It was not your problem that the new tenant is an allergy sufferer - did the agent tell you?
You should have let the agent deal with booking you in, not done it yourself. I know you were doing a favour, but she has probably already screamed at the agent and they were probably quite happy for her to scream at someone else!
Don't worry about the agent being out of pocket. They won't be and they are richer than you. Most agents re-coup this money from deposits. As for future work from them, I hope you get some, but don't be put off if you don't, in our area, letting agents are the worst price shoppers around :)
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Yes we are I quite agree, but it is usually a man who has wound us to this point ;D ;D :P
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Helen ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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I would have hung up after 10 seconds of the screaming. There is NO WAY that anyone should have to put up with that. I would NO WAY go back to the house either. Women are evil when they get wound up and to be honest there is a chance of physical abuse if you went back. At the end of the day the letting agent was happy with your work.
NO DISCOUNT
NO RETURN VISIT
NO OTHER CONTACT WITH THE TENANT.
JOB DONE
Richie.
My thoughts exactly,
You did the work for the letting agent not the tennent, the fact that the letting agent checked the work and paid in full means that they were happy with the work in the 1st place.
I avoid letting agents like the plague, not worth the hassle and in my experience they are all the same.
Mark
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If you were payed and work inspected by letting agency job done not your problem. If you start getting too involved it will keep going and going and you will never win. Your ageement was with the letting agy not the incoming tenant so in your head wouldnt say it to her face she can go do one
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Agree with all of previous comments.
Your contract was with the Agency and they were happy, end of story.
We get an occasional clever dick letting agent complain that we have not removed a particular stain.
We very patiently explain that with an empty rental property we have no way of knowing what the stain is, how long it has been there, what if anything, has been tried on it and if we could remove every stain off every carpet we would be rich enough to be sitting on a beach in Barbados and not freezing our nuts off in this country.
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The way we deal with it is to just go back and do it again - simple,
Most of us want happy clients, and if they are not then its good idea to rectify the problem.
Instead of worrying about it, spending time posting on the forums, having abusive phone calls, giving
half the money back etc so much easier to do the job again and then everyones certain that they've got
what they wanted.
Good agents will remember how reasonable you were and didnt kick up a fuss about the situation and
helps them deal with an awkward customer.
Obviously if they still unhappy then thats the end of the story, i never give them the money back as the
work has been done.
Regards
Steve
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Good post Steve - agree with you.
We are in a service industry, and generally speaking, service today I find is abysmal.
Where is the attitude that used to be... "the customer is always right (even when they are wrong)".??
Ok - its wrong for her to be shouting and ok the letting agent paid threfore it can be asummed it was OK... but obviously they have had a ear bashing session as well and they dont like being in the position they are.
I would have just gone and done it again.
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I would have gone back and re done the clean,
But i would have insisted that the tenent paid for Anti-Allergy treatment
as a condition of re-doing it. To my way of thinking, cleaning without
treating for her specific allergy would be pointless, and had you been aware
of her problem prior to cleaning, the outcome would have been different.
Letting agencies are notorious, and will happily stab you in the back. Remember
most are estate agents, so are used to lying and cheating!
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I agree [/color] :)
Where is the attitude that used to be... "the customer is always right (even when they are wrong)".??
We believe in this, but some custies just take it too far
Paul was offering to go back and put right, but the attitude of the tenant stank! The Letting Agency, should have taken control of the situation, by letting the tenant calm down and then taking Paul back in. :)
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I Would go back and clean the edges with a horse hair brush and a damp micro fibre cloth.I would not re-clean again unless you were unhappy with the cleaning result and point out the stains that are left unfortunatly are permanent.
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Paul was offering to go back and put right, but the attitude of the tenant stank! The Letting Agency, should have taken control of the situation, by letting the tenant calm down and then taking Paul back in. :)
Thanks Helen.
I did offer to go back and correct what the letting agent (customer) told me was the problem.
Upon ringing the tenant to clarify what I was coming to do, that is when she blew up and started yelling. Accusing me of not cleaning it properly, dirt marks everywhere, that I just pushed the dirt into the carpet ::), and that it must have been a rush job for me. Took just over 3 hours for 3 rooms and a hallway - hardly rushed!
As mentioned I could hardly get a word out so didn't even get the chance to offer to do another full clean before I believe she pushed it too far, i.e. claiming she is going to make sure everyone knows what an awful company mine is and put it about on the Internet. >:(
As stated previously the letting agent was happy with the clean, they are the ones that booked me and paid me.
As a good will gesture I offered to return half the tenants end of the payment so the letting agent had something to play with as a sweetner for the tenant.
spending time posting on the forums,
I understand everyone would deal with it differently but isn't the forum for advice. :-\
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its a scam, it wouldn't matter how well you cleaned it, she would be screaming down the phone period. Reason she doesn't want to pay her half of the deal.
I have had it many times, jump up and down , scream, and people give up as its the easy route.
I had one guy complain to his insurance, just to get out of paying his excess, that new skirting board I had fitted had too many knots in it or the woman who complained I hadn't removed crumbs from her toaster when storing her items.
I have had them all when dealing with insurance claim.
Now I was just say go and uck spiders.
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I can't understand why the ingoing tenant is having to pay 50% and the landlord 50%.
If the carpets needed cleaning at the end of the last tenancy the cost should have been met by the outgoing tenant from the deposit,or if there was not enough funds from the deposit then from the landlords rent account.
The point has also been made that you were instructed and paid by the agent so the tenant had no right to be accusing you of anything.
I reckon she is trying it on,but as a gesture of goodwill towards the agent go back and clean the edges only,unless any stains have maybe reappeared and in that case reclean the whole carpet just to keep the peace.
More than likely this is one of those jobs where no matter you do it will never be good enough for her.
Offering a partial reduction is not the ideal answer as the agent will then have to call in another cc to "rectify" the problems and may then try to charge you for it,especially if that cc agrees that you did not carry out your job thoroughly.
John
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Fortunately for them I’m mutton Jeff I would just go back with a very big dummy ;) face to face a lot different. ;D
Len
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Ive been cleaning end of tenancey cleans for one company in north youkshire for about ten years now! I used to do about two a month, but i think do to the resession tennants are staying put! dont think ive ever had a complaint from one, but I generally work for the tennant direct, its just in the rental contract that they must have the carpets cleaned whatever there condition at the end of there rental period, and its stated in there contract that they have to use me! I have only had one problem that i can remember, and that was a cheque that bounced and I couldnt find the customer, the letting agency took it out of the customers bond and reimbursed me
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Paul I wasn't having a dig at you about posting on the forum just making the point that we can use up slot of time going around the houses when it's a lot simpler and quicker to go back and just do the job again .
I do take the point tho that she seemed unusually agressive about the affair so puts an added angle on it.
Think I would still of gone back, as you cannot really defend yourself or make reasonable assesment of the job over the phone, you have no idea what may have happened to the carpet in the mean time etc so you need to see it before defending what you did
Probably would be wise to go back with the agent and have a witness to it.
Regards
steve
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Don't know if this is prophetic or not but I did love this story story somebody sent me.
I dedicate it to all those who have to suffer rude and screaming customers
For all who work with rude customers, what a shame we can't actually do this!
An award should go to the Virgin Airlines desk attendant in Sydney some months ago for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded Virgin flight was cancelled after Virgin's 767s had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers.
Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, 'I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS'.
The attendant replied, 'I'm sorry, sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these people first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out.'
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, 'DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM ?'
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: 'May I have your attention please, may I have your attention please', she began - her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. 'We have a passenger here at Desk 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Desk 14.'
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the Virgin attendant, gritted his teeth and said, 'F... You!'
Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) 'I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to get in line for that too.' ;D ;D ;D
Roger
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Sometimes whatever you do just isn't going to be good enough! Customers come in all shapes and sizes and it's just something we've got to accept.