That's what I'm getting at.
I want to know weather I should give the lad who cleaned those windows an ear full for a poor job, or weather to understand that the customer has realised they don't quite have the luxury of affording a window cleaner.
I agree with all the views expressed by Johnny, Smudger and Crapinon.
In 10 years I have only ever had one customer I can honestly say told me the truth - I'm skint.
The rest make some really classic excuses and they generally imply that your shoddy workmanship is the reason why they are cancelling. They feel that they have control of the situation by throwing that curved ball. This is the most common time when people feel that they don't want to spend money cleaning windows in winter. I now just thank them for their business and politely leave.
Like the others, I don't ask anymore.
I have had a few ask me back a few years later, but the shoe is then on my foot - if my workmanship wasn't right then, why should it be any better now?
If you have an employee then you should do periodic checks on his work to ensure that he is doing the job properly. Best done a few hours after he has been. If there are quality issues then you can correct that by retraining.
Others may not like your employee as they don't feel comfortable around him. maybe they caught him peering through the window, or paying too much attention to their smalls on the washing line, or a neighbour spotted him having a pee in their garden.
We had a few cancellations when son in law started working a section of our round. Some didn't like is non communicative attitude. He hardly says a word to anyone. Hello, does the job, knocks for money and goes. We visited one who had cancelled and the main excuse was that he was too quick where I was much slower. I must have been doing the job properly and he couldn't have been.
On inspection I found no issue and we retained her, but had she not phoned she would have told him that her son in law was now going to do them.
We had a job about 10 years ago when husband and wife were together. They have divorced since then and Mrs asked us to clean the windows of her new house. When he found out we were cleaning them, he fired us as he didn't want us reporting back to his ex wife. His excuse was that we left a streak on the front window the clean before which he had paid for a few days after we did the clean. No quality issues were raised then.
Just don't take it personally.