[matt]

Ive just got back from collecting from about 20 houses on my estate

1 house owes me 23 quid

i cleaned it monday

so i knock on the door

Blank look on the guys face even though ive known him 4 years, and cleaned his windows for about 3,  i say " its the window cleaner"

i know that he says, why im puzzled is because ive paid the guy who did them last week

what i reply

he says

some guy turned up and cleaned them last monday, i paid him and he left

so im not paying you as they were clean

so looks like i am 23 quid down and a customer down

is this the new way to pick up biz, just turn up and clean a house ?? ?? ??

I could really jack it all in, im just cheesed off with it all

[windows_chepstow]

Matt,

This has never happened to me - but hey - it's only 23 quid.  Make a brief note of what happend and charge it as an expenditure to Gordon Brown.

Poo happens, Mate, in any job.

I've just been speaking on the phone to two old friends today who're govenment employees and you should hear the crap they have to put up with.

One of them is off to Iraq for the third time in three years (six months at a time), even though he's got a four-week-old baby boy and a young wife.

Poo happens, as I say; but it's not the end of the world in our job.

[Pj]

count it as a loss this time, but I would phone the customer, politely explain that if you are not going to call to clean his windows, or if you plan to send someone else you will always notify him in advance, hoping that will clear up any confusion in future, expressing your high regard for both customer and w/c loyalty.
If he doesn't accept...you loose.  If he accepts, you gain back £23 and slam the door on underhanded methods.
What have you got to loose.

Yesterday I did a house near me, I was a bit late, (I'm always late at the nearest ones), the lady said she was going to ring me, she recieved a note through the door from a windowcleaner stating that he was taking over a number of clients in the area and expanding in this area.  A very ambiguously worded flyer.  She thought he was taking over for me.  How kind!
I explained that if I am ever in that kind of situation I will notify my customers first.
She thanked me, and said she wouldn't trust someone who used that kind of crafty way!

I'm afraid it will only get worse.  Keep it up mate, it beats working for a living

[jeff1]

I see what you saying Macc
If you have binned him, you just wait until he comes running up to you one day, when all his windows are full of crap, and then Just remind him why you binned him,

Then if you do take him back add a couple of quid to his old bill and tell him thats your price, take it or leave it. over a period you will gain your £23 back and then end up in profit. and make sure in future you tell him to pay you and you aloan.

Just one thing though Macc, were the windows clean when you did them?
I have a feeling as he knows you, he may be pulling a fast one and will be expecting you to turn up next time.

[WavieDavie]

Matt

If the guy actually did them, he's maybe made a mistake on the house and struck lucky when the guy handed him £23. I highly doubt he would ask for that specific amount. Ask the neighbours you don't do when THEIR window cleaner comes round and if the dates coincide - you've got your man.

I'm sure you can explain the situation gently to him 

[matt]

its not the 23 quid that matters, and he didnt collect the 23 quid, he charged his own price (the hubby couldnt remmber)

what bugs me is its the whole "customer loyality" thing, the guy didnt think to ask the guy who he was ?? ?? now if it was a new customer i wouldnt mind so much, but it wasnt

are well, im off to print up a letter to the people on the estate explaining the situation

[neil100]

Matt.

The guy ows you £23.00. keep pestering him for the money. Its his mistake not yours.

Ask for this new w/c tel number and get your money back from him.

Its the principal that counts more then the money.

I still have a customer when this happened to me last year. She owed me £10 for a clean. I was half way through cleaning the house and she rushed out saying I thought you had stopped and asked another w.c to do them.

No. You have been conned my dear.

"But I paid him for last time and this time, £20 and now your cleaning them again."

As I said you have been conned, the guy is nothing to do with me, I have no intention of passing my round onto somebody else and if I did I would introduce him to all my customers first.

So you now have a choice you can have me carrying on cleaning your windows or the rip of merchant who as allready lied and decivied you and taken £20 of your money.

She paid me £20 and gave this fella a right earfull next time she saw him. They are SCUM. Still cleaning the customers windows, in fact I am there tommorw.

Chin up Matty Lad.

Nel.

[P @ F]

Matt , is £23 for one clean or is it multiple cleans ?
If its multiple cleans then im sorry but you have been taken for a mug mate !

How can he not know the cleaner after 3 years ?

Ronaldo will back me up here , get round there and bust him up !  

 Rich   P @ F  

[matt]

Matt , is £23 for one clean or is it multiple cleans ?
If its multiple cleans then im sorry but you have been taken for a mug mate !

How can he not know the cleaner after 3 years ?

Ronaldo will back me up here , get round there and bust him up !   

 Rich   P @ F 

he owes me from last time and this time, total 23 quid

[matt]

the funny thing about this is

last time i was around the estate and WC'er i speak to stopped and asked me if i had lost any work, he said about a guy going around just cleaning windows and telling people he had packed in, i didnt think anything of it, afterall all my customers have known me for 3 years

[AuRavelling79]

I doubt this guy will be back round it's a bit cold for dole scum isn't it?

Bide your time, check his windows and the week before Xmas knock on the door and ask him if the other guy has been back.

If he hasn't then just say "Oh, OK! just wondered as he tried it on on another customer of mine who told him to sling his hook as he appreciated his reliable (i.e. you) window cleaner." Walk off.

When the guy asks you to do his windows again either:-

a) Laugh manically and ask if you've got STOOPID written on your forehead.

b) Say "Only if you pay me what you owe and for the next three cleans, right now!"

They really aren't worth it.

[dai]

Matt, even if he had paid the guy his price, he still owes you for the last clean, and he knows it. There is no disspute about that, he knew you were his window cleaner the last time, so there's no excuse for not paying the £11.50 he owed you from then. The mans a rat. Dai

[matt]

well i spent this morning walking around the estate putting in a "newsletter" expalining what this guy is going etc etc

ive calmed down a little now

still feel like the customer wants is all, and we get no loyality returned 

[JM123]

I'd kneecap him

 

mafia style!!

 

[Jeff Brimble]

Chin up Matt you have done the best you can, and as you say feel better for doing it. 
Hope you put a few leaflets  thro the £23 house 

[AuRavelling79]

I'd kneecap him

 

mafia style!!

 

Ah! A true Christian attitude!

[matt]

Chin up Matt you have done the best you can, and as you say feel better for doing it. 
Hope you put a few leaflets  thro the £23 house 

lol

funny enough, i put TWO thorugh, thought they might get the message

[Londoner]

My mate cleaned several houses in a street before realising that he was in the wrong road. He was just working of a sheet and this part of the round was normally done by someone else.
Having realised his mistake he still went back and collected his money and quite a lot paid.

That could be what happened here