[Blue Frog Systems]

Had it with new & old customers today.

Old one wants changing from monthly to quaterly cleans which they have emailed me about and not said who they are.

New one (first clean last month) ... txt tonight so she can leave the money next door and said leave it till next time. Told her if she wants it cleaning 2 monthly its an extra £3 ontop.... reply - leave it then !!!  Her next door neighbour was happy that i was coming when i rang her.


From tomorrow im introducing T&C's to all new customers !!! min 3 cleans .... 1 month cancelation period

Anyone got some T&C's i can look at ?

[cozy]

T&C's Froggy, how are you going to enforce them?

[bobplum]

the age old problem rears its ugly head again
do you offer monthly or two monthly from the start?
if not i think it puts you on the back foot especially in a situation like this

has of last week i had a price menu laminated detailing house type,no of beds then two coloums one for monthly and one for two monhly so lets say the following

semi detached                 £10.00 (monthly)    £15.00 (bi-monthly)

detached (3/4 bed)          £12.00                    £16.00

blah blah and so on and so on

conny                             £3.00 extra
prices assuming no large areas of glass etc

and that way i show it to them let them choose no surprises hopefully

or you can switch it to two months and do half a job?

[Blue Frog Systems]

Obviously i cant enforce them.... just might make the messers think about it first.

Bob - she wanted monthly from the start like she has always had.

Good idea about the monthly / 2 monthly price.... will add that part onto my T&C's

[p1w1]

the bottom line is you cant, you can give them out and hope the customer adheres to them thats it, i reckon tho you could put off more new customers throwing terms and conditions at them then customers that would actually mess you around if you dont.. its the circle of window cleaning you drop these type of customers when you have a full round and then someone starting up has to deal with them untill he/she has built there round up and they get dumped for the next newbie..it does pee you off but thats just part and parcel of this business..

[cozy]

You're one of the guys on here that can put big numbers of new custies into place in a short time Froggy. Why not just replace the messers with 2 new custies? T§C's can scare new custies off.

P1W1 beat me to it 

[bobby p]

i believe texting or emailing starts them thinking you are weak

 i clean a big victorian gaff turned into flats and the bloke in the attic flat now wants to get on board with the other regulars . wasnt in when i turned up to see him as arranged and then had emails from him, telling me other firms failed to clean his properly and quizzing me . iv answered this old scroat a few times now and im sure he is trying to beat me into submission.  his place is very high, dormers +veluxes and ive decided best to totally ignore his emails  -its going to cause a bit of a stink as he is some big shot military man . but so what

[Blue Frog Systems]

Cozy... your a flatterer

Thanks guys.... T&C's abandoned now. From now on they will get nothing.... not even a reply .... just deleted off the list

[Tom White]

T&C's Froggy, how are you going to enforce them?

You say, "Look, we agreed to certain terms and conditions when I quoted for you.  If you wish me to continue to be your window cleaner, this is what I do (regurgitate terms and conditions)"

If the customer declines, you walk away.

I remember getting a 'bag on' when I had three "Not today, mate!" in one day and I put on my chit something along the lines of a bit of a whinge about it, and that I would stop cleaning any customers who tried to change the terms and conditions just prior to a clean.

I had a spate of customers saying, "Not today, mate... only joking!", but it got my point across.  Tomo (a member here) saw my chit and wet his pants laughing, but it worked.

[rosskesava]

I wouldn't bother with terms and conditions. Seems a complete waste of time to me. All it does I think is to create an 'us and them' mentallity where the customer becomes the unspoken and silent enemy even before you clean their windows. Maybe spend more time and effort getting customers who want their windows cleaned and dump those who mess you around.

Am I alone in rarely ever having any of these problems?

I cannot think of anything more off putting to a new customer than having to sign up for unenforcable terms and conditions. I keep thinking if it was me wanting a window cleaner and he produced a bit of 'terms and conditions' paper, I'd tell him where to stick it.

[the bfg]

T&Ds is gonna be hard in enforce and will be more trouble than its worth IMO

ask yourself this,  why take a chance of losing some of my good paying customers in order to try and keep the messers in line ?   myself and Steve c have both picked up jobs from customers you dumped their last w/c for trying to do the same thing.

believe me the only people this would benefit is other w/cs in your area who will soon be getting calls from your customers.

[Tom White]

I wouldn't bother with terms and conditions. Seems a complete waste of time to me. All it does I think is to create an 'us and them' mentallity where the customer becomes the unspoken and silent enemy even before you clean their windows.

Where is it written that terms and conditions have to be written?  Ross, don't you have terms and conditions?  You agree a price and frequency with a customer, then that's your terms and conditions.  So if a customer wouldn't pay you, or messed you around with frequency, you'd be okay with that? 

Of course you wouldn't, because you have terms and conditions.

Terms and conditions aren't just like the booklet the bank sends you, in small print, every time they change them, they're the agreement you make with the customer when you quote.

"I'll charge you a tenner for each monthly clean of your windows" would be an example of a basic term and condition of cleaning windows, and if the customer broke either one of them (i.e. didn't pay or messed me about with frequency), then they've broken the terms and conditions and I'd drop 'em.

[Dave Anderson]

T&C's do work and they are simply a clarification for both parties which can be called upon in a minor dispute.

Ok you cannot take someone to court for breaching them but they just serve as a 'what I do, what I don't do' clarification.

Cheers
Dave.

[dazmond]

my terms and conditions!


frequency 4 weekly/6 weekly/8 weekly(extra charged for longer frequency)


i work in light/medium rain


payments  cash/cheque/BACS transfer


i wont clean again if owed 2 cleans until payment made.


first cleans extra charge(sometimes double maintenance clean price)


thats it!verbally agreed at first meeting with new customer.


dazmond

[the bfg]

my terms and conditions!


frequency 4 weekly/6 weekly/8 weekly(extra charged for longer frequency)


i work in light/medium rain


payments  cash/cheque/BACS transfer


i wont clean again if owed 2 cleans until payment made.


first cleans extra charge(sometimes double maintenance clean price)


thats it!verbally agreed at first meeting with new customer.


dazmond

so what your saying is you never get LEAVE IT THIS MONTH ?

[dazmond]

bfg i very rarely get a "not today".usually its for a genuine reason like builders are doing work on the house/painting frames etc.it just doesnt happen on my normal day to day work.


regards


dazmond