[jim bean]

They are out again, quoting £3 for a house with leaded fronts and a small conny. One of whom i saw was drinking a can of white ace looked like he hadnt bathed in 3 weeks and was delivering A4 paper cut 3 ways into leaflets!!?!
Another lad has just popped up on my road who only has half a ladder?and no transport and gets his mrs to walk around with a bowl wi the water in. His ladder doesnt even touch the window sill!! He already has 3 houses on my road £3 a piece, must take him half an hour on each one as he does all frames, trads the windows doing straight pulls and then scrims off afterwards.
Can see myself losing custys to idiots like this who are on benefits and just wanna make some money for theyre next bit of alcohol or gear!

[Twc services]

Push him off his ladder i would 

[Granny]

Seen a lad today on foot with just two items - a Wilkinsons type domestic squeegee on a pole -  no ladder - no cloths - and an empty bucket.
Fair play to him at least he's enterprising.
He'll probably get more work than me
g.

[bobplum]

sometimes who just have to concentrate on what you do

[jim bean]

Push him off his ladder i would 

Yea I can see some disputes getting violent already told one to p off leafletting on my work, just have to make sure the custies don't hear/see a word, im good as gold as far as they know ! 

[dazmond]

c mon lads why you getting annoyed?they simply wont take work off you if you do a good job and your reliable and trustworthy!!

they wont last 2 mins.people dont like dodgy window cleaners on their property so stop worrying!!

[deeege]

Well said as usual daz. Forget them. They will soon be bored/drugged up/in jail so just keep on offering a reliable service and the cream will rise to the top.

[james peters]

thats how I started.... I now have the biggest round in my town.....I am not on drugs and I havn't been to jail, and I am probably one of the most expensive!
stop giving people a hard time....they just want a couple of quid to get by.......
why are some people intimidated by a bit of competition? why the insecurity?

[deeege]

Fair play to you.

My post was directed at the description of cider drinking doleys described in the OP though so if that isn't you then there's no need to take offence.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

Unfortunately no matter how loyal you think that your customers are or how good a window cleaner you are you might loose a few. Some customers will suddenly think that you are overcharging. The summer brigade won't admit to being on the dole. So some of your custards will just think I currently pay £10 but this guy is charging £3 mmm what do I do. Look on the bright side though, these ones would probably have dropped you at some point, so you get a free rweeding service.

Simon.

[richardlingard]

there have always been and always will be £3 window cleaners, in my experience, you never lose much and over the year always pick up more than you lose anyways, keep sharp, have a knock on a few doors every now and then and you will always be moving forward and not backwards...if you are losing work 90% of the time you should look at yourself

[steve rix]

Just lost a £90.00 pub to someone charging £15.00. Not much I can do about that!! Told the landlord when they come back to me it will be £110.00 LOL.