[paul ette]

just found out a window cleaner in my area has retired very recently and asked him if he would sell, said no, he said he got them for nothing so wouldnt sell, asked if he would give the information on his customers so they wont go to waste, no he wont.
 
been going 16 yrs and all customers are going to waste
what can i do? nothing

[Clever Forum Name]

Same thing happened in a town near me.

I just knocked up a letter. Put it an envelope. Explained the situation. Spent a day posting them
Out.

Got 9 customers in one road of 15

Then others dotted about

[Rich Wilts]

just found out a window cleaner in my area has retired very recently and asked him if he would sell, said no, he said he got them for nothing so wouldnt sell, asked if he would give the information on his customers so they wont go to waste, no he wont.
 
been going 16 yrs and all customers are going to waste
what can i do? nothing

If that's how he retires I'd be worried about how he worked and cautious about taking on any of his work, it could be atrociously priced.

[dazmond]

leaflet and canvass the area if you need/want more work.

[paul ette]

Just spoke to him, he's about 70 , just give up said he's had enough, I went to view a van he had, he charges the same as me but won't  sell or give customers, says  he's too old can't be bothered with messing around, just gonna have to canvass , knock, such a waste tho, gauruntee won't get much of his work

[Alistair@AWC]

Maybe offering to buy his van at the full asking price (or full asking price +£500) providing he gives you a full list of his customers could work!

[Tom White]

Something similar happened a good few years back here.  I ended up canvassing the areas I knew he worked and picked them just about all up.  He was just a part-timer, you know, he did gardens and a bit of this and that, including windows.

As Quarter-Light says, many were really underpriced; like £7 for a large detached house, so when I quoted for them, they were a lot suspect about me.  Then I started cleaning them with a WFP which made things worse. 

A few years on, a lot of these old dears think we're great, so it worked out - though they did come with some teething problems.

[paul ette]

there all wfp and an average price, i offered to buy van with customers(didnt need van would just sell) wont have none of it and van is overpriced

[Alistair@AWC]

If the van is overpriced it won't be selling in a hurry so it should work in your favour, leave an offer on the table for the van to include his customer list and see if he comes back to you! You could always canvas his areas in the meantime

[C o z y]

I'm getting close to throwing mine away. There's a couple of guys around where I work. I'd sell them for 2x the turnover.

[duncan h]

I wish some dizzy old windy would pack in near me without selling customers