[Cleaning Resource]

Woman phones me on fri says that shes having a party on wed and needs a 3 piece suite and hallway stairs and landing cleaned before the party,

I quoted a  price over the phone (theres the mistake) £125 for the suite and £55 for the hall stairs and landing,

then she says "oh there is a small rug aswell "  so I tell her i`ll chuck that in for free.

 she agrees the price, I then spend half hour on the phone shifting jobs about so that I can fit it in for her at such short notice.

I arrive to day to do the job, the house was massive.
the hallway was bigger than most lounges
the stair case was two flights
and therefore two landings
the three piece suite was on the top floor
and absolutely manky
and the small rug was covering the whole of her lounge, which was the size of a small sportshall...............................

lesson learn`t DONT QUOTE OVER THE PHONE even when you think just this once wont hurt, cos it`s always just that one that hurts............... : :

[Neil Grainger]

Did she mislead you about sizes?

If she did why did'nt you just advise her that you need to rejigg the price because it was much bigger than you told me.

I learn't the hard way with this and always give a top and bottom price, gives me that extra bit of cover on price.

Hope it did not take to long.

[Terry_Burrows]

  we had this  last year over the phone est,got there twice as big as he said,I said er sorry this is much bigger,then he said how much more I told him,he went ok,then things went down hill,I said what is that pointing to a big stain,he said thats carpet I said I dont like your  attitude ger some one else,
he works for his self just did not expect me to jump back down his gob,

oh well some you win

[Cleaning Resource]

it took me six and half hours :

I could`ve told her it would cost more, but well I didn`t.
and she did make me lunch

my backs killing me, but my customer was over the moon and thats all that matters at the end of the day

[calmore]

It's still £30 an hour! Far better than a loss!

[spickandspan]

True true oh well lessons learned.

[carpetclean]

think postive as if she is over the moon the chances are she will ring back with more work, and then you can charge your normal rates

[scott.]

I ask lots and lots of questions these days..been caught out too much in the past...especialy when it comes to stains, as some people do fib...big time.
Find it easy to establish by geographic location though, as the posher areas tend to have larger everything....even wallets.

Its probably worth biting your tongue and getting on with it though, as referals often come from every customer....ask for specific sizes though, every time....and condition, otherwise a 40 min  job can turn into a 2 hour job....and make you hate that person for life

[carpetguy]

Swings and roundabouts..............and the main thing is, you retained, or boosted your integrity, as a professional.

As already mentioned, it's still £30 per hour

We have all been in this situation and I reckon you behaved in the way that will benefit you most in the long term.

robbie

[brights cleaning]

unless its a repeat customer , i never never never quote on the phone
did it once and walked into a complete mess, declined the job on sight and went back home.

[Ian Gourlay]

Well it happened to me It was an old Manor Hall. Apprantely I was not the lowest quote .

I do not think I was mislead on size as it was more the number of rooms.

Fortunately it was mainly bedrooms as the ballroom etc all had solid wood floors.

In fact I could have got away with doing a splash and dash clean as they were renovating the place as a property deal and just wanted the old carpet smartened up.

However I revived the carpets and they paid me  extra.

[scott.]

Ian
Is splash and dash one of your service options then

On a similar note...done 1 small  room for an elderly lady the other week for £45...she tipped me an extra £40!    what was that all about   hope she didnt think I was something else

[AquaMagic]

She may not have been all there and you just took her gas money!!!!

How do you sleep at night
Dene

[scott.]

Im sleeping well...no, she said, "here have this £40...it was worth it".....so I did :

[AquaMagic]

Horlick's eh Scott? 

[Chris R]

I quote over the phone in most cases.

Ask loads of questions.

If dealing with Hall stairs landing ask if we are talking about a standard, 3 bed semi type property ?

If it sounds like a big house go and look at it, or only give an "estimate".

If you get caught out make sure that you put on your final invoice  the price that it should have been (and WILL BE NEXT TIME ) and then put down a " special offer" to take it down to the price that you have quoted this time.

Then the next time that they want work doing, or if they recommend you, you can charge your proper rate.

Sometimes being £10 or £20 out on a quote is Ok, if you havent wasted an hour of your time doing the original quote.

But you dont want to do it at that price next time 

Chris