[clearlyclean]

people are funny they call you their window cleaner like they own you like a dog and ring you up on the phone or email you like you only do there house and then sound really surprised when you ask them where they live,had a call like that complaining about the windows and refused to give me her address,I m like how do you expect me to sort out your complaint.

[mci services]

there is a name and I will go through my emails to find out who it is

[e newlands]

talk to them first and take a look at the problem

[Alan McTernan]

Hi Stu,

If it is cast iron you may find that it is the bottom of the down pipe that is blocked. Will have to be removed to be cleaned (have done about 3 of these this year). If you get stuck you can give me a call 07739 535648.

Regards
Alan

[mci services]

thanks alan

[Perfect Windows]

Stu,

A good first response might be:

"As a general point, I have never and would never place any items in a drain

Unfortunately, I'm unable to make any more specific comment as I don't know the address of the property we are discussing."

Vin

[mci services]

Stu,

A good first response might be:

"As a general point, I have never and would never place any items in a drain

Unfortunately, I'm unable to make any more specific comment as I don't know the address of the property we are discussing."

Vin

thanks vin but to late I have already replied, but yes that would be a good starting point ta mate

[bobby p]

its a toughie. the letter sounds to me as if is complaining that a downspout is blocked .  probably was blocked long before you cleaned the gutter and they assumed it was the gutter . i came across a blocked S bend recently and as it was plastic i pulled on it and inside was a tennis ball. 

 your complainer has got me thinking, gutters are not as stress free as windows   

[mci services]

its a toughie. the letter sounds to me as if is complaining that a downspout is blocked .  probably was blocked long before you cleaned the gutter and they assumed it was the gutter . i came across a blocked S bend recently and as it was plastic i pulled on it and inside was a tennis ball. 

 your complainer has got me thinking, gutters are not as stress free as windows   

aye your not wrong their bobby I really don't like doing gutters etc and I might just phase it out, when she replies I will have a better idea of the problem, but when I read it, it looked like a accusation of an outside drain and not the down pipe but I will find out soon enough

[mark mann]

id be tempted to call on phone and then maybe visit but never admit liambility in any form including offering to rectify something that you had no hand in creating in the first place.

ive heard of drain clearing company - clearing someones drain at top of road and for it to move along several houses and block a neigbours further down the road - he readily admitted to client (a friend of mine) that they often come out twice cleaning drains as often gets blocked up twice before shifted.

be polite friendly and professional - re-assure them of your processes in accordance with trading standards you operate this way and that it is likely the cause has come from another direction and that you are sure she would like to know the source so it doesnt happen again - and ask her if she finds out cause let you know as you are intrigued to know what caused it - incase it ever happened to you also........

[Perfect Windows]

thanks vin but to late I have already replied, but yes that would be a good starting point ta mate

Whoops, hadn't noticed that you'd responded.

Vin

[Ian101]

Hi Stu ... from reading the email looks to be a drainage issue.

In a former life I dealt with lots of customer complaints (car sales 25  years) and to me it looks like they are trying it on - blaming you for a blocked sewer.

As a car dealer I always followed this saying "dont touch it with our spanners" which means the moment we get involved then we have admitted liability and its now our problem .... unless of course we HAD done summit wrong but 2 months later .... seems a long time to me ??

Personally I would send an email back stating that your work practices would make their scenario impossible i.e. its nothing you did.

I wouldnt even offer to go around to take a look cos then if you do "your spanners have touched it"

May seem a little harsh but its not really your problem from the sounds of it.

[Ian Lancaster]

I know it's a case of 'bolting the stable door...', but why on earth did you take the debris away with you?  When we clear gutters, we leave the debris for the customer to dispose of.  This has two advantages:

1.  The custy can see exactly what you've removed so they know they haven't been turned over.

2 There's no problem with possible waste disposal issues.

In your case the added advantage would be that if the debris had found its way into the drains, there is no way the custy or their neighbour could accuse you of putting it there!

[mci services]

I know it's a case of 'bolting the stable door...', but why on earth did you take the debris away with you?  When we clear gutters, we leave the debris for the customer to dispose of.  This has two advantages:

1.  The custy can see exactly what you've removed so they know they haven't been turned over.

2 There's no problem with possible waste disposal issues.

In your case the added advantage would be that if the debris had found its way into the drains, there is no way the custy or their neighbour could accuse you of putting it there!

Yes Ian lesson for the future duly learned.

[mci services]

ok quick update I replied and tried to clarify the problem, and made a couple of points, and I have just received this reply, the customer has now back tracked a bit and it is the neighbour that has a problem, and it is not the down pipe but an external drain so nothing to do with me.

 Thank you for your quick response.
 
I understand that the points that you have made in your reply.
As far as I have been made aware by my downstairs neighbour it is the drain that is overflowing, not water overflowing from the gutter.
I am not looking for any follow up from yourself as personally I have not got any complaints with the service, I was only looking to make you aware of the situation following the angry complaint I had from my neighbour.


not sure what to do now, I know I am not in the wrong but the neighbour has put 2+2 and came up with 5

she still hasn't confirmed an address but I know who it is and her partner was at home when I did the job and would have seen me fill a big yellow container that I removed from site (rightly or wrongly).
any way at least I know it wasn't me so that's a relief

[martinsadie]

I know it's a case of 'bolting the stable door...', but why on earth did you take the debris away with you?  When we clear gutters, we leave the debris for the customer to dispose of.  This has two advantages:

1.  The custy can see exactly what you've removed so they know they haven't been turned over.

2 There's no problem with possible waste disposal issues.

In your case the added advantage would be that if the debris had found its way into the drains, there is no way the custy or their neighbour could accuse you of putting it there!

i always bang it in thier wheelie bin

[NJWindowCleaning]

Would you not of thought that the downpipe might of drop slightly leaving a gap at top which looks like its from the gutter when its not connected properly as some of these downpipe are not that secure and you can pull them down a bit to give this slight gap. So neighbour might of done this to make a quick buck of one of you's.

[mci services]

Would you not of thought that the downpipe might of drop slightly leaving a gap at top which looks like its from the gutter when its not connected properly as some of these downpipe are not that secure and you can pull them down a bit to give this slight gap. So neighbour might of done this to make a quick buck of one of you's.

the down pipe has been ruled out, it is an outside drain and nothing to do with me

[elite mike]

I know it's a case of 'bolting the stable door...', but why on earth did you take the debris away with you?  When we clear gutters, we leave the debris for the customer to dispose of.  This has two advantages:

1.  The custy can see exactly what you've removed so they know they haven't been turned over.

2 There's no problem with possible waste disposal issues.

In your case the added advantage would be that if the debris had found its way into the drains, there is no way the custy or their neighbour could accuse you of putting it there!

i always bang it in thier wheelie bin

same as stan

glad you have got it sorted stu

[bwoofie]

Glad it sorted aswell m8, some people ought to think before issuing accusations.