[Neil Williams]

Asians.
I feel for you guys who have large communities of them if you have to put up with this type of carry on every week.

I like to consider myself as someone who stays on the right side of things when it comes to racism but I could have come very close today to overstepping that line.
Last week we had a request for an over the phone quote for EOT hall, stairs, landing (he didn't want us to go out and have a look).
We agreed on £60.....so far so good
Turned up today to be greeted by the non English speaking nephew and got on with the job. Job? I have never seen black top on a domestic carpet before, particulary next to the bathroom for some reason.
Anyway, blasted it with Powerburst, scrub, dwell, extract and it looked ok (defie anyone to say they could have got it perfect) and was just getting to the end when the nephew pointed to the living room.
At this point I sensed problems and for the first time ever emptied the machine and put a bucket of the waste water next to the front door....just in case.
Then the main man turned up and so began the fun as he said the price included the hallway.
Me "I've done the hallway"
Him "No not that hallway but this hallway"
Me "Thats not a hallway that's a living room"
Him "We don't use it as a living room it is our hallway"
Me "Look, that's a landing, that's stairs, and that's a hallway, this is a living room"
Him "No in India we call this a hallway"
Me "Look mate in Enland we call this a living room, and that there is the hallway"
Him "I must have this done too"
Me "Well that's going to cost you extra" (I measured 25 sq/m) "And it's that or I walk now with the £60" (or the dirty water goes back down - and I would have too )

Then the fun really began and 10 minutes later we agreed a price.
Life's too short for these antics and they wonder why they get so much bad attitude shown towards them.

And now the ironic bit. The guy is a taxi driver, how would he feel if I took a ride in his car and when the meter showed £12.60 at the end of the journey I offerd him £10.

BTW this is an abridged version of 20 minutes between finishing the 'hallway' and getting the go ahead with the 'Living room.'

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I once had that Neil, a hallway was a bloody big dining room, I always survey the job when arriving ie quick look and agree what wants doing and what is to be paid for this will sort out any 'differences' before I start, settles me down and allows me to concentrate, in January I did get a customer HAHA that agreed a price over the phone and when I got there he said that he wanted the bedrooms doing in with the price and said I agreed to this, I was glad I had a walk round first as we couldn't agree on price HA HA and I left.

Shaun

[Paul Simpson]

My own experiences is that the majority of them try and haggle, I think its in their culture but I've found that if I give a little then stand my ground they tend to respect you and become all friendly. 

[derek west]

i've got nothing against asians at all, there really nice people, but unfortunately, ive never had the pleasure of cleaning there carpets. they ring up and say, "how much for a hall carpet" and i say "£250" and they say "thats too much" so i offer to knock a tenner off but they still don't go for it. hey ho.

[Neil Williams]

My own experiences is that the majority of them try and haggle, I think its in their culture but I've found that if I give a little then stand my ground they tend to respect you and become all friendly.  

See we're still having problems with the server I did post a reply but nothing other than the quote showed up as a 505 erra showed up.
Anyway, haggling I don't have a problem with. Stick £20 on top of your normal price and by the end we all end up winners.
It was the out and out pizz taking that got to me with thinking £60 got you HSL and 25 sq/m of living room with blck top areas that did for me

[Matt Steele]

totally agree with you paul, its what i do, go in a little high, knock a bit off when the haggling starts then stand firm by saying if i knock any more off i'll have to spend less time on it and i'm not prepared to do a sub standard job.
on very rare occasions there is no haggling so it's win win, also occasionally the price is agreed then the haggling starts after the work is done, this really riles me so thats why its vital to make absolutely sure what your cleaning and for how much, it is a cultural thing and just because its not necessarily in our culture to haggle doesn't make it wrong, forwarned is for armed if you know what your up against cover your arse, if you see what i mean  

[Mark Lawrence]

Nothing wrong with asians persae, nothing at all. But when it comes to money they do like to get things for nothing

Did a job on Sat price wroked out at £362, and he said "I could really do with that price being £300, as it is more than I thought it would be"

Eventually I went down to £335 but he kept badgering to £300. I refused, so we started to do areas he thought might be ok without cleaning. 10 mins later he came back and said "ok do the other areas then"

This was only after his english wife made him change his mind. She knew the value - all he could see was the price. This is very typical not only of asians but also most men in general!

Mark

[fitz2kleen]

We've had exactly the same thing , them saying lounge is hallway, must be a culture thing.

Derek, love it!  

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

We do it the other way round. They tell us what they want to pay then we haggle it up. It works a treat, and we then get all thier families and communities doing the same.

[Steve. Taylor]

Sorry fully booked for the next two weeks, then on holiday
Have you tried yellow pages? back to me crossword

[boshravie]

Derek West has the best policy 

[ianharper]

Neil

Yes asians  do call a louge a hallway. we had this many times. I have spoken to other asians and they say its all about the level of english that a person can speak.

you should always do a wlk though with your clients. this way you know whats expected and you can point out any problems and tell them in advance what stains will come out and which ones not. this way it does not sound like your making excuses when your done and they say why did that not come out. its managing expectations.

Respect

Ian harper

[MAX Carpets]

Had the same sort of nightmare. Water of a ducks back now.

[Steve Gunn]

I have put the dirty water back on someone's carpet as he said my wife quoted £20 she never quotes. They are not all the same but unfortunately they all get tarred with the same brush in their attitude always add more to the price and let them knock you down to what you normally charge.

Best one I had was cleaning his lounge and he said he would give me an extra tenner if I cleaned his suite :

[Small but perfectley formed]

They always wait until the work is completed to haggil ,knowing you dont have time to waste expecting you to accept the lower price.
Always say iam too busy.

[clinton]

Must say i do what derek does and also say am busy for the next 5 weeks..

[Simon Gerrard]

I'm like Derek, we just price ourselves out of the job.
I think the problem is a cultural one. In our world and Englishman's word is his bond, you agree to do a job for £x and expect that to be adhered to as you wouldn't dream of turning up saying, 'No, it wasn't £80, I said it would be £100,' but in the Asian culture it doesn't work like that and haggling and trying to get something for nothing is the norm which I find infuriating.

Simon

[Colin Day]

I think I'll take Derek and Simon's stance in future and price myself out of the job.....

I hate working for them because it's never good enough. One place I did down here for a tiny restaurant beat me down to £80. I got the black top off and everything and he said he'd only give me £50. To be honest, I just wanted out of there so took the cash and ran.... I really must stop ringing orders up from him though and forgetting to pick it up, we must be quits now

[Simon Gerrard]

I had one indian restaurant that didn't want to pay the £150 outright but wanted to pay weekly. I asked him if it would be ok if I brought all my friends and family in for a slap up feed and pay the bill of weekly, he said, 'No', I held my hand out!

[Colin Day]

I had one indian restaurant that didn't want to pay the £150 outright but wanted to pay weekly. I asked him if it would be ok if I brought all my friends and family in for a slap up feed and pay the bill of weekly, he said, 'No', I held my hand out!

I quoted for one in town and when I told him how much he said "I'll pay you and your wife in food!"
I said "Have you seen the size of my wife?"