[wayne zabel]

Just had a call from a lady asking about cleaning 3 bedrooms.

She was very worried as she had had her stairs and landing cleaned last month and it took 5 days to dry.

Anyway as it was only 5 minutes away I went round and had a look at the bedrooms in question.2 small doubles that wanted walk ways only doing and a box room.

I quoted £55................................What sort of job are you going to do for that she said.

A quality thorough one, I said.I will do the best job I can.

Well when I had the stairs and landing done it cost me £138.

I nearly fell through the floor.Shed had it done was charged £138 and it took 5 days to dry.Apparently the resectable looking guy that quoted sent a kid round to do the job with a machine that was leaking water everywhere.

She asked them to come back after 3 days of wet and smelly carpets but they refused and evenrefused to give her a receipt.

As a newbie this is my first dealing with such a situation and now realise why we CC often get a bad name due to these cowboys.She was very reluctant to go ahead with the job due to her last experience.She got a crap job and was charged £138 to boot for a stairs and landing.

Anyway shes asked me to go ahead and do the job next week

[derek west]

all though i would of charged her a bit more than £55 i would of told her if she's not happy with my clean she wouldn't have to pay me. if your confident in what you do then this always swings it and instills the confidence back in your customer for life.

[Neil Williams]

Our true standards are now in your hands
Now let me guess..... She phoned a mobile number from a leaflet?
Probably pikies with a Rug Destroyer.
You do realise mildew starts to form around the 24-48 hour mark so she would probably be within her rights to contact authorities with a view to claiming for a new carpet, that's if these so called carpet cleaners are ligit.

[wayne zabel]

She said she got their number off a van she drove behind - it had all sorts of recommendations printed on the back apparently.

I will do my best to give the CC industry a better reputation again

[Neil Williams]

She said she got their number off a van she drove behind - it had all sorts of recommendations printed on the back apparently.

Then I stand corrected
And just when those of us down south thought we had soul rights on businesses like enterprise up crops another lot around Manchester.

[Simon Gerrard]

Wayne,
I hear these types of stories two or three times a week and it sickens me everytime because these people give us all a bad name, which is a tragedy for our industry. The only up shot is that when people find a good carpet cleaners they tend to stick with them.

Simon

[richy27]

wayne  wont be the last time you will come across this either. But dont let it bother you as a CC business is dependant on repeats and ref to strive forward and i am guessing they are not oing very well in that area .

Mind you i would be charging more than £55 for 3 bedrooms IMO is a bit cheap.  Remember its easier to reduce prices than increase them.  Dont sell yourself short.

[Joe H]

I got a call Saturday lunchtime couple weeks ago

"you cleaned my carpets yesterday and they are still wet"

"where abouts are you" I said

"Warrington"

"I didnt do a carpet clean in Warrington yesterday" I said

"Oh, must have been someone else then"

"you picked the wrong carpet cleaner to do the job, if I had done it yesterday it would have been dry yesterday" I said and added "keep my number for next time"

Probably seen my website on google but rang someone else.


And like the others Wayne, I too would have been charging more then £55 for 3 bedrooms. Dont sell yourself short.

[clinton]

Sounds like she got a bad job done for some reason as the money was good..

Maybe go and clean the carpets n go over it with a buffer n then a dryer n show her how quick you can dry or start to get the carpet dry..

Same here its cheap price you have quoted wayne.

clinton

[wayne zabel]

Hi Guys.With regards to the price I quoted,as a newbie I sometimes under sell myself I suppose.I really think its time to up my prices as Im begining to feel quite confident with my work now.

The 3 carpets are only small areas as its only walk ways on two of them,I will do the job in an hour and a half maximum and I think that £55 aint bad for that amount of time for a job 5 minutes from my house.

What would you guys charge for this?The fear I have is that if I raise my prices the steady work that I have now got might dry up.Chicken and egg situation i suppose.

[Steve Rothwell]

I would charge the same as you did Wayne, my philosophy is that I would rather £55 in my pocket for 25 mins work (that is about how long 3 bedroom walkways would take), than quote £70 + and watch some other geezer do the work.

[richy27]

to be honest if it only takes you 25 min then £55 is about right . but i cant see how you can clean 3 bedrooms regardless of size correctly in 25 min using HWE.   would take me the best part of an hour and thats with a tm .

[Steve Rothwell]

who said anything about HWE
I LM clean

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

.

.....................,I will do the job in an hour and a half maximum and I think that £55 aint bad for that amount of time for a job 5 minutes from my house.

who gives discount because somebody lives 5 minutes away? There must be hundreds if not thousands of houses only 5 minutes away from home? Besides which, who says you'll be coming from home to do the job-it might be in the middle of the day between other jobs.

I possibly might give a discount to my next door neigbour, but if it's next door but one (or two as is the case on Monday) then there is no discount.

BTW for a traditional 1930's 3 bed semi I would be charging £55 to £60 +VAT assuming no particular problems-especially if it was mainly round the beds.

Rog

[Joe H]

Even though it might be 5 minutes away that makes the hour ad half nearer to 2 hours.
Dont forget you have a van to run (and not just fuel), business insurance to pay, and where did she get your number - some advert which costs money.
You not in business to earn a crust today, you working for a sustainable business into the future.

[markpowell]

I think £55 is a fair price for the trarfic areas only Wayne if you are not moving any furniture.
I would have charged similar, in and out in half hour mate
Mark

[Colin Day]

I think price can be a personal thing.... You have the £100 an hour brigade (Usually the TMer's) and the £30 an hour guys (someone topping up the pension ) I would never tell on here what I charge but I'm usually happy with what I earn. We all charge accordingly!

"I'm not the most expensive, I'm not the cheapest, but I prefer to concentrate on being the best"

... and I don't even need to "BOAST" about my PSI!!!!

[Billy Russell]

I agree Colin, But being a TMer, I prefer to boast about the length of my hose!!!!!!!!!! 

[Colin Day]

I agree Colin, But being a TMer, I prefer to boast about the length of my hose!!!!!!!!!! 

It's not the size, it's what you can do with it that really matters....

[derek west]

I agree Colin, But being a TMer, I prefer to boast about the length of my hose!!!!!!!!!! 

It's not the size, it's what you can do with it that really matters....

your wrong col, its definately the size, ive just asked the wife and she's always right.

and lets face it, i'm hardly gonna argue with her on that point.