[Ian101]

Got this on 1st job this morning ... Getting new windows tomorrow so told him that was no excuse for a cancellation and to find a new window cleaner. Don't know who these people think they are. Tried to ron over their cat on way out but bugger too quick.

[gto]

i just got a, as its winter we'll let you know when we want them done again.

[Wc Solutions]

bit harsh mate!

yes not today customers are a pain but if they are having new windows i guess you just have to take it and do them next month.

we phone all our customers before each clean now, helps with customers on holiday or having building work done.

we have a policy which all customers are aware of:

No doorstep cancellations

if clean declined then next month we add around £2 - £5 on the next clean as the price quoted is for monthly and they have just asked for a two monthly clean this time round.

[Tom White]

we phone all our customers before each clean now,

I couldn't be bothered to do that; it seems like you're making a rod for your own back here.

Just turn up and clean them; phone the ones you need to for access.

As for building work or being away on holiday, then that's not a real problem is it.  I mean customers don't tend to have building work done, that'll affect you window cleaning, on a too regular basis, and if they're on holiday, so what?  Just clean them and leave payment instructions.

Keep it simple.

[bobplum]

Got this on 1st job this morning ... Getting new windows tomorrow so told him that was no excuse for a cancellation and to find a new window cleaner. Don't know who these people think they are. Tried to ron over their cat on way out but bugger too quick.

are you winding us up

[Ian101]

Yes ... Bored in van waiting for HEAVY rain to stop

[Paul Coleman]

Got this on 1st job this morning ... Getting new windows tomorrow so told him that was no excuse for a cancellation and to find a new window cleaner. Don't know who these people think they are. Tried to ron over their cat on way out but bugger too quick.

I had one the other day who stopped me because their house had burned to the ground a couple of days earlier.  I'm not standing for that so I dumped them.

[Ian101]

Well was feeling left out from all the recent leave em this month ... What I actually said was not a problem just make sure they remove ALL the sticky labels

[bobplum]

Yes ... Bored in van waiting for HEAVY rain to stop

you stopped

[GB Window Cleaning]

thats nothing...

i turned up to a custards today and told them i couldnt be arsed to clean there windows but i still want paying and they refused 

BUMPED!!! 

[Ian101]

Yes ... Bored in van waiting for HEAVY rain to stop

you stopped

I know but was really really heavy

[WISEOWL]

This is precisely the kind of scenario that sets us apart from other professions.

We are a non-contract business based on faith and discretion, if I stopped cleaning a customers house whom I had built a rapport with based on trust because of such a trivial matter I would most likely lose the customers to the left and right of the property as well as a couple down the road.

The attempt to gentrify the profession with contracts and policies not only harms the profession itself but also you in the pocket.

[Tom White]

We are a non-contract business based on faith and discretion, if I stopped cleaning a customers house whom I had built a rapport with based on trust because of such a trivial matter I would most likely lose the customers to the left and right of the property as well as a couple down the road.

Nope.  In real life you just lose the time wasters.

I had some cheques arrive this morning, with a yellow sticky on one of them saying "Can you leave them till the end of Jan 12!"

Well I can't, can I, 'cos they're due in December.  Am I to clean all the other houses in this street and just leave that particular one?  Then go back a month later, to clean it; just one £15 house?

Well, no, I can't, the customer has broken our original terms and conditions, so as far as I'm concerned they are no longer customers.  I could phone them, but I haven't got their number.  I could knock, or if they're out, stick a note through their door.  But I'm not going to go out of my way.

I only want customers who stick to our original agreement.  If at a first clean, a customer ever said anything along the lines of "Okay, I will agree to having my windows cleaned every-other-month, but in reality, after a few cleans, I'll then start changing the frequency to a less frequent clean", I would then start talking about changing the price I quoted.

I mean, c'mon, fair is fair, and this isn't fair.

Yellow sticky indeed! 

[WISEOWL]

I was referring directly to the man having his windows replaced, the irony being I jump for joy at new windows as there is a better chance of the water sheeting...!!!

It is unfair to say I would not be able to sort out my customers but in my defence I would say I let these happen more organically than a lot of people do on here. I think the biggest obstacle is a lack of communication.

Dog mess, locked gates, infrequent payers, difficult navigation of the property - these are all concerns I cope with, I think, in a more productive way than simply dropping them. I would prefer to adapt than to lose.

In fact the majority of customers I have dropped over the years have never been told as the relationship has broken down to an irrecovrable state. The biggest mistake window cleaners get is thinking the balance of power has swung our way when in reality, albeit unlikey, what is stopping every domestic customer we have saying NO!

In a nutshell trust is built month by month and year by year, customers often chip away at that trust but I find you can catch a lot more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.

[Tom White]

The biggest mistake window cleaners get is thinking the balance of power has swung our way when in reality, albeit unlikey, what is stopping every domestic customer we have saying NO!

Hmmmmm.  Maybe I'm reading what your saying the wrong way, but the 'balance of power' is on our side.  It's a lot easier for me to pick up another £15 account that will fit my criteria for being a 'good customer', than it will be for that lady to find another window cleaner who'll fulfil her criteria for being a 'good window cleaner'.

In fact I don't need to; I picked up a nice £35 account yesterday and the chap seemed a jolly decent type of guy.

And what stops every domestic customer saying 'no' is that these type of people are the sort who take some pride in their property, and understand that if they want their windows cleaned regularly by a window cleaner they can trust, then they must stick to the terms and conditions of our original agreement.

I don't want people as customers whose finances are so tight that cleaning frequency (and I'm taking most of my new stuff at every-other-month) is an issue for them.

[AS Window Cleaning]

True.  But it is easy for us to think too much of ourselves, and think we are not replaceable.  It is a 2 way relationship, neither of us really needs the other, they probably would prefer to have us due to trust build up over the years, whereas for us there is plenty of more fish in the sea if they drop us.  But a little leeway here and there and a mutual understanding goes a long way.  Or so I'm finding so far!  The only thing I dont tolerate is can you leave it because its going to rain tomorrow/day after/5 days time.  New windows, holidays/any what I feel is a decent excuse I let go.  If its not a regular thing!

[John F]

The biggest mistake window cleaners get is thinking the balance of power has swung our way when in reality, albeit unlikey, what is stopping every domestic customer we have saying NO!

Hmmmmm.  Maybe I'm reading what your saying the wrong way, but the 'balance of power' is on our side.  It's a lot easier for me to pick up another £15 account that will fit my criteria for being a 'good customer', than it will be for that lady to find another window cleaner who'll fulfil her criteria for being a 'good window cleaner'.

In fact I don't need to; I picked up a nice £35 account yesterday and the chap seemed a jolly decent type of guy.

And what stops every domestic customer saying 'no' is that these type of people are the sort who take some pride in their property, and understand that if they want their windows cleaned regularly by a window cleaner they can trust, then they must stick to the terms and conditions of our original agreement.

I don't want people as customers whose finances are so tight that cleaning frequency (and I'm taking most of my new stuff at every-other-month) is an issue for them.

good post thats how i see it. there is too much work to do without having to bend to fit someone elses way of doing my work. i clean the windows on a regular basis and tey pay. if we are both happy with this then no problem. when one of us wants o change the deal then its time to part our ways. nothing personal its just about money.