[gary999]

i had a normally reliable customer today cancel..because
according to him we have had  that much rain lately it seems to have
done the job for you and they really dont need cleaning

made me laugh..as good an excuse as ive ever heard

[paul ette]

always get one or two when it rains. just smile and walk away
but then again if i had enough work i would just dump em

[Nick_Thompson]

i had a normally reliable customer today cancel..because
according to him we have had  that much rain lately it seems to have
done the job for you and they really dont need cleaning

made me laugh..as good an excuse as ive ever heard

Just for once Gary, wouldn't it be satisfying to throw a retort back at such an individual, something along the lines of...

Don't act like a pillock mate, but, come to think about it, your remark "seems to have done the job for you".

[bobplum]

Rain water is pure?

[gary999]

i had a normally reliable customer today cancel..because
according to him we have had  that much rain lately it seems to have
done the job for you and they really dont need cleaning

made me laugh..as good an excuse as ive ever heard

 
Just for once Gary, wouldn't it be satisfying to throw a retort back at such an individual, something along the lines of...

Don't act like a pillock mate, but, come to think about it, your remark "seems to have done the job for you".

cant argue with that

[dannymack]

If everyone had that attitude we wouldn't have businesses to run I'd sod him off and would have told him so !!!

[home6442]

If he's a reliable customer then I wouldn't take much notice of it.
Could be a short term cash flow problem and he just cant afford the window cleaning this month.
Better than letting you clean them and then messing you about with the payment.
Nothing wrong with a customer cancelling for what ever reason as long as it doesn't become a habit.

[AuRavelling79]

If he's a reliable customer then I wouldn't take much notice of it.
Could be a short term cash flow problem and he just cant afford the window cleaning this month.
Better than letting you clean them and then messing you about with the payment.
Nothing wrong with a customer cancelling for what ever reason as long as it doesn't become a habit.

Wrong John! 

(Unless you haven't got enough work of course.)

[Johnny B]

If I dumped every customer who said 'not today', I wouldn't be in business.
It happens all the time here. I just roll with it. I have to. I have learned that the culture towards window cleaning here is a world apart from Blighty, so have had to be more flexible. If I hadn't been, instead of having 420 customers I would have about 10.

As it is, the 'not todays' this time mostly become the 'yes please' next time. Persistent 'offenders' get put on the 'call me when you need me and I will fit you in if I am not too busy' list.

John 

[WGB]

Should of told him that it was you that cleaned them early this morning and you were just back for payment

[Paul Coleman]

If I dumped every customer who said 'not today', I wouldn't be in business.
It happens all the time here. I just roll with it. I have to. I have learned that the culture towards window cleaning here is a world apart from Blighty, so have had to be more flexible. If I hadn't been, instead of having 420 customers I would have about 10.

As it is, the 'not todays' this time mostly become the 'yes please' next time. Persistent 'offenders' get put on the 'call me when you need me and I will fit you in if I am not too busy' list.

John 

Wouldn't it be better to offer to clean them only every second time but charge a fair bit more for it?

[Johnny B]

I could offer less frequent cleans at a higher price, but what they would say to me could not be repeated on here!

No, I just move on to the next customer, and call next time I'm in the area. I also get phone calls from customers who use me when they need me. It may sound like it's a lot of hassle, but I earn ok from doing things this way, so I am happy.

John

[traps7]

If everyone had that attitude we wouldn't have businesses to run I'd sod him off and would have told him so !!!

I totally agree.

[gary999]

If he's a reliable customer then I wouldn't take much notice of it.
Could be a short term cash flow problem and he just cant afford the window cleaning this month.
Better than letting you clean them and then messing you about with the payment.
Nothing wrong with a customer cancelling for what ever reason as long as it doesn't become a habit.

agree with your post...first time they have cancelled in 5yrs of me
cleaning,obviously something going on that is none of my business
if it becomes a habit i will simply walk away...once in a blue moon
occurence im not going to worry.

i just found it funny

[C o z y]

I could offer less frequent cleans at a higher price, but what they would say to me could not be repeated on here!

No, I just move on to the next customer, and call next time I'm in the area. I also get phone calls from customers who use me when they need me. It may sound like it's a lot of hassle, but I earn ok from doing things this way, so I am happy.

John

Our German civvie customers are appointment only mate. We work out at the start of the account roughly how many cleans a year, and either we call them, or they call us. Works fine, because these domestic jobs are high priced, and average 90 minutes plus per clean. e.g. our accountant has 4 cleans a year. Conny clean and glass roof over a patio. Takes two of us a good few hours to do. Pays over 400 quid.At jobs like that, I'll happily work to appointment.
Some jobs are only 50 to 60 quid. It works well here.

[traps7]

Yes but for an average house I wouldn't be at anyones beck and call out of principle.

You do it once and in my experience it becomes more frequent. Different if they're having building work done or similar but even then they could give you a call to inform you.

[home6442]

Yes but for an average house I wouldn't be at anyones beck and call out of principle.

You do it once and in my experience it becomes more frequent. Different if they're having building work done or similar but even then they could give you a call to inform you.

Don't rule it out completely as it can be a handy earner if priced right.
There are customers who want a cleaner who can clean when it suits them and are prepared to pay
for the privilege.
I do a property which when I include traveling ( 5 miles) and doing the clean it takes about 2 hours I charge her
for 5 hours work. She then gives me 3 hours worth on top for a tip.
Have a few more like this.

[Paul Coleman]

I suppose clean on demand could work but with two major conditions  (1) the price is VERY high with it being a very large job and (2) if only a small percentage of your work is done that way.  Otherwise I wouldn't bother.
I was an employee for years bewing at other people's beck and call.  One of the reasons I like being self-employed is to get away from that.

[Total shine cleaning services]

upon gaining new customers we stipulate that there are no terms and conditions other than please dont use the courtesy text service to cancel us down on the day, as the time slot for your house has already been allocated, we still get customers trying it on and I then explain and remind them of prior conversation, for you to pull up and them to cancel is not on as it's already cost you in wasted time and diesel, the other way to deter is to charge for a two monthly on next clean

Graham

[rosskesava]

I don't know why so many on here have rules that are so rigid with an almost aggressive attitude towards the customer.

What wrong with being flexible and making a decision that for each time something like 'not today' happens.

It doesn't happen so often to me now due to continuous culling over the years but in the past I've dumped customers straight away when they've said not today and others I said that I'll call again in a month.
 
I still got a customer though who I call Mr Not Today. He's in between 2 other houses I do monthly. I always call on him and usually it's 'not today' but 3 or 4 times a year, he wants his windows cleaned. It's only an extra £60 or £80 a year but as I walk past his front gate every month, I'd be daft not to waste the 3 minutes calling on him.

Last year a customer said 'not today' because it was her daughters birthday (what's that got to do with cleaning the windows?) and she was dumped on the spot. Her house is right near where I do some others but parking where she is is a nightmare and can take as long as cleaning the place. I'd just spent about 20 minutes driving around the block continuously waiting for a parking space so when she said 'not today', that was it.