Best advice of the day is from Lizzy ....... Shame she got insulted for it.
I don't think that Arthur meant any offence, he just made a tongue in cheek comment about a slogan on an avatar.
Lizzy was indeed the voice of reason, a valuable thing when the rest of us see the "red mist"
I hope Lizzy thinks again.... I have enjoyed many of her postings.
Best advice of the day ..... solicitor, FSB or Citizens Advice.
Solicitors cost a fortune, being pragmatic it could be cheaper to pay a £500 fine than pay £2000 to defend the charge
FSB: good advice, not everyone is a member, nor does everybody have access to advice through a Trade Association
Citizens Advice: will not advise businesses
Next best advice is to take advice from those who have been in the same position...... that is the true value of forums such as this.
everyone he meets wants to take him to court but no one has yet,
In 27 years of business, I must have met thousands of customers. Less than a hundred of these have wanted to take me to court.
2 have done so, I defended myself (but with advice from the legal team at my Trade Association: advice I share in my postings), I won the case on both occasions.
Additionally, one has invoked the conciliation procedure operated by my Trade Association, and after due conciliation the complainant agreed with my view and withdrew the complaint.
So that's 3 in 27 years. Not a bad record, really, considering that those 27 years represent maybe £50 million turnover. Multiply the years by the number of staff within the family businesses and you have 1 in 144 years: so a sole trader could expect to have this occur once in every 3 reincarnations..... better odds than the Lottery, but still unlikely that everyone on this forum has experienced this kind of situation.
I am the proud manager of a family business that celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, proud to have lobbied on behalf of my industry at Parliament, proud to have received an environmental award from David Bellamy.
I am never proud to receice a customer complaint, but if the complaint is unfounded, I will defend it to the bitter end. My local VAT office can attest to that, but that is a totally different matter..... suffice it to say that several thousand pounds' professional fees were a wise investment.
All I offer is the product of my experience.
I have some business experience that I am happy to share, in return for the carpet cleaning experience that other forum members share.
You will notice that I have never given advice on cleaning techniques, carpet shrinkage, dye runs etc. That is because my only experience in carpet cleaning thus far is cleaning carpets in caravans, my office, my car and my wife's day nursery (or getting one of the staff to do so) with a Vax (don't laugh, I know now) and more recently a Puzzi 100 (much better, and when a carpet is only 10 feet square you don't need a steempro)
I am on this forum because I intend to diversify into carpet cleaning, I already have a sideline in mobile car valeting (mainly because my car is very dark blue and needs washing and waxing 3 times a week! I had already got 3 vans, 3 prochem steempro's, 3 windsor passports and 3 puzzi's for the small bits, and then I found this forum and discovered that there is much more to CC than "splash and dab". I am not a cowboy operator and I never will be.
Accordingly, staff recruitment has been put "on ice" for a couple of months while I go on the IICRC course in Nottingham and the ProChem course in Manchester. Whilst I won't be doing the work, will be looking for experienced staff and booking on-going training, I need to know what my staff are talking about.
Come May, I need 3 operators and a sales rep in the North West. Recruitment agencies, here I come.
2 months ago I thought TACT was how a carpet was nailed down, not temperature, agitation, chemical, time, and I thought a "spotter" was a football talent scout. Now I know better, and it is thanks to this forum. I am grateful to all forum members for their input, would never knowingly insult one, and I am distressed to see one take offence. Lizzy, if you are reading this, I tried to email you (as I have emailed Arthur) to try and moderate the situation, but you don't have an email in your profile. I don't either, but there's a link to my website so you can email me there if you want to. I don't like to see a lady upset.
You have to ask is more than a 50% hike in your price to travel 6 miles fair,
If Arthur was to keep the price the same, and charge travelling time, 6 miles both ways to drop off and collect staff takes up to an hour on small lanes (I am sure that there is no convenient motorway) so that's an hour for Arthur, driving, and an hour for the cleaner, sitting in the car. To charge travelling time would in fact double the hourly rate for 1 cleaner, at 50% Arthur is being very sensible.
... watches Kavanagh QC, that makes him the forum lawyer then ...
I am indebted to my honourable colleague (as Kavanagh himself might say.... I've got the video's too: John Thaw, an excellent actor and a sad loss.
companies being made to honour advertised prices, some have been fined heavily
I am sure that the OFT apply the law fairly and would see this as a simple misunderstanding