[barry mallett]

About 6 years ago I sold 35 houses on a private estate of 40 . Anyway within 6 months I started getting asked back by some custies . They were unimpressed with his work and said he was unreliable .i resisted for 3 years but as I work nearby I would see some of these custies , by now some had sacked him and were either doing there own or had set another guy on who they said was not much better. So basically this very good round I had set up 20 years previous was going to pot .i finally gave in and told one of the custies if she got me at least 10 I would come black .within a month she had go me 12 back . As it stands now I do 28 of em without knocking one single door . Everyone has approached Me . Anyway just this week I got told the the guy I sold the work to as stopped going in there so I expect to mop the rest up shortly .so I need to offload a days work of my lesser paying work to fit in this better priced work .so I'm thinking should I phone this guy up and give him first choice on this work .is this wrong what's gone on or is it all fair in business.i do feel a little guilty but don't know if phoning the guy is the right thing . Anyone got an opinion on this . Cheers barry .

[Ian Lancaster]

Why on earth would you?  You owe this man nothing and in view of his previous behaviour if he did take the work off you it could damage your reputation if he does the same thing again.

[Jonny 87]

I feel that if you have sold work to someone then those houses are his to do with that he pleases. Wether he is unreliable or not makes no difference. You sold the work to Him, it's his.

You should probably at least give him a months cleaning worth of money back, that's fair.

But never sell any work to Him again. It could damage your rep.

[tlwcs]

I feel that if you have sold work to someone then those houses are his to do with that he pleases. Wether he is unreliable or not makes no difference. You sold the work to Him, it's his.

You should probably at least give him a months cleaning worth of money back, that's fair.

But never sell any work to Him again. It could damage your rep.

Nothing to do with customer choice then Jonny?
You can't own a house/street/patch and then give poor or an un-reliable service and expect to retain the work, in my opinion.
Tony

[paul13]

I feel that if you have sold work to someone then those houses are his to do with that he pleases. Wether he is unreliable or not makes no difference. You sold the work to Him, it's his.

You should probably at least give him a months cleaning worth of money back, that's fair.

But never sell any work to Him again. It could damage your rep.

Nothing to do with customer choice then Jonny?
You can't own a house/street/patch and then give poor or an un-reliable service and expect to retain the work, in my opinion.
Tony

The point is this work was sold, I've been in this position a few times and
IMO if the person I sold it to has sold and moved on its fair game
but if he's still cleaning the area I would speak to him if he says no
problem on you go, great but if he says he's not happy I would
Stay clear.
You can't sell the work then take the custys back when the guy you sold
It too still cleans there in IMO

[dave f]

barry am i right in thinking you ar in batley.if you are selling the work whats under priced .if its around said area i may be interested .cheers

[Simon Mess]

1st thing i am curious about is why you sold this work at all?, 35 houses out of an estate of 40 sounds like a great bit of work!.

But as to your question, given the time frame involved, no i dont think you are doing anything wrong. You sold the guy this work, it is up to him to keep the customers by doing the work to their expected standards. If he has not done this, that is his problem. If it was within a year or two, i might be inclined to get back in touch with the guy, but 6 years?, get in there!.

[PoleKing]

1st thing i am curious about is why you sold this work at all?, 35 houses out of an estate of 40 sounds like a great bit of work!.

But as to your question, given the time frame involved, no i dont think you are doing anything wrong. You sold the guy this work, it is up to him to keep the customers by doing the work to their expected standards. If he has not done this, that is his problem. If it was within a year or two, i might be inclined to get back in touch with the guy, but 6 years?, get in there!.

+1.
It's not up to you to keep his business going.

[bobplum]

I feel that if you have sold work to someone then those houses are his to do with that he pleases. Wether he is unreliable or not makes no difference. You sold the work to Him, it's his.

You should probably at least give him a months cleaning worth of money back, that's fair.

But never sell any work to Him again. It could damage your rep.

except for the last line i think your wrong

[Michael Peterson]

I would agree that you are wrong , however after three years I probably would do the same mate

[Ian101]

I would call him up and explain the situation to him ......... if he takes it laying down then fine but if he gets a little anxious then offer him some kind of payment ... cash / other work etc.

[Michael Peterson]

I would agree that you are wrong , however after three years I probably would do the same mate

[deeege]

Once sold you should be forfeiting ever cleaning those houses again, regardless of how crap the other Window Cleaner is.

Reverse the roles and I'm sure you wouldn't be happy paying good money for work then seeing the old cleaner lurking again.

Also lol at considering phoning him to see if he would like to buy some of your lesser priced work to keep him sweet. I'm not surprised you are feeling guilty about screwing this guy over.

[AuRavelling79]

I once gave about six houses to a fellow JW's brother who was starting up - he'd had a knife put to his throat up North while driving a taxi and scarpered South with some financial help from his family.

Bless his cotton socks he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and would also stay in bed, not work, sometimes work and do a shoddy job, to the extent that five of the custies asked me to take them back on. I warned him and his attitude was he didn't care so I took five of them back. The other one was a PITA which I took delight in refusing to have back.

It was easier as I gave them away than if I had sold them mind.

[Richard60]

the thing is you didnt want the work so you sold it .
why (.even though the custies said the other window cleaner was doing a crap job )would you want it back .
     just because the custies asked you .dosent really wear n tear does it .myself i would say ok mate the work is mine again .the custies dont want you .here is some cash to reimberse you .take it or leave it .but the work is still mine .but that is my opinion

[barry mallett]

Most people seem to think I was right to get back in there . Remember he was getting cancellations and lost a few before I went back after 3 years .in reply to why I sold em in the first place .i always seem to be able to offload a days work every 3 or 4 years . I keep picking work up .the fact it was 35 out of 40 houses makes no difference as 95% of my work is like that . I forgot to put in the first post that I also told the first custy that approached me , that the price was would be nearly double what they were paying when I sold it . Making it even more attractive to me .                                         Deegee , I don't think I screwed the guy over but if it wasn't me some other windy would have filled his boots .regarding giving him first choice on some more work , I'm still not sure .just spoke to a mate that speaks to him and he says he defo is looking for more work , but is not entirely happy with me . Dave  f .will let you know if i decide to sell it . Cheers barry

[alfie11]

Im slightly confused

You sold some work 6 yrs ago and have been redoing them for the last 3 yrs and are now wondering if its an OK thing to do?

or


You want to know should you sell him more work?


If its the first. I think its a bit late to start having 2nd thoughts. 2nd...I wouldn't think he would be that keen to buy more work from you.

[CLEANCARE WC]

I dont know why people are judging barry the guy was losing/dumped the customers so barry took them on again, as someone mentioned if it was only a year or two then no, not without speaking to the other chap. but it was 6 years ago!!! 

[KS Cleaning]

About 6 years ago I sold 35 houses on a private estate of 40 . Anyway within 6 months I started getting asked back by some custies . They were unimpressed with his work and said he was unreliable .i resisted for 3 years but as I work nearby I would see some of these custies , by now some had sacked him and were either doing there own or had set another guy on who they said was not much better. So basically this very good round I had set up 20 years previous was going to pot .i finally gave in and told one of the custies if she got me at least 10 I would come black .within a month she had go me 12 back . As it stands now I do 28 of em without knocking one single door . Everyone has approached Me . Anyway just this week I got told the the guy I sold the work to as stopped going in there so I expect to mop the rest up shortly .so I need to offload a days work of my lesser paying work to fit in this better priced work .so I'm thinking should I phone this guy up and give him first choice on this work .is this wrong what's gone on or is it all fair in business.i do feel a little guilty but don't know if phoning the guy is the right thing . Anyone got an opinion on this . Cheers barry .

not everyone has approached you, you asked one of the custies to get u at least 10 of the houses, that's as good as chapping the doors in my book, only a bit easier as you got someone to do it for you.

[Jonny 87]

Once sold you should be forfeiting ever cleaning those houses again, regardless of how crap the other Window Cleaner is.

Reverse the roles and I'm sure you wouldn't be happy paying good money for work then seeing the old cleaner lurking again.

Also lol at considering phoning him to see if he would like to buy some of your lesser priced work to keep him sweet. I'm not surprised you are feeling guilty about screwing this guy over.

+1