[matt]

it must have been 18 - 24 months ago now it all started, i mentioned it on here, i know a few replied to it

first of all it was " can you not walk on the front flower border " which was 6 foot wide

so i used the WFP to do the window

then they didnt like that, said " can you go back to trad "

he put down bits of wood for me to stand on

i did, he complained my boots were still on the flower bed, not s.prising as im size 11 and the bits of wood were 4 " square  : :

1 day he didnt even speak to me, just opened the door and threw on the drive a few bits of wood

anyways, time moved on, one day i cleaned the front only as the gate was locked, the guy came back and was fairly rude and said " if i am not in, dont do ANY windows ", i said yes ok, its not a major issue

now the next time he see's me pull up in thevan, he jumps in his car and drive off, he didnt unlock the gate

the next time, he has it open, so it gets done

now the next time, he see's me get out of my van, i say " good morning " as he was out doing stuff on the garden, he waits intill im around the rear of next door and jumps in his car and drives off

he does the EXACT same thing again next time

next time he see's me oposite and i say " i will be over to you tomorrow, he says, we will not be in, so i say " i can pop over now if you want them done " i do the house i am on and he has allready driven off

so thats 3 X next to his house, last time i just walk past as the gate isnt open, he knows the score, open the gate or they dont get done

now today

i am trying to get my pump working, i had a 9 " frozen lump in the INFEED pipe, i get that fixed

he comes up and says " i will put the wood out , and i will have the gutters cleaned"

oh i say, i might not have time, as im stacked out, i certainly will not have time for the gutters ( i also have a hernia, so i am not doing extra's )

i walk past his house and carry on and clean all the other houses on his side of the road

i am on the last house and he walks past with the dog " I have put the wood out "

i reply, as i said, i might not have time

he burst into a rant " Who do you think you are, you might not have time, your a bl00dy window cleaner, not a surgeon "

i explained, i have to try and keep my regulars happy and they take priority

he says " well we are your regulars, we pay your wages, get down and clean our windows "

i laugh and say " you havent had them done for 4 cleans, thats 8 - 9 months, hardly regulars "

he starts shouting now " your just a window cleaner, your nothing, you should be grateful for our work "

** now i bite my tongue now, as i wanted to say " who the F&*^ do you think your speaking to " the old me would have had him on his back now with a swift punch , but i am older and wiser and dont need the hastle

he walks off down the street ranting and raging about " your only a bl00dy window cleaner, cannot find the time "

now this guy is in his 60's retired civil servant ( by all accounts a fairly high placed job ) lives in a 4 bed detached house in a very good area, i have cleaned his house since i started, the guy before me did is for 20 years

i really do wonder what the customer thinks of us sometimes

[DaveG]

I must say Matt you did well to control yourself there mate

Making my blood boil just reading it!

[ftp]

Brilliant! I wouldn't have lasted five minutes before dumping him in the first place, you must be very relaxed? Must have been that spliff.

[NWH]

I don`t let any customer tell me how to clean there windows,if i trad anything it`s because it`s easier for me not them.

[matt]

seriously

i really try to accommodate customers, i know he should have been dumped ages ago

the thing that might have saved him was i do 34 of the 36 houses in that street

[DaveG]

How will the other custies in the road react when they here about it?

[tomy jackson]

id have put him on his back

[chris@c.m.s]

I really don't understand why you put up with any of that ? I only have to start to dislike someone and they are history, and they certainly wouldn't start talking down to me.
Matt you've been going long enough not to put up with that  

[chrisyg]

well done matt!

I hope he ask's you again in the future to do them, you can then flatly refuse on the way he spoke to you for any future work.

i'd like to find out how that goes

I really do like it when they say not this month, not this month, and then you dont bother with them, whilst on next doors they say this month please - i reply sorry i cant but, i can book you in later in the week if you like? I have a strict schedule with regular customers and appointments to keep, i can no longer do "as and whens". the look on their faces is priceless 

[johnny_h]

second time the gates were locked i would of dumped him how ever this year if they miss 2 cleans the price goes up £1 miss another and its up another £1 all the time i will be looking to replace them

[dai]

Well done Matt, It's all very well saying dump em, but this is what happened to me.
I started WFP about the same time that the news night programme had a guy from the fed bad mouthing WFP. This guy had seen the programme and said that he was not having me use WFP on his house again, He also said that I was leaving marks on the walls of his house, these houses have a kind of slate cladding on them, and all the houses had marks where the rain had fallen off the sills and washed the cladding, even the ones I didn't do.
Ok he had sacked me and was bad mouthing me to the rest of the estate. a couple of months later he asked me to do his windows again. I said "go and whistle Dixie". This was a bad move because after bad mouthing me, he would have looked the Pratt that he is by having me do them again.
Eventually, he got a new lad to do his windows trad, the lad being new was dead keen and took about 30 mins to do the job for 50p less than I was charging [£5.50].
Now we can say what we like about WFP, but the fact is that many older customers put up with it, but really prefer Trad.
I ended up losing 8 customers to this new guy.
He that laughs last, laughs longest, and that old bugger is still laughing.

[Oakley Windows]

well here goes a funny story about why customers are a pain in the rear

first off, they have a little yappy dog that goes mental when im in the street, i do 28 out of the street of 30 houses, it barks the  whole day and a bit

about 3 years ago, i started doing the front of this house ( downstairs ) with WFP , the front lawn has a massive corner flower bed, full of roses and other flowers, the lawn is about 8 ft away from the window, so it makes sense to wfp, saves me walking in the flowerbed, this was fine for about 12 months, then they asked me to stand on these 6" sqaures of wood that the guy had set out, im size 11 feet, it didnt work that well

the next time i arrived, the guy come down his side path and threw these bit of wood on the drive and didnt even speak to me, so i just stood where i wanted and ignored the bits of wodd strewn down the drive, he came out and asked why i didnt use them, i said " well as you just threw them down the drive, and didnt speak to me, i thought they were just being trown out and you were tiding up", he knew he had pi    ssed me off

so the next time i arrive, i park my van, do the 2 houses next door and he jumps in his car an drives off, gate still locked, so i do the front and change him 6 quid and away i go, i call in at the end of the day and he says "if we are not in, then dont just do the front, you wll have to call back and catch us in "  : :

so the next 3 times he see's me do the next door, runs out to his car and drives off

today im accross the road

him says " hi, are you going to do ours today "
me " no, i still have this side to do, then tomorrow i will do them and then get to yours "
him " we might be out, if we are out, dont do any of it, call back some other time"
me " i will not have time to call back, i will be out of area after tomorrow "
him " oh ok, your loss "
me " i will cope "

i then walk down the road and speak to a guy who is allways out pottering around, i tell him of our discussion and he laughs, i ask whats funny
he explains the guy is punishing me, as the dog goes mad, i ask him what he means, he says he is not paying you to punish you

its only 9 quid  : : :

made me laugh

[East coast window cleaning Services]

 

What a nut job

[jouk45]

matt, have you seen the signs in hospitals, dentists, clinics,  all over, the place , any bad laungage, racist, remarks, ect, we are no diffrent because we are w/c,  £8 or not get shot of them m8

[matt]

well here goes a funny story about why customers are a pain in the rear

first off, they have a little yappy dog that goes mental when im in the street, i do 28 out of the street of 30 houses, it barks the  whole day and a bit

about 3 years ago, i started doing the front of this house ( downstairs ) with WFP , the front lawn has a massive corner flower bed, full of roses and other flowers, the lawn is about 8 ft away from the window, so it makes sense to wfp, saves me walking in the flowerbed, this was fine for about 12 months, then they asked me to stand on these 6" sqaures of wood that the guy had set out, im size 11 feet, it didnt work that well

the next time i arrived, the guy come down his side path and threw these bit of wood on the drive and didnt even speak to me, so i just stood where i wanted and ignored the bits of wodd strewn down the drive, he came out and asked why i didnt use them, i said " well as you just threw them down the drive, and didnt speak to me, i thought they were just being trown out and you were tiding up", he knew he had pi    ssed me off

so the next time i arrive, i park my van, do the 2 houses next door and he jumps in his car an drives off, gate still locked, so i do the front and change him 6 quid and away i go, i call in at the end of the day and he says "if we are not in, then dont just do the front, you wll have to call back and catch us in "  : :

so the next 3 times he see's me do the next door, runs out to his car and drives off

today im accross the road

him says " hi, are you going to do ours today "
me " no, i still have this side to do, then tomorrow i will do them and then get to yours "
him " we might be out, if we are out, dont do any of it, call back some other time"
me " i will not have time to call back, i will be out of area after tomorrow "
him " oh ok, your loss "
me " i will cope "

i then walk down the road and speak to a guy who is allways out pottering around, i tell him of our discussion and he laughs, i ask whats funny
he explains the guy is punishing me, as the dog goes mad, i ask him what he means, he says he is not paying you to punish you

its only 9 quid  : : :

made me laugh

thats the guy

was it really july i last moaned about him, it seems longer

i got the numbers wrong on the road aswell, its not 28 out of 30, its 34 out of 36, i looked today, 2 on each corner are actually in this road, not the road its off

[alanwilson]

you actually made a thread out of this?

mate gt a grip, if someone abuses you like this clown then get shot of them - he's looking down his nose at you, and what for?  does he think he's a BETTER person?

[drwindows]

I would never have tolerated a customer that expected me to go back to trad.  Even less one who wanted me to mess around with bits of wood!  He'd have been dropped at the first sign of trouble.

[mark dew]

Dai made a good point which brought me back to reality. It coud open the way door for another (worse if it's a trad) cleaner. That is a very nice niche you have there matt.
But you should still dump him. That kind of abuse has a knock on effect and no matter how well it's handled at the time, it's unavoidable taking that feeling home with.
And you have a woman and young daughter there waiting for you who will pick up your vibes.

[peter holley]

when someone talks down their nose at me like that, i poter about in my van or carryon doing paper work , i dont look at them in the conversation, its as if im talking to them , but have no interestin what they have to say..... it really annoys them , but more importantly it gets the message to them that you really dont care who they are and couldnt care about their buisness....oh, and remember to be pleasant.

[Dean Taberner]

Just enjoy them,

They havent got a clue mate