[Martin-Swinscoe]

Took a phone call off a customer a couple of hours ago. They reckon whilst i was doing the outsides of the house. The lad who i employ who was doing the insides at the time and  is 18 they reckon a gold ring has gone missing from their house.

I've employed this  lad for the past 2 years and yes he's a bit of a lad etc. But to call him a thief it doesn't ring any alarm bell's. As far as i'm concerned he does his job and totally trustworthy. Do i believe the customer or do i believe the lad?
ie: either lose a custy or lose someone that i trust? tough call to ask and the only trouble is it's a small town that i serve and one bad word will spread like wild fire

[concept]

not one for us to give you a right or wrong on to be fair...however, you are the only person that knows your employ, and if you trust him implicitly, then, weigh up the potential costs of losing him or a customer...tough call, but it's your call...

[jonnyald]

sunday workin and on a bank holiday weekend  too / whats thatabout???

[TonyD]

That's a tough one to call.
I'd go with your instincts, if you've had no problems in 2 years why would he steal now ?  People mislay stuff all the time and look to blame anyone but them for mislaying it.  It might just turn up somewhere. 

I know this seems OTT, but what about a honey trap or two for him, arrange to do a house, even a friends house or something and leave a few temptations about, that will tell you for sure I'd have thought.  Or is that out of order to do that I don't know.

[jeff1]

Do a good Job and your customers will tell just a few people? yet do a bad Job and your customers will tell everyone, in this case I would get around to that customers house and get it sorted before they tell everyone that their w/c is a thief and you loose all your customers.

They won't tell everyone its the lad who works for the w/c that stole the ring, this bit will be omitted it will be the w/c stole my ring, think about it and sort it fast, rumours and gossip travel fast. 

[Platinum NW]

My mum used to clean a house for a wealthy woman a few years ago - She accused my mum of taking this £3000 ring which my mum denied - Anyhow after the cheshire police searched our house they discovered the woman had recently had building work done at a sum of £3500 - Resulting in a search of the womans house they found the ring hid at the back of a drawer in the bedroom - the woman wasnt as wealthy as we thought and tried to claim some insurance money to cover her bills
My mum resigned straight away, she got a warning and that was that

Maybe the recession is pinching your customer abit to hard

[eclipse]

id pull him to the side and just explain that you are going to get in touch with the customer and tell them that you are going to call the police in on this matter tell him if he has done nothing not to worry but you have to do it
if you lad is telling the truth he will have nothing to worry about but on the other side of the coin if the custy is telling porkies they may try and talk you out of it

whether the guy has worked for you for years or not it is your name on the side of the van so to speak and it is up to you to take action... call it damage limitation if you like....if it does turn out the lad has been theiving then at least you have taken prompt action about this   whatever happens it shows your custies that you have a zero tollerance regarding matters like this

On a carpet cleaning course i took i was told about a lad who had cleaned a 3 piece suite and down the side of it he had found 3 gold coins which he put on the mantlepiece,
when he had finished the job he brought the custie in and said theres your suite all clean etc etc by the way i found 3 gold coins down the side of it ive put them on the mantlepiece for you
custie turns around and says "there should be 4 gold coins down there" turn out the coins were gold south african krugerands and down the side of the suite was the hiding place

any way lad got on to his employer who went straight round and rang the police
in the end it turned out that the custie only really had 3 coins and had tried to pull a fast one at this lads expence   

[mci services]

id pull him to the side and just explain that you are going to get in touch with the customer and tell them that you are going to call the police in on this matter tell him if he has done nothing not to worry but you have to do it
if you lad is telling the truth he will have nothing to worry about but on the other side of the coin if the custy is telling porkies they may try and talk you out of it

whether the guy has worked for you for years or not it is your name on the side of the van so to speak and it is up to you to take action... call it damage limitation if you like....if it does turn out the lad has been theiving then at least you have taken prompt action about this   whatever happens it shows your custies that you have a zero tollerance regarding matters like this

best bit of advice ive heard in a while, the lad will bottle it and own up or the customer will backtrack and say not to bother either way you will know the score

[trevor povey]

 not at all suggesting yr lad is wrong but in future you could clean the inside of any properties and let any employed person do the outside therfore there is no grey areas at all

[Slash]

This happened to me just before Christmas last year,the woman rang up to complain that her ring of great sentimental value had gome missing from her dressing table the day I cleaned her insides ,I did explain to her I had not seen it but she was determent it was me who STOLE it as I was the only person in the house that day along with her family.I was very worried at the time as I was completly innocent and what a bad word as THIEF would do to my reputation it almost ruined my Christmas,
However the day after Boxing Day she rang up to say she had found it stuffed down the back of her dressing table along with other hair accessories,I was so happy yet angry at the same time,how dare she accuse me,I never went back to her and still do the other houses in the cul de sac,her neighbours do ask me why I don't do her anymore to which I reply there was a misunderstanding but I bet she feels well embarresed now and her windows are BLACK 

[Londoner]

This is exactly the reason why I won't do insides except for a couple of regulars.

[simon knight]

Silly thing is that if you go on the nick in this game you last precisely 2 weeks.

[ian1972]

take the word of the person you no over some stranger as long as he has never given u reason to doub his word

[Martin-Swinscoe]

I've spoke to the lad who is absolutly adamant HE HAS NOT STOLEN THE RING.
I've also been down to see the custy who is also adamant that he has had no one else who has been in that room for ages so it must be the young lad.
I asked him if he actually saw him pocket the ring with his own eyes- he didn't!
Now i suggested that we call the police- the custy started to back track a little bit saying if he called the insurance people he might not need the police involved. and basically we can sweep it under the carpet etc.
I'm not happy with that i want a guilty or not guilty verdict as i feel that i've got nothing to hide, and my gut reaction is that he is on the fiddle

[simon knight]

Sounds to me like the custy is definately a crooked so-and-so.  When he says call the insurance people and sweep it under the carpet what's he saying? That he call his insurance company and say the ring has gone missing and he suspects the window cleaner took it?  Or perhaps his plan is to call his insurance company and they'll contact your insurance company?

Personally I'd get old bill involved. Your customer is the sort who bumps up premiums for the rest of us "honest" guys.

[jeff1]

He's saying the ring has been stolen then the insurance company will want a URN number without that they won't pay out? or is he going to tell them he lost it??? The guy is a crook and I would involve the Police so it all back fires on him, tell the police Just what the customer said.

[Rob.Hall]

A mate of mine is a w/c.

A lady reported him for nicking a ring.

Next thing he knows is the police are all over his house serching. No draw or cubby holes excluded.

He has a family and was quite mortified.

The police took him after down to the station for questioning.

Two days later the case was dropped. The lady found it later!

Just goes to show. Now he is reluctant to do any inside cleans.

A good honest down to earth chap.

[ian1972]

well i would push to get the police involved if he is after a insurance claim,u want to clear the lads name and yours

[tomy jackson]

no plece no pay out .did i see you yesterday YCSW down cleceton rd??

[eclipse]

Phone the law and when it is all sorted and she "finds" the ring take her to one side and explain that if she mentions the fact that she accused your employee to any one in the street you will have her for slander
oh and drop her