[andyjm1]

I texted for the gate to be left unlocked  tomorrow, it's a £9.00 job, 2nd clean.


Their reply

Hi, we have have had a quote from one of your competitors for £6.00, could you price match this or beat it.

My reply

Sorry but £9 is my best price for pure water cleaning. Please let me know what you want to do.


Their reply

Thats fine, the gate will be left unlocked for you tomorrow.


Strange or what!
I was surprised they didn't say they were cancelling.
Maybe the competitor didn't exist and they were just trying to have my pants down. I'm glad I stuck to my price though to be honest I wasn't even tempted to cut it as I have similar houses at £10 and even £11.

Anyone else ever get this sort of thing? First time I've had it

[Martin-Swinscoe]

Well done for holding your nerve.
If they had done it to me i'd be tempted to bin them 

[Sapphire Window Cleaning]

i am sure if you had dropped your prices they would of cancelled you.




Matt

[C.C.S.]

you do get al sorts of funny customers this days.i texted the other day to a customers to unlock the gate and when i got  there  suprise was locked.i did the front and put  bill trough the door for £10 (the whole house is £13),there are a few more  windows in the front then the back .she text ne back few hours later to say sorry and the that the gate will be unlocked for the rest of the day but i text her back that i can't come back.she texted back and asked if i can come monday and said sorry i won't be in the area till next time ,although the house is 5 min from me but i'm not gone spent another trip for her ignorance and for £3 .i think she got ped and text me back to clean her 2,5 months from now (she is evert5 weeks)and i said ok .she won't see me again .there is another option for this customers if they try to contact me they have to pay one-off fees .

[jonnyald]

thats her 1st strke Andy .     remember the 3 strikes-and u are -out    rule.    its my motto

[andyjm1]

Well done for holding your nerve.
If they had done it to me i'd be tempted to bin them 

That did cross my mind. I still will if they turn out to be messers, time will tell.

[andyjm1]

thats her 1st strke Andy .     remember the 3 strikes-and u are -out    rule.    its my motto

I agree, when I just started out I would let customers mess me about because I needed the work, not anymore though 

[lcwalker]

As i did a big house every month horrible windows little pains and i do trad there was about 19/20 windows i charged £35 because i wasn't really bothered whether i got the job but i did and was doing it for well over a year, then i rang them to just let them know when i was coming as they left out a cheque and they said the house was being painted they will phone me when it's done.Well i thought it was a bit strange as the house was painted the previous year.But i have never heard from them since and this is well over a year ago they always seemed very happy and paid no problem and i was reliable.

[Ste M]

the way i see the text is that if you dont ask you dont get, they are probably happy with your services but money may be tight in the house so they are trying to reduce outgoings.

If you buy a car do you haggle? of course you do.

Each year do you phone around for the best insurance? of course you do.

Do you phone around to get the best equipment for the best price? yes of course

I dont understand the way some of the people are on here, they say as soon as people start asking for money off or leave gates closed they just say drop them, i personally dont think that is a good way to do business. Unless a customer was to insult me or just built up a ridiculous amount of debt, then i would not drop them for what i see as petty things.

If someone has been told to open a gate and they dont, then if the house is usually £10 and i only do the front, just charge them £6 an go to your next job early. its simple and you dont lose much over time, if anything you will make more as you can fit in more houses over the day, the more accomodating you are for your customers then the more recommendations you will get.

People say one of the reasons they do window cleaning is because its a relatively stress free job, yet i hear a lot of negative stressful people on here. people need to relax and chill out more.

Just my opinion

ste

[Window Washers]

I would bethinking that shes price shopping so will leave if a person undercuts you.
Or she was trying it on to get a lower price with no intention of going anywhere if she was that is quite impressive.
 

[Murdie window cleaning]

the way i see the text is that if you dont ask you dont get, they are probably happy with your services but money may be tight in the house so they are trying to reduce outgoings.

If you buy a car do you haggle? of course you do.

Each year do you phone around for the best insurance? of course you do.

Do you phone around to get the best equipment for the best price? yes of course

I dont understand the way some of the people are on here, they say as soon as people start asking for money off or leave gates closed they just say drop them, i personally dont think that is a good way to do business. Unless a customer was to insult me or just built up a ridiculous amount of debt, then i would not drop them for what i see as petty things.

If someone has been told to open a gate and they dont, then if the house is usually £10 and i only do the front, just charge them £6 an go to your next job early. its simple and you dont lose much over time, if anything you will make more as you can fit in more houses over the day, the more accomodating you are for your customers then the more recommendations you will get.

People say one of the reasons they do window cleaning is because its a relatively stress free job, yet i hear a lot of negative stressful people on here. people need to relax and chill out more.

Just my opinion

ste

Ste

I agree, I am just starting out so it is easy for me to say because I've not got that many custies as yet, but if I were wanting a job done in the house I would get a few quotes before awarding the job. If a custie is trying to get a few pound off the price then so what ? You done the correct thing, you stuck to your price and you still have the customer.

Paul

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

I think I would have responded the same as you but then instead of let us know what you want to do, I would have said "wish you well with your new window cleaner".  Going there now is going to be horrible as you'll always be wondering if they'll drop you.  If they then ask you to go back, there's a good chance they won't mess you about in future.

Simon.

[andyjm1]

Going there will just be a usual clean, they are out during the day and pay on-line, so I never see them anyway.
If they do happen to be in I will act like nothing has happened.

[soapy]

There just trying it on.
Put the price up after xmas make it an idiot tax !!

[EandM]

The customer agrees a price to have 1.The work done regularly and to an acceptable standard & 2.To ensure that the window cleaner has an incentive to return. As (normally) inflation pushes prices up by about 4% per year then cleaning prices going down is not an option.

Everytime we've been told we've been undercut we've just said goodbye. Nearly everytime the customer will ring a month or so later to say that the new operative hasn't turned up and can we do them again. To us, that's three strikes in a row and the answer is no.

[Martin ccs]

maybe its because you text your customers and they think you are a cowboy, so they can try it on.

thats proper unproffesional!

proffesional companies wouldnt text customers!

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

I get texts from o2 all the time. I offer it as a service to some customers as well and get good remarks on it.

Simon.

[matt]

maybe its because you text your customers and they think you are a cowboy, so they can try it on.

thats proper unproffesional!

proffesional companies wouldnt text customers!

  why is that ? ? ? ? ?

just out of interest really ?? ? ??

[Alistair@AWC]

Yes Martin,

Please enlighten us!

[sparklebright]

maybe its because you text your customers and they think you are a cowboy, so they can try it on.

thats proper unproffesional!

proffesional companies wouldnt text customers!

I wouldn't normally stoop to ask, but what are you talking about?

I text a number of my customers, they love it. I even email some. It's called customer service.

And by the way, that's not how you spell professional either....