[JRDEasiReach]

Right this is rather annoying, when i first get my custom i ask how often they want me to come, they say once a month so i say every 4 weeks then? they reply 'yes thats fine'  last month i went to at least 3 places and they informed me that 4 weeks is too soon and to 'give them a shout' i think to myself why should i unless i really need the money, im not there to run about the place at their beck and call if they aint going to be regular, am i right in being like this?

If i f***ed them about, they would bin me and tell the country wouldnt they?

What would you do, in total so far its 35 a month down!!

[Craig - CW Window Cleaning]

 I understand I have some new customers like that went to one the other day not close by, knocked on the door her "dont bother today"
me "right then I'm not gonna bother next time!"
They dont understand I just drove a good few miles to keep to my schedule and make sure I'm reliable its very annoying.......
thankfully most my customers are gooduns
craig

[peter holley]

its very frustrating  , and   as they are a new customer and its on the second clean, you can gyarentee it will keep on happening....when I canvass, I always base my figures on the assumton that out of every 10 houses found 3 will not be any good , ie messers, bad payers,,,etc,

        the annoing thing is on the first clean we can be there twice as long
its very frustrating, but instead of lettingit wind you up, mov on a drop them, and put your ener into replacing them.

[cozy]

All of our British custies are on a 6 weekly run. In that time the windows get dirty enough. We don't get hardly any "Not this times" because who would wait 12 weeks to get their windows cleaned?. You need more custies to run a 6 weekly, but it cuts out all that sort of thing IMO.

There are ALWAYS some plonkers who will mess you about, so just grin a bare it mate.Get rid of them and for every one you drop, replace with two new ones.

[matt]

we provide a service, if a customer decides they do not want that service this time, to be honest, we can do nothing about it

its annoying and very frustrating

a have a small number that do it about this time of the year, for me though its no big issue as my round is so compact i just walk to the next house ( normally next door or the house after that )

you either accept it, or you dump them

[daz1977]

i use to have one that wanted me to come every 2 weeks, done first clean then on second and third clean would come running out of house saying not this time,  so just droped him an still do his sons, who asked me y i dont do his dads any more so i told him, he said dont blame you

i get custys now that say not this month, i drop them  u can fill your month up with maybes, who only want it clean when really dirty

if a custy asks to 2 monthly, i move them to the day in the month where i have my 2 monthly slots

remember you are not a charity,  the problem i think is that wc is not seen as a professional job, just some doley doing it till they get a proper job, so they think they can treat you how they like, you dont see these people  saying to sky, dont want it this month maybe next month,  


u  

[Ian W]

I used to get concerned by it, but now I just dump them.

[Martin ccs]

i try and run a system like this - i give the customer 2 options.

1. windows cleaned every 4 weeks as its cheaper than every 8 ....

2. windows cleaned every 8 weeks but say £2 - £4 more than every 4 weeks.

most customers understand that but some will ask why, so i say its simple the more dirt on the windows the longer it takes to do.

9 times out of 10 customers go with 4 weeks - as they feel your trying to save them money and being fair with dif options.

and of course there is always gonna be some idiots that still muck you around - 3 strikes and your out rule for them!

[Lee Pryor]

i hate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

zero tolerance is the answer, like martin we offer a choice of 6 or 12 weeks with a difference in price for each.

be strong, get rid of messers, late payers, rude people, ones who want to cancel from nov-march. in the end you get a better business for it.

[Martin ccs]

i hate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

zero tolerance is the answer, like martin we offer a choice of 6 or 12 weeks with a difference in price for each.

be strong, get rid of messers, late payers, rude people, ones who want to cancel from nov-march. in the end you get a better business for it.

oh yes! bloody well said that man!!

[JRDEasiReach]

well im going to take the bull by the horns and try them one more time just before xmas, may get me a few extra quid to cover my ad if it doesnt work then if they still messing me about and dont give me a definite 4 weeks or 8 week answer then im going to bin them, one of the places is beside a busy road and as you know this time of year they get dirty quickly, plus its a business not as if hes getting it in his own pocket by sticking to our agreement.  Just want to make it clear that 2 of the 3 allowed me to go ahead as usual and only informed me when i had left that they would 'ring me' or that i should 'give them a shout' for the next clean!

[C.C.S.]

i use to do every 4 weeks ,but now i say straight away 6 weeks most of them are happy .it's just that sometimes when you do 4 weeks rota u get to 2 cleans in 1 month which puts some people away

[JandS]

A friend of mine's a window cleaner and he does his domestic round every 2 weeks
and never get's any complaints     or he didn't used to, haven't seem him for a while

John

[Richard Holt]

I always work on a calender month, and most of the custies are happy with that.
Some months if the weather has been good I have a few spare days to myself, or if it's been bad then I have a few days to play with.

I used to work four weekly, but I found it was too often.

I also try and work a four day week, then I always have that spare day (not that it usually works that way, something always comes in ).

And as for people saying not this time, well that's there perogative (spelling?) to do so.
Customers can be the biggest pain in the backside sometimes, but ultimately we need to keep them happy in order for our business' to function.
I always try to put a few back up jobs on the list for the day.
And if the customer keeps putting me off I ask if they would like to go to two monthly as it's costing me money to come out to them and then get turned away!

Have you tried texting them the day before? Then at least you'd know the day before when you're planing your next days work.

[wizard]

I feel if your customer agrees to a 4 week visit then that’s what it is. If they do not want that then we make a new understanding. Then you need to neg a new price. If they mess with that then stuff them and move on , BUT tell them you are going to move on they will 9/10 time change there attitude and those who don’t drop a.s.a.p. They will respect you for it. Use you anger to have courage to say to them what your terms are. Any big or small business must have policies and procedures. Or rules to abide by, all parties must comply.

[martinsadie]

all my work is 2 or 4 weekly and compact get very few not this time,and if i do you just move on to the next hose like Matt said  

[pingu]

In the main most of my cash-cows are 8 weekly scheduled cleans. For the most part they are a well behaved herd with the odd 'rogue' but a quick trip to the slaughter soon solves any issues.

[wizard]

Big Rule in Business The COSTENOR IS NOT ALWAYS RITE. when it comes to your business policies. They must be treated with due respect, which means treat them as they treat you. Think about it!!!!

[leapstallbuildings]

All of our British custies are on a 6 weekly run. In that time the windows get dirty enough. We don't get hardly any "Not this times" because who would wait 12 weeks to get their windows cleaned?. You need more custies to run a 6 weekly, but it cuts out all that sort of thing IMO.

There are ALWAYS some plonkers who will mess you about, so just grin a bare it mate.Get rid of them and for every one you drop, replace with two new ones.

Like you, I also found that going 6 weekly helped stop the "not today" ones.  I don't often get this happen these days - probably because most of my customers have been with me a while and I started dropping people more easily when they started doing this.  Although it's inconvenient, maybe it's not too bad when first starting because there are gaps in the round anyway.  However, when they are taking up the space of a better customer, it them becomes a money loser.

[williamx]

When I first give a quote to a potential customer I price the job up as follows.

a 4 weekly clean = £10
a 6 weekly clean = £12
a 8 weekly clean = £15

anything over that is classed as a 1st clean which is charged at double the 4 weekly clean rate.

So when i telephone a customer the night before and they say" not this time", unless they have a good reason for the cancellation, then I charge them by how long since the last clean.


I have found this works ok.