[David 'Duck' Clare]

Hi all,

Whilst out yesterday i cleaned a new house & small conservatory (3 windows at front and the cons) = £10 and onl 15/20 mins to do all of it.

So i went to collect my money at 6.30 last night. The lady who was very polite and nice said hi thanks for doing the windows but youve missed a couple of bits....i couldnt understand it but i appologised and went to the car to get my gear and went to the conservatory....she pointed at ALL the whitework and said it was like that this morning and its all still grey in colour!!!!!

I explained for £10 i clean the windows and wipe the water off the frames afterwards and thats that. If she would like the white work done i can do that but its £25 due to chemicals etc she looked bemused so i went back to car dropped my kit got a cloth and the UPVC ive just bought yesterday and gave her a FREE demo! no problem she understands but shes 'i can live with it been grey' .

So i ask for my £10 and she says how come there is another bloke coming round the estate only charging £5 for my house + conservatory. She goes inside and shows my the leaflet! i cant beleave it.

A gave a simple resonse im insured, i do this for a job NOT beer money and heres my landline number, mobile number and address. The choice is yours - she came around to me eventually but i wasnt bother at that point if she did or didnt.

Anyway hose number 2 same story re leaflet and then for all 15 on the same estate! this bloke called RAZ is a prized t**t and if i find him im gonna put my pole where the sun dont shine!

His leaflet is as follows £5 for house (inc conservatory!!!!!!!) and £3 per flat.

Worst still ive just lost a £25 job to this bloke. im well not happy! 

Rant over....
David

[mark6765]

I am starting to get worried too.
I have just knocked up a lot of work chargeing £10 a house, where the old window (who has,nt been seen for 6 months) was chargeing £6.
They were happy to give me £10 when they did,nt have a cleaner.
But we hav had a few days of sun and i have seen him about with his ladder.
 Im wondering if hes gona take his customers back for the summer.
Dont know him, but by the looks of him hes probly on the dole and gets his rent paid.
I will probly lose a few hard earned customers, just so he can have his summer beer money.

Wunt do for me.  I need beer money all year.  

[KJG]

Grass this bum up to the dole. He's shat on you so do the same back. Glad I'm not at the mercy of domestic/house cleaning any more.

[ronaldo]

Dont worry lads he,ll soon dissapear the cheapies allways do. Like its been said many times before it will be some twat off the dole or somebody looking for beer money. Stick to your prices and just keep thinking theres tons of glass out there to clean and just keep cracking on.

[billozz]

I am starting to get worried too.
I have just knocked up a lot of work chargeing £10 a house, where the old window (who has,nt been seen for 6 months) was chargeing £6.
They were happy to give me £10 when they did,nt have a cleaner.
But we hav had a few days of sun and i have seen him about with his ladder.
 Im wondering if hes gona take his customers back for the summer.
Dont know him, but by the looks of him hes probly on the dole and gets his rent paid.
I will probly lose a few hard earned customers, just so he can have his summer beer money.

Wunt do for me.  I need beer money all year.  

i wouldnt worry too much, but i would be inclined to point out to any customers that try to drop you in favour of him, that once they go back to him, they cant come back to you when he finishes for the winter

[macc]

HI David & Mark. had the same prob not long ago, wgat i did was got together all the info i could, ie car reg, phone no & houses i know he cleaned, phoned INLAND REVENUE & went down to BENIFITS OFFICE & phoned the GRASS EM UP NUMBER, guess what, havent seen him again. 

Just for good measure the customers that dropped me for him, when they asked me to start again i put 2-3 quid on top.  . some of my best paying customers now.



i did make it clear that if it happens again they wont see me again. 

macc

[Paul Coleman]

Hi all,

Whilst out yesterday i cleaned a new house & small conservatory (3 windows at front and the cons) = £10 and onl 15/20 mins to do all of it.

So i went to collect my money at 6.30 last night. The lady who was very polite and nice said hi thanks for doing the windows but youve missed a couple of bits....i couldnt understand it but i appologised and went to the car to get my gear and went to the conservatory....she pointed at ALL the whitework and said it was like that this morning and its all still grey in colour!!!!!

I explained for £10 i clean the windows and wipe the water off the frames afterwards and thats that. If she would like the white work done i can do that but its £25 due to chemicals etc she looked bemused so i went back to car dropped my kit got a cloth and the UPVC ive just bought yesterday and gave her a FREE demo! no problem she understands but shes 'i can live with it been grey' .

So i ask for my £10 and she says how come there is another bloke coming round the estate only charging £5 for my house + conservatory. She goes inside and shows my the leaflet! i cant beleave it.

A gave a simple resonse im insured, i do this for a job NOT beer money and heres my landline number, mobile number and address. The choice is yours - she came around to me eventually but i wasnt bother at that point if she did or didnt.

Anyway hose number 2 same story re leaflet and then for all 15 on the same estate! this bloke called RAZ is a prized t**t and if i find him im gonna put my pole where the sun dont shine!

His leaflet is as follows £5 for house (inc conservatory!!!!!!!) and £3 per flat.

Worst still ive just lost a £25 job to this bloke. im well not happy! 

Rant over....
David

David.  Hold your nerve and stand your ground with pricing.  If you go in too cheap early on, you will suffer for it later.  I still have jobs that I feel are far too cheap and I've been at it 15 years.  However, apart from some guy I felt sorry for (aren't I a mug?) none of those jobs are jobs I've priced in the last 18 months.  Oops !!.  I tell a lie.  I did make a mistake on one quote.  Not to worry.  We all do it occasionally.
The cheapie window cleaners rarely last more than a year or two.  After you've been doing it for a while and shown yourself to be reliable, you will find that you will pick up whole chunks of work as the cheapies quit.  At the moment, your work is probably spread out a bit.  Many of those gaps will fill up in time.
Just stick with it and you may be surprised at what is achievable.