[julianbiggs]

Just phoned a good customer ( worth about £600 per year inc. gutters/conservatory/windows/ fascias) to let them know i will be round tomorrow and they said that they'd received a flyer saying that I had sold my round to this chap and he'll be round next week!! So, i phoned him and pretended to be the guy from that house, and I acted all innocent and started asking a few questions about why the previous window cleaner ( that's me!!) had sold the round, to which he replied i'd fallen off a ladder and couldn't work any more. I then said that's interesting because I am that bloke and I have never fallen off my ladder ( yet). He soon started being very apologetic and explaining it must be a mistake and would never do anything underhand.  Has anyone else experienced this ??

[g_griffin]

It`s underhand.

          Gerry.

[H h20]

Paranoid? Thats down right dirty,i would try to find out some info about him,he`s out of order telling people lies does he think hes going to get  good customer respect doing that ,i don`t think so! Gaz

[g_griffin]

Yes, I agree.
 He` already shown himself to be a liar.
  Get your customers to spread the word and  you should have nothing to worry about.

                   Gerry.

[Ian_Giles]

Write out some flyers of your own and get them delivered to all of your customers.
Be careful how you word it though, be professional in the wording of it, and not angry.
But I would get very angry indeed with the cowboy, let other window cleaners in your area know about him, he must be doing it all over the place, you won't be the only one to fall victim to him.
Pass his number to all the other window cleaners you get on well with.

All of you ring him and point out that you will all be paying him a visit to demonstrate that you are all in the very best of health.

I'm not advocating violence, this forum is not the place to do such a thing....is it?

I would certainly hold him politely against the nearest wall and inform him of the error of his ways.

Ian

[AuRavelling79]

Give us the number on his flyer and we'll phone and explain to him the error of his ways!

[windolene]

Hi,

As I have said before a shop owner who's shop I cleaned said to me that his cleaner at his other shop had passed away & that he cleaned the whole parade, that I should hot foot it over there to get the work. Off I went informing the other shop owners that thier guy had passed away & that I was availiable to carry on his good work, only finding out later that the guy who had died only cleaned one shop in the parade, my customers shop!

Mistakes can be made & are made.

Kevin windolene.

[AuRavelling79]

Could have been worse kevin windolene - the guy might not have died!

[matt]

the first thing i would do is spend a few evening this week and get a few letter out to your customers, its s.prising the number who will just belive this guy and when you arrive they will say "oh your mate does them"

i know its happened a few times near me

[rosskesava]

I wonder how the other w/c got to know whose houses you do?

That's what I'd be thinking on unless your rounds are very compact ones.

The only thing I can think of he was door knocking but then he would have picked up work of his own. Surely?

Purely by chance he may stumble across a few but I would have thought more than  that was odd.

Cheers

[busydaffodil]

I dont think your being paranoid.   
The chances are he has been watching you & your areas of work.   I would do as these guys say & flyer all yout customers informing them of what has/is happening to your business.   Get them informed & on guard before you lose out.   Ask them to phone you should anyone approach them with misleading information.   
Have you spoken to the police?
Do you know where this guy lives? If not, follow him.
Are DSS, Inland Revenue and the National Insurance Contributions Agency aware of his new business?
Contact other local WC and let them know what this guy is doing. 

Personally, I'd do Ian Giles method of "addressing the guy directly"     He will never step on your toes again.

[gaza]

As well as a lot on here know what happenned to me ,such devious people do cause trouble ,and to reply to your post get back to your round and drop a note through the door asap,if youve built up a tight knit round soon you will find you will have to travel more in between especialy if hes cheaper.
   That low life scum wont even show his face near me now  even though he lives on the estate I clean on. He flogged about £800 of my work he had nicked for £450
to a w/c cleaner I HAD WARNED, that this guy was under cutting by a third,and low and behold he bought the work.
Now thats okay by me, cus that gives me the go a head to crawl all over his work,
something Ive never done but  hes in for a suprise allready took some off his old customers,well they are now
GET IN THERE QUICK,AND LET YOUR CUSTOMERS KNOW  THE SCORE. I f hes a fly by night try and find were else he workss and whe hes gone dive into his round

 gaza

[brett walker]

Violence is not the answer here as his bruisers will heal but his reputation will not, this bloke is clearly dishonest and a liar he deserves everything he gets back

I would send your customers a letter explaining you are still their window cleaner unless you otherwise state and to be very aware of a bogus window cleaner, that is a burgular working in this area.  Give them his name and what vehicle and registration, once you have planted this in your customers heads the word will get round about him and they will appreciate the information from you

Like i said he deserves everything he gets

Brett

[gaza]

Brett getting violent nnnnnnnnarh
angry yyyyyeeeessss

gaza

[Trevor Knight]

Totally agree Brett about shaming him and his morals, just be very careful writing on paper that he is a burglar as you may find your local magistrate parting you with your honest hard earned cash in way of compensation for slander and defermation of character. Agreed its all wrong but that is how the law of this land works. CRAZY!!!!

However, inform your customers about you and that your not giving up should they hear otherwise and find the guy in question, wait for him to get up his ladder and explain to him how ladders these days have a tendancy to slip and the WAH directive maybe should be considered along with his ethics!!

Regards, Trev

[ronaldo]

Hello Mr Biggs {are we related}? i have also had exactly the same done to us as one of our customers asked why we never told him that we had sold up and that he only wanted them done by us, as i,m sure you will agree there is a lot of trust built up between a wc and client on certain properties.

Anyway we got the flyer of which read exactly the same so i rang it and had a quiet word with the gentleman involved and sorted it out and have had no more problems. alot goes down to your customer if you are doing a good service you wont lose any.

[JM123]

I do kneecappings for £50 a time, call me on 0800-sort-em-out

[dai]

Time is of the essence, Copy one of his flyers and get someone to post them to all your customers, offering to clean their windows at twice your price.
He won't get much change out of them then if he does call. Dai