[geefree]

But its still anoying,

spitting a tiny bit with rain.

can you leave it today, the weather is bad,

me.

"but its not raining really",

i know but its forecast rain tomorrow.


grrrrrrrr.!

after explaining the windows will be fine i decided to think oh stuff it, and politely went on my way.

should i have been polite or explained rather vigorously that this is one of the reasons i bought wfp and its my living etc etc etc.?

or do what i did?

it makes me livid. 

[ftp]

I've got a few like that and if there is a sniff of rain about I leave them well alone. Customer will never see your point of view and really couldn't give a toss about you. Every customer that comes to the door likes to remind me of the weather forecast  :

[dazmond]

ive only got 2 like that out of 350 custys!luckily its no big loss as both are on a big estate where i clean 90+ houses!still winds me up a bit!if it was a stand alone account i would dump after the second refusal.waste of time.im sure some think we r only doin it for pin money!

[DaveG]

I put customers like that on my "dump list"..

As and when new work comes in, one of the "dumpers" will be well ...dumped!

[geefree]

its just one house alone , she loves wfp for the above con windows etc, and dumped her trad guy for wfp....

but now she is in danger of being dumped by me  

[dazmond]

i bet the trad guy was glad she got rid of him as well!sounds like a messer!!

[Craig 72]

A customer came out and gave me the 'no not today' line when I was about half an hour through doing her windows recently.It was raining reasonably hard to be fair but it's been the only time I've had a bit of a go at a customer.Other customers have let me work when it's been nigh on torrential.

[d s windowcleaning]

allright mate if i was you i would have a few days off and go xmas shopping 
put your round a week behind and you will have cracked it you will beable to bring all your floater houses into line , chill for a few days .
i get my van back monday which means its been off the road for 10 days , but i like the fact ive dropped behind .
my round evan though good as now been made better just by takin time out .
dont try to run your round as you would in the summer .
dont sack your custom listen to there concerns , you aint only throwing a £10 ? house away you are throwing a yearly income of £120 away . chill out for a few days it all comes good in the end .

[Mike 108]

Gazza

What have you got in your Terms and Conditions?  And are your customers aware of them?

If the T&C say you will clean on the same day/date every month (regardless of weather conditions) then they shouldn’t cancel – if they do, drop them.

But if, like me, you tell your customers that you don’t work in (very) bad weather and therefore you can’t guarantee what day you will be there – the problem is a bit more tricky.

I tell my customers that I will be there sometime between the fourth and fifth week – to allow for days off due to bad weather/holidays.

I worked today and two customers asked me to ‘leave it today, there’s heavy rain due tomorrow’.

I am a bit ‘put out’, but if I make an issue of it they could, I suppose, accuse me of ‘picking my days to suit myself’.

You could inform them that you will take them off your list of ‘regular cleans’ and add them to your list of ‘cleans by appointment – double the price’.

In fact, someone on here (can’t remember who) ONLY cleans by appointment.

If you come up with a good solution to the problem – let me know.

Regards,

Mike

[Murdie window cleaning]

Being a newbie as yet I've not had this problem, but with the weather we've had the last 24-36 hours, where I've personaly been at severe flood risk, with this weekends forcast to be blooming awfull I've put off some of my new customers till Monday. Hopefully by then I can stop building this ark 

[Helen]

its just one house alone , she loves wfp for the above con windows etc, and dumped her trad guy for wfp....

but now she is in danger of being dumped by me  

Is this the first time that customer has turned you away?If so, don't worry. It''s not only rain we've had to contend with this week, but high winds, so you can understand why some customers feel like this.
Saying that though if she does it again, then just say well I won't be back in this area now for another 7 weeks, is that ok? If she says yes then don't go back as I would then realise she really doesn't want regular cleans

[cozy]

I know it sounds cocky, but sometimes when cleaning in light rain, we get new custies coming over to ask us if they can be put on the round, and could we start today. Now and then, one will stick their head out of the door and say "You're not going to clean 'em in this are you?".

They aren't just dropped, they get replaced. In other words, as soon as you notice you have a custy like that, go get 2 others to replace them. Doesn't matter how long it takes to replace them, just make a point of doing it.

Personally, I hate working in medium to heavy rain, I will finish a job once I've started but otherwise I just have a day to do other work.

I have heard of Appointment only work from some guys in UK, but it's rare I think. It's normal here in Germany and in Holland where Pingu is though.

Another point is, if everyone thought it was silly to clean in the rain, all the Scotish guys would be out of business. That's not meant as a joke either.

[pingu]

Hi..I work by a scheduled round ..that is 8 weekly in the main and after that clean each customer is given a card, on that there is various information like my bank details, etc but also the date of their next clean...on the whole it works well...

But if the weather\sickness prevents me from working...I never book fridays for work..so there is always time there...

My 8 week schedule is only 6.5 weeks full but this I like as it gives me a break..I'm on that break now...but added to the 4 days a week, each day is a 09:00 start (leave house) back home by +/- 15:00..so there is an additional 2 hours aof work light in the winter months.

In order to achieve this way of working..it has to be planned and all work assesed as to where is the best place for it to be 'worked'.

Some say scheduled work does not work..I beg to differ but when the weather goes pear shaped.....more thinking and planning is required.

I sometimes think a more relaxed approach would be better at times...but personally I doubt some days I would get out of bed so a this works for me.

I do give out t&c's to new customers...this does amongst other things say that I clean in most weathers....but the t&c's does also tell the customer that they have a 24hr 'crap' work clause...if they are not happy..call and I will return to resolve any issue\s.

I think I have been pulled back 4 times in the past 3 odd years (lucky I suppose).

Cheers
Dave.
 

p.s Appointment is not normal here...but I find this way works for me...but I do tend to charge a little higher than the other guys....this is very much a selling point in todays age of increasing break-ins...people like to know what day I am there.

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

dump the sods aint worth then hassel mate like to keep good relations with the people who are out when is a rainey day not to much scrubbing and dont use your water reserves

[dai]

I had one like this yesterday, to be fair you have to be a little more tollerant when your cleaning in bad weather, I just say fine and move to the next house.

[pingu]

Planning is vital in our game....I work on the basis that during the winter months there will be 16 days that I cannot earn any money at all...so for me that is 4 full working weeks...I average out from the previous years end of year accounts how much money I 'take' per week to live thoughtout the year...and put that money away for 'winter issues'.

Perhaps winter should be a time to take your major holidays?

The weather is what it is plan for it.
Customers do and will on occassion play games...out think them.

If a custy plays too much like Cozy say's go get 2 more customers to replace them..or get those 2 extra customers and then put the 'players price up consider playing the game as well

Cheers
Dave.

[ftp]

What shocked me yesterday was the number of customers who knew exactly how far behind I was on my round  Some even had the money on the side but had waited for over a week for me to turn up, given up and spent it  :
I have wrongly thought that most of my custies couldn't care less when I turned up and didn't have a clue when the next clean was due. I wish I knew if reliability was more important than charging for cleans in bad weather.

[pingu]

I would imagine that when things are 'fine' i.e the economy things like the timing/dates between cleans is not that important and when money is looked at a little closer the custy'are more likly to notice dates and such like.

Cheers
Dave.