[Paul Coleman]

i have just recieved this cansellation in the post

"Dear MR Morris

I regret to advise you that HMML has decided to change window cleaners

Please issue an invoice covering any outstanding services and adress to ***********

Thank you for your services and we wish you every success in the future
Yours sincerely

I have been doing this account for 7 years and is only a £7.00 job and normally have to wait months for payment.
I phoned them for an explaination as to why but no-one was available to speak to me.

I held on to this job because there soon will be a £40million development  of the harbour and thought i would be first choice for the windows on the development.

I know it is only a small job at the moment ,but it did upset me when i got the letter mainly due to the lack of an explaination.

The harbour is owned by one of the worlds largest private banks "ing"  so i thought i was on to a winner.

Dave

A couple of things I would like to mention here.
First and foremost, remember that it's business and not personal.
Secondly, I feel that sending them  a letter is not a good move.  However, it seems that you're going to anyway.  If you do, I would like to suggest the following:-
That you compile the letter as if it is a standard letter that you send out when a contract is terminated with tick boxes and room for them to make general comments.

For instance something like.

Dear Sir,
Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/xxxx ref no: xxxx concerning the termination of the window cleaning contract at xxxxxxxxxxxxxx .
In order that we may provide customers with a satisfactory service, it is our policy, from time to time, to review our customers' opinions of the service that we offer.  We also have a short questionnaire that we ask customers to complete when deciding to conclude a contract.  Although there is absolutely no obligation to do so, we would appreciate it if you could take a few moments to complete this questionnaire in order to assist us in reviewing our business practices.

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR OPINION OF OUR SERVICE BELOW

How do you rate our service on the following?

1. PRICE   (a) totally satisfied (b) mostly satisfied (c) mostly dissatisfied (d) totally dissatisfied  
etc etc
Number 2. could be "quality of work" 3. could be "health & safety issues"  4. could be "courtesy of workforce" 5. could be "communication with customer".
Whatever options you include, I suggest that you have the choices of "totally satisfied" down to "totally dissatisfied" alongside each as tick boxes.  Ensure that you leave plenty of space at the end for a section on general comments from the customer.

[s.hughes]

Dave, what kind of place was this? Was it a shop or unit? I was asked to clean a small unit with a shop on the front as they werent happy with the other w/c although they they gave them a reason for getting rid of them and the w/c didnt care. What the w/c was doing was wfpoling all the glass including the shop fronts. Not good. This shop front was on a busy road and the glass is bound to pick up dirt with water left on it. All the other windows were on the back so it didnt matter. All they wanted was the front to be done with trade i mean it was only 3 bits of glass.

Now I am wondering if its because you went over to wfp and it wasnt good for the position or type of building.

Met an old boy 2day who didnt want anything to do with wfp. I was letting him know how good it is but he had none of it bearing in mind I wasnt using it 2day and dont use it on normal houses. It makes me wonder how many other w/c are out there that think the same. Without access to a site like this they wouldnt know much about it.

Steve

[Fast 1 *]

thats true.My mate,whos been doing it for ages doesnt want to know.I think alot of the time its the expence

[Moderator David@stives]

The building is an harbour office .It is owned by one of the worlds largest private banks and are just about to start a £100million+  development of the harbour.

I think they are moving a relative or friend in so they have first dabs on the development.

This is why i am very annoyed about it.

have a look at this link

http://www.hayleharbour.co.uk/frameset.htm

[Moderator David@stives]

and this is what it looks like know

http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/img186.htm

[s.hughes]

thats true.My mate,whos been doing it for ages doesnt want to know.I think alot of the time its the expence

He was so against it that I was being convinced that it was a waste of time.

Dave, dont give up there must be another way in. I think that I would be go down and see them and let them know that you want the development, you have nothing to loose. The development may be a big headache, you never know.

Steve

[Moderator David@stives]

Just found out it is a £200million+ development.

This gets worse   

[Paul Coleman]

The building is an harbour office .It is owned by one of the worlds largest private banks and are just about to start a £100million+  development of the harbour.

I think they are moving a relative or friend in so they have first dabs on the development.

This is why i am very annoyed about it.

have a look at this link

http://www.hayleharbour.co.uk/frameset.htm

So it's Hayle then.  They've been talking about developing that bit for years haven't they?  My friend who lives there once told me that Peter de Savary was going to put up the money years ago but pulled out (can't recall why).
I love that area David.  I've had a few holidays in Hayle and St Ives.  I went down to visit the eden project last Easter too though that's a bit further out from you.
Maybe you can get in yet with the winow cleaning.  No point giving up.  Nothing to lose except some time and effort.

[Moderator David@stives]

Roy

you are right about peter de savery he sold it and it went through a few hands and now has been bought by a huge banking and development firm.

I expect i will get work from the development ,but it would of been nice to have had first dabs at all of it.

Dave

[dai]

Dave, he may have given the job to a guy from his lodge, church, or even his golf club.
If they are going to build houses there, will each person be paying for their own window cleaning?
I have a few estates that I have done since they were built. First objective is to get the sales office. Even if you do it for nothing. Be nice to the girl or girls in the office.
They will tell you when they have made a sale and when the owners are moving in.
If they play ball with you an odd box of chocs goes a long way. This has worked well for me. One more tip, If you buy chocs, tell your Mrs what your doing, or at least make sure you bin the receipt before you go home. Wives get funny about finding receipts for chocs they have'nt had. Dai

[Paul Coleman]

Roy

you are right about peter de savery he sold it and it went through a few hands and now has been bought by a huge banking and development firm.

I expect i will get work from the development ,but it would of been nice to have had first dabs at all of it.

Dave

I'm not sure who Roy is.  Try Paul 

[Moderator David@stives]

Yes sorry

Paul

I knew who i meant