[macc]

How do you guys feel about it?

If i know the customer has another wc i leave it alone. I dont take it well if someone is trying to do it to me so why hand it out.

If the customer has not seen or heard for say 2-3 months they are fair game. Or if they are very irregular i think they are fair game but i like the customer to notify the other wc first.

Whats your views?

Macc

[Clear Vision]

Exactly the same views as you macc

[C.F.P]

My view is, I can't be investigating every job. If they need a new service, they need a new service.

If I am out looking for work and I see really clean windows, I keep on truckin. But if they come to me, that job is mine.

I have a family and I work hard to make customers happy. I would never underbid to steal a customer from someone. But I will take a unsatisfied customer in a heartbeat.

[Count Phil]

Yeah, they only ask if there's is rubbish. Never undercut or deliberately target someone elses work. But if your canvassing then you are going to be hitting rival window cleaners work. They will tell you unless their own cleaner aint up to scratch. Never undercut and it's not your fault. The jobs yours if they ask. I don't normally lose work and mine is canvassed all the time. Just do a good job and if someone else does a bad one then that's their problem.

[julianbiggs]

I personally think it's a very simple scenario...if the customer is happy with their current window cleaner then they won't even give you a look in...or a call...but if they are unhappy then it's open season as far as i'm concerned.

Window cleaners don't own the right to do houses...they earn the right by doing a good job....do a bad job and it's your own fault if you lose work.

I only canvassed 200 flyers when i started and since then  i reckon ive had at least 100 phone calls from people unhappy with their window cleaner and I have been recommended  to them by my customers. I have no problems or feelings of guilt about taking them on as new customers.

[Paul Coleman]

How do you guys feel about it?

If i know the customer has another wc i leave it alone. I dont take it well if someone is trying to do it to me so why hand it out.

If the customer has not seen or heard for say 2-3 months they are fair game. Or if they are very irregular i think they are fair game but i like the customer to notify the other wc first.

Whats your views?

Macc

I would say two months is a bit soon - especially in Winter.  I have a 6 weekly cycle.  It's easy to get a bit of rough weather and a streaming cold as well.  Maybe three months is more like it.

[brett walker]

Business is business if someone asks me to clean their windows i clean them, if their current window cleaner was doing a good job they wouldnt ask me but i never undercut.

Ive have picked a few up in one area just lately where another wc has left them for 3 months i found out yesterday he has had personal problems and his sister died from cancer.  So if he comes back i will give them him back as i feel sorry for him under the circumstances

Brett

[spotless2000]

So if he comes back i will give them him back as i feel sorry for him under the circumstances

What a better place the world would be if everyone had your ethics, Brett!

I went into hospital on the 4th of Jan having already taken the Christmas week off.  I had a large lump removed that was attached to one of my ribs.  Lost another 10 days on top of the Christmas week.  As I got round to my customers I apologised for the delay and I was amazed at their comments.  They all thought that there must have been a serious reason for me to be running late and knew I would get there eventually.  One even sent me a letter saying I was worth waiting for (and 'no' that's not what you're thinking!)  I did start phoning some while I was off recuperating.

The thought was at the back of my mind, would I lose any work to other WC's.

Maybe things would have been different if it had gone on for longer.

Steve

[Londoner]

The difficulty is that a lot of widow cleaners are so erratic its hard to determine whether they are still on the scene or not.

Quite a lot go missing then re-appear then go missing for even longer etc. How do you say when they are gone.

I don't bother about it so much now. You don't hear the stories you used to hear of window cleaning gangs who would pound you to a paste if you tried to move in on their area.

Thirty years ago it was quite common to get threatened round here.

[S_RICHARDSON]

If i'm asked to clean them i'll clean them, but I will proce it as normal and not try and undercut the last window cleaner. Simple as that! It's his/her fault for not turning up on time or notifing the customer that they'll be late coming to clean the windows.


Shaun R. 

[Paul Coleman]

I have been on the receiving end of this before when I neededa long time off work due to a health issue.  I did lose a fair chunk of work in spite of doing a mailshot to all the customers.  A few days ago I bumped into one of the guys who benefitted from my demise.  He's an OK guy and I know his part-time work partner.  Both decent, ethical guys who I have no issues with.  I took great delight in discovering that many of the customers I lost are paying double or more compared to what I used to charge them.  We actually had a good laugh about it.  I said to him "That'll teach them for dropping me because I was ill."  It  was a lighthearted comment from me rather than malicious but there was a bit of truth behind it.  The jobs in question were old jobs where I hadn't put the prices up much over the years and they lagged behind.  If I were pricing them from new, I would still be a bit cheaper than him but only by a little bit.