[Lee Pryor]

And how do you find enforcing them?

Im so fed up with doing text alerts every night and always getting 4 or 5 back to say not this time thanks. Its now to late to give my guys something else to compensate and then we all earn less money.

There are other things that p me off to, late payers, complaints a week or two after we have been rather than within 24 hours and so on.

Im thinking about putting a terms and conditions page on our website in the new year to try and stem these problems as we grow. For existing customer they will be given notice of them coming into effect.

Im wondering how many other people do this and what its like to enforce. surly if you say to a text back you cant cancel we will charge you anyway they will cancel your service.

What do you think?

[GDwindowcleaning]

I think its a great idea but would be hard to enforce, I know you charge well but doing a customer every twelve weeks is not productive? I would cull back the regulars and leaflet for more...

[dave0123]

that's why i don't do any sort of text thing before you turn up!

[brad t]

All new cleans get a welcome letter with a FAQ's list on it.
Do you clean in the rain? Yes.
what if the gate is locked? as we call every one the night before we will charge you 2/3rds of the clean.
and a lot of other stuff on it's not t&c's but it works for me

just get them in the letter box 1st time you clean and they seem to work?

[Steve Sed]

I am surprised a business your size doesn't have that already tbh. Not on the web page though, but on the back of your invoices.

[Steve Sed]

All new cleans get a welcome letter with a FAQ's list on it.
Do you clean in the rain? Yes.
what if the gate is locked? as we call every one the night before we will charge you 2/3rds of the clean.
and a lot of other stuff on it's not t&c's but it works for me

just get them in the letter box 1st time you clean and they seem to work?

What about "can you leave this time?"

I like the idea though.

[Window Washers]

I charge a fee if payments are late that's on the invoice.
I am putting terms on new sites with a link on the new invoices if they want to read them.

I don't accept texts to cancel for the next day they need to give at least a weeks notice, if ever I get a text I reply saying sorry but the work sheets have already gone to the window cleaner for the morning this message is purely to let you know for access issues. Many thanks

[brad t]

if anyone texts back asking to miss a clean i call them back and if there 6 week tell them they can go 12 week or find a new cleaner  

[Nick_Thompson]

Hi Lee!

I think Dave’s right about just turning up without notification.
 
I’m in the habit of setting up, ready to clean the first upstairs window, before knocking to let the customer know that I’m there. I can be on the second window before they have opened the door. It makes intermittent cancellations much less likely.

Nick

P.S.
I’m doing OK thanks.

[Tony Edwards]

that's why i don't do any sort of text thing before you turn up!

I have the same problem. I have to text as 90% of my custys have security gates etc. Once I have been a few more times, I might ask for the code.Where they have a locked gate, i try to get an additional key once I have been a few times.

[Caleb Morley]

There seem to be 3 camps when you send a text:

1) The customer is fine no issues.
2) They want to rearrange the date
3) They want to skip a clean or be in when you call

Obviously 1) is the best option and these customers seem to be the best allround, good payers etc. 2) isnt ideal but i find they are still worth hanging onto as they still have them done regularly and pay swiftly. 3) are the worst and generally are terrible customers and payers.

I give people one or two chances then drop em.

Also when canvassing i never say about a text the night before unless they ask or there is a clear access issue. I also say that if they are out or forget to unlock the gate we will do the front for half the money.

With some people that try and get me on an excat time to suit them i say were too busy to do that then offer 2 other times, thus making them choose one or the other.

Bottom line i guess is that this is one of the headaches of the job. This job doesnt have many though, think its a case of grinning and bearing it and just refining the round over time.

Cheers,

Caleb

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

And how do you find enforcing them?

Im so fed up with doing text alerts every night and always getting 4 or 5 back to say not this time thanks. Its now to late to give my guys something else to compensate and then we all earn less money.

There are other things that p me off to, late payers, complaints a week or two after we have been rather than within 24 hours and so on.

Im thinking about putting a terms and conditions page on our website in the new year to try and stem these problems as we grow. For existing customer they will be given notice of them coming into effect.

Im wondering how many other people do this and what its like to enforce. surly if you say to a text back you cant cancel we will charge you anyway they will cancel your service.

What do you think?

IMO-

You'll always get messers with mass marketing campaigns. You'll never be able to enforce any T&C's in a cost effective manner.

[richard jagger]

I use t ans Cs I don`t see that they need enforcing as a problem.They are not laws. They are a matter of forewarned is forearmed. I try to keep it simple not some legal jargon, E G RULE 1 Door step cancellation are not accepted. AT THIS POINT i WILL DECIDE WHAT I   CAN LIVE WITH.  GOOD CUSTOMER WILL GET A WARNING.Crap one or problems ones will dropped.Or I will let it go this time but bear in mind for the future as I cannot run my business like this.This way you are training your customer and setting you pace for the future.

[dave0123]

I also dont nock on the door to say am there i just get on cleaning the window. because they agreed to a schedule say monthly weather there in or out so to them that is what i am providing. Nocking on the door is nice to let me know you there and ur going to start cleaning the windows but it gives them option to say i don't need it today.

houses with big gates i try to arrange a day when house keeper is there or try to get the code for door. only ones i ring or text or email is the ones who have inside/out every time.

[dave0123]

oh and i never really have anyone saying not to day.. maybe about 4 in five years

[Crystal-clear]

And how do you find enforcing them?

Im so fed up with doing text alerts every night and always getting 4 or 5 back to say not this time thanks. Its now to late to give my guys something else to compensate and then we all earn less money.

There are other things that p me off to, late payers, complaints a week or two after we have been rather than within 24 hours and so on.

Im thinking about putting a terms and conditions page on our website in the new year to try and stem these problems as we grow. For existing customer they will be given notice of them coming into effect.

Im wondering how many other people do this and what its like to enforce. surly if you say to a text back you cant cancel we will charge you anyway they will cancel your service.

What do you think?

IMO-

You'll always get messers with mass marketing campaigns. You'll never be able to enforce any T&C's in a cost effective manner.

well put all in one sentance,

Lee in a strange way im kinda happy to hear that even you are getting the same problems as everyone els! makes me feel that im not doing something horribly wrong at least  

imo if you put any kind of strict contract you will get people just refusing your service, people just dont like to be tied down, what i did to overcome this is on a large percentage of the jobs i converted them and told them no more mesages , if you are out its a front only if you are in get the back cleaned,
it sounds crazy to kinda half your income but its worth it alot less stress and admin...

i still have to text some jobs, only cos i choose too bigger houses etc.and have to put up with things like what time i must be in etc etc ...

gd, 12 weekly is worth it you can chrage 50% then a 6 weekly the only problem will be finding out if they really want a window cleaner or just a one off , as its quite a long time to wait to find out you never know till the 2nd clean

[richard jagger]

I think most time the customers try to find how far they can push you till you put your foot down. The sooner you put your foot down the better if its left to later there will be customer beyond controlling keeping in line with your T&Cs. The same way if we skipped a window or two and if the customer did not complain we would skip three next time unless we were self disciplined we would have no business.

[simon w]

Hi Lee

We do a mixture of both residential and commercial and have slightly different terms of payment for both with commercial our terms differ from residential.

When I take on a new residential account I will tell the customer that we will clean the windows on a set frequency I.E four, six eight weekly, three monthly etc and that we don't return to collect payment. (In  eight years of trading I've never done this) So it's the responsibility of the customer to settle the invoice if their at home during the clean, or to post a cheque or do a bank transfer within 14 days.

If you find an early sign of bad payment, collect the money that you are owed, then take that customer off your work list and consider them bad business.

With any commercial account I will need a work order before anything starts and a signature on completion of work, if the customer exceeds my terms by a couple of days I'll send a statement of account, then a reminder, then I'll use my debt collection agency to take them to to the small claims court and take a county court judgment out on them. I've only had to do this a few times but the accounts were large and I'd had to shell out for access equipment at my cost of up to 1K, anyway with a works order and a signed completion note I was able to successfully take out a county court judgement against a couple of national property investment companies. they gave me the run around thinking I was a small business and would write off the debt, but was soon aware that their credit rating was about to go red and when you deal in property and need loans from the bank this isn't good. Both companies left it until far too late then contacted me on a personal level to try and square up. I refused their offer and collected through law what was mine including costs, and late payment interest etc.

I have more work than you could shake a stick at down here in Bristol and don't seem to ever attract the bad sort. If ever anyone ever feels nervous and needs a heads up on possible bad apples in this part of the UK then please feel free to PM me and I could save you some hassle.

[richard jagger]

I also dont nock on the door to say am there i just get on cleaning the window. because they agreed to a schedule say monthly weather there in or out so to them that is what i am providing. Nocking on the door is nice to let me know you there and ur going to start cleaning the windows but it gives them option to say i don't need it today.

I am with you on this one Dave.If you need to ask a second time when knocking just makes you first understand /agreement null and void.
I had a customer last week saying I should knock ( I knew he wanted out for winter but use the knocking as an excuse) I told him its my business to decide how I will conduct my service not my customer its their`s to accept or reject.That shut his smart ass up.
 The customer are afraid we become to smart businessmen it might cost them more.

[Richard iSparkle]

hey lee,

what we do is we have rules of our service, some of which we tell people at sign up and others that we communicate as and when we need. 

when they sign up we tell them its 4 weekly, they pay by standing order etc etc

when we arrive and can't clean the whole house because of locked gates we call them after and tell them they can pay half this time but if it happens in the future we have to charge them full price

this seems to work quite well