I recently turned down a job because the customer was a pain in the neck.
Started off calling me at 9pm (you just know they will be trouble when they call at that time
) Indian gentleman wanted a letting property cleaned and could i come round to quote, oh and can i bring my spotting kit as he doesn't want to book me if i can't prove i can remove the stains.
Went the next day to do a pre-inspection and quote, flat was on 4 floor with very steep stairs, no lifts, the flat was basically in the middle of being re-plastered and decorated with rubble all over the carpets. In addition the carpets were heavily stained, the worst i have every seen. I nearly walked then and there but got my spotting kit out and showed him that yes most of the stains would come out but he basically wanted me to test nearly every stain in the property first. I was there nearly an hour, i ended up quoting over £200 to include a builders clean first to clear the rubble from carpet, the flat was tiny by the way but i really didn't want the job and was trying to price myself out of the job.
He rang two days later to book me, funny i since last meeting him I had become fully booked until the middle March which was too late for him. Some customers are not worth it and as others have said you need to know when to say no and walk. Yes i could have done this job and got a good result but i dare say he would have found fault somewhere and refused to pay or tried to get me to discount. In addition i would have struggle to get my equipment up the steep stairs, i have a Storm, and it is not worth damaging equipment, i would add that i quite frequently take my Storm up to second and third floor flats but this when the stairs are nice and shallow as are 99% of purpose built flats.
Paul, i only use Solutions products and they are great, however I would book to do some training with Ken Wainwright when the training dates are announced as you need to know what products to use in the right situations. In this instance S.P.M was not the way to go.