[bobplum]

I lost a café this week ,undercut by 50p.couldnt believe it,annoying I no.win some lose some.

thats an indication of the mentality of the customer, not the guy offering it for 50 pence less

[keyser soze]

A mong on here undercut me on a few.
He's welcome to them.
There's nothing you can do really.
And he can't 'steal' your customers, they're free to use whoever they want.
It's up to you to provide a service that is worth more if you want to keep them.

who was that darren?do i know him?.. ive had probs too ..

[Smurf]

Pray do tell what is the definition of undercutting…

 

[paul13]

My uncle intentionally under cuts my houses and shops best of it
is when he was made redundant with a mortgage to pay I made
a job for him that's right, I didn't need him but he was my uncle
Now hes doing very well for him self cleans a lot of areas we clean
does it bother me, yes
Every time I see him I think of the 3/4 weeks he had off with a sore leg
( or was it building his run ) on full pay when he wasn't even entitled
to holidays.
No one owns doors or areas but some situations can gut you.  

[James Bulton]

Go around and offer a very low price on the customers lost and when they go with you again just drop them and if they call just say I will be coming around and never pitch. Kill two birds with one stone.

[Bill.upnw]

I think bobplum hit the nail on the head, its the mentality of the customer, competition is the key of business, if you think u own streets ur off ur tits lad

[Smurf]

I don't mean to sound pedantic chaps but it’s a dog eat dog world out there as no cleaner owns houses in a street.  The homeowner/tenant decides whom they employ and not the other way round as some cleaners make out it is.

Best you don't go upsetting the local nutter that has bought himself a bucket and got hold of a ladder from somewhere that now calls himself a window cleaner

STAY OFF MY PATCH

[jk999]

The customer is an old lady he didnt touch any other house I do just that one bit unfair for him to pick on the elderly

[PoleKing]

A mong on here undercut me on a few.
He's welcome to them.
There's nothing you can do really.
And he can't 'steal' your customers, they're free to use whoever they want.
It's up to you to provide a service that is worth more if you want to keep them.

who was that darren?do i know him?.. ive had probs too ..

I'll text you bud. Not my style to blab on here-are you still on 017?

[PoleKing]

Pray do tell what is the definition of undercutting…

 

For me the definition of undercutting is finding out the price the customer is already paying and intentionally charging a lower price to secure the job.
Pricing a job as you normally would without knowing what the customer is already paying is not undercutting.
Different again if the customer says I'm paying £x but I'm not happy.
It's not something that can easily be defined.
But if you're an undercutter-you'd know it.
And you'd probably try to justify it saying something like 'that's business'
*edit-not you as in Smurf-you as in 'one'

[rosskesava]

Along a busy road in the town centre where I do other shops a shop keeper asked me for a quote. 2 large windows and a door, insides once a month and the shop sign once a month plus wiping underneath the windows and generally keeping it looking nice. As I don't need the work I gave him a price a little on the high side. He said ok, and to start the following week.

About a month after I'd been doing the job the previous window cleaners turns up, puffed out chest and all indignant, and asks me why I was stealing his work. I explain and he asks me how much I was charging, so I say, and he then accuses me of under cutting him and goes into the shop to under cut me but the shop keeper wasn't interested.

The shop keeper came out to have a chat and it turns out that within reason the price wasn't the issue, this bloke wasn't always doing what he promised and he did a terrible job to boot. Also, the shop keeper said his attitude stank.

I'm not saying the op in his original posting does a bad job or has a bad attitude, but if a customer takes on a new window cleaner at a cheaper price, then maybe it's either a cheap skate customer in which case, good riddance, or there is something else not right.

Most customers are pretty loyal to their own window cleaner and I've found that keeping customers is often more about good relationships than anything else.

[Smurf]

So what if the conversation goes something like this...

Hi I'm ***** the local window cleaner and sorry I haven't had the chance to speak to you yet as have been so busy. So when do you want me to do yours for £7?

I already have a window cleaners that only charges £4

So how often does he call?

Every 2 weeks

Sorry I don't do 2 weekly cleans only 4 weekly but can add you as a vip customer to our round for £7 per 4 weely clean including frames and sills if you like?

That sounds good as the cleaner we have is always missing corners and doesn't wipe the sills. So when can you do them?

Blaa Blla
Done deal...

Now would you class that as undercutting another cleaner or not?


  

[kerrybutters]

this is now war.
tit for tat
i do the same one him
2 things i do on him
i used work for him a few years back. so i know.  before i went on myself

number 1 he's about 80 years old.
has about 2 or 3 people working for him and pays em about £2.00 an hour
keeps all the xmas tips, etc. he earns abot £3000 a week
said to me once. come work for me bank holiday monday and i pay you extra wages.
he gave me £1.00 bonus in my wages. he's a slimeball.
pays no tax and is supposed to be retired.
wants reporting, and i will do, thought he was good stealing houses.
now lets see how good he is. i show him how good i am.

number 2
i know he does about 20 - 30 shops in the village near me, all in a row.
and hes been doing them about 20 - 30 years, and charges about £10 for 1 window.
going post a flyer thru all off em, give them an offer they cant refuse.
1st three cleans free.
4th clean half price.
5th clean £1.00 off

tit for tat.

[Smurf]

  boot on the other foot and all that...Nice

this is now war.
tit for tat
i do the same one him
2 things i do on him
i used work for him a few years back. so i know.  before i went on myself

number 1 he's about 80 years old.
has about 2 or 3 people working for him and pays em about £2.00 an hour
keeps all the xmas tips, etc. he earns abot £3000 a week
said to me once. come work for me bank holiday monday and i pay you extra wages.
he gave me £1.00 bonus in my wages. he's a slimeball.
pays no tax and is supposed to be retired.
wants reporting, and i will do, thought he was good stealing houses.
now lets see how good he is. i show him how good i am.

number 2
i know he does about 20 - 30 shops in the village near me, all in a row.
and hes been doing them about 20 - 30 years, and charges about £10 for 1 window.
going post a flyer thru all off em, give them an offer they cant refuse.
1st three cleans free.
4th clean half price.
5th clean £1.00 off

tit for tat.

[kerrybutters]

Smurf exactltly

but on the other foot its going be twice as worse.

[rosskesava]

So what if the conversation goes something like this...

Hi I'm ***** the local window cleaner and sorry I haven't had the chance to speak to you yet as have been so busy. So when do you want me to do yours for £7?

I already have a window cleaners that only charges £4

So how often does he call?

Every 2 weeks

Sorry I don't do 2 weekly cleans only 4 weekly but can add you as a vip customer to our round for £7 per 4 weely clean including frames and sills if you like?

That sounds good as the cleaner we have is always missing corners and doesn't wipe the sills. So when can you do them?

Blaa Blla
Done deal...

Now would you class that as undercutting another cleaner or not?


  

Dunno mate, I don't have imaginary conversations.

[wfp master]

Must be a big village 30 shops.

[p1w1]

this is now war.
tit for tat
i do the same one him
2 things i do on him
i used work for him a few years back. so i know.  before i went on myself

number 1 he's about 80 years old.
has about 2 or 3 people working for him and pays em about £2.00 an hour
keeps all the xmas tips, etc. he earns abot £3000 a week
said to me once. come work for me bank holiday monday and i pay you extra wages.
he gave me £1.00 bonus in my wages. he's a slimeball.
pays no tax and is supposed to be retired.
wants reporting, and i will do, thought he was good stealing houses.
now lets see how good he is. i show him how good i am.

number 2
i know he does about 20 - 30 shops in the village near me, all in a row.
and hes been doing them about 20 - 30 years, and charges about £10 for 1 window.
going post a flyer thru all off em, give them an offer they cant refuse.
1st three cleans free.
4th clean half price.
5th clean £1.00 off

tit for tat.

[dave f]

canvass his work

[andyM]

this is now war.
tit for tat
i do the same one him
2 things i do on him
i used work for him a few years back. so i know.  before i went on myself

number 1 he's about 80 years old.
has about 2 or 3 people working for him and pays em about £2.00 an hour
keeps all the xmas tips, etc. he earns abot £3000 a week
said to me once. come work for me bank holiday monday and i pay you extra wages.
he gave me £1.00 bonus in my wages. he's a slimeball.
pays no tax and is supposed to be retired.
wants reporting, and i will do, thought he was good stealing houses.
now lets see how good he is. i show him how good i am.

number 2
i know he does about 20 - 30 shops in the village near me, all in a row.
and hes been doing them about 20 - 30 years, and charges about £10 for 1 window.
going post a flyer thru all off em, give them an offer they cant refuse.
1st three cleans free.
4th clean half price.
5th clean £1.00 off

tit for tat.

Very shrewd! 
If 30 shops accept your offer of having their first 3 cleans for free that will be 90 shop cleans you will do all for sweet F.A.
Yeah that'll teach him.