[rosskesava]

Matt

Tomorrow is a new day.

This post really has made me think.

I think there is a point, and I can't define it, when we went from doing windows to earn money, to being a business that is there for profit.

I don't mean that any work ethics changed, or the attitude to work but at somepoint, between 2004 and early 2005 something was different. It started when I wrote the letter I wrote about above. Now we have none of those types of issues or if we do, then sorry but goodbye.

I can understand the doing favours thing and don't they remember? I've done that type of thing but never again. Favours cost money now.

We once bump started a ladies car just so as she could pick up her husband from the station and then next month, she said we were to expensive? She had no call out service for her car but didn't think how much it would have cost to call out a mechanic to solve her flat battery for her series 6 BMW.

We did the windows of one OAP widow who was always very thankfull. Her bungalow was in between 2 other places who paid quite well. Her bill was just £6. The neighbours moved one side and then the other lost his job. When we said that really her bungalow should cost £15 at least but we'd carry on for doing it for £9, she dumped us.

All those thanks she gave us previously meant nothing. It was, for her, financial but for us, financial and how we pay our bills, that for her didn't exist.

A more ameniable 'goodbye' would have been acceptable. If she'd said that £3 a month is more than she could afford I could have gone with that. A shut the door in my face in disgust, that says it all. To think how friendly she was when we moved a fallen tree from her back garden to a skip out the front.... all for no extra payment but out of kindness.

Customers who can't afford the true cost are not always like that and we still have a few. One we do always tells good jokes and makes tea and toast but in the main, those customers would maybe give a seconds thought if you could not pay your council tax but after that thought had passed would get on with their lives and you are history and forgotten.

Am I turning into a hard nosed businessman? I hope not.

Anyway....

[Morph]

Ross

You old Turnip

I was on a job today where they asked me to change a plug on the vacuum cleaner.  It was a commercial premises, part of a chain.  I said sure.  It turned out that the vacuum kept cutting out, the girls had worked out that all it was, was a loose connection in the plug.  They phoned head office, who suggested they get the service maintenance people to call and double check nothing else was wrong with the cleaner. 
I told them not to bother, I changed the plug in 5 minutes, jokingly said that it would cost them £5
They didn't even offer me a cup of tea, but they did tell me that the service engineer was going to charge £50 call out.............

£50 call out, to change a 3 pin plug on a vacuum cleaner!!

Nice

[jeff1]

Customer loyalty my a**e, there dosn't seem to be any anymore, Did this one old moaning pair of S**ds for seven years, in all winds and weathers, put up with all there moanin so in that time i doubled there price from £15 to £30

but was worth it. One day I turned up and there was another wc doing it so i asked the wc what the **** was going on,, he just said dunno mate we just put a ticket in the door and she asked for a price,   so to be fair to him it wasn't his fault, so i went and confronted the customer, and she said that i was late, so after checking my records I went to the customer and said i am so sorry for being late i am a day late, and i do hope your new window cleaner will come out on those special occasions for you,  ie the funeral you had, gave me half hours notice, and the wedding you had two hours notice.

I just bid her fairwell, and wished the new wc good luck. three months later the wife was shopping at asda's, and across the check out my wife heared some woman shouting at the top of her voice, There's my window cleaner, she looked up and it was this moaning old fart, my wife asked what happened to your other  wc  she replied he only did it the once and we have not seen him since.
My wife politly bid her good day, and wished her luck in finding another wc, as we had taken on another one in her place, her face dropped and customers and staff had big smiles on there faces, How Good it feels to be LOYAL

[gaza]

PJ BOOKINNG INTO THE LOCAL COLLEGE FOR A COURSE ONN SERVICE ENGENEERING ARE WE THEN?

 GAZA

[Paul Coleman]

Sorry to hear what's been going on Matt but it's nice to hear that I'm not the only one who gets days like that.
Some while ago I dumped the local busybody who always wants extra jobs done F.O.C.  It was a great feeling.  I didn't even care if she took a few with her.  I bumped into her around the corner about an hour before I got to her place.  When I got there she was waiting for me, secateurs in hand.  Once I had established that she wasn't about to castrate me and wanted me to do the high pruning (again - even though I have said no on a previous occasion), I informed her that she must have mistaken me for the gardener (sarcasm  :-)  ) .  I offered to find a gardener for her.  She asked me if somebody had peed me off so informed her that she had managed that all by herself.  I then told her that I would no longer be cleaning her windows.
Yesterday I dumped two more because thewy are a nightmare getting money out of.  There are two more to follow.  I only want customers who pay within a reasonable time and who don't keep wanting freebies.  They want the best window cleaners.  I want the best customers.

I had to laugh at your post because I could empathise so much  :-)

[David 'Duck' Clare]

Matt, one of the best posts ive seen on here.

I have a customer i do the odd extra job for (she pays extra so its ok) her neighbour saw me taking some stuff to the local dump for her (£20 for doing so) and asked if i could do a run for her i said £20 and they said you do our windows too! i said yes....and while im at it shall i sweap your yard out? they  did nt like that and i lost a customer over it but i wasnt going to be taken advantage of!

DC

[baldeagle]

I might as well chuck twopennorth in.......

Today is the first day I've done this Wednesdays round in a "new order" - it has always been messy, one house, then everything onto the van, three houses, all into the van and go 500 yards away....you know the sort of thing.

Now I've got it so that the van stays in one place all day, [not too far from the Co-op, where they sell nice "Bung" rolls, and bottles of cold drinkies], and I've put some of the other houses onto other rounds.

First house, "Thanks, here's your money, we won't need you again". Wifey at rear of kitchen, say's proudly, "He's going to do them himself from now on", "he" is 83!!

I don't care, it's the cheapest one I do, they were my first customers, and I've been doing them too cheap, for too long.
[Hope the tight b***ard falls through the asbestos roof over the rear conservatory!!!]

Does two more, and then gets approached by them at number 12 and number 13, "Can you fit us in?"
Of course I can, I don't have p*ss about moving the little blue frog, [Kangoo to you], so they more than compensate for the tight old git at the corner house.

Then the old bat at number 25 really makes my day!

I'm round the back doing the kitchen window, and she comes out and say's "Don't you think these new windows are really nice?" I looks at them, and then at her, "Well, they are OK, I suppose", I said.

I can't see anything special about them, they are white UPVC, fitted into big holes in the brickwork, and the gaps between the frames are filled with that stuff.....what the hell's it called? Oh yes! Glass, that's the stuff!

One of the sill endstops has always been missing; I noticed that one of these, supposedly new, windows, has a sill endstop missing.
"That's coincidental", I thought.

She goes on about them again, telling me about how her new windows are so nice.

I said, "How long have you had them?"

"Oh, about three years", she said

"I've only been coming here for about eleven months", I said, "so these are the same ones that I've always cleaned".

"Oh yes", she said, "of course", and goes in to put the kettle on!!!!!!!

Is it me?

Baldeagle in Staffordshire

[windows_chepstow]

Matt, good post, mate, but it could've been worse; it could have all happened to me. 

As it happens we've had a blinding day.  Second highest earning day ever; though I did start early (got to first account at 7.00 am (but then returned home to walk the dog mind), and worked late (4.30 pm) and I'm feeling a bit 'monged' now.  No decent breaks either.

I can't think of any current customers I can moan about, because I drop them if we get messed about without good reason; even a little bit.  I'm really sensitive that way!

[JohnL]

Ah, the extras!  I've only cleaned this one customer once and he phoned to say he had some extras next time so when I got there it was - '' when you are in B&Q next can you get some fitments for my wall mounted tap cus I am having problems with my fitments and they need renewing, B&Q is 24 miles away from me ?? and when you come next time can you jetwash the walls cus the windows look so good now they make the walls look grubby ?? ''

do I have a jetwash - no! and would he pay a decent price for jetwashing, you got it - NO!

people ?

 

JohnL

[Andrew McCann]

You would really think that by doing all the "extras" you would be rewarded with loyalty.   FORGET IT!!!

There is no need to be hard nosed but also you have to be realistic. I bet we have all done it...  that"extra window"  Can you clean my kitchen window inside while your here..  pull that bit of grass out of my gutter.. and so the list goes on.

Been there... done it.. regretted it mostly so... I  run a BUSINESS.. not a charity.

You can diplomatically decline the "extras for free"  I fingd the customers actaully seem to respect you more this way... They dont see "MUG" painted on my forehead. 

I say this through bitter experience. Its so easy through our own good nature to set ourselves up for dissapointment.  No more for me.

Cheers

Andrew

[sunshine windows]

This sure is a fun one you've started Matt.

As for the ones who just talk, talk, talk and think I have all day to be social, I never ever worked out how to stop that.
 

I certainly know how to pick these ones. Luckily on my quietest week of the month, thank god. Got held up by a customer for 2 hours earlier. Had his life story by the time i left. Tell you what though, i'm the sort of person who enjoys this kind of relationship with my customers.

As for doing the favours. Got this old couple i've been doing for about 6 months now. Wait for it...  Tops only. Got told by her last window cleaner (my mums') that she complains like hell if you get drips on the bottom panes.

Since i've been cleaning for her, she's given me an old set of wooden ladders cause she doesn't want her fella having an accident, offered me an old lawnmower and now she wants me to get rid of his golf clubs for her.

By the way i'm taking her lace curtains down for her next month so she can clean them.

I'm definately i big old softy when it comes to things like this, but once i get a full round i realise to make a decent living that these little things will have to stop cause they eat into your day so much.

[abacus]

  matt your not a window cleaner your a comic -never laughed so much you earn more on the stage and you you get to be demanding too.

no really been threr done it got the teeshirt

I used to do favours to
Now I just say that I wouild really love to but the insurace just wont let me  I m the good guy and they go on as they were loving to hate insurance companies   serves them and the insurance companies right  cheap skates  good customers are as rare as rocking horse ..... the bestr are the ones that pay well the rest the others can have happy hunting
Have a large scotch  chalk it up to experience
 
have a good one tomorrow regards grant

[matt]

update

left for work at 6.45 this morning to do comercail

home by 9.00

back to street at 10.00

went to collect from the first old dear, as she owed me for last times clean, she was hiding in the garden  : :, so i go around rear garden and get my money

clean a few houses, start a house just down the road, this house has asked me to clean the gutters, so i give a small patch a rub, its comes off great

lady comes out and offer me a cuppa, i decline, as ive just had a drink, i ask her about the new conserv, she has it done every time, i ask her about the roof (its glass) she wants it done every 6 months for 5 quid, i laugh and say i cannot do it for that, it'll be 15 quid, she says "yes fine"

i clean the upstairs and the lady comes out, "dont do the roof, as im having the gutters cleaned on friday", no probs i say

oh hang on, can you leave the house aswell  :

i explain ive done the upstairs, she pays me half of the house and asks me to return monday, this isnt a problem as i have 3 more to do in the road

i do a few more houses and go to watch my daughters dance class

its been a nice day in the sun 

now off to bed, been up b4 7 the 3 days this week, but thats it, not in work till monday now, think of me when your working

[carl stanton]

 

[rosskesava]

A conversation today went something like this:

Him: Excuse me do you clean windows?

I'm doing a large shop front at the time...

Me: Yes we do.

Him: How much do you charge?

I'm thinking 'you pratt'

Me: For a house or for a commercial property?

Him: It a flat

I'm thinking go on.....

Me: We clean houses, flats and so on but I think it fair to say first that our minimum charge is £15

Him: My last window cleaner charged £3.50

Me: I'm sorry but our minimum price is £15

Take the hint pal

Him: It's only a few windows..

Me: Our minimum charge is £15

Him: It would take seconds to do. My last window cleaner did the gutters every year also as part of the service.

Me: Our minimum charge is £15 and gutters start at £50

Him: Can you come and have a look. I's only a few windows. Very easy and quick.

Me: Do you understand our minimum charge is £15?

And so it went on. After 10 minutes I was getting really annoyed as I working. 10 minutes later of being direct and polite....

Me: Listen mate, I think it best if you find someone else as you don't seem to understand basic English. Give me £15 and I'll come right now and clean your windows otherwise leave me alone and just GO AWAY.

Him: You are supposed to be offering a service. Why can't you understand that simple fact and come and clean my windows for the same price as my last window cleaner.

Me: F*** OFF and leave me alone.

Him: No need to get nasty

Me: I'll get even more nasty if you don't go and  &*$%£^ *&^@"£$ and go and *&^%&* ^&*(&*..............

A year ago I would have gone and looked at his windows ...... not now though.

-----------------------------------------

Matt

Glad you had a nice day in the sun. I am so so so happy you are off till Monday.

Tomorrow and Friday we have 149 commercial jobs to do. Think of me please 

By Friday evening I'll be on my knees.

[carl stanton]

rosskesava is your minimum £15 by any chance 
you could have dunked his head in your bucket untill he understood!!! pratt!! [assuming you use a bucket]

[rosskesava]

Isn't it so that sometimes you get a feeling about someone even before they speak?

This bloke.....

He would not give up. He did not want to take very powerfull hints.

My point really was that upto a year or two ago we probably would have done his windows. For £3.50. And suffered all the complaints about doing it.

Then somehow this person would have got better service than someoe who pays decent money and does not complain.

These cheap skates, they are the ones who make our lives a problem when working because they shout loudest and up to a while back, we would listen.

In one way, it's not 'their' fault, 'they' are just trying to get the best deal. It was us, because over the years of living, if you are a polite person, you respond to such requests as a matter of course. If that makes sense.

Even though I am always polite, lately, I am sick and tired of wasting time and energy on these wallies by being nice.

I am sorry to say this but let some other window cleaner do their windows because we're not going to.

[Paul Coleman]

Isn't it so that sometimes you get a feeling about someone even before they speak?

This bloke.....

He would not give up. He did not want to take very powerfull hints.

My point really was that upto a year or two ago we probably would have done his windows. For £3.50. And suffered all the complaints about doing it.

Then somehow this person would have got better service than someoe who pays decent money and does not complain.

These cheap skates, they are the ones who make our lives a problem when working because they shout loudest and up to a while back, we would listen.

In one way, it's not 'their' fault, 'they' are just trying to get the best deal. It was us, because over the years of living, if you are a polite person, you respond to such requests as a matter of course. If that makes sense.

Even though I am always polite, lately, I am sick and tired of wasting time and energy on these wallies by being nice.

I am sorry to say this but let some other window cleaner do their windows because we're not going to.

Ross.  You bring up an interesting point here.  I too have found that the biggest and most frequent moans come from those who aren't paying me enough.

[matt]

Matt

Glad you had a nice day in the sun. I am so so so happy you are off till Monday.

Tomorrow and Friday we have 149 commercial jobs to do. Think of me please 

By Friday evening I'll be on my knees.

i will

Im just packing up a pinic for me and mu daughter to go to the park or the kiddie farm (not sure yet)

on the plus side, your load of comercail in the next 2 days will earn you a shed load of cash its all good