[lee_dewing]

Hi  Tom.

My work is nearly all monthly, do have to send texts' to quite a few.

If they forget I charge a minimum of £8 for front some more.

Luckily say a third of my round is text I mix in work that isn't that day also.

So my list has 25% more work than I can do.

I've been caught out in the past where my day gone wrong due to locked gates or building works.

Maybe 12 week schedule's just aren't worth the hassle.
 customers not that bothered for keeping windows clean so text gates etc low priority to them.

Or price them higher to include an idot tax for the gate being locked half the time.

I've dropped a few now where the gates constantly locked.
Just left customer a note to say will need a key to carry on.

9 times out of 10 we part company, some do give me a key.

I don't care either way now, since my websites been going I've been getting a steady stream of new enquiries.

[SeanK]

I can still remember the foaming at the mouth back when I was first starting out over gates being locked, I would text and
even put notes through the door if I was in the area the day before, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but you
never knew what you would find until you arrived.
I had four choices, charge full price for front only, charge half price for front only ,get over the gate or dump.
The thing is these where not bad people who where forgetting to unlock the gate just to annoy me so I don't think charging full
price would have made a difference to the situation, it would have just made the customer resentful of the service they where
getting especially if the neighbours where getting theirs cleaned by a shiner happy to get over the gate.
Remember resentful customers wont always cancel your service but they wont recommend you to others or help you build a good reputation if anything they are more likely to badmouth you.
I believe the same could be said about option two, even though they wouldn't be out of pocket they still wouldn't have their rear
windows cleaned.
I didn't want to dump or lose good paying customers so my only option was to find a way of getting over the gate safely and easily
which I did.
Is this the right way I don't know, at the end of the day I still have to get over a locked gate which isn't as handy as opening it and walking through, but then I could say I'm offering a better customer service and what has going that extra mile done for both my
reputation and round, all I know is that its right for me.

[JackieW]

I used to text customers the evening before to unlock the gate.

One of three things would result,

1) Customer would remember and gate was unlocked.
2) Customer would 'forget' (sometimes  repeatedly) and gate was locked
3) Customer would use text as an opportunity to say they were 'away', 'having work done' , 'ill' and 'can we leave it this time'.

I don't text anymore.

I straddle the gate with two cut down ladders.

[8weekly]

I can still remember the foaming at the mouth back when I was first starting out over gates being locked, I would text and
even put notes through the door if I was in the area the day before, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but you
never knew what you would find until you arrived.
I had four choices, charge full price for front only, charge half price for front only ,get over the gate or dump.
The thing is these where not bad people who where forgetting to unlock the gate just to annoy me so I don't think charging full
price would have made a difference to the situation, it would have just made the customer resentful of the service they where
getting especially if the neighbours where getting theirs cleaned by a shiner happy to get over the gate.
Remember resentful customers wont always cancel your service but they wont recommend you to others or help you build a good reputation if anything they are more likely to badmouth you.
I believe the same could be said about option two, even though they wouldn't be out of pocket they still wouldn't have their rear
windows cleaned.
I didn't want to dump or lose good paying customers so my only option was to find a way of getting over the gate safely and easily
which I did.
Is this the right way I don't know, at the end of the day I still have to get over a locked gate which isn't as handy as opening it and walking through, but then I could say I'm offering a better customer service and what has going that extra mile done for both my
reputation and round, all I know is that its right for me.

Must be desperate to be hopping gates. 

[robbo333]

I clean every 8 weeks and text or phone everyone the night before. I have the odd few I just turn up to.
My opinion is, if they forget the gate, then they don't want their windows cleaned and I don't want them as a customer.
But people's lives are busy and sometimes they do forget so:
If they forget the gate then I do fronts only half price.
If they are on holiday then I do fronts only half price.
It they are having building work done etc, I pick them up next time.
If they forget gates twice in a row...dumped!
I like to book in slightly too much work and that usually compensates for the front onlys.
If i'm honest I would have a round of just doing fronts only 

[Johnny B]

If I can get over the back or side gate safely, I do, but always with the customer's permission beforehand. If I can't, I just do the fronts and charge accordingly.

John

[dazmond]

i only have a few a week i have to notify the night before.its very rare they forget to leave their gate open....if they do then.....

i either get over the gate via ladders if safe to do so or clean front only and charge slightly more than half price.

thats it!no fuss.then i move on to my next job.simple.

ive never had a problem working this way and i certainly have never had a customer accuse me of "trespassing" just because i hopped a gate.i do notify them that i have after the clean though if the gates locked.

[Tosh]

I assess each situation on it's individual merits. It hasn't let me down yet.

[M & C Window Cleaning]

I've only had one person in 40 yrs of shining who got seriously upset at me letting myself through a locked gate. She thought that leaving her gate locked would somehow tell me she didn't want her windows cleaned anymore. Never mind the fact that I would do the fronts first. Just about everyone else has pretty much expected me to gain access when they have forgotten to leave a gate unlocked.
Most locked gates on my round are only bolted somewhere, top, middle or bottom, and for them I have a work around which I won't reveal on here. Many others are Yale type locks which are probably the least secure on a back gate for obvious reasons and many others use bog standard shed type mortice locks that you could buy for a fiver which are also not very secure as one key will open many of them.
Many of my customers have also given me keys to their gates.
The upshot is that I don't have to call or text many. Those that forget aren't many and as my work is very compact I can often fit the backs in on another day. If not I charge a little over half price for fronts only. I also have a few customers who insist that I take the full amount when they forget the gate.
That said I fully understand why on another round you'd want to charge full price.