[Nick Vassilev]

Hey guys, I hope everyone is having a great day.
 
I'm kindly asking of your thoughts about an issue we had.
 
We recently cleaned a client's UPVC windows internally as part of a deep clean job. The window sills and frames were very dirty covered with grime and mould. The cleaner used a standard window cleaning product on the glass and a multi-purpose cleaner on the UPVC.
 
The interesting bit. Once our cleaner started to clean the plastic she noticed weird brown stains appearing from under the dirt and mould. As if those had been disguised somehow with something white-ish and then the cleaning process subsequently removed the disguise. Our operative tried to clean/remove these stains without any success. They did not move at all. The clean revealed initially small spots then some big ones surfaced at which point the cleaner stopped and informed the client.
 
The weird bit. Now the client (letting agent) is accusing us of causing damage to the UPVC and demands us to replace the allegedly damaged UPVC. He insists the cleaner used bleach or some other "harsh" cleaning material (he saw an oven cleaning product in the cleaning crate) that caused the damage.
 
I have had a thorough look through the attached pictures and I don't think bleach or oven cleaner can cause those stains. However I may be wrong.
 
Could you tell me what you think? Could this have been caused by a cleaning product or does it look like something else?
 
Your help is highly appreciated!
 
Cheers,
Nick

[Rudolph Hucker]

A former tenant may have been a heavy smoker and this could be nicotine from the openers.

[Shrek]

Looks like someone’s been killed 

[Jonny Swirljet]

Have you got an area where you hav'nt cleaned yet ? If you have either let the agent witness the cleaning and the revalation of the brown marks or video the same and show it to your insurance company if he tries to blame you.

[Dry Clean]

I would say you're being taken for a mug, looks like something acidic has been sprayed on those frames and not removed quick enough causing the damage, you can sometimes get similar brown stains when bird poo is left on the external frames too long.
Tell them the chemical you use is 100% upvc safe and will be happy to prove this in a court of law.


 

[Nick Vassilev]

Have you got an area where you hav'nt cleaned yet ? If you have either let the agent witness the cleaning and the revalation of the brown marks or video the same and show it to your insurance company if he tries to blame you.

We offered to try every single product from the crate. The guy said he’s got to be somewhere and refused to carry out the test. Hmm...

[Splash & dash]

Looks like nicotine staining to me

[Johnny B]

Spider poo?

John

[JUST GUTTERS]

caustic traffic film remover will leave marks like above if not watered down enough... it should clean off .. use powder ciff  or another product that's a bit abrasive ..

[Go]

Cif and magic sponges?

[dazmond]

what a nightmare...glad i dont  do this type of work anymore......id try CIF and melamine foam too......shifts most stubborn marks on UPVC.......

[Granny]

Once the cleaner saw that on the first frame she should have stopped cleaning immediately and informed the client to witness, what the cleaning was revealing.
Now you've done them all it's too late for a before and after comparison.

[Kev Martin]

Cif and magic sponges?

Why two mechanical / abrasive items together? 

[Cookie]

Have you tried using Astonish paste? I've found this to be very good in the past.

[G Griffin]

A former tenant may have been a heavy smoker and this could be nicotine from the openers.

I'd say that.
Heavily stained and then someone has had a go at cleaning them and smeared it around the frame or failed to shift spots of it.

[Go]

Cif and magic sponges?

Why two mechanical / abrasive items together?

Don’t know, never really thought about it like that. Belt and braces!!

[Marc Stock]

Thats damage caused by Bleach.

Someone has taken a bleach saturated cloth and wiped that, and sprayed it without dilution and its been left for a long period of time.

Unplasticized polyvinyl chloride reacts with Chlorine.

If you want to restore it you might be able to use Hydrogen Peroxide and a UV lamp but i would inform the agents first.

[Splash & dash]

Thats damage caused by Bleach.

Someone has taken a bleach saturated cloth and wiped that, and sprayed it without dilution and its been left for a long period of time.

Unplasticized polyvinyl chloride reacts with Chlorine.

If you want to restore it you might be able to use Hydrogen Peroxide and a UV lamp but i would inform the agents first.

That doesn’t look like bleach damage to me , usualy if it’s that it will turn the whole area yellow/brown when rinsed off it will revert back to white in a maximum of a couple of hours , inside plastics that haven’t been exposed to uv generaly arnt affected by  bleach we use it a lot and evan at 15% never stained anything inside a property

[Smudger]

Agree - not bleach

Not sure on tobacco stains either, doesn’t usually spot like that, more of an even coverage

Whatever it is it’s nasty

Darran

[CleanClear]

Just a thought... maybe its been used for growing weed. Any smells in there ?