If you go about 'announcing' a £1 increase to your customers, they are more likely to question it or look around for a better deal. We all hate the words "price increase", so when we see those words in a txt or letter, even a small increase such as £1 can suddenly seem like a big deal.
By simply adding it to their bill, I'm not making a big deal about it and so they don't either, they just accept it because anyone with any sense knows that prices naturally rise.
Customers are free to cancel our service any time they wish without any valid reason or explanation, just as we are free to change our prices anytime we wish without any explanation.
If I walk into costa, order my usual morning latte, go to the til to pay only to find out the price has gone up by 10p, do I think its unethical that I havnt been informed beforehand of the price increase? No. I simply pay the bill, walk away and then I'm free to decide if I want to continue using costa for my caffeine fix or find somewhere cheaper.
I continue using costa however because I prefer their coffee over Starbucks etc but I can change my mind whenever I like.
Without any contractual agreement between us and the customer then our situation is no different.
I don't think it is unethical personally, we are free to decide how we run our business and the customer is free to decide whether they want to use our service or not.
I don't really agree
You are right, when you inform them there is a chance they will cancel as I'm sure most of us have found out.
However I'm almost certain i would have more cancels from just putting the price up unannounced.
I've had it before where I've accidentally put the wrong price on a slip and the customer has pulled me up on it and questioned why. And that's just with the odd error. If I suddenly stuck 300 up without telling them I am certain I would get a few disgruntled customers.
You are wrong about not having a contract. You agree to clean for X amount every 4 weeks. That's a verbal contract, sure they can cancel anytime but you would expect them to at least tell you they had cancelled otherwise you would clean their windows as agreed and expect to be paid.
If you are changing the terms of your agreement then surely you need to inform them to give them a chance to agree or disagree.
It's cheeky as feck imo, I wouldn't be right impressed if my window cleaner did that, it's not the money but the lack of common decency.
An example of this recently actually...I used a canvasser last year and paid him 2x.
He asked if I wanted a bit more doing some months later, I agreed for a small amount canvassing (only about £50 of work)
When he sent me the bill he was demanding 3x. When I asked him he said oh my prices have gone up at Christmas. At no point did he tell me that and do you think I paid him ? Not a chance, cheeky get didn't get any money from me.
It's just plain rude mate and a good way to pee them off.