[The Jester of Wibbly]

I had a customer cancel, as they were going to start doing there own windows a couple of months ago.      They called me up last week to start up again as they could not get the same results as me and his windows were a mess. 

I went round to clean and he showed me what he had bought online.    It is a telescopic pole with s brush on the end advertised as a water fed pole for window cleaning.    You connect your garden hose to the pole end and away you go!    No wonder he had problems.   I explained about needing pure water for it to work, he was so annoyed.

How do these companies get away with this sort of marketing?

[Slacky]

Because the customer is ignorant. Nothing wrong in the marketing.

[Spruce]

I had a customer cancel, as they were going to start doing there own windows a couple of months ago.      They called me up last week to start up again as they could not get the same results as me and his windows were a mess. 

I went round to clean and he showed me what he had bought online.    It is a telescopic pole with s brush on the end advertised as a water fed pole for window cleaning.    You connect your garden hose to the pole end and away you go!    No wonder he had problems.   I explained about needing pure water for it to work, he was so annoyed.

How do these companies get away with this sort of marketing?

Cleaning windows with a brush and water looks very easy to an outsider. When it all goes wrong as it did with your customer, they then usually ask us what we put into the water to stop the spotting.

We've explained the process to an older customer we have on numerous occasions over the years but he just doesn't understand.

Last week he again asked what we put into our water so it doesn't leave spots. The gardener he employs then later asked the same question so it must have been a subject of discussion between them.

"Its not what we put into the water that stops spotting, its what we take out. We use an equivalent of distilled water but its purified by a slightly different process. You will notice that rain drops in clean windows also don't leave spots. Our water is purer than rainwater."

I could see that it went right over their heads.

In the early days of wfp we were asked over and over again what water we used. In the end I got tired of wasting my time explaining the filtration process.

"What water do you use to clean our windows with?"

"We use tap water sir."  With some that was the end of the conversation about water for window cleaning. But then we often got the conversation continuing.

"What do you put into your water to make it clean so well?"

"Nothing. Its not what we put in; its what we take out." In 99% of the conversations this ended the discussion on water purification and saved me long explainations that they just couldn't grasp.
 
I've also told them on occasion that its magic water. I did note that customer's never asked any more questions after I said that. 

[nathankaye]

There was actually a chap going around cleaning folks windows with one of these and simply connecting to the customers tap 😂😂 he told them that the odd spots are a normal process and will eventually clear up!

[alank]

Tell them tap water goes into the tank pure water comes out of the brush the rest is a trade secret they dont need to know 

[NWH]

I baffle em with words like reverse osmosis pre filtration carbon and sediment filters before resin or deionisation,works for me in the past.
Get houses you need at least a 22-25ft pole for they’ll soon stop looking online for a brush on a stick.

[Richard Groves]

I've lost count the number of times customers have said I can use their outside tap 

[NWH]

Also when they ask how much the equipment costs over price it to them,if they think a likes gonna cost best part of a grand for the pole  they’ll soon ask you to crack on and carry on cleaning.
For the water I need it takes a whole night to filtrate for the following day  blah blah blah.

[nathankaye]

I had a customer who banged on about having poles like mine and he could stick a brush on end of his fishing poles and do his own windows.
I told him to crack on but he will need a couple of grand to sort out his filtration system with filters and finally a pressurised canister to hold his mixed bed ion exchange resin.  "So its not just tap water then!"  NO!  Lol.
He hasn't mention it since lol

[The Jester of Wibbly]

I had a customer who banged on about having poles like mine and he could stick a brush on end of his fishing poles and do his own windows.
I told him to crack on but he will need a couple of grand to sort out his filtration system with filters and finally a pressurised canister to hold his mixed bed ion exchange resin.  "So its not just tap water then!"  NO!  Lol.
He hasn't mention it since lol

Windows would smell a bit fishy to me   

[Simon Trapani]

Customer could just connect up to a di vessel if they really wanted. Or a throw away cannister.

[zesty]

I baffle em with words like reverse osmosis pre filtration carbon and sediment filters before resin or deionisation,works for me in the past.
Get houses you need at least a 22-25ft pole for they’ll soon stop looking online for a brush on a stick.

I do the same, give them the full spiel, this usually puts them off looking into.

[Windy Miller]

I know of two people who had been connecting directly to customers hoses with these eBay wfp's.

Not window cleaning but I remember a few years back one of the customers sons (6-8 yrs old) watching me and taking a yard brush to his father's 22B Impreza which was a very decent car even then. I quickly told him to stop but I dread to think what the paintwork was like 😂

[harleyman]

don't tell em pike

[capn sparkle]

I tell 'em that I've got ten grands worth of water purification kit in the van - don't use tapwater or it'll ruin your windows!

Ten grand including the van a 6 yr old PF system and poles, crap plus lots of junk accumulated over the years - yeah sure missus I'm a professional window cleaner (with lots of old stuff)