[paulswindows]

Anyone dared to  put prices up since the start of the lockdown? If so what has been the customer  response?

[Slacky]

Since lockdown I have had a commercial job which normally issues purchase orders made out for the forthcoming financial year start to issue them on a three monthly basis.

Today i received a purchase order for two window cleaning visits, sufficient to cover the three months made out for 50% more than it should’ve been. £990.00 instead of £660.00.

The customers response was quite  agreeable, but not as agreeable as mine.

[dazmond]

Anyone dared to  put prices up since the start of the lockdown? If so what has been the customer  response?

I put around 200 jobs up from april(I told them in early march)no problems....I did have another 50 or so to raise but didnt after the lockdown started on the 23rd march...

[Shrek]

Not gonna bother till April next year

[Jonny 87]

I’ve put mine on hold till next year.

That means I’m adversely effected.


 








 

[Simon Trapani]

I went ahead with price increases in the end purely because I feared next year could be even worse with recession, job losses etc. I thought there’s no way I can keep some of these prices the same for another year. But most were underpriced anyway imo.

Because I’ve never put them up percentage wise, I’ve found that over the years a lot of the house prices were disproportionate. For instance I used to put both a £10 & £20 house up by say a pound. You do that for a few years & you can see the problem.

[Slacky]

I’ve put mine on hold till next year.

That means I’m adversely effected.


 








 

This is very true. I’ve itemised this as a loss. Works out at about £2500 over a financial year.

[NBwcs]

It's a tricky one for sure, can't help but feel that if we get a second wave then next April could be an even harder time to put them up as no doubt the govt handouts by then will be much less. I was about 25% of the way through notifying customers when lockdown happened which has left a scenario whereby some customers friends and family haven't had rises whilst they have which is awkward. I have sensed an air of expectation from people with several asking if prices are the same so think im going to pick up where l left off next week and see how it goes. Havnt put them up for 3 yrs, really don't want it to stretch any more.

[G Griffin]

But the HMRC doesn't give a loss of earnings as an example of being adversely affected.
They have left out the effects on income because it would be too complicated, I believe.

[AuRavelling79]

If loss of earnings has been caused by Covid then a self employed person can hand on heart say they were adversely affected by it.

One example I believe is loss of customers. And loss of customers may cause loss of earnings.

[david mark]

Im keeping my prices the same got new start ups much cheaper than my prices

[NBwcs]

Im keeping my prices the same got new start ups much cheaper than my prices

Trouble with that is, I could have said that for every single year I've been window cleaning, all 16 of them, so could have talked my way out of ever putting them up. It's not just new start ups either, plenty of established windys happy to go in very cheap. I respect your decision though, its not an easy call.

[G Griffin]

If loss of earnings has been caused by Covid then a self employed person can hand on heart say they were adversely affected by it.

One example I believe is loss of customers. And loss of customers may cause loss of earnings.

And it may not.
If you've had to stop, or temporarily scale down, your work, you would be adversely affected and eligible to claim.
But earnings are not being taken into account.
HMRC have given examples of what they class as adversely affected and loss of customers or earnings isn't one of them.
To me, it boils down to whether you've had to have time off from work because of co-vid.
There are other examples but, again, losing income isn't mentioned.

[Richard iSparkle]

Im keeping my prices the same got new start ups much cheaper than my prices

don't compare yourself to underpriced startups.

there lies to path to ruin.

if people are happy with your service they won't abandon you for a cheaper startup.

[Richard Groves]

No plans to as yet. Its a tough decision for some I guess. Several local barbershops have increased their prices but thats mostly  due to the changes they've had to make regarding being covid safe, my local pub on the other hand  are doing meals 50% off in their nice sunny beer  garden and thats even after the 15% drop in vat for eating out. I'm just happy to be earning a comfortable living for now without having really lost any customers yet. Autumn is not far away , thats when the arm bands come off,  when many will sink or swim and the true scale of things will be measured.

[Mr.G]

The only prices I'll be putting up this year is a few underpriced ones that really need to go up, because inflation is only 0.6 percent so a bit hard to justify it really.