[tonyoliver]

Had a call first clean in a road in Croydon that is in an crap area I don’t normally do they insisted I was there at nine in the morning  had about 10 texts to get me there kept changing the date and so on
On the day  Texted me at 8.55 to confirm my arrival  I saw the sign and stopped to wait for the zone to finish at 9.15 I called
She Then told me the road was in a school street and the would register my van and I could do the job
Got to the job and she said front only  on the tops as her husband does the bottoms
Can I do it for £5 inc frames
A little miffed as I had thought it was a large job As she said it was all the windows
Did you register the van with the council
Oh yes I’ll do that now
Two weeks later a£65 fine or 130 if I don’t pay within 14 days
Called to tell them
Oh that’s your lookout ........ 
and we don’t want the windows done again soon
Well call you next year
I read the messages from the newbies who say guess what happened to me and thing he’ll I have had this loads and more over the years but this for me is a new level

[Bungle]

And breathe

[Arnold Palmer]

[Mike Burd]

Had a call first clean in a road in Croydon that is in an crap area I don’t normally do they insisted I was there at nine in the morning  had about 10 texts to get me there kept changing the date and so on
On the day  Texted me at 8.55 to confirm my arrival  I saw the sign and stopped to wait for the zone to finish at 9.15 I called
She Then told me the road was in a school street and the would register my van and I could do the job
Got to the job and she said front only  on the tops as her husband does the bottoms
Can I do it for £5 inc frames
A little miffed as I had thought it was a large job As she said it was all the windows
Did you register the van with the council
Oh yes I’ll do that now
Two weeks later a£65 fine or 130 if I don’t pay within 14 days
Called to tell them
Oh that’s your lookout ........ 
and we don’t want the windows done again soon
Well call you next year
I read the messages from the newbies who say guess what happened to me and thing he’ll I have had this loads and more over the years but this for me is a new level

Texts changing the date of the first clean? Why did you persist? Anyone that cancels/says first clean date/time inconvenient is an instant dump and that’s that. Don’t waste your time.

[NWH]

I’d have sent her a diagram of how to suck a sausage lol,the old 5 quid keeps coming up a lot on here lately 🤣🤣🤣

[tonyoliver]

And the best bit is they had no cash
Can I pay you online ....   
still waiting 
Lesson learnt
even after 30 years you still get done

[Ched]

And the best bit is they had no cash
Can I pay you online ....   
still waiting 
Lesson learnt
even after 30 years you still get done

In that case I would take them to small claims court. You have all texts. OK so you have to pay another £30 but if they don't pay up they get ccj and you can send bailiffs in. I admit it's a bit harsh but people like that need to learn a lesson.

[jo5hm4n]

Sorry Tony, but how much of a mug are you?  This is all your fault.

Did it not give you warning signals when you texted 10 times because they keep changing the date and insisted you come at 9am wtf?

If you have been going for 30 years i'm sure by now you know that you dont take any hassle from anyone and you decide what you want and how you run things.

If a customer insisted i come at a certain time  and then on top of that keeps changing the date for me they would be scrapped straight away.  Also i would never turn up to a job without giving a price or atleast a base price first to eliminate any time wasters.

I can't help but feel that this was entirely your fault and as a business owner you let yourself down on this one mate.  If you were a newbie fair enough, but 30 years experience?

You have mugged yourself off here!

(we have all been there myself included)

Am i being too harsh or maybe i have just read this post entirely wrong? 

[deeege]

She gave you about 20 different signals that she ought to be deleted and blocked, and you missed every one of them.

Multiple texts
Changing date of first clean
House in a crap area
Insisting on time of first clean
Needs a parking permit from council
Upstairs windows only
No cash on them

Every single one of them is reason to delete and block her and even after 30 years in business you carried on regardless. 😂😂😂

Oh and don’t do first cleans the week before Xmas, ever.

[Jay Le Huray]

the writing was on the wall right from the start, as as for cleaning fronts only for £5 in that area (really)
especially with parking restrictions....... you should have avoided this one

[Stoots]

Dont worry we have all done it. I still do it from time time, you get all the messer alarm bells and the spidey senses are going nuts telling you not to do it but you say to yourself ah well maybe this one will work out. They very rarely do.

I sometimes turn up at first cleans and from speaking to them and seeing the house i just know they are either going to not pay me or cancel after one clean but do them anyway in blind faith. And then the inevitable happens.

Need to trust your instincts

[tonyoliver]

I know your all right
What a mug  ☕️
I thought the job might be worth the visit
I knew the area as I was from there some of the houses are large  4 story Victorian  some were 2 up 2 down
This was the smaller ones
Spent 1/2 in traffic to get there
No idea they had a car free zone
Never thought they would not want all the windows doing and tell me when I started that they only wanted the tops done and not the rest
That they would get ocd on windows that looked like they have never been cleaned in a decade
Never thought they wouldn’t pay even the pittance of a charge
Never thought I’d be £65 in the hole and
Nothing to show for it
Live and learn
They said they had to go to work hence the time but they knew I couldn’t do the area in the car free zone
The best of us get done
Yes what a muppet I am
The job is great but at times  I  wonder if it’s worth it 

[Stoots]

I know your all right
What a mug  ☕️
I thought the job might be worth the visit
I knew the area as I was from there some of the houses are large  4 story Victorian  some were 2 up 2 down
This was the smaller ones
Spent 1/2 in traffic to get there
No idea they had a car free zone
Never thought they would not want all the windows doing and tell me when I started that they only wanted the tops done and not the rest
That they would get ocd on windows that looked like they have never been cleaned in a decade
Never thought they wouldn’t pay even the pittance of a charge
Never thought I’d be £65 in the hole and
Nothing to show for it
Live and learn
They said they had to go to work hence the time but they knew I couldn’t do the area in the car free zone
The best of us get done
Yes what a muppet I am
The job is great but at times  I  wonder if it’s worth it

The sad part of the job is you have to go through 3 or 4 bad customers to get to that great customer that never causes a problem and pays on time.

Sometimes i feel like packing it in too, but those great customers you have give you hope to carry on.

If its any consolation i have about 20 non payers right now that are never going to pay and will be getting debt letters at christmas. Unfortunately the way we work with small sums and payment after the clean we are just an easy target for scum bags to take advantage of.

But sometimes you have to learn to help yourself and just not do the job in the first place.

[tonyoliver]

Thanks guys  this forums great for giving you a spine !!!
But once you pitch up at the job you kind of feel you should do the work
We all have been done royaly
I’ve had
Call again tomorrow and I’ll pay you you go round and the new owners are moving in
Or my favourite  years ago was it’s a council house the council will pay you

Come on we all have been done
The builders forum must be full of they owe me 20k  I met a swimming pool builder who was window cleaning said he’d been done for 120k from this job and It had bankrupted him
Or my husbands a solicitor see you in court
We get off lightly with a few pounds

[NWH]

First thing I ask for is the post code and full address if they ever tried to get out of giving me that I wouldn’t go there until they provided me pictures showing all that they wanted cleaning with pictures of all 4 sides of the property,lead generation type work this is.

[NWH]

Thanks guys  this forums great for giving you a spine !!!
But once you pitch up at the job you kind of feel you should do the work
We all have been done royaly
I’ve had
Call again tomorrow and I’ll pay you you go round and the new owners are moving in
Or my favourite  years ago was it’s a council house the council will pay you

Come on we all have been done
The builders forum must be full of they owe me 20k  I met a swimming pool builder who was window cleaning said he’d been done for 120k from this job and It had bankrupted him
Or my husbands a solicitor see you in court
We get off lightly with a few pounds

And I know builders that have stitched customers up also,1 bloke said he was going under unless he had 20 odd grand on the Thursday and wouldn’t be able to finish her job she paid him and he went bankrupt the following Tuesday,if he’d done that to me he’d never be able to climb a ladder again. 

[tonyoliver]

Cowboy customers
Cowboy cleaners
Not sure which is the most prevelent

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

Crikey Big-T, this really is "schoolboy error" territory!!

[matty72]

after nearly 20 years just had my worst customer Tony, knew there was something wrong with him, first question can you do every two weeks, strange, not bothered about the price, long story short isnt paying, cant waist any more time with but so annoying, worst ever

[robbo333]

Well and truly done no fault of my own

I think everyone has established you are partly to blame!

Never mind it happens.