[AuRavelling79]

Sometimes you get a really nice customer.

I had an enquiry from a lady  who had bought a council house in a village near Bristol and because it is in a run of only eight houses  it backs on to fields and woods and overlooks the Severn bridge in the distance at the front.

She and her husband and two kids have just extended it and turned the garage into a utility room and the builders were still there when I went to price it. 

I said when it's finished it would be £22 every 8 weeks with more for a first clean and that she might ensure the builders left it free of labels, mastic and plaster as I would only be able to get off what I can with a brush system. She agreed.

A week later she said "Could you clean my new patio doors inside and out as they are very dusty and dirty?" I said I can but it would be £20 as they were very mucky. I went and did them and got paid on line.

A month later she said I'm ready for the first clean, can you do inside and out and how much will it be? I popped by when I was in the area had a look and said £100.00 and she agreed.

It was quite pleasant as the weather the morning I went was heavy showers and I did the outsides in a gap between the rain and carried on with the insides.

So although I went initially thinking someone wants a one off clean - price high  and be prepared for a cancellation - I have a regular nicely paid £22.00  for 20 minutes job.

They are a young family and it looks like they want to keep the place up together as a family home and so don't always judge a book by it's cover - just leaf through a few pages to check! 

[Mike Burd]

Thought I’d share my reply to a complainer!

————

Hi Amanda*

Thank you for your email.

I’m sorry you’re not happy with the window clean.

From your previous email I was of the understanding you didn’t want to have regular cleaning, this even after I explained to you in person it’s every 8 weeks and confirming that in the email, I also explained the direct debit payments in person and in the confirmation email - something else you weren’t happy with.

With regards the finish of the windows it’s difficult for me to accept given the situation described above, coupled with the fact it is nearly three weeks since we cleaned them that you have raised an issue. Had we been made aware shortly after the clean, we would have come back and cleaned them all again if they were indeed as bad as you have claimed.

We clean for 100’s of customers and our level of service is kept very high.

As we can see there’s numerous aspects you’re not happy with, and as it stands I had already removed you from our schedule due to the previous complaints about the direct debit and frequency of cleans, as we clearly can’t meet you’re standards.

Thanks for your custom, and I hope you find a window cleaner that suits your needs.

Many thanks
Tom

*Names have NOT been changed 

I feel like I'm an expert on this. Even more than Lee Pryor because he doesn't deal with them. We added about 900 customers last year & I signed up the bulk of them over the phone. It's absolutely horrendous dealing with those with expectations way beyond realism. On 1st October I handed over the day to day customer dealings to someone else. I was counting down the days in the end to be honest.

[NWH]

People are always keen at first and I can see initially the direct debit not maybe being an issue until they are cleaned to frequently for them then
noticing the debit coming out.

[jay moley]

Most customers are good as gold.

Funny enough I sometimes find the ones that you think will be great turn out not to be so and others you have suspicions of surprise you.

[NWH]

Problems with people signing up and signing off will come in the next 6-12 months imo,the backlash from all this won’t start until deep into this year people have been at home and they want clean windows in some cases they are pleased to see someone lol.

[davids3511]

I had one who rang me up 4 or 5 weeks ago asking me if I was brain-dead. Mistakenly I’d not moved her wellie boots from under one of the downstairs windows, so they got some water in them. Not a lot, but a bit...😅

So, I cut her off mid-sentence suggesting an error of that nature doesn’t deserve an insult like that and she could pay the outstanding bill and she’ll never have to have her wellies filled by me again. Silly bint.


I still occasionally plan to scatter grass seed in her shrub beds or bomb her lawn with herbicide. 😅😅

No bamboo in her lock?

[robbo333]

I've been putting out about 3.5k leaflets a month, for the last 8 months, so i've had to deal with 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

I think my favourite call was from a young lady:
Her - "Aaaa much clean my windows?
Me - Would you like them cleaned just the once?
I heard a male voice in the background say "don't say once, tell 'im you wan reglar
Her - yeah wan 'em done reglar."
Unfortunately I was too busy to help her.

A little thing I like to do if i'm NOT SURE about the custy is, at the end of a first clean, when the custy is happy and i've got my money, I say this: "Glad you're happy with your first clean. I can do two things, I can either text you in 8 weeks when your clean is due again, or if you like, you can just contact me when you want them done again, no problem".

I don't need to use this very often but it does help separate the wheat from the chaff.

[NWH]

That’s the thing these days you drop 100 leaflets you get 10 people showing interest I would wager most of them have seen the leaflet and thought we need our windows cleaned at this present time,out of that 10 I would also wager that 2-3 may want it regular.
It used to be few and far between the one off brigade,it’s getting more common these days from what I’ve heard.

[jim bean]

Sometimes you get a really nice customer.

I had an enquiry from a lady  who had bought a council house in a village near Bristol and because it is in a run of only eight houses  it backs on to fields and woods and overlooks the Severn bridge in the distance at the front.

She and her husband and two kids have just extended it and turned the garage into a utility room and the builders were still there when I went to price it. 

I said when it's finished it would be £22 every 8 weeks with more for a first clean and that she might ensure the builders left it free of labels, mastic and plaster as I would only be able to get off what I can with a brush system. She agreed.

A week later she said "Could you clean my new patio doors inside and out as they are very dusty and dirty?" I said I can but it would be £20 as they were very mucky. I went and did them and got paid on line.

A month later she said I'm ready for the first clean, can you do inside and out and how much will it be? I popped by when I was in the area had a look and said £100.00 and she agreed.

It was quite pleasant as the weather the morning I went was heavy showers and I did the outsides in a gap between the rain and carried on with the insides.

So although I went initially thinking someone wants a one off clean - price high  and be prepared for a cancellation - I have a regular nicely paid £22.00  for 20 minutes job.

They are a young family and it looks like they want to keep the place up together as a family home and so don't always judge a book by it's cover - just leaf through a few pages to check! 

£20 for new patio doors inside and out?! What the hell where are these people that’s 5mins work I’d be turned down 80% of the time even at £10

[Stoots]

If i give the option of 4 and 8 weekly, i would say its 60/70% in favour of 8 weekly.

Not that i care, i dont find they take much longer and it doesnt seem like i am there every 5 minutes.

In an ideal world 6 is best imo

[windowswashed]

Mostly 6weekly, some monthly and some 2 monthly so room to juggle work around.

[NWH]

If i give the option of 4 and 8 weekly, i would say its 60/70% in favour of 8 weekly.

Not that i care, i dont find they take much longer and it doesnt seem like i am there every 5 minutes.

In an ideal world 6 is best imo

Bang on m8 the longer the gap the more they’ll love you when you turn up,you leave it a sensible time between cleans they’ll be happy to pay more.
If you’ve been doing this job long enough imo you don’t want to be doing loads of 4 weekly stuff it literally feels like a couple of weeks and it get embarrassing turning up at that frequency,if you like flexibility and being able to charge more per clean stretch it out if you need time off it’s far easier.
Those 15-25 quid jobs can only be put up to so much over the years,get some better bigger jobs that don’t take a lot longer to do that are far more per clean at longer intervals 💪