[jo5hm4n]

Customer of ours who showed multiple red flags since day 1, which i'm ashamed to say i ignored like an idiot.

She even tried to on multiple occasions play off my employee against me by claiming he offered her a cheaper price if she went from 4 to 8 weekly (complete lie) she also offered to pay him cash if he would knock a few £ off the price and not tell me, and also do her fascias cash cheap for £20 if he didn't tell me about it.

Customer screams nightmare all over.

Anyway the issue at hand is that she is now accusing my main worker of ripping the lead off her front door, and also getting water lodged inbetween the double glazing on the front door unit.  She claims that the Lead was in her words "amazing condition" before we started cleaning her windows and now my employee has damaged them by not cleaning them properly.  She is adamant he has caused the damage.

My employee has told me that the lead was in no way good condition at all, some of the lead was starting to peel off on the joints etc.  He even told her about this and said he would be extra careful with cleaning them to avoid making the problem worse than it already is before we commenced cleaning for her.

She then tried to DIY fix the lead herself she literally glued the lead back on herself 

Hes told me her front door has white staining from the lead, in no way is the lead in good condition or new.  It's aged and not in good condition.

She is now saying she reported this damage last month and she wants my insurance details, she didn't even ask us to come and look at the damage she literally said, tell your boss to phone me to give me his insurance details as i want the front door replacing.


I literally cant be arsed with her, because she just screams red flag customer all day and its all BS.

Ive written up the draft message to send to her now, which basically says the lead was already damaged and not in good condition when we commenced cleaning, and it's in no way our fault.  She was advised that it was fragile and that we would be careful as it's already damaged before we started.

I just need to know is there a better way i can word this, or something i should or shouldn't mention in my message to her.

She seems like the type which might try and sue me if i refuse to give her my insurance details.

If she was a nice customer, or i genuinely believed that we caused the damage then fair enough, but i'm 100% in this instance not giving her my insurance details because i know deep down she is just trying it on, and im not letting her get the satisfaction.


Any advice fellas?

Just need to formulate the best reply, then can forget about this crazy custard.

Cheers

[SB Cleaning]

Lead is easily  damaged by not using the right brush/technique are you sure your employee hasn't made it worse?
I only say this because when i employed i had a few custys complain about it..

At the end of the day its her word against yours.

[EandM]

RUN !

[Pete Thompson]

It’s not like driving a car, you don’t have to give her the insurance details. It’s not even compulsory to have insurance at all.

I would tell her that you don’t accept responsibility, prove that you did it, if you had insurance you wouldn’t have to give her the information and would choose not too. If she contacts you again you’ll make a complaint to the police for harassment.

Then if she won’t leave it alone, make a complaint to the cops.

There is no evidence that you caused the damage, so if she sues you, it’ll be her word against yours.

[Stoots]

Simple this one mate.

It wasn't us sorry

Wouldn't mention anything about the lead being in poor condition and certainly don't put that in a email as its incriminating lol

It's her that will have to prove it and unless she has camera footage or a message etc admitting liability she's stuffed.

Send a polite email,sorry I don't belive this was us then just block her number and ignore.

[Smudger]

First thing we always do now is take a photo - when the employee noticed it he should have got a photo because as soon as its pointed out the Customer will want it replaced regardless of fault ( and your you easiest target )

failing to have a photo - request a receipt and date of when the door was installed - if its been in the last year - its rather a manufacturer's issue or you take on the chin - if its over 5 years then it would come under general wear and tear - particularly if you haven't been cleaning it since new - anything could have started the peeling process before you came along

lastly if its that DIY stuff then its a definate NO - on yer bike - that stuff is rubbish and they have modified the door without it being done professionally

So it short - age of door and a receipt - then move on from there

Darran

[Arnold Palmer]

Your insurance probably wouldn't buy her a new door anyway.

[dazmond]

Simple this one mate.

It wasn't us sorry

Wouldn't mention anything about the lead being in poor condition and certainly don't put that in a email as its incriminating lol

It's her that will have to prove it and unless she has camera footage or a message etc admitting liability she's stuffed.

Send a polite email,sorry I don't belive this was us then just block her number and ignore.

Just do this...problem solved then move on mate...silly cow...

[Slacky]

A professional doesn’t block a customers number and simply turn their back.

You may want to but it isn’t professional to do that.

[g.brookes]

I would just block her number. What's she gonna do, take you to court?

[Splash & dash]

I would just block her number. What's she gonna do, take you to court?

Hardly professional and asking for trouble on social media,and yes people like that are very likely to try and take you to court , won’t win the case but can cause you a right headache.

[dazmond]

I would just block her number. What's she gonna do, take you to court?

Hardly professional and asking for trouble on social media,and yes people like that are very likely to try and take you to court , won’t win the case but can cause you a right headache.

if you know its not your problem and its a leech of a customer trying to get something for free then i dont see it as a problem at all to block their number.

ive done it a few times after politely explaining i didnt damage their property.im not on social media and dont have a website so no worries there....

i really hate these types of people and would happily resort to a bit of intimidation and even violence if need be but luckily ive never heard from them again....happy days

i dont give a **** about being professional in some situations.....

[NWH]

Probably a stiff over splaying brush 😂

[Splash & dash]

I would just block her number. What's she gonna do, take you to court?

Hardly professional and asking for trouble on social media,and yes people like that are very likely to try and take you to court , won’t win the case but can cause you a right headache.

if you know its not your problem and its a leech of a customer trying to get something for free then i dont see it as a problem at all to block their number.

ive done it a few times after politely explaining i didnt damage their property.im not on social media and dont have a website so no worries there....

i really hate these types of people and would happily resort to a bit of intimidation and even violence if need be but luckily ive never heard from them again....happy days

i dont give a **** about being professional in some situations.....

None of your comments surprises  me at all it’s typical Neanderthal attitude, you might not be on social media but 99% of people are and they can destroy your reputation in a matter of hours wether it’s true  or not  , the woman in  question  sounds a right  pita  but simply ignoring her isn’t going to make the problem go away , this is ware your initial gut feelings come in at the quoting stage any  that I feel are going to be like this get binned before we ever start working fir them   with experience it’s usually easy to spot them , any that do slip through the net  just get told politely that we have to much work and unfortunately we aren’t able to carry on doing their place we wish you well and thanks for your custom , what’s the worst they can say to that .

[Jonny 87]

I would just block her number. What's she gonna do, take you to court?

Hardly professional and asking for trouble on social media,and yes people like that are very likely to try and take you to court , won’t win the case but can cause you a right headache.

if you know its not your problem and its a leech of a customer trying to get something for free then i dont see it as a problem at all to block their number.

ive done it a few times after politely explaining i didnt damage their property.im not on social media and dont have a website so no worries there....

i really hate these types of people and would happily resort to a bit of intimidation and even violence if need be but luckily ive never heard from them again....happy days

i dont give a **** about being professional in some situations.....

If your not on social media then that’s actually worse…… you couldnt defend yourself. 

[Bungle]

I would just block her number. What's she gonna do, take you to court?

Hardly professional and asking for trouble on social media,and yes people like that are very likely to try and take you to court , won’t win the case but can cause you a right headache.

if you know its not your problem and its a leech of a customer trying to get something for free then i dont see it as a problem at all to block their number.

ive done it a few times after politely explaining i didnt damage their property.im not on social media and dont have a website so no worries there....

i really hate these types of people and would happily resort to a bit of intimidation and even violence if need be but luckily ive never heard from them again....happy days

i dont give a **** about being professional in some situations.....

You're here, so you are.

[Ggh]

Always puzzles me why people have those fake lead windows, with the lead glued on. Not sure what the point is. Hardly aesthetic.

[dazmond]

Well I've had no problems with customers taking me to court in 29 years of running a window cleaning business but I've had a few try it on with supposed property damage or accusations of stealing....

I just dump them and never go back and now these days you can block them 🚫...fantastic IMO!

[jo5hm4n]

All things considered  with everyones posts instead of sending a very long worded diatribe of X Y Z of the situation to the customer, explaining the whole reason why its not possible we could not have caused the damage etc.

I have decided to go with Stoots and Daz on this one.  I'm going to just say that i do not take responsibility for the accusation against us for causing damage to her door.

Then leave it at that.  I wont block her, but i will leave the message short and sweet.  If she messages me back again i will probably just ignore the message, or reply with a very short answer.

I wont block her, as the part of the story that i did not tell you is that she was referred to us from 3 other customers that we clean for round the corner who are friends with this woman 

So i may end up losing 3 more customers.

As far as i am concerned they can all get in the bin, i don't need the hassle.  1 Hour of lead generation and i can get these customers replaced with better ones anyway, so happy days.

[G Griffin]

All things considered  with everyones posts instead of sending a very long worded diatribe of X Y Z of the situation to the customer, explaining the whole reason why its not possible we could not have caused the damage etc.

I have decided to go with Stoots and Daz on this one.  I'm going to just say that i do not take responsibility for the accusation against us for causing damage to her door.

Then leave it at that.  I wont block her, but i will leave the message short and sweet.  If she messages me back again i will probably just ignore the message, or reply with a very short answer.

I wont block her, as the part of the story that i did not tell you is that she was referred to us from 3 other customers that we clean for round the corner who are friends with this woman 

So i may end up losing 3 more customers.

As far as i am concerned they can all get in the bin, i don't need the hassle.  1 Hour of lead generation and i can get these customers replaced with better ones anyway, so happy days.

To replace the old stuff?