[jo5hm4n]

Customer has accused us of scratching their glass on an upstairs window.  She noticed it today whilst the sun was shining bright on the glass.  For reference we have cleaned for this customer for  2 years, but at her new property only about 6 months now.

Last time a customer accused us of scratching glass this happened was 2021.  I usually get this once every couple years.

I came to the conclusion years ago that it's not possible to scratch glass using standard wfp.  We don't use razor blades or anything abrasive for window cleaning.  We just use standard wfp brushes.

So based on that alone, this is the standard reply i send whenever a customer accuses us of scratching the glass.

I am not even willing to entertain the possibility that we have caused it because i just don't see how its possible to scratch glass with wfp, especially when its more than 1 scratch, lots of long ones almost like someone has used a stanley blade on the glass at some point.

Let me know what you think of my approach and also my reply.


Dear Customer,

Many thanks for communicating with me with the issue of the scratched glass, I am sure that you must be concerned about this matter on your property.

First of all I would like to assure you that the methods we use and have used on your property since 2021, along with the specialist brushes selected for your windows, are chosen so that it is not possible to scratch glass of any sort, whether new glass or skylights.


The brushes are made by a specialist company who have been supplying them to the WFP window cleaning industry for over a decade now and are made using PBT polyester bristles and nylon stocks. Both materials are not hard enough to scratch glass in use. They are also designed not to hold on to grit or stones in cleaning.

We do not believe we have caused this scratch due to the high quality tools and standards we use.

However we have found that sometimes scratches have been caused by other work done nearby or general house or garden maintenance and then not noticed for many months or even longer years until a bright day when the sun strikes it from a certain angle.

Because imperfections may be imperceptible in dull conditions and the window is often dirty due to weather this might go unnoticed until a sunny day after the windows have been cleaned.

Therefore, in view of the above my operative did not cause the scratches to your glass.

Yours Sincerely

[dazmond]

I've been accused twice now in 13 years of WFP...

I've gone round the next day and taken a look.both times there was more than one scratch and they both had workmen on their properties in the last month or so....

I basically said there's no way my brush  would scratch glass like that and they both agreed it wasnt me at fault.👍

[Smudger]

While it’s highly unlikely using the brush correctly - they can scratch - seen - done it

I would agree ground level but not first floor as there is no passing ‘traffic’

I scratched glass from a bird strike  by just scrubbing it

These things come down to ‘how likely’ itwas done by you and how you want to been for customer service - if you  feel 100% it could not be you/worker then stand your ground

I have staff so I can’t personally say the staff didn’t do it so for the cost I will replace the glass - I think I’ve done this 3 times over 14 years with an average of 5 windys on the glass

[windowswashed]

Clean white scouring pads won't scratch glass providing glass is kept wet, but clogged up pads have a possibility of scratching glass.

Side of stock brush is a good cause for scratching glass when stubborn dirt isn't shifted easily and an employee uses the stock brush on it's edge to try shifting cemented bird poop if no scouring pad fitted. Find Gardiners gooseneck pads very good for shifting stubborn marks on glass.

[Stoots]

Ive been accused a few times. One customer i was cleaning for years, she had new windows fitted and 6 months later on a sunny day saw some scratches. When i pointed out what the cause likley was she cancelled me as did her sister who lived next door. She didnt see the logic in that i had been cleaning both houses years until she had new windows fitted. She asked straight away if i was insured, she was gutted as she had signed off on the windows when they were fitted and they "definitely werent scratched then".

To be honest when ever ive had the scratch complaint i just say sorry it wasnt me. Unless they have video footage of you putting a scratch in them theres nothing they can do anyway.

A couple of months ago a customer accused me off damage to his soffits. He had new soffit fitted and one day after i had cleaned them i got a message saying he wasnt happy i had damaged his soffits. I went to have a look thinking maybe i had scratched above the top frame with the edge of the brush...turns out there was hole about a foot away from the glass the size of a tennis ball. I just told him to p off the cheeky c**t i hadnt been anywhere near it!  im not known for my customer service though another one dumped.

[KS Cleaning]

I think your reply is a bit too wordy. Just tell them you’re  certain that you didn’t cause the scratch and offer to go around and show them your cleaning method and the equipment used.

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

Offer to show them the brush to prove that it couldn't scratch the glass. There's nothing other than plastic/nylon in contact with the glass!

[DJW]

I would take a look. I was accused of scratching glass once, turned out to be a strand of cobweb.

[jo5hm4n]

Ive been accused a few times. One customer i was cleaning for years, she had new windows fitted and 6 months later on a sunny day saw some scratches. When i pointed out what the cause likley was she cancelled me as did her sister who lived next door. She didnt see the logic in that i had been cleaning both houses years until she had new windows fitted. She asked straight away if i was insured, she was gutted as she had signed off on the windows when they were fitted and they "definitely werent scratched then".

To be honest when ever ive had the scratch complaint i just say sorry it wasnt me. Unless they have video footage of you putting a scratch in them theres nothing they can do anyway.

A couple of months ago a customer accused me off damage to his soffits. He had new soffit fitted and one day after i had cleaned them i got a message saying he wasnt happy i had damaged his soffits. I went to have a look thinking maybe i had scratched above the top frame with the edge of the brush...turns out there was hole about a foot away from the glass the size of a tennis ball. I just told him to p off the cheeky c**t i hadnt been anywhere near it!  im not known for my customer service though another one dumped.

Cant lie, i love your reply the most, but sadly i cant bring myself to be this carefree about it.

I sent her my original message, and she said please can you just come over and discuss it with us.

So i've agreed to go over one day and im going to show her how we clean to prove that basically its like a 0.000001% chance it was probably us 

[jo5hm4n]

Offer to show them the brush to prove that it couldn't scratch the glass. There's nothing other than plastic/nylon in contact with the glass!

She has asked me to go round so we are going to do exactly as you have suggested!

[dazmond]

Ive been accused a few times. One customer i was cleaning for years, she had new windows fitted and 6 months later on a sunny day saw some scratches. When i pointed out what the cause likley was she cancelled me as did her sister who lived next door. She didnt see the logic in that i had been cleaning both houses years until she had new windows fitted. She asked straight away if i was insured, she was gutted as she had signed off on the windows when they were fitted and they "definitely werent scratched then".

To be honest when ever ive had the scratch complaint i just say sorry it wasnt me. Unless they have video footage of you putting a scratch in them theres nothing they can do anyway.

A couple of months ago a customer accused me off damage to his soffits. He had new soffit fitted and one day after i had cleaned them i got a message saying he wasnt happy i had damaged his soffits. I went to have a look thinking maybe i had scratched above the top frame with the edge of the brush...turns out there was hole about a foot away from the glass the size of a tennis ball. I just told him to p off the cheeky c**t i hadnt been anywhere near it!  im not known for my customer service though another one dumped.

Cant lie, i love your reply the most, but sadly i cant bring myself to be this carefree about it.

I sent her my original message, and she said please can you just come over and discuss it with us.

So i've agreed to go over one day and im going to show her how we clean to prove that basically its like a 0.000001% chance it was probably us 

You ve agreed to go round 'one day'.....

I'd be round straight away the next day to sort it out....

[DJW]

Only if she’s fit.

[AuRavelling79]

Ive been accused a few times. One customer i was cleaning for years, she had new windows fitted and 6 months later on a sunny day saw some scratches. When i pointed out what the cause likley was she cancelled me as did her sister who lived next door. She didnt see the logic in that i had been cleaning both houses years until she had new windows fitted. She asked straight away if i was insured, she was gutted as she had signed off on the windows when they were fitted and they "definitely werent scratched then".

To be honest when ever ive had the scratch complaint i just say sorry it wasnt me. Unless they have video footage of you putting a scratch in them theres nothing they can do anyway.

A couple of months ago a customer accused me off damage to his soffits. He had new soffit fitted and one day after i had cleaned them i got a message saying he wasnt happy i had damaged his soffits. I went to have a look thinking maybe i had scratched above the top frame with the edge of the brush...turns out there was hole about a foot away from the glass the size of a tennis ball. I just told him to p off the cheeky c**t i hadnt been anywhere near it!  im not known for my customer service though another one dumped.

Were you playing tennis in his garden?

[Stoots]

Ive been accused a few times. One customer i was cleaning for years, she had new windows fitted and 6 months later on a sunny day saw some scratches. When i pointed out what the cause likley was she cancelled me as did her sister who lived next door. She didnt see the logic in that i had been cleaning both houses years until she had new windows fitted. She asked straight away if i was insured, she was gutted as she had signed off on the windows when they were fitted and they "definitely werent scratched then".

To be honest when ever ive had the scratch complaint i just say sorry it wasnt me. Unless they have video footage of you putting a scratch in them theres nothing they can do anyway.

A couple of months ago a customer accused me off damage to his soffits. He had new soffit fitted and one day after i had cleaned them i got a message saying he wasnt happy i had damaged his soffits. I went to have a look thinking maybe i had scratched above the top frame with the edge of the brush...turns out there was hole about a foot away from the glass the size of a tennis ball. I just told him to p off the cheeky c**t i hadnt been anywhere near it!  im not known for my customer service though another one dumped.

Cant lie, i love your reply the most, but sadly i cant bring myself to be this carefree about it.

I sent her my original message, and she said please can you just come over and discuss it with us.

So i've agreed to go over one day and im going to show her how we clean to prove that basically its like a 0.000001% chance it was probably us 

I wouldnt expect you to, you have a business with staff and want to keep a reputation.

I stopped caring years ago i`ll just drop them first sign of trouble just cant be bothered.

[jo5hm4n]

Going round on saturday.  Offered to go earlier but her and husband work all week long hours.

So she text me back saying this

"These windows were fitted in February this year, by my husband who works for Local Building Plastics. There were no scratches on installation. There wasn’t any scratches on these windows last week and there now is after your window cleaner has visited the property. There has been no building work or maintenance in my garden. The only person to visit the property and touch the windows is the window cleaner.

We clean the windows inside once a week. So nothing has been missed.

I don’t know how your window cleaner would be able to see these scratches from the ground level because we cannot. What I would like is for you to come to the property yourself so we can discuss this further."



So i just replied saying, okay i will come round and discuss it with you further.

The plan is to go there show her the window cleaning brushes in person to show its virtually impossible to scratch the glass.  Let her spout off and then ill just conclude saying unless you have actual proof that we caused the scratches, then i am not taking responsbility or accepting fault for it.

Then i will just walk off and leave it at that.

She has already cancelled the GoCardless mandate before the payment was submitted for the clean, so at this point shes binned  off the round anyway so i couldn't care less too be honest.

She is lucky i am going round at all.  I am trying to be professional because i have staff and a reputation locally but every part of me just wants to block her number and call it a day.  Cant be arsed.

[Smudger]

While most on here will all nod sagely and say yeah F the customer - take a step back and think how you would like to be treated in a situation like this

ie.. you leave your car at a garage to be serviced - you pick it up and there is a scratch - garage says to you sorry no proof mate!

The fact is you can scratch a window if the brush picks up some grit  - also you as yet have no idea what sort of scratches are on the glass - if its a concentrated area then as said the stock was likely used to remove a bird strike.

If there is a couple of straight very light marks its most likely they have been there from day one - they to see if they are on the inside of the glass.

go look THEN decide your course of action

[Stoots]

Going round on saturday.  Offered to go earlier but her and husband work all week long hours.

So she text me back saying this

"These windows were fitted in February this year, by my husband who works for Local Building Plastics. There were no scratches on installation. There wasn’t any scratches on these windows last week and there now is after your window cleaner has visited the property. There has been no building work or maintenance in my garden. The only person to visit the property and touch the windows is the window cleaner.

We clean the windows inside once a week. So nothing has been missed.

I don’t know how your window cleaner would be able to see these scratches from the ground level because we cannot. What I would like is for you to come to the property yourself so we can discuss this further."



So i just replied saying, okay i will come round and discuss it with you further.

The plan is to go there show her the window cleaning brushes in person to show its virtually impossible to scratch the glass.  Let her spout off and then ill just conclude saying unless you have actual proof that we caused the scratches, then i am not taking responsbility or accepting fault for it.

Then i will just walk off and leave it at that.

She has already cancelled the GoCardless mandate before the payment was submitted for the clean, so at this point shes binned  off the round anyway so i couldn't care less too be honest.

She is lucky i am going round at all.  I am trying to be professional because i have staff and a reputation locally but every part of me just wants to block her number and call it a day.  Cant be arsed.

Like you say if shes cancelled the dd shes already decided its your fault and binned you off, i would just send her an email or text saying sorry its wasnt you then block her and forget about it.

I dont see what having a look is going to do except maybe make it worse, if you are not going to admit liability theres no point it could only get heated.

When i went to look at mr tennis ball soffit he wanted me to go after 4pm when he was in to discuss, i could tell from his snotty message he was blaming me not asking...so i just went and had a look when was convenient for me then messaged him with the results of my findings....  There was no point me going to "discuss " because he wasnt going to like me saying no and i wouldnt have responded well to any hostility.

Brush it under the carpet and move on. 

[dazmond]

Personally I would want to see it for myself.....sometimes it can be on the inside of the window!which is a fantastic feeling when you prove them wrong!

I've proved quite a few wrong over the years whether it's a scratch or a mark/dirt on the glass....

[Rogue Trader]

We have been accused a few times , only once was legitimate where someone had used a blade improperly , i have also seen it when using stock of brush to get off bird poo - lesson learned , leave the bird poo rather than scratch the glass with stock. All other accusations were due to new windows and/or previous non w/c workmen have causedand our cleaning highlighted the scratchs. i have attempted to scratch the glass on our portacabin window by picking up grit on brush on purpose , even that didnt cause any scratches.

[robbo333]

I have a customer (she's ok, but not brilliant) who skipped because she was having building works done. No problem.
It turns out she had a small brick conservatory built and then cancelled the next clean as some of the windows were scratched (from the builder) so not worth cleaning the rest of the house! Yes big yawn!
I then contacted her and...not worth cleaning again because the decorators (decorating the Conny) had scratched the glass...so again not worth doing!
Curiosity got the better of me (and I clean the estate) so I popped by.  Again tails of whoe!
Unfortunately, I won't be cleaning for her anymore. 
The reality is I can't be arsed cleaning the conny, in case it's my turn to have scratched the glass!