[lal]

These type of people frustrate me ....
I think in this situation , right from the start of her response, I would have accepted the offer of £50 to get damage limitation.
I would then block her and never go back.

something similar happened to me on a pressure wash job for a customer I have had for about 15 years.   I had forgotten to put his table and chairs back in place . I offered to put it right , but he wouldnt let me , and instead he said he wasnt paying the full amount. ( he is a well to do snobby doctor )  you know the type?

A few weeks went by, and still no payment. £350
I sent him a text along the lines of .... please pay the agreed amount.   I f money is not recieved by xx I will pass it over to  debt recovery .
money was in my account later that day.

He is now blocked and binned .   
this was in december , and he has already been replaced.

I did consider that James but I chatted to my Mrs and we both agreed that if I backed down and acccepted £50 it wouldn’t have made me look professional and it would have come across like I was overcharging in the first place. But too late now I would look desperate if I now accepted £50.

I would swallow my pride, send her a sweet talking message, saying something on the lines, you are correct we didn't agree a price,
so i will happily accept £50 for the job done, and hope we can move on from this,  then you can Dump her once you get paid,
better to get £50 then F/all, as you would come out the loser not her. Good luck, what ever you decide to do. 👍

[dazmond]

It's your own fault....you should always agree a price first....

Personally I don't do one offs so wouldn't have taken the job on in the first place

[Stoots]

I would have reluctantly accepted the £50 and put it down as a lesson learned to never do a job without agreeing a price first.

Not that I wouldn't have been annoyed but 50 quid is better than zero and I'm not sure what Leg you would have to stand on to get the full amount.

Maybe take the 50 quid and go egg the windows? Or is that too petty 

[windowswashed]

Never ever go out of your way for these type of people in a rush, never worth it at the expense of reliable regulars.
Biggest PITA customers going! Red flags warning me not to do it in her case.
If I rarely ever did it I would charge a big inconveninece price but only clean if they agreed the price beforehand and pays upfront as past experience taught me they are never worth the hassle.

[deeege]

Personally I don't do one offs so wouldn't have taken the job on in the first place

You do fascia and conservatory roof cleans for  customers, this is no different to that.

[Suffolkcleaners]

I agree with comments mostly. I don’t agree a price (my fault)..

I was too nice and accommodating (my fault)

Lesson learned. Never ever again. She will be dumped and I will unlikely chase any more. I just won’t bother turning up. I do her neighbours so she will see me from time to time I’m sure. Karma will come to her I’m sure but I can’t be bothered.

I just can’t agree to £50 as it makes me look unprofessional and an admission that I over charged in the first place.

I (might) on the next payment reminder send a message saying if you are only going to pay £50 on the £65 that’s fine but I won’t be changing the invoice amount.

[Pete Thompson]

Unpopular opinion maybe, but I think she is partially in the right.

The fact that you went out of your way, she is wealthy, she has a bad attitude etc is not relevant in my opinion.

The only thing that is relevant is that you did the job without agreeing the price with her first.  That means it is well within her rights to pay whatever she deems reasonable.

It isn't unprofessional for you to accept £50.

It would be unprofessional for you to start bringing up the fact that you're only a small business, and have a baby etc.  Totally irrelevant and not her problem.

So, just accept the £50 with a "I guess I really should've had the price agreed before I did it, oh well that's a lesson learned for me"

[Suffolkcleaners]

I’ve just sent this….

Good Afternoon,

This is another payment reminder(23rd January 12.54) for the invoice outstanding. If you are only going to pay £50 then can you please kindly arrange payment.

Regards

[Suffolkcleaners]

Unpopular opinion maybe, but I think she is partially in the right.

The fact that you went out of your way, she is wealthy, she has a bad attitude etc is not relevant in my opinion.

The only thing that is relevant is that you did the job without agreeing the price with her first.  That means it is well within her rights to pay whatever she deems reasonable.

It isn't unprofessional for you to accept £50.

It would be unprofessional for you to start bringing up the fact that you're only a small business, and have a baby etc.  Totally irrelevant and not her problem.

So, just accept the £50 with a "I guess I really should've had the price agreed before I did it, oh well that's a lesson learned for me"

I’ve already accepted I should have agreed a price Pete (see above)

I don’t fully agree as I did say I would
Charge accordingly but my message to her that I just sent is about as much as I can swallow my pride. I’ve worded it in a way where just pay the smaller amount if you must but please pay me. I’m not going to be arty farty and pander around saying I was in the wrong blah blah. Feck that!!

[Suffolkcleaners]

Yes my pride might cost me £50 but I’ve dealt with narcissists before and I’m not going to kneel down to them. Maybe she will now pay or maybe she won’t.  You need to know and see the customer to understand so I don’t fully agree that it’s irrelevant. 

[Suffolkcleaners]

Never ever go out of your way for these type of people in a rush, never worth it at the expense of reliable regulars.
Biggest PITA customers going! Red flags warning me not to do it in her case.
If I rarely ever did it I would charge a big inconveninece price but only clean if they agreed the price beforehand and pays upfront as past experience taught me they are never worth the hassle.

This comment I 100% agree with. Definitely a lesson learned 👍

[Suffolkcleaners]

The red flags were there and I’ve been cleaning windows for 29 years so I should have known better but you know sometimes we just fall back to wanting to give someone the benefit of the doubt etc. However it’s a lesson that’s done me good on this one. Never again!!

[tlwcs]

Unpopular opinion maybe, but I think she is partially in the right.

The fact that you went out of your way, she is wealthy, she has a bad attitude etc is not relevant in my opinion.

The only thing that is relevant is that you did the job without agreeing the price with her first.  That means it is well within her rights to pay whatever she deems reasonable.

It isn't unprofessional for you to accept £50.

It would be unprofessional for you to start bringing up the fact that you're only a small business, and have a baby etc.  Totally irrelevant and not her problem.

So, just accept the £50 with a "I guess I really should've had the price agreed before I did it, oh well that's a lesson learned for me"

Perfect, word for word.
I smiled when you said you would be unprofessional in accepting the £50 but was considering using the baby as a lever.
Write it off or re invoice for £50, dump and move on. But be sure to acknowledge her each time you do the neighbours. You’re better than her!
Tony

[Suffolkcleaners]

Funny thing is I was going to use the baby thing as a lever haha. AND it’s true but I do actually agree it’s a bit ridiculous going down that road. I think my above message asking her to pay the amount (If she is only going to pay £50) is fine.

[tlwcs]

Funny thing is I was going to use the baby thing as a lever haha. AND it’s true but I do actually agree it’s a bit ridiculous going down that road. I think my above message asking her to pay the amount (If she is only going to pay £50) is fine.

25 years in for me and to the original story, I’d had done the same. Huffed and puffed but like you, I’d have done it. Maybe would have given her an about price and looked on Google earth. (Although doesn’t show how dirty they are)

[Spruce]

I would also talk to the council and ask for a dispensation as you sometimes need to park on double yellow lines going about your business. You sometimes have no choice.

Our local council will give you a permit providing you are working from your van.

We haven't bothered, as the local 'traffic inspectors' know who we are and just walk past the van. But the option is there. In the North East they are probably a lot less strict than down south where there is heavier traffic and parking problems.

[Suffolkcleaners]

Thanks guys as usual. So good to get advice on here. I’ve sent the text now so let’s see if she pays the £50.00. If not then so be it. I’m in two minds whether to send a final payment reminder in another week with a threat of me taking it further but not sure if it’s worth it as if she calls my bluff I will look like an idiot. We shall see….

[Suffolkcleaners]

Funny thing is I was going to use the baby thing as a lever haha. AND it’s true but I do actually agree it’s a bit ridiculous going down that road. I think my above message asking her to pay the amount (If she is only going to pay £50) is fine.

25 years in for me and to the original story, I’d had done the same. Huffed and puffed but like you, I’d have done it. Maybe would have given her an about price and looked on Google earth. (Although doesn’t show how dirty they are)

Good advice here. Cheers 👋

Also Re;double yellows:I’m not too worried as a traffic warden saw me once and said just carry on. I’m not there long anyway.

[Jay Le Huray]

In the past I've had several jobs like this where a customer owns other properties that they rent out,
if they ask me to do a job on one their rentals (ie facias gutters etc) I always reply that I will look at the property then phone them up with my price and I will go ahead and do it once this has been agreed,

never ever do a job no matter how small until a price has been agreed on, using this method I have no problems with them paying.

[Stoots]

Im not sure why accepting £50 would be unprofessional

In fact you could argue that it would be very professional to say something along the lines of

"Sorry you only feel the servcie was worth £50, my fee of £65 is the amount i would normally charge however in this instance i will accept responsibility for not agreeing a price before work was carried out. I will reluctantly accept your offer of £50 if you could please make payment asap. "


To be fair though as soon as she coughed up i would be unprofessional and tell her what i really thought 

anyway its too late now just keep prodding her to pay or take it to small claims what else can you do