[scrimit2]

Yesterday,I attempted to clean a house, it was the 4th try as the last 3 times the gates were closed, so I couldnt get in, but yesterday they were open so I drive in and began to to start work, and then some guy came out waving his arms saying "dont bother" and then went back in with no explanation, T*sser! why do they think its ok for us window cleaners to waste our time and fuel, when if they called an engineer of any kind they would to pay a call out fee each time?

well Mr T*sser  clean you own Dormas in the future, I feel better now

[JM123]

I had one customer who on a number of occasions came out of the house (half way through the job) to tell me to leave them this month - the last time he done it I said to him 'this month is free so I might as well do them anyway' to which he replied 'I suppose they could do with being done!!', so anyway, once he closed the door I done the windows, except that this time I connected the pole to his outside tap!!  Took a sample of the water with me in an empty plastic bottle - 495ppm!! oh yessssss!!!!!!

Anyway, had a look at the windows about 2 days later, they were filthy, he rang me and complained - I told him 'what do you expect for free!!'

[scrimit2]

nice one,  why do they think, that weve got all the time in the world, or that for some reason we enjoy having our time wasted, that guy I mentioned lives in a £400,000 house and was on holiday each time I called, well he can spend some of his free time doing his own windows

[pylofm]

JM....That must have been a really nice feeling !

[Paul Coleman]

Some people really take the pee don't they?  Mind you, I don't think it's always intentional.  It can be hard to empathise with a window cleaner's difficulties if someone has never done window cleaning for a living.
One of my customers sent me an email today.  The last time I was there (a few weeks ago) there was a newly fitted bolt so the access was gone.  Today I got an email asking me to ring the bell next time I'm there as they have a new bolt.  Now that is all very well but it creates a situation of only being able to clean the windows when somebody is at home.  I'm not prepared to do that.  It's not even as if it is a very large job.  It's a £7.50 job - a hangover from before I set my minimum as £10.  Now I don't believe this person is taking the mick.  She just thinks window cleaner rings bell, I unlock gate for him - without realising that there will be times when I ring bell, no-one home, time wasted.  If I did this for everyone who has ever asked, I would spend a lot of time each day ringing bells on the offchance that someone is home.

[Fast 1 *]

we are the scum of the earth.

[JM123]

we are scum - but with suntans!!!

[Johnboyfree]

we are scum - but with suntans!!!

And by February We have Tans and Frostbite

[zeusjazmin]

frostbite starts uphere in september,saying that it was very cold this morning

[captain lard]

I was doing a street a few weeks ago,they were monthly cleans which to me is every 4 weeks,gets to this one house and the woman always makes me feel edgy,its a small semi with a conservatory anyway I begin cleaning the upstairs bedroom window,just finish it inc the frame and she appears ,I say hello and she looks at me and says you are late,I said no,she says you are and I did me own windows-downstairs- last week,I told her I was 4 weeks to the day as the last time I had done them was the day England had played their first World Cup game,the penny drops with her and she realises I am right but the upshot is she doesnt want them done - utter prat,I was right on time.It was a red hot day and I came down the ladder with the sweat dripping off the end of me nose and she realises I am a bit narked and starts talking bout how hard it is and she had not realised till she did them last week and I am smiling through gritted teeth going oh yeah its not as easy as you think.Am due back,am behind cos me knee went and am not looking forward to what might be waiting for me as this time I am late,if she goes off again she is dropped.

[Trevor Knight]

Nice one JM, like that

Shiner - With people like this I always ring night before so they can open gate, if they forget I clean the front only and charge for the backs as well.

Captain - I trust you still charged her as it was her in the wrong and not you!

[Paul Coleman]

Nice one JM, like that

Shiner - With people like this I always ring night before so they can open gate, if they forget I clean the front only and charge for the backs as well.

Captain - I trust you still charged her as it was her in the wrong and not you!

Trevor.  I find that jobs like that are more trouble than they are worth.  Many try to persuade me to do it not knowing that I've literally had that conversation at least a hundred times before.  It just never works.  I might do it for a big paying job occasionally but for run of the mill work it's just not worth it.  If I did phone calls the night before for each person that has ever asked me to, I could have a fairly full business of such jobs - and a massive headache trying to organise it all.  I've been down this route before when I first started and it didn't work then either.  I spent several years getting rid of such work and I've no intention of taking it on again.
Apart from that, this newly bolting customer was fast to drop me when I was ill a couple of years back but wanted me back when their next window cleaner let them down.  Therefore, that makes me even less inclined to put myself out for them.

[Trevor Knight]

I understand where you're coming from Shiner.

It's horses for courses, I do it, it works for me and I have probably around 200 customers that I do it for, the ones that forget no it's their fault and pay up, the others remember and we just crack on.

I do agree though, if she dropped you before then next time its a no no !!

Trev

[Paul Coleman]

I understand where you're coming from Shiner.

It's horses for courses, I do it, it works for me and I have probably around 200 customers that I do it for, the ones that forget no it's their fault and pay up, the others remember and we just crack on.

I do agree though, if she dropped you before then next time its a no no !!

Trev

I would have thought that was quite a headache to organise Trevor.  It's not just the contacting the night before bit either.  Sometimes it can be borderline as to whether a job will be done the next day or the day after.  Sometimes bad weather intervenes.  Sometimes they want to know the time as well as the day in case they're "popping out for a while".  Sometimes they use it as a ready excuse for "not today (tomorrow    ) thank you.  However, even without these hassles, the truth is that I don't wish to spend a chunk of my non-work time sending text messages or emails or making phone calls.  I take the view that if I have enough work withoutr the hassle of pre-arranging, then I will stick tothe work where I don't need to do it.  Some would call this lazy but I prefer to make things as easy as I can for myself.  Just go there, do the job, take payment or leave a bill.  Maybe I'm a bit hypocritical on this because I will pre-arrange the larger, better paid jobs sometimes.