[lee_dewing]

Dear Customer,

Just to explain that I work in all weathers.

When I come to clean your windows I am removing a build up of dirt from the glass, if it rains during or after I have called then you still have cleaner windows,
As I have removed 5 weeks dirt.

If I am turned away for any reason, then I shall not return until the next clean
(5 weeks).

By letting something as unpredictable as weather dictate when I work would have a serious affect on my business, and the reliability of the service I provide to you my valued customer.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter
many thanks,
 Lee, your window cleaner.

Hi anyone got opinons about this letter i drafted,

Same old question asked over and over.
   I'm wfp and have been since sept 06
Fed up of people keep mentioning the weather to me, not knowing if their having a dig at me or not have, still nervous about working in rain but jan has been awful weather where i am essex, was going to issue this letter to people as they moaned at me about rain.
Don't kow now wether to be brave and just give this letter to all my customers with maybe a couple of amendmants.
i.e
1)Dear customer due too this extremely wet winter I will now be working in all but the heaviest of down pours.
2) If i am turned away i will not be back until next clean.<do you think this line is a bit dangerous?
any views greatly excepted [/

[Pj]

Brave.  You know your type of customer best.  It does depend a lot on that.

I'm in my 21st year w/c in my area, I have learned to have enough commercial to just about get by through the rough weather.  Residential customers moan if I'm early, moan if I'm late!  Moan if it's raining, as soon as the sun comes out...moan about where have I been!  So I prefer that they moan because I'm a bit late.  But I do put a bit aside for this time of year.

[lee_dewing]

thanks for your views pj.
anyone else?

[simon knight]

".....not return until the next clean" is very dangerous as most customers are probably more than happy to go bi-monthly. Also by using this line you're in effect  saying: "I'll turn up and you then have the option as to whether you want them cleaned or not."

[Paul Coleman]

Dear Customer,

Just to explain that I work in all weathers.

When I come to clean your windows I am removing a build up of dirt from the glass, if it rains during or after I have called then you still have cleaner windows,
As I have removed 5 weeks dirt.

If I am turned away for any reason, then I shall not return until the next clean
(5 weeks).

By letting something as unpredictable as weather dictate when I work would have a serious affect on my business, and the reliability of the service I provide to you my valued customer.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter
many thanks,
 Lee, your window cleaner.

Hi anyone got opinons about this letter i drafted,

Same old question asked over and over.
   I'm wfp and have been since sept 06
Fed up of people keep mentioning the weather to me, not knowing if their having a dig at me or not have, still nervous about working in rain but jan has been awful weather where i am essex, was going to issue this letter to people as they moaned at me about rain.
Don't kow now wether to be brave and just give this letter to all my customers with maybe a couple of amendmants.
i.e
1)Dear customer due too this extremely wet winter I will now be working in all but the heaviest of down pours.
2) If i am turned away i will not be back until next clean.<do you think this line is a bit dangerous?
any views greatly excepted [/

I think it is always better to emphasise the positive.  Maybe 1) and 2) would be better received if it said something like "In order to be able to provide a regular, reliable service, it is important that interruptions to my schedule are kept to a minimum.  Therefore, except for the heaviest downpours, I will continue to provide a service in wet weather.  The only realistic alternative would be a substantial price increase to cover enforced time off work."

[pjulk]

Have cleaned in the rain and i am not happy about it.

I don't clean windows in the rain anymore.

My customers don't moan about being late.
I used to get a few but i sorted them out.
They all know i will get to them eventually so i don't get any problems.

Paul

[russ_clark]

good post lee
I was thinking of drafting something similar
I personally would only work in light rain though
as the domestic punters really do not like it
I am eesex boy too where do you operate mate?
Russ

[Pj]

I agree, on paper it is a good letter idea.

You might want to just hang fire for a few days though.  If I was a residential client receiving that letter tomorrow would probably just annoy me as I read it with 70 mph wind gusts outside!
What is the point of cleaning windows in that weather.  Our job is a service to the customer, not just a way of taking money from them.
Just a thought.

[[GQC] Tim]

Been cleaning 4 new customers yesterday, was really wet. They were all very happy that they were done and had no problem with it. it's all about training your customers people. When I explained in similar words what the above txt said, they all were very understanding.

And they were good accounts, all round £20,-

And realistically speaking, here in Surrey it will only happen once a year for a 6 weekly customer, yes it does rain, but certainly not all the time. And if it rains, not much falls on the window itself. Wind + rain is a no no for me though.

I would advice to have the kindest least offending type of style, and making sure that it's not about you not making money, it would be the quality of service that would severely be affected. Show goodwill, but do make them understand that their window might be cleaned in the rain.

Might be something like this, I dunno, not to good with this myself either!

Dear Customer,


I send this letter to you to explain that GQC Window Cleaning works in all weathers.
 

In order to be able to provide a regular, reliable and fully insured service, it is important that interruptions to our schedule are kept to a minimum.  Therefore, except for substantial downpours and high winds, we will continue to provide a service in wet weather. 

By letting something as unpredictable as weather dictate when we work would have a serious affect on the reliability of the service we provide to our valued customer. Therefore, we do not run a seasonal business, so we can provide you throughout the year with the highest quality of service.

Realistically speaking, here in the south, we cleaning your windows in the rain might happen once a year at most.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and we kindly ask for your understanding.

many thanks,

Timber van Duijvenbode
GQC Window Cleaning

Or alternatively, what I have is this on my cleaning chit.

Hello, your windows were cleaned today* :

Amount owed   : £....................................


-   Please make cheques or postal orders payable to
   T van Duijvenbode and write your address on the reverse side.

-   Paypal / Nochex : gqc-cleaning@hotmail.com
       - (Under £15, there is a 50p charge) -

-   Bank Transfer:  Please put first line of address under payment reference
        Sort Code : 72-50-06   Account Number :  58386980


PLEASE PAY WITHIN 5 WORKING DAYS

*GQC Window Cleaning will clean your windows at our agreed frequency throughout
the year;  regardless of the weather; ensuring you have a regular, fully insured and
professional service from us.

However, if we are  turned away without prior notice (48hr  advance) or good reason
there will be a 25% surcharge against the next clean.

[KarlJones]

Oh I thought about this myself.

What I thought was that rather than say heaviest of downpours ect. You could quantify it.  So for instance you could say...

"Due to customer feedback I am very happy to say that in future I will be implementing a new system of deciding when it is too wet to clean the windows.  I have to balance customers that do not want their windows cleaned at all in the lightest rain and those that want their windows cleaned no matter what the weather.  I feel that the new system gives both you and me the best of both worlds however it does prevent me from cleaning windows in the worst weather.

Every morning before I set out I check the weather using metcheck.com .  I will not clean windows when there is more than 2mm of rain forcast for any peiod during the remainder of that day.  I shall monitor this new system closely with regular customer feedback, if it is decided that the figure is either too high or too low then I will adjust it but I will inform all of my customers before I do so.

I am sure understand that this gives me the chance to get the previous months muck off the windows and at the same time prevents me from wasting my time cleaning in a poor weather.

[[GQC] Tim]

Oh I thought about this myself.

What I thought was that rather than say heaviest of downpours ect. You could quantify it.  So for instance you could say...

"Due to customer feedback I am very happy to say that in future I will be implementing a new system of deciding when it is too wet to clean the windows.  I have to balance customers that do not want their windows cleaned at all in the lightest rain and those that want their windows cleaned no matter what the weather.  I feel that the new system gives both you and me the best of both worlds however it does prevent me from cleaning windows in the worst weather.

Every morning before I set out I check the weather using metcheck.com .  I will not clean windows when there is more than 2mm of rain forcast for any peiod during the remainder of that day.  I shall monitor this new system closely with regular customer feedback, if it is decided that the figure is either too high or too low then I will adjust it but I will inform all of my customers before I do so.

I am sure understand that this gives me the chance to get the previous months muck off the windows and at the same time prevents me from wasting my time cleaning in a poor weather.

Very dangerous to say all that mate, your making it way way to hard for yourself. There are so many ways out for the customer in that. You clean in the rain, say why, and it is necessary to maintain a high quality of service, and that's it. Period. 2mm of rain my you know what.

[KarlJones]

See this is why I post my ideas here before I implement them.  I get feedback off those who know the game better

[simon knight]

I gotta say Karl I always read your posts as I find them informed and intelligent. But my God your proposed letter is very long-winded. Why not just say:

 Dear Mrs XYZ,

Since I am commited to providing a regular and reliable service for my customers I may on occasion have to work in light rain.

I trust that you are agreeable to this but please contact me if this is not the case.

Yours

Karl

[KarlJones]

That sounds about right.   Keep the tolerences to myself,  actually I think starting work in the morning and working until the rain gets too bad is probably as good a system as any. 

Inexperience can be a complicated thing

[simon knight]

It's nowt to do with experience or inexperience. If you're prepared to work in rain and your customers don't mind then crack on me ol' cracker

[KarlJones]

Ive cracked it.  Clean em and replace the moaning gits with good customers.

[[GQC] Tim]

Pretty much mate, I mean you can show so much goodwill to customers, but some just don't want any of it. It's a darn shame, but we are not social workers, we run a business. 

[Sunshine Cleaning]

You could always grow some thingys.

You run a business, dont let them dictate to you, but at the same time there is no need to tell them when you will be working. If they say not today twice on the trot, drop them. They will soon get the message.

[LSB]

i always head off to work every day on time unless there is heavy rain or high wind !
i normally manage to do some work ( that i wouldnt have done staying home looking out of the window )
get some commercial work ( rainy day work ) !
do domestic work if its only light rain !  I dont and wouldnt give any one a letter explaining 'rainy day policy'
i work strickly on a 4 weekly basis ( some 8 weekly ) and i make sure i get there on time , or very close to it !

[gsw]

i'm essex too.

i have cleaned with rain bouncing off the road and literally hard enough to make it difficult to look up whilst cleaning, i wear waterproofs and have phoned customers when the sun comes out to make sure they have dried ok in the past. I have been wfp since oct 05 and (to date have only lost one customer due cleaning in the rain)

i offer a rain guarantee that is, if they do not dry clean i'll redo them for free, now seeing that i know 100% that they will dry fine regrdless of rain i have never been taken up on the offer, i regularly clean one house (£45.00) in the rain just seems to be peeing down every 4 weeks on their day! never had a word said and payment always arrives on time.

I always start the conversation with " if i didn't think this would work and i would have to come back and redo them, i wouldn't be standing here getting wet!"... if it looks like I am going to get moaned at .

most customers want a regular service and if they want that reliability they must be reducated, if you have any hope of obtaining a regular income the only option is to work in all weathers, unless you can stack up unlimited inside jobs, gutter cleans or go totally commercial.........what happens if the commercial customers start the not today thank you..........!!!!!!

where in essex are you lee?

greg