[simon knight]

If you turn up for a job and the customers not there and forgotten to unlock the back gate do you just do the front and other glass you can get at or just walk away?

[Steve_Richardson]

Depends how big the job is, some of mine forget once in a while so I clean the front/side and leave a note as usual. If I'm doing next door I may as well do the front of the forgetful customer. If it's only going to be worth a lot less than £10 to do the front I would leave it with a polite note saying why and make a note they forgot. Perhaps make an extra effort to call ahead before my next clean (I always call ahead about gates as I don't clean on regular days).

[pylofm]

I will just do the front and the customer is still billed...

Cheers
Dave.

[Sir Squeaky]

75% of the time walk away.

If it's a nice customer who I like and they've asked for it to be done whatever, then I'll just do the front.

[cottonbud10]

i,ll climb over ,where ever possible,making sure i do no damage to fences or gates, i need the money.

[Trademark WC]

Do the front and still charge for the backs, its a business and not a charity. it will also make them not forget nextime.

Rob

[Sir Squeaky]

I'm sure they won't forget to cancel you for being greedy.

[simon knight]

Cheers guys. The reason I ask is because just of late this has happened a few times and up until now I've walked away leaving a note.

This morning I turned up on time for my 8.30 job (arranged last night!!!) and she wasn't there so I thought to save wasting my time completely I'd do the front and side (back gate locked). It's a £10 job normally but I don't think she'll want to pay £10 for an incomplete job and I don't want to go back this time round to finish it as it's a bit out of the way. So what do you reckon I should charge her bearing in mind the front's the easy bit and took less than 15 mins.

[Helen]

when we send out confirmation terms, we have lineage that says if we cannot access the backs as agreed we will charge the full price. Does this work, not all the time. The ones we contact before a clean are normally realy good, but you do have to remember that we are all human and do forget things. Also if you have left a message on an ansamachine, that just could mean that the customer is away and would not get your message. Many of our customers now tell us if they are to be away and we do fronts only at a reduced rate for them. But only reduced if they have told us. Had one yesterday and she has phoned to say seeing as you are charging full price, when are you going to do the backs, cos i forgot to leave the gates unlocked. This is the first time it has happened and she did say sorry,so we will do the backs when we are next going down that road. If it had not been the first time the full charge would have stood.
Hey cottonbud ever slipped whilst getting over a gate/fence and dragged your hand down on a rusty nail sticking out. Sliced finger 4 stitches, tetanus injection, 4 hours in A & E and 2 days not being able to work.  2 days no money as to one house not done

[Tosh]

Cheers guys. The reason I ask is because just of late this has happened a few times and up until now I've walked away leaving a note.

This morning I turned up on time for my 8.30 job (arranged last night!!!) and she wasn't there so I thought to save wasting my time completely I'd do the front and side (back gate locked). It's a £10 job normally but I don't think she'll want to pay £10 for an incomplete job and I don't want to go back this time round to finish it as it's a bit out of the way. So what do you reckon I should charge her bearing in mind the front's the easy bit and took less than 15 mins.

If it's a drive-between, try to arrange getting a key for the padlock (if it is padlocked), I've got a few of them.  Bill her six quid (over half the price) for this clean.

If it's one of many in the same street, just do the fronts and bill her six quid a time.

At the end of the day, you should only clean accounts that you feel are worthwhile to you.  If the account becomes a pain, either try to fix the fault or drop the account.

[Paul Coleman]

Cheers guys. The reason I ask is because just of late this has happened a few times and up until now I've walked away leaving a note.

This morning I turned up on time for my 8.30 job (arranged last night!!!) and she wasn't there so I thought to save wasting my time completely I'd do the front and side (back gate locked). It's a £10 job normally but I don't think she'll want to pay £10 for an incomplete job and I don't want to go back this time round to finish it as it's a bit out of the way. So what do you reckon I should charge her bearing in mind the front's the easy bit and took less than 15 mins.

A ten pound job that's out of your way?  Well maybe bill her £7 and forget to turn up in future like she forgot to unlock the gate.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

I would charge for the front only plus a few quid, when they realize that they are paying over half the price for the fronts they will probably remember to leave the gate open in future.

So for a £10 job say £7.

Half your work is traveling and you have to take that into account.  Forgetting to leave the gate open was their mistake not yours.

Simon

[simon knight]

Yeah I agree with you guys (and girls)...roughly half plus a couple of £ for my petrol.

Mr Shiner if I canned every customer that irritated me from time to time I'd probably end up with just doing my mums house...mind you I'd probably end up canning her too...she should know by now that I take 2 sugars in my tea! :

[Paul Coleman]

Yeah I agree with you guys (and girls)...roughly half plus a couple of £ for my petrol.

Mr Shiner if I canned every customer that irritated me from time to time I'd probably end up with just doing my mums house...mind you I'd probably end up canning her too...she should know by now that I take 2 sugars in my tea! :

I've "canned" quite a few over the years   
The trouble is that all those little hold ups can cost £s per day.  If I worked the way some of my customers (and quite a few ex customers) wanted me to, I would spend ages on the phone each evening making appointments for underpriced jobs, going out to collect from them, and going miles out of my way all the time because they want different cleaning intervals.
I did all that years ago.  I won't do it now.

[simon knight]

Yeah I agree with you guys (and girls)...roughly half plus a couple of £ for my petrol.

Mr Shiner if I canned every customer that irritated me from time to time I'd probably end up with just doing my mums house...mind you I'd probably end up canning her too...she should know by now that I take 2 sugars in my tea! :

I've "canned" quite a few over the years   
The trouble is that all those little hold ups can cost £s per day.  If I worked the way some of my customers (and quite a few ex customers) wanted me to, I would spend ages on the phone each evening making appointments for underpriced jobs, going out to collect from them, and going miles out of my way all the time because they want different cleaning intervals.
I did all that years ago.  I won't do it now.

So how do you do it then?  With all the ansaphones my customers have turned on 24/7 getting hold of them to make an appointment is a nightmare....I leave messages but do they return my calls...? Some do but I'd say 7 out of 10 don't.

Also I hate hogging the phone every evening for ages.

So how do you get round this?

[Trevor Knight]

If we have rung them and notified them as per our T&C's then its full price for a front only clean.

Thats not greedy Squeaky, Thats BUSINESS!

[Helen]

when you take on new customers, you should be asking the questions at quote stage re: locked gate, need a phone call before etc etc. This can then be factored into the price you quote. Always ask them what regularity they want, most will ask how often do you come round this way and you can then say monthly (or whatever it is you do.) and we wil build you into that round for £xxxx. If the customer says I would like to make it by appt only then it's up to you to say yes or no. We price differntly for ones who want to make an appt, cos they won't phone that regularly. We give them 3 prices, the normal monthly price. a 2 monthly price and we explain that anything more than those time scales are classed as a one off and will be £xxxx plus 20% for every month thereafter. So if it goes to 3 months £50 (or whatever) 4 months "£50 plus £10, 5 months  £50 plus £20 and so on. Give it to them in writing. We find that appt only customers use you only once in a blue moon anyway, so price it well

[simon knight]

Good advice. Thanks for that Helen.

Good weekend.

[Helen]

You're welcome...if only it were that easy every time with customers.

[Paul Coleman]

Yeah I agree with you guys (and girls)...roughly half plus a couple of £ for my petrol.

Mr Shiner if I canned every customer that irritated me from time to time I'd probably end up with just doing my mums house...mind you I'd probably end up canning her too...she should know by now that I take 2 sugars in my tea! :

I've "canned" quite a few over the years   
The trouble is that all those little hold ups can cost £s per day.  If I worked the way some of my customers (and quite a few ex customers) wanted me to, I would spend ages on the phone each evening making appointments for underpriced jobs, going out to collect from them, and going miles out of my way all the time because they want different cleaning intervals.
I did all that years ago.  I won't do it now.

So how do you do it then?  With all the ansaphones my customers have turned on 24/7 getting hold of them to make an appointment is a nightmare....I leave messages but do they return my calls...? Some do but I'd say 7 out of 10 don't.

Also I hate hogging the phone every evening for ages.

So how do you get round this?

Easy.  If there is no access I don't quote.  If the gate has a padlock that can be reached by me then I request a spare key.  No key.  No quote.  Some have combination locks.  If they don't want me to have the number, I don't quote.  I only do jobs where the access is OK - even if that means me needing a gate key or a combination number.

I did all the ringing around years ago and it was a right pain.  Some people don't even give their phone number anyway.  I'm not in the business of knocking on someone's door on the offchance that they are in so that I can clean their windows.

This may sound severe and strict but if you knew some of the hoops people used to expect me to jump through, you would understand why I work this way.  I only have three jobs where I phone in advance.  They are all worth it in their own way.  I would do it if a job was lucrative enough but not for a run of the mill job.