[jeff1]

Last year when I was still Trad, I lost a customer whom I had cleaned for 8 years, they had a very large bungalow with dormer windows and I used to do this Bungalow for £30

I lost it to a new W/C to the area and he under cut me by £15  Some months later my boss was shopping at Asda and she hared a woman shout out loud to her partner 'Theres my W/C  My Boss looked up to her and said no were not, you have a new one, this woman replied 'o' he's not very good and we haven't seen him since?

My boss knows my rules, dump me and you don't come back on my books, maybe a little harsh for some of you guy's, but I have my pride and my rules.

Anyway the week before last, I was approached by another W/C who knew the one who pinched this customer, he told me this guy under priced all his work and was dedicated to getting a wfp set-up, he became so besotted about getting wfp that he gave up being a Trad W/C until he gained his wfp? he now has this equipment, so only time will tell.

I don't think he will have much luck back in this village because today aloan, I picked up three of his old customers 

I priced one of them at £12 and she told me her last W/C used to charge her £6:50 and yes it was the same guy  were is he now I asked?
She told me she hadn't seen him for months and when he was her W/C he was very unreliable 

In the past couple of months I have almost tripled what this guy took from me  from his old customers and no doubt there is more to come.

What would have you guy's done in this situation??

[LWC]

whats the situation lol 

about taking the one back? id of done it and put the price to £40 to teach em a lesson lol

[jeff1]

whats the situation lol 

about taking the one back? id of done it and put the price to £40 to teach em a lesson lol

Would  you have hessitated in taking his old customers??

No way will I take the old one  back, They did it once and they won't get a second chance.

[colley614]

whats the situation lol 

about taking the one back? id of done it and put the price to £40 to teach em a lesson lol

Thats fair enough really, I would say I'm really busy now and couldn't fit you in unless I dropped a job. Now they know how good you are they will probably jump back on your books.

[LWC]

oh i see sorry  :

too right, not your fault youve been asked now is it! you cant just eave customers and expect them to keep you

they want there windows cleaning, and your the person they asked

not your fault now is it buddy, buisness is buisness end of  

[Clive McDonald]

I don't understand your position Jeff, or where pride comes into it. You are running a business.

If I were in exactly your position, I would take them back - keeping the charge more or less the same-
perhaps mentioning that you had felt offended losing the work after believing you had done a good job for such a long time. You had come to regard them as friends not just customers, so it had come as a shock.

While it might be stretching a point to say they are groveling to you Jeff, they certainly do seem penitent.Give them a second chance in view of the fact that in the eight years they were with you they were good customers.

[jeff1]

So I take them back until the next dole dosser or fair weather guy  comes along and they bin me again for a cheaper W/C.
Thats not the way I work. word spreads fast in a village, take one back and they will all be at it, thinking, Jeff's a nob head he'll take us back :

Word has spread that I don't take customers back, so they may think twice when the next cheap quote comes along.

I have had a lot of these customers for 10 years come June.
I am regular, reliable, honest, and above all I do a good Job.
I don't need someone after 8 years of good service to them, dumping me for a half price W/C's, who are here today and gone tomorrow.
Sorry its just the way I work.

[Clive McDonald]

I take your point Jeff and everyone on this forum knows that you are genuine, however;

If you follow your logic of taking things that personally that means that everytime you come across this other window cleaner you don't make eye contact, or you feel your fists clenching and your anger rising.

It also probably means that you don't speak to ex customers. Be a bigger man. In the scheme of things we are not as important as we think we are. Rise above it all and take the £30.

Ps If your kids were young you'd take the thirty quid in a flash because you would have had to. That is sanity.

[Bazzy1999]

Jeff.... im with you on this one.... i live in a small village to and as you say word spreads quick.


Bazz...

[jeff1]

A couple of years a go the same thing happened on a £6 account, in another village, she came up to me and asked me to take her back, I swollowed my pride and took her back, although I still have this customer, are relationship has never been the same, and we just seem to grunt at each other, I hate doing this account now, and also feel if a cheaper W/C came along, she would probablly dump me again.
So you see its not just the money its the relationship with the custy afterwards.

And as for me, I talk to any bugger, even another W/C who under cut me, business is business, but you can't buy good friends

[matt]

i take them back, afterall 30 quid of them is as good as 30 quid of some1 else

i allways put the price up a little aswell, just to rub there nose in it a little, i feel its like saying " well you begged for me to come back and your paying more money "

[Clive McDonald]

The wife particulary seems to realise what a mistake they have made. To shout across in a stage whisper in the super market ,at least shows shows some pluck on her part- how else was she going to do it while saving some face. Her husband is probably as stubborn as you are Jeff, only he feels stupid and embarrassed for admitting he was wrong (it's nearly always the men who make these decisions).

Meanwhile his wife feels bad about her newly dirty house (she had eight years of clean to compare and contrast with), and of course the matter of the thirty pounds going begging.

You want to talk about principles think about the Iraq war. If Rooney can play with Ronaldo, you can be a pro too and  take the thirty quid.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

If I felt I could do them again, in other words have a good customer relationship with them again then I'd take them on at a much higher rate.  But if I thought that the relationship would be strained and that they wouldn't appreciate my work I'd tell them I've no room for them.

This is supposed to be a stress free job, I try to keep it that way where ever possible.

Simon.

[jeff1]

The wife particulary seems to realise what a mistake they have made. To shout across in a stage whisper in the super market ,at least shows shows some pluck on her part- how else was she going to do it while saving some face. Her husband is probably as stubborn as you are Jeff, only he feels stupid and embarrassed for admitting he was wrong (it's nearly always the men who make these decisions).

Meanwhile his wife feels bad about her newly dirty house (she had eight years of clean to compare and contrast with), and of course the matter of the thirty pounds going begging.

You want to talk about principles think about the Iraq war. If Rooney can play with Ronaldo, you can be a pro too and  take the thirty quid.

I hate to tell you this but his wife suffers from senile dementure (think I spelt that wrong) :  it was the husband that did the dumping. and he was a business man and said thats business for you, well I don't need his £30, who knows I might swollow my pride one day, and charge him £50, well thats business isn't it

[Dean Aspects]

if the work was convienient to me
i.e well priced ,easy access,with other work
then i would take it back no problem
if however they did the same again then it would be a definate no
you have obviously built up a reputation as a w/c that doesnt take any crap from customers and want to keep that reputation so for you and your business you did the right thing

[Clive McDonald]

I don't suppose there is a right answer.

Imo, Ricahrd Branson would take them back, Alan Sugar wouldn't. so from a business perepective that doesn't prove much.

I'm an obsessive so have to face up to situations, especially ones I don't like. So I am probably projecting a little. Another way to think about this is if you were a larger window cleaning company and the lads came back and said that a thirty quid customer asked to come back but they told them to get stuffed how would you feel about that?  

[jeff1]

I don't suppose there is a right answer.

Imo, Ricahrd Branson would take them back, Alan Sugar wouldn't. so from a business perepective that doesn't prove much.

I'm an obsessive so have to face up to situations, especially ones I don't like. So I am probably projecting a little. Another way to think about this is if you were a larger window cleaning company and the lads came back and said that a thirty quid customer asked to come back but they told them to get stuffed how would you feel about that?  

If I were a larger w/c company, then things would be different, because I wouldn't have to talk to the customer, but I would have wages to pay, so in that case I would take them back.

[macmac]

business is business, it's part of the game. if asda started selling gaz's swivel brush for 3 quid would you stay loyal to gaz & buy one from him for 20 odd quid???
I'd take her back (we all make mistakes) BUT, then i would make it clear that this would be her final chance. dont get me wrong, i wouldn't be messed around either but i would give a second chance.

tony

[EasyClean]

I wouldn't take a customer back on unless I was really, really  short of work which I'm not, simply because the trust has gone and to take them back on will always leave you in doubt when will they do it to you again. Not only that but word spreads in small villages that it's ok to dump you in favour of a cheaper window cleaner knowing you'll take them back on again at a later date when it suits them if the other w/c doesn't measure up to your standards. Stick to your principles and don't be messed around by customers.

[jeff1]

business is business, it's part of the game. if asda started selling gaz's swivel brush for 3 quid would you stay loyal to gaz & buy one from him for 20 odd quid???
I'd take her back (we all make mistakes) BUT, then i would make it clear that this would be her final chance. dont get me wrong, i wouldn't be messed around either but i would give a second chance.

tony

Tony
How can you say you won't be messed around, but then say you would give her a second chance, is that not being messed around being dumped and loosing the £30 for a couple of months in the first place??
And to answer your question on Gaz and asda, no I wouldn't stay loyal to gaz, if asdas sold the swivel brush for £3,
I never stayed loyal to vikan when I found Tesco's selling the benson brush for £1.30 against £25
Do you work in any villages?  if so I think you would see were I'm coming from with regards to taking customers back, you know the score as it is, with the dole dosser and the beer money brigade.