[Count Phil]

Cheap customers treat you cheap.

Over priced customers treat you better.

They also seem no more susceptable to undercutting.

Does anyone else find that? I don't just mean different areas or estates. Same type of people, same type of house, one charged lots, one charged to little.

[niceandclean]

Yes i also find that. I dont clean estates though, i do the bigger houses where they are charged more and love having there windows cleaned each and every month. The cheaper ones that i had, used to say not this month, oh its raining ect ect.

[Londoner]

I do find that if a customer queries your price at the initial quote stage they are much more likely to be trouble later.

[Phil Mitchell]

Cheap bungalow today £8.50. Turned up to clean for the last time as Im wfp and theres dog poop everywhere and garden ornaments I keep knocking over. When I explained the curcumstances she just cut me short and told me to p off?
I didint even mention the dog poop!
If that was a large property the owners would go out of their way to help me get around ie move pots etc.
Cheap jobs =no compassion
Expensive jobs=understanding
Thats how I see it anyway

[Feen]

tend to agree. Had one today. £4. All upstairs windows. Out she comes. "You're not doing it properly. I could do better myself". She said that the dirt from the traffic dirtied the windows before they dried. Possible maybe, plausible no. Picked up 2 neighbours for 3 and 6. £4 out, £9 in. I can live with that.

[Neil Williams]

I feel for the odd decent person left on an estate which becomes a Council / DHS catchment area.
We all start somewhere and no doubt for pure quantity we all canvassed the mass market ie these cheap estates, trouble is we soon learn cheap price generally means cheap attitude, and then we find the quality customer with a quality attitude. Having said that, we have been known to drop £25+ customers if the attitude starts.

[NWH]

£3-4 houses are for newbies generally,why are you well established WCS still doing them,pass them on. : : : : : :

[jakeandmia]

Hi All

I went to collect last week and knocked the door,stood for about a minute and the lady said"OH if I knew it was only you I wouldnt of bothered getting off the bed and answering the door".I took the money and thats the last time she'll see me.For each one lost I usually get two new ones.Do they think we're a peg below them or what?.

[Neil Williams]

Do they think we're a peg below them or what?.

That reminded me of the Two Ronnies sketch where there was the "I look up to him but I look down on him"
I just love it at some places where people look at you with the 'low life' look, only for me inside to be thinking, "If you only knew how much I earn"

[Helen]

I suppose if we were all the same in our ways it would get boring Had a relatively new customer payment in yesterday with a note saying "I want my windows cleaned on a 10 week basis, so you will clean them next just before Xmas".
Now this custie, as all do, had a written quote, stating price, which reflected the regularity and that we visit that area every 6/7weeks. We had also discussed this verbally and she was happy with those terms.....Obvioulsy not, obviously had not read the quote, obviously had not really listened to our conversation... So I phoned her and explained that we could not clean hers on that basis as it is not cost effective to do just hers, blah blah blah. I also reminded her that she was happy  and agreed to the 6/7 weeks when we took her on. Reply "I didn't think you would stick to those terms!!!!" Uhhh? She insisted on 10 weeks and when i suggested "well why not every 12 at a small increase" she said "I think I will leave it all together then what do you think of that?" Again it was the attitude of you are just window cleaners and must be desperate for the work, by this time I was bored with the conversation and already blacked her out on the listing. I just replied, no problem mrs XXX, i will accept your verbal cancellation, thanks for your past custom, good bye and hung up. Next payment opened, similar property, note saying thanks so much for cleaning my windows on a regular basis, they always look so nice and your service is second to none.   Guess which note I kept!!!!!

[windowwashers]

Hi All

I went to collect last week and knocked the door,stood for about a minute and the lady said"OH if I knew it was only you I wouldnt of bothered getting off the bed and answering the door".I took the money and thats the last time she'll see me.For each one lost I usually get two new ones.Do they think we're a peg below them or what?.

I would have replied I beg your Pardon, that is just plain rude, I am not rude to any other my customers but there is a limit to what I will take and what I will not (that is something I do not accept) cheeky sods they are

[Count Phil]

I wasn't really referring to, say council estates etc, I meant decent sized houses, respectable area, some still too cheaply priced etc. They seem to treat you worse than ones that are well priced. They may be on the same road. It just seems that stinging them makes them think of you as a business, and being really good value makes them think of you as 'just the window cleaner'.

Just an example, a customer who was well under priced was always a pain and was going to be dropped. Which I did. It was 6 quid (around here that's stupidly cheap for what it was). I just did it because I did loads down there, you know what I mean?

After I dropped it a few months went by and she came to find out where I was (I didn't tell here she was dropped. she'd just been rude for the last time). I said oh, well you're too cheap, my minimum is £10 and yours should be 12 so its up to you. She took it! I did them and she's been great ever since.

Bizzare.  At 6 quid, rude, at 12 quid, nice. And its not because I dropped her - she thinks I just did that on price, not on her manners.

[Davew]

I've got one that expects me to ask if I can clean her windows. She won't leave the gate unlocked, won't phone me either. The next conversation will be goodbye I think.

[john tomkins]

Got one due for a 2nd clean who I rang up last night to say I'd be around today, midway through morning I get a call " just had a look at the windows and the are clean, I'll leave it this month, can you call next time"
This is after 6 weeks (already put me off), and agreeing to a monthly clean initially.
Customers, don't you just love em :

[Davew]

Got a quote to do tomorrow morning, one i didn't expect to get. Had a sneaky look today and I can see why - the third story windowsills are piled up with pyramids of housemartins poo. A trad guy wouldn't be able to reach. It'll clog my brush up though! I just know it will be a one off then Mr trad will be back.

[dai]

I was doing a job yesterday when the guy came out and put the money in my hand. [ don't you just hate it when your in mid rinse]
When I finished I looked at my round card and noticed he had not paid last time. I knocked and told him this, and he said that's right I was in the States. He paid me what he owed and went in.
No apologies, he had blatantly tried to rip me off. This was an old guy too, and they talk about dishonest window cleaners. Dai

[AuRavelling79]

Got a quote to do tomorrow morning, one i didn't expect to get. Had a sneaky look today and I can see why - the third story windowsills are piled up with pyramids of housemartins poo. A trad guy wouldn't be able to reach. It'll clog my brush up though! I just know it will be a one off then Mr trad will be back.

DaveW - grit your teeth - tell him it's X quid for a first clean and as it's got loads of poo on it its more again but that after that the rate drops to the normal Y quid.

Win-win!

[Davew]

Which reminds me I have another quote to do insides and out. " you can't miss it it's the one with the for sale sign outside" 

[john tomkins]

Which reminds me I have another quote to do insides and out. " you can't miss it it's the one with the for sale sign outside" 

Keep smiling mate, you are not the only one......
But you do seem to get more than your share

[Feen]

£3-4 houses are for newbies generally,why are you well established WCS still doing them,pass them on. : : : : : :

NWH, £4 for 4 windows, £3 for 2, £6 for 5 all in a row on the street. I may be a newbie and have much to learn in this game, but I'm not altogether stupid.