[windowwashers]

now now guys.

I earn less than you NWH, does that make you feel better

[nat]

he's off in la la land at the moment he will be along soon 

[xxmattyxx]

Reminds me of the 'March-Out' cleans i used to do on a military site, where the estate manager would run his finger over the architrave running round a door-frame to see if there was any dust on the top sill whenever a family was moving out prior to the next lot moving in.

Mind you, from what Ive heard about your window-cleaning Ian, shes expecting a silk purse form a sows ear 


In all honesty, messing about aside, Id say shes expecting a bit much, windows are on the outside of the house afterall, does she ask the spiders to move along nicely, like the baliff does when your house gets repossesed?

[AuRavelling79]

I've never had this point of view from a customer - if I kept her on for one more try then I would say "I don't clean under cills as it messes up my brush and gets more dirt on the bits where it matters - ie the glass."

But if the job was low value and my round is over-full then it would be bye-bye!

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

I'd probably giver her another chance, but also explain that her expectations are unreasonable.  However if she was abusive she would be off the books right away.  I'd say though that you've got reason to take her off now if you wanted seeing as she said that her neighbor wasn't happy when she was.

Simon.

[mark dew]

All this talk about dumping. Let's put it in perspective again, she has moaned once and been good until now. She has come out with an incredibly petty expectation and that that rings alarm bells, but it's worth keep taking her money if it is a one off and it doesn't cause stress in future.
I suspect she might be one of those who hasn't come to terms with wfp and is probably thinking that you use take longer to do her windows, so she has gone looking for a fault, couldn't find one with the glass and went looking for anything she could find.
The next clean will let you know for sure if she's worth having or not.
Bringing the neighbour into it under false pretences is out of order though.

[Londoner]

I had a lady query recently why I hadn't done anything about the cobwebs and black mould growing on the eaves of her bungalow where they jutted out over the windows.

I think she accepted my explaination but we will find out next time I go there. Its down to unrealistic expectations and having nothing better to do.

I also recently had a lady phone me up after a first clean and tell me very nicely, even appologetically that she didn't want me to come back. I asked her if there was something wrong with the windows. "Oh no" she says "they are lovely, never seen them looking so good" It turned out she just didn't like this new way of doing the windows. " I suppose I'm a bit old fashoned".

You never know whats going on in their minds.

[easy]

WC`s syndrome is being afraid to dump customers in the fear that it will snowball,it won`t all your doing is filtering the rubbish into a pile.Just as long as the pile is not to high so that it affects the big picture it dosen`t matter,how often do you dump 1 and then go round the corner and pick 1 up.

A true point...well said

[windowwashers]

WC`s syndrome is being afraid to dump customers in the fear that it will snowball,it won`t all your doing is filtering the rubbish into a pile.Just as long as the pile is not to high so that it affects the big picture it dosen`t matter,how often do you dump 1 and then go round the corner and pick 1 up.

A true point...well said

from the view of a one man band I am guessing

[easy]

WC`s syndrome is being afraid to dump customers in the fear that it will snowball,it won`t all your doing is filtering the rubbish into a pile.Just as long as the pile is not to high so that it affects the big picture it dosen`t matter,how often do you dump 1 and then go round the corner and pick 1 up.

A true point...well said

from the view of a one man band I am guessing

LOL...maybe a four man gang will be the answer!!!

[windowwashers]

WC`s syndrome is being afraid to dump customers in the fear that it will snowball,it won`t all your doing is filtering the rubbish into a pile.Just as long as the pile is not to high so that it affects the big picture it dosen`t matter,how often do you dump 1 and then go round the corner and pick 1 up.

A true point...well said

from the view of a one man band I am guessing

LOL...maybe a four man gang will be the answer!!!

lol

[NWH]

I`m thinking of employing 3-4 blokes and paying myself the same as them after expenses,i have customers that constantly moan,i have all the paper work and phone calls to deal with but ,that`s ok at least i can say i have people working for me LOL.

[windowwashers]

I`m thinking of employing 3-4 blokes and paying myself the same as them after expenses,i have customers that constantly moan,i have all the paper work and phone calls to deal with but ,that`s ok at least i can say i have people working for me LOL.

why would you pay yourself the same as them  :

[easy]

WC`s syndrome is being afraid to dump customers in the fear that it will snowball,it won`t all your doing is filtering the rubbish into a pile.Just as long as the pile is not to high so that it affects the big picture it dosen`t matter,how often do you dump 1 and then go round the corner and pick 1 up.

A true point...well said

from the view of a one man band I am guessing

LOL...maybe a four man gang will be the answer!!!

lol

Maybe I'm joking here mate..lol...anyway mate I just walk away from customers if they moan to much..you will always find more..its works for me down here in Essex

[NWH]

Ian i`m thinking of taking some of the advice on here LOL.

[bluez]

NWH there is one benifit to employing staff that maybe you haven't considered, If you have work for four staff then the value of your business is probably higher, this may be a consideration for some people. I know that in my way of thinking everything is always for sale and the value of my business is sometimes (not often mind) more important than the amount of money that I get out of it in any given week.

On the main point of dumping or not I tend to try to keep my customers where possible and sometimes they just want to have a moan and get it off their chests. Let them at it so long as they keep paying. Another trick is to do the job when you think they are out.

[windowwashers]

Ian i`m thinking of taking some of the advice on here LOL.

what are you like lol

[nat]

I`m thinking of employing 3-4 blokes and paying myself the same as them after expenses,i have customers that constantly moan,i have all the paper work and phone calls to deal with but ,that`s ok at least i can say i have people working for me LOL.

you really are norrow minded NWH. no wonder you haven't been able to successfully employ people with out hassle, your arrogance is really shining through.

i can't be bothered to go into the costing and logistics of it all as it will seem like gloating. but if you believe one man and his van can earn you more than a successfully bulit business then you don't need me to tell you what an idiot you are.

sad but true!!

[NWH]

Nat how much do you earn employing.

[dai]

I once knew a window cleaner that produced the worst results I have ever seen. He never possessed a scrim, and use old bar towels he cadged from a pub.
Over the years, this guy must have lost half of his new customers after the first couple of cleans, but he eventually ended up with a full round of non complaining customers and no stress.

If I take my car to the car wash, and pay a fiver, I don't expect to have my car valeted, and it would be unreasonable for me to do so, and that IMO is what this lady was, totally unreasonable, bad day or not she would have been dropped.
I have persevered with a few unreasonable customers over the years, and then find I am spending twice as long to do their windows for no extra cost. I used to worry in case they could find something to pick on, it's just not worth the effort or stress. DUMP and move on.
I never canvass for work, it all comes from personal referrals from existing customers. Dai