When I very first started in '91, an old W/C told me to quote double for the insides compared to the outsides. Anyway, the point I have got to is that if the customer clears the sills and removes the nets, I do them for 50% more (i.e. if outside is £10 then inside is additional £15). If the place is heavily smoked in then I will price a lot higher than either of the previous methods. I have worked like this for years now so know my charges. I never seemed to make quite as much money doing insides (even before WFP) so maybe the old guy was right all along.
Anyway, I was recently asked by a regular customer if I could do the insides as well next time. This is due next week. No problem. When she phoned on Friday about pre-arranging it I started to talk about money. It is a £15 job. I did the insides quite a while ago for an additional £22.50 and told her it would be the same again (total of £37.50). Anyway, she insisted that I had charged a total of £30 last time I did them and I know this isn't so. Anyway, I knew I last did the insides around 04/05/06 but couldn't be sure. I went to the appropriate spreadsheets and found it within a minute by searching for the character string "£37.50". That doesn't prove to the customer that my record keeping was correct though. So I went to the box file for the appropriate year and quickly went through the date ordered sheets that contain photocopies of every cheque that goes into my bank account (I print them from my scanner/printer with 3 cheques per side on A4). I copied the copy and trimmed her copied cheque away from the other two. I now have a dated and signed photocopy of the cheque she wrote me on October 25th, 2005, clearly showing the amount (£37.50) and signed by her. It took me under 5 minutes to locate it.
However, on the grounds that no-one likes a smartarse, I'm left wondering about the best way to tackle the situation with her. I do believe that she was NOT intentionally trying to con me. I believe this to be a genuine error on her part. Although the job was fiddly prior to WFP (some small panes), it's an absolute breeze with it (15 minutes). Also, the customer is the genuine article. Although never in, her cheque always comes through my letter box within a week of cleaning. So this is not a job where I'm looking to walk or anything like that. What I am considering doing is to work for the £30 price "in recognition of customer loyalty" but also show her the photocopied cheque and stress that any future inside cleans would be at the 50% more rate - the same as the October '05 clean was. I would be within my rights to insist on the £37.50 but sometimes there are better things than being right and insisting on those rights. I want both of us to come out of this with dignity. I'm OK with doing it for £30 so long as it's not expected next time and thereafter.
Sorry to be a bit long winded about this but I was wondering if anyone has any other thoughts on this.
N.B. It has taken me a heck of a lot longer to write this than to find a photocopy of a cheque from 2 and a half years ago. Perhaps this goes a small way to showing the value of good record keeping.