[windows_chepstow]

Last month I quoted for a three-bed semi at £7.50.  I know many of you will think this is underpriced.

Anyway, we turned up to do it this month, cleaned the place and knocked for the money. The occupant, an elderly 'lady' said my services were no longer required.  She basically said we were too expensive and her last window cleaner did them for a fiver!

I asked the obvious, 'Where is he then?' and she said she didn't care because she knew another window cleaner who'd do them for a fiver!

At this point I had to bite my lip.  I mean, we discussed our terms and conditions last month and she agreed (when her windows were filthy).  And now she's insinuating I'm a 'rip off' because I charge £2.50 more than she wants to pay.  Why didn't she say at that point?

Had she been the same sex as me and twenty years younger my reaction would have been different; but I bade her 'good luck' and walked off.

Then, when I got home, on my answer machine, I had a polite cancellation from another lady in the same street whose price I put up last month.  I charge her £12.00 for a three-bedroomed house with a large conservatory!  No reason was given, we always try to do a good job, so I suspect 'five pound man' has struck again!

The only silver lining is that also on the answering machine was an 'on demand' job that works out as £50.00 an hour for two hours (hard) work.

I should have cleaned another new clean today; but gave it a miss as my gut feeling was I'd do it once or twice then get dropped for being too expensive.  The customer kept on repeating 'but my last did it for five pounds' when gave her a quote for £7.50.

I mean we're all straight up about how much we charge and our frequency.  It's a few customers that aren't honest.  If anyone said to me, 'but some months I don't want to have them cleaned because I won't want to pay', I'd say 'sorry' and not take them on.

Has anyone any tips on vetting customers?  Maybe I should apply an 'initial cleaning charge' on top of my normal monthly clean for a 'new clean'.

[Duke]

your prices a right on mate...we get the odd one who tries all that malarky...let 'em go, there will always be the odd 'chancer'. Maybe we should just turn up and do it for free!. .Even then you'd still get 'you missed a bit'....stuff 'em. There will always be people that think we are just 'servants' to be pushed around....but the nice proper jobs make it all worth while....and sometimes we even get a cup of tea. I even have customers that pay in advance, as I'm sure you do too....they are the sort of people that know your worth...and are happy to pay for the service. Don't let a couple of miserly whingers get you down...we all have them. 

[matt]

hear is my story

2 Xmas's ago, I was trying to get as much done the week B4 Xmas, as people allways want "clean windows" over xmas etc etc

Anyways, my turn around is every 6 weeks (its what a High % want on my round) i was ONE day before the 6 weeks, so this old dear said, your too early, come back tomorrow, I couldnt as i was in a different area, so she cancelled on the spot

she cleans her own now from the insides (takes her 3 hours, ive seen her do them) she cleans them all APART from 2 on the side that do not open

for the last 6 months they have been in a terrible state, a bird hit 1 of them and lost control of its bowls as it hit and it was covered, the other wasnt that bad, but a few Hits from birds

so she asks me to do them 2, i tell her my min charge is THREE QUID, BUT as they are so dirty it will be FIVE QUID, she agrees to this price

i do them, soak them with pure water, scrub them, NOTHING comes off, so i scrape them with my custom made scraper then i WFP again, still crap, so i put my MOP on the end of the pole and scrup for ages, then i Water fed again and they looks champion

THIS TOOK 20 MINS to do

i go to collect, she offers me ONE QUID and says, the last cleaner would charge me 75p to do them 2 windows, she must have forgotten IT WAS ME and the house was 8 quid (ive since put a bit of muscle on, and my hair is longer )

i then say "we agree'd FIVE quid" she says "ive changed my mind, i will pay 1 pounds" so i turn around and say "it took me 20 mins, in which time i could have earned more doing a regular house and i am insulted that i am worth 1 poind for 20 mins work, 3 quid a hour, Keep your money BUT NEVER ASK ME TO DO THEM AGAIN" she said "oh ok then, here is 2 pounds"

i took the money and left, as i could feel a red mist coming over and a massive rage on the way

jokers are everywhere

[Duke]

know exactly what you mean...and the amount of people that try and get me to do a one off clean  on the promise that they will be 'regulars'....pah...now we like to get an agreement signed and the money up front...(as far as the yearly management fee goes....then pay the cleaner for the work done)...but we still get caught out sometimes....I guess you get a second nature in the end..sometimes I can just sense it...and I leave well alone...

[rosskesava]

Last year an elderly lady phoned asking for a quote so a few days later we went and had a look and quoted £15.

The property was a 3 bedroomed detached house with a few very arkward to reach windows.

After cleaning the windows we had to wait 15 minutes for her to finish a phone call and then wait another 10 minutes while she did an 'inspection'. She then complains about a run on one window and and a few other made up complaints. She said she'd wiped the offending 'bits' herself and she would only pay £10.

To add insult to injury she then asked we call around in a month on a specific day and at an exact time and then promptly shut the front door in our faces.

I think it's like Duke said, a type of intuition occurs because both myself and my partner were uncertain about this lady to start with.

Needless to say we didn't go back.

[dustycorner]

Hi all,

We all experienced customers like that, i took over a round about 2 years ago arrived at new customers home and introduced myself , they let me crack on with the clean. When i knocked for payment he said he didnt want me too do them so he wasnt going to pay i politely told him i wasnt moving until got paid .He did pay me but by this time i was wound up once i got my money i walked over to his flower bed picked up 2 handfuls of soil and smeared it all over his windows at the front whilst telling him to walk away in a jerking motion.

Cheers Mark.

[windows_chepstow]

Don't let a couple of miserly whingers get you down...we all have them. 

You're right when you say that, but this is outragous...

i then say "we agree'd FIVE quid" she says "ive changed my mind, i will pay 1 pounds"

I would've wanted to see the 'man' of the house about that.  That is if the auld witch could've kept one!

Once, in the presence of a startled looking husband, I did vent my fury towards a customer when she cancelled after the second clean because I was 'too expensive', after I'd cleaned a minging house.  I'm not a bully, so wouldn't have done it unless her husband was there.

Poor lass, she didn't know I'd just stopped smoking and was suffering from the withdrawal effects!

I guess after seventeen years in the army I just can't get out of the habit of telling people off!  

[Ian_Giles]

Completely agree with Duke, sometimes you just have to take it on the chin, some customers aren't worth having, and there is always another customer just around the corner.
If some new guy is going around and only charging a fiver he is going to be losing out in the end, probably won't last that long, or his work will be of really poor quality.
As for vetting customers....no idea really, just use your own judgment.

I do a couple down at our local army camp (Tosh knows where I mean) and charge them £8.00, they are as happy as Larry, a friend of one of them commented on how clean her windows were, my customers enthused about the fact she had got a window cleaner! Said why didn't she have me do hers too, the friend mmm'd and ahh'd, my customer said, 'Oh go on, it's only 8 quid!'

And there is the rub isn't it? My lovely customer thinks the £8.00 I charge is a bargain, for the same house another may think they are being ripped off

These aren't rich people, they're ordinary squaddies, the wife works in a bar in town. Some old bird leaking money out of her ears may think nothing of spending £30 a week on fresh flowers, but put her windows up from £8.50 to £9.00 a month and she will seriously consider cancelling you as you are so expensive!!!

I often think about charging more for the first clean, but invariably just except it will take longer the first time. Should impress the customer too
Sometimes you luck out and it turns out to be a one off clean

But hey, there is always another customer just around the corner......

Ian

[matt]

i then say "we agree'd FIVE quid" she says "ive changed my mind, i will pay 1 pounds"

I would've wanted to see the 'man' of the house about that.  That is if the auld witch could've kept one!

ive spoken to him B4, and had a arguement, he is in his 80's and called me a layabout, i spoke to him nicely and he now hides in the kitchen lol

[AuRavelling79]

Always, always, always, always charge between 50% and 100% extra for the first clean. Did I say always? I meant it!


Last Autumn one of my regulars sees me pull up and he says - "leave it this time mate."
Me "any particular reason?" (if there had been a death in the family, or he was having new windows that week I would have been understanding.)

Him "it might rain, it's a bit cloudy."
"OK" I say (a bit miffed, but on reflection thinking - great I've got an excuse not to ever again clean his underpriced house with bushes against the porch window, a georgian front door and a minghing cheap tacky conservatory with louvre windows included)

Today - glorious sunshine, he wants to know if I can put him back on the round.

Me (with enough better quality work) "Sorry, I'm too busy with my regular customers to take on un-reliable people who think they can pick me up and drop me when it suits them!"
Him huffily "Suit yerself!"


You see - you just need to bide your time!

[Pureandclean]

up to a few weeks ago, I had never charged more for a first clean, but after being on the forums foe a year now, have come to conclusion, that it is a good idea.
 I think that it will help to filter out some of the problem customers.
 an extra £5.00 on a £10 house seems fair to me.

 : Blessings  :

Graeme

[Duke]

people are wierd...I guess we all expect them to be like us.....personally, I've never met anyone like me....and thats probably true of all of you....good thing though...it allows us to make friends and enemies....and keep us diverse...I'm waffling now, tonight is a 'Cider' night....have fun guys...  

[rosskesava]

During this evening I've been sitting here phoning around Saturdays customers and sorting out and phoning those whose windows are long overdue because of the weather. (we couldn't work yet again today - but went to quote a job for doing the windows of 57 exclusive flats in the center of Brighton after the biulding work is complete - nice)

I actually had nice complaints. The type that go 'I'd thought you'd forgotten us' or 'I been waiting for you to phone'.

Funny world.

Well ... like Duke it's now a cider evening for me. Merrydown. Yummie. My missus calls this time of night 'Ross's playtime' because I stop being the entrepeneurial genius that I am and become just another window cleaner playing on his pc.

[easycleanwindows]

If a customer tells me its too expensive i just tell them ill stop paying my 5 million liability,and my income tax and nat insurance then i can be as cheap as the next man as i wont have as many over heads...except when i trip over something in their garden and put in an expensive insurance claim....

[gibbouk]

this is a problem that customers do not understand.
we have all been struck with the £5 man.
then a couple of months down the line the call comes in, he has stopped coming round can you come back.
i had this a while ago, i lost a couple to a geezer that halfed my price. i was charging a fiver, and i am cheap. he put a flyer round with all houses £2.50.
he went once and then they rang me.
they where quite abrupt not  even asking me if i would call they booked themself in for a clean.
i asked them would they take on a customer that messed them about. they said if they needed the money  then yes.. i replied i dont and hung up

[rosskesava]

What I don't understand is the price difference between what they paid and what's being asked.  In my above posting the lady 'downed' the price from £15 to £10. She lived in a very well kept £250 000 house. Her car was brand new that year.

Why argue over peanuts?

The above posting is about £2.50.

A lot of people won't think nothing of spending £30, £40 or £50 on an evening out but will argue over a fiver. Some spend God knows how much on food, booze and fAgs and all other types of things but argue over comparitively small sums when it comes to window cleaning.

I think it goes back to when a w/c tipped his cloth cap and said a cheery 'good morning misses ... clean yer windows' like something out of the film Half a Sixpence.

I know some people like the haggling and I don't mind that but it's the 'my old w/c charged £3' brigade for a 4 or 5 bedroomed house - they get right up my nose.

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

i think we've all had experiences similar to yours, i turned up at a block of flats on weds, 1 customer on seeing my van pull up shouts from her window "NOT TODAY YOU ARE TO EARLY" no i'm not i reply it's 4 weeks since i last called, "OH NO IT'S NOT" she replies and so it goes on, in the end i clean all her neighbours windows (7 flats) except hers, i can't wait till 4 weeks time when i go back again, i can see it now "OH MATE WHY HAV'NT CLEANED MY WINDOWS?" to which i will reply...... "because "i'm 4 weeks too late...........besides i only clean on a regular 4 weekly basis...HA HA

[windows_chepstow]

My thread was titled 'A moan about cheap window cleaners', but we've really been giving a tiny minority of customers a beating.

It's not really the window cleaner's fault.  He's trying to make a living like the rest of us and will no doubt undergo the same learning process as many others of us have done.  I remember when I first started, an experienced window cleaner warned me of the dangers of undercharging and he said 'cheap window cleaners cause me no end of problems' referring to when he gives a quote after they've disapeared.

When I meet a new window cleaner I always ask them if they know about this site.  It's an oblique way of educating them not to undersell themselves.

I'm well into my third year of window cleaning and have a good customer base, but we've still plenty of room for expansion.  I think it's because I've taken on so many recent new cleans that I'm finding the odd rotten apple too many.

Still, no matter how pragmatic I can be; it still doesn't want to stop me targetting a few houses with a load of eggs!

Anyway, we've got work to do.  Have a good day everyone!

[jsm]

I find the tray of eggs comes in handy for the KNockers / messing about types LOL  

I have a lady that knocked me 10 years ago - every 2 years she asks me to give her a quote - I say you knocked me for 2 months money years back - she says i have never ever seen you before - every time .

 all i say is sorry luv , to busy WITH a  

Got into a heated scrap once cos a I put a guys window up by 50p - big house ,  Audi TT, working professional guy !!!
( so 50p insn't going to bankrupt him )
 I even gave him 30 days notice of price increase, gave me he can get it done cheaper etc etc , so i told him to go and get them to do it for that money , he got me on a bad day !!

Turned out ok in the end as he came round to my way of thinking and 2 years on I havn't had any problems with him .
 

[bumper]

Ive had same problem,put them up from £3.80 to £4.30 up 50p, came running down looking for me saying 50p is a lot ,its 13 pecent my pension only went up 3 pecent, i told him they not been up for 2 years, he said well thats still well over inflation rate,told him they were only £3.00 pound 15 years ago when i bought the round ,if you want to work it out that way i reckon you owe me another 30p so it will be £4.60,plus when it rains we miss a week who pays me. than he just walked off chuddering to himself knocking on all customers doors ,not been round yet coz of bad weather this week.tw-t