[Joe H]

I would have done the job because thats what the customer asked for and it is well within my scope to do it.
What I would have charged?
Depends on how long it took me.
If it is quicker then getting the full gear out  I would have charged lower accordingly, subject to minimum charge of course..
Likewise I go and its a minger and it takes longer then I charge higher.

[robert meldrum]

Joe

Would you reduce an agreed charge if it took nearly as long to carry out the task as any other method of cleaning?

Remember.......we occasionally end up spending twice as long as expected on some jobs and most of us will do little add ons for FREE on many occasions, so it's a bonus when an " easy " job comes along, which isn't too often!

[Joe H]

Robert
I give estimates over the phone. I glean as much info as I can to be able to give that estimate.
The estimate could alter depending what I see when I get to the job.
If the area is subsantially different to what was portrayed over the phone or the condition of the area was different then I alter accordingly.
Having said that, very occassionally I have had to raise the price and very occassionally I have lowered the price.
And yes, like you, I do little freebies - and lt the client know what I done. Hopefully they will tell their friends etc of the good service with a little extra so I benefit some other time.

[Mike Halliday]

in the end we decide how we clean the carpets because we know whats needed to make that carpet clean.

some carpet we prespray-scrub-extract.... then scrub the bad areas again with more prespray and scrub them again.

 some carpets we just go in with the wand and extract.

we can do this because we tailor our cleaning to suit the individual carpet, just because the second carpet didn't get scrubbed or pre-sprayed doesn't mean we have given an inferior service.

if this was the case then all Host user are unethical, because they are not using a deep HWE


the customer is usually paying for our expertise not the machinery we use. its up to us to give the appropriate service. if we give the same uniform service to everyone then we could decide that all customer will have protector applied to the carpet, then it becomes unethical even though we are giving everyone the exact same level of service

[vacman]

Surely it is only unethical if you didnt do what it was you were paid to do...IE clean the carpet?

if a customer asked for it to be cleaned this way but you cleaned it that way, then yes, i can see the problem.

But as it stands, they asked you to do a job and you did it. It's not your fault that the carpet wasnt that bad to begin with and its not your fault that the customer liked your price and your service. If anything, that is to your credit.

[fenman]

Last week a lady asked for a price to clean a lounge.
She gave me the size and we agreed on a price.
As it turned out the size she had given me was about twice the actual size.
She would have been happy to pay the agreed price but I only charged the correct price for 2 reasons:
I would have felt bad overcharging her ( probably why I will never be rich ).
The goodwill this may generate will pay off in the long run as hopefully she will tell her friends and family what a nice chap I am.

[vacman]

I suppose that at the end of the day one of the luxuries of being our own boss is that we can charge what we like. One of the luxuries of being in a free country is that we can pay what we like.

For all we know, the custy in question may well have had dearer quotes for the work that was done.

For all we know, they may not be the ones paying for the work.

Point is (to me) that the job was done and the custy was happy. In my experience people have had no qualms about using people who they pervcieved to be expensive IF that person was reliable and did a good job. I doubt for a second that the customers who are mentioned in this thread had any preferences for the style of cleaning done. As mentioned in another thread, they probably thought the guy used "a great big vax" 

[derek west]

after watching the aerial guys on watchdog tonight, i think you can safely say your 110% ethical mike.


derek

[Mike Osbourne]

Funny they didn't manage to track down the guy with the GBH convictions who threatens to kill people.

[M.Acorn]

Locksmiths charge a decent whack for a few mins work in some cases ! Might be worth getting some training,can get the tools of e bay !

[Mike Osbourne]

Mark

You are already sitting on a pot of gold already. Do you want to be on call night and day? Hope you never been in trouble with the law and the kit for your van (a proper one) will be far more than a portable. Ebay. :

[garyfindlay]

Is the customer not always right. If she was delighted, then jobs a good un. Clean and Green.

[M.Acorn]

Indeed it was just an example  Had a very good day today !