Advice on winter cancellations

[Iron Giant]

I think that kinda thing is insulting to us though, don't you? If someone says they can't afford it fair enough, if they think its not worth the money then fair enough, but to basically indicate they think our work is no better than hanging out the window with a Karcher is just rude.

Not really mate, I just think what an idiot as with most upstairs windows on my rounds they would only get half the window at most so they can crack ? we might see this in future

 

[Daftoldgit]

I actually like  "leave it till spring" requests!

I tend to get behind during winter so it takes the pressure off a bit.

 

[P4dstar]

Going wfp was a learning curve for us @P4dstar. Cleaning outside with a Karcher is going to be a learning curve for them. ?

I've watched our neighbor next door but one clean his windows with a Karcher. They have a bungalow. First go was to much soap. Then he tried his car wash brush with soap and tap water. Then he washed with soap and rinsed the soap of with tap water. Dried the frames with a towel and used the Karcher on the glass. Didn't find the Karcher worked well so he put some more soap on the glass.

Took him 1/2 an hour to do that one window. Unfortunately the windows he has are those with 2 top openers above a large pain of glass underneath. He ended up with a steak down the centre of the glass.

He has a conservatory to clean around the back so I can only guess how long it took for him to clean the whole house and the conservatory. I got tired just watching him clean the first window.

I have this image of you standing in the window, drinking a coffee and watching trying not to laugh ??

 

[P4dstar]

"I can turn my windows on special hinges to do the outsides", is one "We bought a Karcher" is another. A third one that just came to mind is "Husband/nephew is going to do them".

This f@ck1ng grinds my gears. Firstly those bloody hinges don't stop you having to hang out the window. Secondly, you won't bloody do it anyway. I did a gutter clearance with GFS one time so I offered her windows in the price, after telling me all about how she didn't need a regular window cleaner she snapped my hand off. Amazingly no issues with soap in the seals that you get when you take over from a trad windie... Because she clearly wasn't bloody cleaning them!!

The "Family member is going to do them" is an even bigger middle finger to us. Don't p155 down my back and tell me its raining, you clearly don't value the service for whatever reason and want to cancel. I had one the other day, sent the reminder text the night before and she responded by claiming to have emailed and told me a family member will do them. It was only the second clean. This really winds me up! Cancel, no problem we've got enough work and will replace them, but there's no need to snap back at me and claim to have sent an email to cancel beforehand. 

 

[Iron Giant]

This f@ck1ng grinds my gears. Firstly those bloody hinges don't stop you having to hang out the window. Secondly, you won't bloody do it anyway. I did a gutter clearance with GFS one time so I offered her windows in the price, after telling me all about how she didn't need a regular window cleaner she snapped my hand off. Amazingly no issues with soap in the seals that you get when you take over from a trad windie... Because she clearly wasn't bloody cleaning them!!

The "Family member is going to do them" is an even bigger middle finger to us. Don't p155 down my back and tell me its raining, you clearly don't value the service for whatever reason and want to cancel. I had one the other day, sent the reminder text the night before and she responded by claiming to have emailed and told me a family member will do them. It was only the second clean. This really winds me up! Cancel, no problem we've got enough work and will replace them, but there's no need to snap back at me and claim to have sent an email to cancel beforehand. 

All together now 

 

[Part Timer]

This f@ck1ng grinds my gears. Firstly those bloody hinges don't stop you having to hang out the window. Secondly, you won't bloody do it anyway. I did a gutter clearance with GFS one time so I offered her windows in the price, after telling me all about how she didn't need a regular window cleaner she snapped my hand off. Amazingly no issues with soap in the seals that you get when you take over from a trad windie... Because she clearly wasn't bloody cleaning them!!

The "Family member is going to do them" is an even bigger middle finger to us. Don't p155 down my back and tell me its raining, you clearly don't value the service for whatever reason and want to cancel. I had one the other day, sent the reminder text the night before and she responded by claiming to have emailed and told me a family member will do them. It was only the second clean. This really winds me up! Cancel, no problem we've got enough work and will replace them, but there's no need to snap back at me and claim to have sent an email to cancel beforehand. 

What's happened to the happy go lucky @P4dstar,  getting to become a right grump ? 

 

[P4dstar]

All together now 

View attachment 22793

What's happened to the happy go lucky @P4dstar,  getting to become a right grump ? 

You both know I love a good rant.... And its been a while ???

 

[Part Timer]

You both know I love a good rant.... And its been a while ???

But that was a good one even by your standards ?

 

[spruce]

I have this image of you standing in the window, drinking a coffee and watching trying not to laugh ??

I had the proverbial grand stand seat for a comedy show. He only cleans them now when he sees my van isn't on the driveway. He was a chef but covid19 has closed the pub he worked for so had now retired. 

He was never my customer. Another local lad who was the first to go wfp in our area in 2004 had been cleaning them traditionally since he left school some 10 years prior. 

Some 2 years ago they are both getting to retirement age and she buys him this Karcher for Christmas. Then they have to get rid the window cleaner. So she tells him wfp is causing condensation on the inside of the windows so she doesn't want him any longer. He told him his brush had scratched the glass of their front lounge window.

By nature their window cleaner, who I also know personally, has a rather firery personality said a few things and walked away. What my friend didn't know was the the home owner had been practicing cleaning the inside windows with his new present before the autication. 

But as it is with some customers, they didn't have the guts to say they didn't need his services any longer and thank him for his services over the past 25 years. Rather they came up with this fake story of the damage he had caused.

I looked at the glass later when that home owner tried to justify why he had sacked his window cleaner to me. I couldn't see any scratches. I was then told that they could be seen from inside when the sun shone and that they they swirls of scratches. 

I told him that that was from the manufacturing process and nothing to do with their window cleaner. I asked if the other glass window (the one I was watching him clean) on the other side of the front door also have those scratches. He said it didn't. So I told him it wasn't his brush then.

I also told him that if he believed the window cleaners brush caused those scratches on the one window, what is his car cleaning brush doing to the paint work of his and his wife's new cars?

He still cleaning the cars with his car cleaning brush. ?

 

[spruce]

This f@ck1ng grinds my gears. Firstly those bloody hinges don't stop you having to hang out the window. Secondly, you won't bloody do it anyway. I did a gutter clearance with GFS one time so I offered her windows in the price, after telling me all about how she didn't need a regular window cleaner she snapped my hand off. Amazingly no issues with soap in the seals that you get when you take over from a trad windie... Because she clearly wasn't bloody cleaning them!!

The "Family member is going to do them" is an even bigger middle finger to us. Don't p155 down my back and tell me its raining, you clearly don't value the service for whatever reason and want to cancel. I had one the other day, sent the reminder text the night before and she responded by claiming to have emailed and told me a family member will do them. It was only the second clean. This really winds me up! Cancel, no problem we've got enough work and will replace them, but there's no need to snap back at me and claim to have sent an email to cancel beforehand. 

You mustn't take their nonsense personally. You will end up with ulcers, not them.

I've come to realise that in 99% of the cases there is another agenda in the background we don't know about as they don't disclose it. Some have asked to be taken back and its up the me to decide if I want them back or not. I taken many back over the years and mostly they have been model customers. A few started messing around again and I don't clean them now.

I've mentioned this before. We got sacked by him for a streak down a lounge window the previous clean we did. The alleged streak was on the bay window we would have clearly seen when we called on the Friday evening to collect payment. I knew that they had separated as I was asked to clean the now ex wife's new house's windows. I later find out that I was sacked as I could be telling her whats happening at his home. (He employed the services of a Korean house keeper who paid us the last time. Make of that what you will. We clean a number of houses that are cleaned by Molly Maid type of cleaning services but none have ever paid us.)

I've got an older customer we clean. I have known her for the past 15 years because I clean in her street. We have cleaned her son's windows in another village for the past 16 years. His mother has early dementia. Her son asked us to clean his mother's windows which I started doing about 4 years ago. Dementia is getting worse so she sacks us as we aren't her window cleaners. I tell son. Son pays us and we clean her windows. She sacks us. ? Its just very sad. (I make lots of concessions for elderly with dementia as both my parents had it and I've lived through it twice. We have another couple of customers who have the disease as well. I will go the extra mile for customers who suffer dementia as they aren't to blame for their actions.)

 

[P4dstar]

But that was a good one even by your standards ?

Maybe I left it a little long between rants, let it build up too much haha.

You mustn't take their nonsense personally. You will end up with ulcers, not them.

I've come to realise that in 99% of the cases there is another agenda in the background we don't know about as they don't disclose it. Some have asked to be taken back and its up the me to decide if I want them back or not. I taken many back over the years and mostly they have been model customers. A few started messing around again and I don't clean them now.

I don't take it personally, honestly. I do enjoy a good rant about it from time to time though. You'll be glad to hear that you guys listening to it means I rant less to the lads who work for me about it though, so you're doing a service by reading it really haha ?

 

[spruce]

Maybe I left it a little long between rants, let it build up too much haha.

I don't take it personally, honestly. I do enjoy a good rant about it from time to time though. You'll be glad to hear that you guys listening to it means I rant less to the lads who work for me about it though, so you're doing a service by reading it really haha ?

You had to take plenty from unreasonable customers in your previous jobs so you are well used to it.

 

[P4dstar]

You had to take plenty from unreasonable customers in your previous jobs so you are well used to it.

I enjoyed a rant there too, pretty much at every single one of them ???