Frustrating customers!

[Scrubsy]

@dazmond the rain thing really irks me sometimes. I always say I work all year round and in most weathers. I'm not unreasonable and wouldn't show up if it was battering down, or loads of snow etc, but I have to earn money to pay bills like everyone else. When I started a few years ago I really took things quite seriously and would get quite annoyed if you got someone who said they wanted a regular window cleaner and then cancelled after one, or they were persistently demanding or messed me about with silly excuses like drizzle etc. Nowadays I don't take it to heart at all. I only do gutter clearing for long term customers and very little gsf cleaning as I don't like it and I just find that people think it's a 20 minute job worth about £15. Everyone is different but I'd much rather clean windows all day than most other exterior cleaning. I'm not one for holding grudges, but if for any reason they mess me around a lot I remove them from my books and if they get in touch again I just tell them I'm unavailable (as I just don't want the hassle). I'm never rude but I don't barter on price or tolerate too much of the "could you just do this while you're here..." sorts of people either etc. Lots of red flags in this game - some justified and some occasionally not, but you do get a reasonable sense for it.

 

[Bell Pallisey]

Every biz has its aggro doesnt it, we are lucky in that the main aggro is somebody not paying but its minor in comparison to a shop owner who has shoplifting to contend with. Know a friend who works in a toy shop they had somebody walk out with 600 notes of lego, so they employ a security guard but he costs them 500+ per week so imagine that ? And then theres a local pub somebody said a tiny splinter on a chair back pulled a thread from his wifes wool coat, guess what a new coat cost them almost 300 notes .Theres so many conmen and women out there, back when i was married my exs sister threw herself under a bus chugging out the bus station , only got 3k as it was a crappy fall. But god knows how it affected the driver?

 

[Bell Pallisey]

About 5yrs back a fellow got in touch via FB , im an ex windy but im now crippled after army service can you clean my windows? Of course we can, so turn up and his wife calls upstairs to "iAN,HURRY UP its the window cleaner! "
down comes IAN, runs down stairs 2 at a time,in his socks ,like a gazelle straight out the front door and whips round "howr you doin mate?" i replied how are you getting along in that wheelchair?? [id seen it on FB] . tHis would all be a bit funny only recently hes got a brand new VW Caddy wheelchair equipped its all so wrong

 

[Iron Giant]

That's really good @Iron Giant that some positive stuff has come from it

I've found posting on Facebook local area hubs really good for getting interest. I need to get more pics and reels on my business page though, which I find a faff to be honest, but my wife's offered to help out thankfully.

Definitely

I have been toying with the idea of doing more pics and creating a poster like image which I can just post every once in a while, to be honest, I don't need any new jobs, but I think it's still good to keep yourself in the public eye,

I normally avoid local FB groups but re-joined one last week and as soon as anyone ask for a window cleaner 4-5 names are been thrown into the hat from users and business owners, it's saturated in my neck of woods with cleaners.

 

[bryyy2104]

I very rarely get any trouble from customers these days....

If I do I just get rid.i dumped 2 long standing customers the other week because they don't want me cleaning their windows in the rain...

It's impossible to not occasionally clean theirs in the rain with climate change so I don't want them on my books

I'm just don't care anymore if they don't fit into my way of working/schedule

I never clean inside windows(apart from the odd kitchen window for an elderly customer),no gutter clearing,no ladder jobs....

I'm still picking up work here and there and cutting any deadwood out of my round....

It's normal!remember that!all our rounds are built on shifting sand and constant refining is needed to keep it in good shape....

Sounds good! Working smarter, not harder as they say. I'd love to be in a position to be able to do that, but I've only been going 14 months so I still need all the customers have.
Just out of interest, how long have you been going for @dazmond?

 

[dazmond]

Sounds good! Working smarter, not harder as they say. I'd love to be in a position to be able to do that, but I've only been going 14 months so I still need all the customers have.
Just out of interest, how long have you been going for @dazmond?

31 years!I started back in 1993 aged 21.im now 52....

316 jobs at present and work 20-25 hours per week usually spread over 4 days.

 

[bryyy2104]

31 years!I started back in 1993 aged 21.im now 52....

316 jobs at present and work 20-25 hours per week usually spread over 4 days.

Wow! So you'd have started when I was 10 I've got a friend who helped me set up who has been going 25 years, and he's steadily refined everything to a fine art. He refuses to work in the rain, which I envy a bit as I'm nowhere near that point yet.
Do you still enjoy it after all those years?

 

[adamangler]

Refining work never ends. Just when you think you have everything sorted someone will start paying slowly or forgetting to unlock the gate. I dump customers all the time i dont have anytolerance for messers these days. I dumped one this week because the parking always does my head in, one the week before because shes always moaning about 1 particular velux thats a pita to clean. I only work 16 to 20 hours a week on windows now so dont need as many, i want quality not quantity.

 

[dazmond]

Wow! So you'd have started when I was 10 I've got a friend who helped me set up who has been going 25 years, and he's steadily refined everything to a fine art. He refuses to work in the rain, which I envy a bit as I'm nowhere near that point yet.
Do you still enjoy it after all those years?

Yes.....the job is a lot easier and a lot more profitable than when I was on the ladders,also no collecting money twice a week in the evenings like the old days...

It's an absolute doddle compared to all that ladder climbing!

 

[Iron Giant]

I've got a friend who helped me set up who has been going 25 years, and he's steadily refined everything to a fine art. He refuses to work in the rain, which I envy a bit as I'm nowhere near that point yet.

It's a choice to work in the rain or not, personally if you have 4 days of work a week these days you don't have a choice otherwise it's money down the drain, I'm not losing £100's because of a bit of rain,

Just keep on pushing on!!

I have been trading for over 24 years and cleaning windows a lot longer, I am still refining and even dropping good customers to make my rounds more compact and each day more profitable.

You will reach your goals if you keep at it, but you have to put up with some awkward customers and jobs you'd sooner be not doing at times that's just how it goes to build a solid customer base.

 

[THL4KEL]

If we didn't work in the rain these days we would rarely work....

 

[Iron Giant]

If we didn't work in the rain these days we would rarely work....

Exactly mate, it ain't that long ago it was raining two days a week we can't write of 2 days earnings every week and the domino effect from that we'd be out of pocket into £1,000's

 

[jaydogg]

I had a woman the other week, who promised to pay me later on the day mind you, ask me 4 days later after having not sent the money if I managed to clean 2 windows around the back. These windows were the most thoroughly cleaned by me, I even removed all the green grime from the frames, they look as white as new.
I let her know this, and she never replied. And still hasn't paid. DROPPED!

 

[dazmond]

I had a woman the other week, who promised to pay me later on the day mind you, ask me 4 days later after having not sent the money if I managed to clean 2 windows around the back. These windows were the most thoroughly cleaned by me, I even removed all the green grime from the frames, they look as white as new.
I let her know this, and she never replied. And still hasn't paid. DROPPED!

I guess this was a first clean?

I'd call round in the evening with my card machine before dropping.no way would I let them bump me on a first clean

 

[Marko067]

Then you get the good ones!

I had a customer yesterday pay me for this month and next and then tell me not to worry about the backs next time as they are away. "I'll pay you the same for next month" he said, "as it's not your fault you won't be able to get in at the back." And there's a lot more work at the back than there is at the front.

And then the older customer I recently did a repair job for on her back gate. It was the sort of job a carpenter might charge £60-£100+ for. I charged her £20 as I live local to her so didn't have to go far to get my tools. She insisted on paying me more than what I'd charged and then when I next cleaned her windows she still says "I feel like I've ripped you off for that job you did for me" and wanted to pay me yet more. I wouldn't take it but it wasn't for want of her trying.

These type of customers make my day.

 

[spruce]

I had a woman the other week, who promised to pay me later on the day mind you, ask me 4 days later after having not sent the money if I managed to clean 2 windows around the back. These windows were the most thoroughly cleaned by me, I even removed all the green grime from the frames, they look as white as new.
I let her know this, and she never replied. And still hasn't paid. DROPPED!

We had one of those when I first started. The red flags were there before I even started the job, but I didn't recognise them back then.
He pulled out of his driveway with a mate in the passenger seat of his pickup.

I was across the road. He stopped me and asked me if I would clean his windows. We agreed a price. He didn't have any cash on him. Then came the red flag.

"You don't have to worry mate, I'm also self employed and I know how difficult it is to get money from my customers after the job is done. I won't let you down."

No matter how many times I called, he either wasn't home, didn't answer the door, or didn't have any money.
"I'll just pop down to the atm and get you some money." He left me standing there, drove off and never came back.

I did wonder if he made a bet with his mate that he was going to get a free window clean. If he did he won that bet.

Later a young couple started to clean his windows and he let the bill edge up without paying them. They later sold the round and the new cleaner also cleaned a couple of times without payment.

The new cleaner took him to court and his girl friend settled up the debt on the stairs into the court room. She settled the full debt which included the previous couple's debt he apparently took on.

By then a few years had passed and I had a different van. I was cleaning in the same street and he came across to ask me to clean his windows. He didn't recognise who I was, but I recognised him. I addressed him by name and told him he still owed me money.

"I don't owe anyone any money".

" I know that your last window cleaner took you to court and that your girl friend settled the outstanding amount on the stairs of the court house. You owe me from before that."

He turned and walked back into his house. Never did he offer to settle what he owed. I quickly finished the house I was cleaning and left the area. I didn't want him coming back out and sticking a knife into one of my tyres in revenge.

He still lives there. His place was up for sale a few years ago but I guess he couldn't sell for the price he was asking for it. His name and face are burned into my memory and as he has never approached me again, I presume my face is burned into his memory as well.

Over the years we have refined our round. Those who didn't like us, dumped us; those who we didn't like due to always have to chase payment, access issues, etc, we dumped. We have a fairly good round as a result. But it's an ongoing sifting process.

Good customers can become bad customers through different circumstances, and are binned. "We notice you seem to have stretched finances at the moment and us cleaning your windows isn't helping. We will stop until the pressure is off. Please call us back when things become financially easier for you."

They really do call us back.