How truthful are you?

[Bongofish]

Hey all!

So with it being that time if year , alot of the front gardens I do are litters in Xmas decorations. Today, I was doing a house that had no Xmas decorations in the garden but have a big tree at the end of the front garden. As I was cleaning the front windows I tripped a bit as my foot got stuck on something.....I didn't fall over but gave a good yank on what turned out to be a Christmas light wire (green) layed in the grass. I didn't want to make it obvious so carried on with the clean but when I looked back it looked like the wired had come apart from a connector to the lights (not sure if completly broken or just pulled out). I didn't want to go back and try and fix it otherwise it would be obvious.

My question is , what would you do?....inform the resident? Leave it like I did as they won't turn them on until tonight? 

I didn't really know what to do and it was 8:45am and just kept my cool and left it like it was as the wired was green , laid in green grass and was not told about any wires in the garden. If I had told her and it was broke and turned out to be £100 set of lights that's most my days wage gone. 

Anyway interested to know if you was in my situation , or any situation similar how you handle it? 

P.s if it was something that was really obvious I would just own up to it and knock and tell them. 

Bongo

 

[Part Timer]

I always tell the truth to regular customers, broken loads of solar lights and the odd plant pot here and there.

 

[Bwfc]

Telling the truth. Customers definitely respect you more & most of the time they say don't worry about it

 

[Deleted member 7446]

Hey all!

So with it being that time if year , alot of the front gardens I do are litters in Xmas decorations. Today, I was doing a house that had no Xmas decorations in the garden but have a big tree at the end of the front garden. As I was cleaning the front windows I tripped a bit as my foot got stuck on something.....I didn't fall over but gave a good yank on what turned out to be a Christmas light wire (green) layed in the grass. I didn't want to make it obvious so carried on with the clean but when I looked back it looked like the wired had come apart from a connector to the lights (not sure if completly broken or just pulled out). I didn't want to go back and try and fix it otherwise it would be obvious.

My question is , what would you do?....inform the resident? Leave it like I did as they won't turn them on until tonight? 

I didn't really know what to do and it was 8:45am and just kept my cool and left it like it was as the wired was green , laid in green grass and was not told about any wires in the garden. If I had told her and it was broke and turned out to be £100 set of lights that's most my days wage gone. 

Anyway interested to know if you was in my situation , or any situation similar how you handle it? 

P.s if it was something that was really obvious I would just own up to it and knock and tell them. 

Simple,  tell the customer they had an unidentified trip hazard which is a breach of your personal health and safety. By the way it's now toast 

 

[Bongofish]

I always tell the truth to regular customers, broken loads of solar lights and the odd plant pot here and there.

Yeh I agree. I like to think I'm quite an honest person. But it was my second clean at this fairly big house. And really was in 2 minds. Hopefully it's not broken ??

 

[Part Timer]

Yeh I agree. I like to think I'm quite an honest person. But it was my second clean at this fairly big house. And really was in 2 minds. Hopefully it's not broken ??

If they find out it's broken and then find out you did it then 9 times out of 10 you'll lose them. If it's broken and you admit it then they might want you to pay for them to be replaced but if you explain you didn't see a green cord in grass as you were looking up cleaning the top windows I'd  be very disappointed if they did. You should also keep them as a customer and they will then trust you.

 

[steve garwood]

Tell them about the fox you see trip on the wire ?

 

[Martyn]

I'm guessing they have figured it out by now. ?

 

[TWC]

If your that worried why not nip out now and drive past. You’ll soon know if there’s working or not 

 

[dazmond]

lots of my customers have CCTV these days......id own up........

 

[Don Logan]

Always own up.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Anyway interested to know if you was in my situation , or any situation similar how you handle it? 

My van is full of stuff so I would have just went over and stuck it together again or joined the cables and put insulation tape round them. Kneeled on a plastic chest when stepping over a fence and it gave way. Just told them I would fix it with plywood and silicon which I did. A year later they flung it out.

 

[Bongofish]

If your that worried why not nip out now and drive past. You’ll soon know if there’s working or not 

I'm not worried, but just thought it would be interesting to know how everyone else would handle it ?

 

[swc1]

Hey all!

So with it being that time if year , alot of the front gardens I do are litters in Xmas decorations. Today, I was doing a house that had no Xmas decorations in the garden but have a big tree at the end of the front garden. As I was cleaning the front windows I tripped a bit as my foot got stuck on something.....I didn't fall over but gave a good yank on what turned out to be a Christmas light wire (green) layed in the grass. I didn't want to make it obvious so carried on with the clean but when I looked back it looked like the wired had come apart from a connector to the lights (not sure if completly broken or just pulled out). I didn't want to go back and try and fix it otherwise it would be obvious.

My question is , what would you do?....inform the resident? Leave it like I did as they won't turn them on until tonight? 

I didn't really know what to do and it was 8:45am and just kept my cool and left it like it was as the wired was green , laid in green grass and was not told about any wires in the garden. If I had told her and it was broke and turned out to be £100 set of lights that's most my days wage gone. 

Anyway interested to know if you was in my situation , or any situation similar how you handle it? 

I would communicate with the customer with a phone call and let them know what happened. Most people will understand. 

 

[THL4KEL]

I would own up incase you left a live cable exposed if it was running of mains.

 

[Daftoldgit]

I'd tell them, most people are ok about that kind of thing and appreciate you being honest

although if they're awkward nasty nitpicking people I might not bother!

 

[HWCS]

100% honesty

 

[Markyboy 50]

For me it depends on the customer. A couple of months ago I knocked over a concrete statue thing that was about 2 foot tall. Knocked it over whilst moving their rabbit hutch they should of moved. It snapped clean in 2. So I stood it up and put the top half back on. Good as new. They’re not good at clearing stuff outta the way so didn’t tell them

 

[mike007]

Telling the truth is always better than being found out.....unless the question is about the Missus asking if her a**e looks big in this!

 

[Lee85]

I had similar yesterday, I managed to knock a hanging icicle Christmas light, only gently but enough to for it to fall and hit the patio.  I knocked,explained and offered to pay. The husband answered and said 'good, I hate them things anyway, the wife makes me put them up!' Then handed me a Christmas tip!