Window cleaner payment

Flower08

Our window cleaner didnt come for 4 months, yet sent his mate around 3 times for payment!

I noticed one day another window cleaner down our street so asked him if he would do our windows aswell, he was only too happy (and actually told me he had recently got quite a few customers that this other guy had let down).
About 2 weeks after this our original window cleaner turned up and started cleaning the windows, I quickly sent OH out to tell him we no longer required his services!

Personally I would pay a precentage of what they did and then tell them you dont need them to come round anymore.

ETA: the window cleaners we have now are brilliant, very friendly guys, always use clean water, and actually come at regular times so we know when to have the money ready!

split_second

the one my parents had was rubbish, the dog runs round the house now to every window he is ''cleaning'' and growls at him

there is a window cleaner round here but i dont get in till after half 8 on the day he comes round and i dont want someone coming to the door at gone 9pm so i do it myself (only the downstairs ones lol)

pigpen

My stepdad is a window cleaner.. he employs 5 lad to do the most of the cleaning.. he is 64 so a bit past running up and down ladders! I used to be his collector.

I would ask for the business owner to ring you to dicuss with him what has happened.. he will, or should be, very apologetic and the cleaners will get a telling off.. if you don't let them know how will they get any better? How can they do anything about it?

I had situations like this.. don't be aggressive or confrontational with the collector.. they can't help it.. but they can pass on a message for you and should be helpful.

What is the point in lying? This is a mans business and how he feeds his family.. most genuine people wouldn't want to lose a customer so will bend over in any direction you want to keep your money coming in so they can feed and clothe and home their families!

I am really disgusted that there are so many people suggesting you lie or pay for an inadequate service.. most disappointing.

property.advert

pigpen wrote: »

My stepdad is a window cleaner.. he employs 5 lad to do the most of the cleaning.. he is 64 so a bit past running up and down ladders! I used to be his collector.

I would ask for the business owner to ring you to dicuss with him what has happened.. he will, or should be, very apologetic and the cleaners will get a telling off.. if you don't let them know how will they get any better? How can they do anything about it?

I had situations like this.. don't be aggressive or confrontational with the collector.. they can't help it.. but they can pass on a message for you and should be helpful.

What is the point in lying? This is a mans business and how he feeds his family.. most genuine people wouldn't want to lose a customer so will bend over in any direction you want to keep your money coming in so they can feed and clothe and home their families!

I am really disgusted that there are so many people suggesting you lie or pay for an inadequate service.. most disappointing.

Trouble is that over generations, up and down the country, window cleaners have been taking the Michael for decades. We hear about the occasional good one but then hundreds of stories of rogues looking for easy money, often tinged with a hint of claiming dole money and certainly not paying tax etc. The same is true today of those who cut grass or garden for people on a casual basis.

I wouldn't pay the guy but would ask he pop round to explain. I would not ask them to return unless it was resolved.

To improve the lot of the window cleaner, I would do away with the collector and do it yourself.

pigpen

property.advert wrote: »

To improve the lot of the window cleaner, I would do away with the collector and do it yourself.

my stepdad collects 5 nights a week and it is simply not possible for one person to collect the amount of houses they clean. My mother goes one night and there are 2 other guys who do 2 nights a week... so they need collectors.

Plenty of shop owners and taxi drivers and politicians and other business owners take the pee too.. it is wholly unfair and inaccurate to say they don't pay taxes and are claiming benefits because they clean windows for a living. My BIL is a butcher.. he couldn't get a decent mortgage because his books showed he had made a pittance profit the 3 previous years.. why is that less wrong than someone whose employees take liberties thinking they won't be caught out? My brother has a barbers and pays a fortune in taxes because he declares everything as is proper.

property.advert

pigpen wrote: »

my stepdad collects 5 nights a week and it is simply not possible for one person to collect the amount of houses they clean. My mother goes one night and there are 2 other guys who do 2 nights a week... so they need collectors.

Plenty of shop owners and taxi drivers and politicians and other business owners take the pee too.. it is wholly unfair and inaccurate to say they don't pay taxes and are claiming benefits because they clean windows for a living. My BIL is a butcher.. he couldn't get a decent mortgage because his books showed he had made a pittance profit the 3 previous years.. why is that less wrong than someone whose employees take liberties thinking they won't be caught out? My brother has a barbers and pays a fortune in taxes because he declares everything as is proper.

Quite simply you don't understand accounts, taxes, HMRC or the way lenders view the self employed or those who have businesses. I could teach how to get the things your family were denied.

However, there are loads of other people on the fiddle as well. In many ways I support the black economy.

As for the collecting, if he has that many houses to collect from that he cannot cope, then he must be rolling in it.

Savvy_Sue

I'm impressed it was the top two panes they did: we asked ours to stop coming when you could see how high up the downstairs window they'd reached - as far as they could get without using a ladder! (we have high ceilings and the windows go up nearly to the top.)

elantan

i would say to them ... what you didnt get the money ... i left it in an envelope with the words for the window cleaner written on it taped to ( insert window here youknow they havnt done) oh maybe you didnt bother washing that window ... i did wonder why when i got your note you just hadnt taken the money

Sambucus_Nigra

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I'm impressed it was the top two panes they did: we asked ours to stop coming when you could see how high up the downstairs window they'd reached - as far as they could get without using a ladder! (we have high ceilings and the windows go up nearly to the top.)

Probably because they know those are the two that you would glance at most to see if they'd done the job.

I'd definitely call them on it - ring the boss and ask for the quote for the two top panes just because you can - it's obviously a technique of theirs and who knows how long they have been fleecing you/the boss like this.

pigpen

property.advert wrote: »

Quite simply you don't understand accounts, taxes, HMRC or the way lenders view the self employed or those who have businesses. I could teach how to get the things your family were denied.

However, there are loads of other people on the fiddle as well. In many ways I support the black economy.

As for the collecting, if he has that many houses to collect from that he cannot cope, then he must be rolling in it.

and judging by many of your previous posts you undestand very little.. I know plenty about accounts and I also know there are hundreds of genuinely honest people out there running their own businesses .and there are some 'losing' money in stock or expenses.. it isn't difficult judging by the fact my BIL managed it so well..

yeah.. rolling in it when you have 4-6 (depends on the week) blokes wages to pay, supplies to buy, tax to pay, your own living expenses, insurances and people ignore you knocking on the door for the money they owe.. Milkmen have the same problems.

Maybe you ought to have a try collecting.. it is a ball ache.. It really makes you appreciate your postman! it takes 3 hours for 2 people to collect 3 streets of about 200 houses each.. obv. not every house gets cleaned.

as for 'dirty cloths' .. they don't wash the window with cloths.. they put soapy water on the window with the cloth, usually stuck on stuff like bird poo they have a scraper thing to get that off.. they then squeegee the water and the dirt off and wipe the sill.. well.. the decent ones do.. I do the insides of mine exactly the same.. Pee's me off when they leave the corners.. I do NOT have round windows!