Window scratched by window cleaner

Rosa_Damascena

Doozergirl said:

How does a window cleaner do that?  If their strokes were that small, it would take a day to clean a window. 

I'd put that on marks made in transit.  Where you get the repetitive rubbing movement from and the window is tied down.

Surely the OP would have noticed it before?

Ditto an errant remaining sticker.

frogglet

Maybe cleaning the windows has removed grease/oil which was hiding the scratches.

Doozergirl

Rosa_Damascena said:

Doozergirl said:

How does a window cleaner do that?  If their strokes were that small, it would take a day to clean a window. 

I'd put that on marks made in transit.  Where you get the repetitive rubbing movement from and the window is tied down.

Surely the OP would have noticed it before?

Ditto an errant remaining sticker.

I think it's more likely that the OP didn't notice it than a window cleaner scratching a window in a hundred small, repeated motions.   They use big sweeping motions.  They'd have scratched the entire window.  

Jeepers_Creepers

A dilemma.

I agree with others - that has to be very unlikely (tho' not impossible) to have been caused by the window cleaner. To scratch glass like that takes some effort. A ladder placed against it with a bit of grit stuck in the plastic bumpers? Yes, quite possibly. But surely the scratches would be vertical as the ladder end bounces up and down as it's climbed on, and not sloping sideways roughly at the same angle? And - really - no-one, especially a window cleaner, would place a ladder against the middle of a pane! Surely? (Ok, some would...)

How else could the W-C do this? By trying to scrub a stubborn mark? What with - aluminium oxide?! On balance, I think it's almost implausible that the W-C did this, unless something unusual occurred like he had an assistant with them, completely ignorant of the correct procedures, and who did something weird.

On the other hand... I would also agree it would be most likely that the OP would have seen this before now, especially with brand-new windows.

What to do? Toughie. If you do ask the W-C about it, make sure you are apologetic as you cannot imagine that they did do this - you are not accusing them at all - but that you are stumped as to the cause. Is there any chance it happened accidentally? If they are folk of integrity - and most likely they are - they would bring up any possibility; "Argh - I had my nephew helping me out, and he set up the ladders...", something like that. I would also hope that they'd have insurance - they should have - and that should be an end to it.

If they are adamant that they didn't do it, then there's nothing you can do other than accept this magnanimously. What to do then would, for me, depend largely on how they responded to it all - basically how honest and concerned I believed them to be. For example, I would expect them to be concerned, even horrified! I would expect them to want to see the damage (if they just shrug and claim they didn't do nuffink without even looking, then they'd be off my payroll...)

If you (hopefully) continue to use them, they should at least be more careful - if it was them.

Then either live with it, pay for a new DG unit, or claim off your insurance.

Aspiration

 Do they use ladders to access your floor or clean with long poles and brushes? 

Mistral001

I would mention it to them.  If they are any good they will want to know about the problem immediately so they do not do it  again and do not get a bad reputation.  Scratches in glass can be repaired by rubbing with a very fine abrasive.  Some people recommend toothpaste which contains such an abrasive.  They might fix it as a good will gesture without admitting liability.

Jeepers_Creepers

Toothpaste just ain't gonna cut it - literally or...

To polish that will take proper polishing compound and a lot of work. Will be a close call between polishing and a new unit.

Grumpy_chap

eisbaer said:

I I was initially hoping that's what it was! However I gave it a clean as much as I could (it's in a hard to reach spot on the outside pane) and it didn't budge, you can actually feel the little indents in some places as well. Just realised I can add pictures - hopefully this works.

Exactly this happened to us. 
It was the window cleaner who used the poles from ground level and either twisted so the ends knocked the window or had some piece of grit in the brush.  Same result whatever the reason.  Window cleaners don't carry insurances of any kind TBH.
We did complain but, needless to say, window cleaners on fairly low fee work just shrug and say "I guess I won't be needed here again."  
He was correct.
We purchased complete new double-glazed sealed units to replace the damage glass.

doningtonphil

When I window cleaned I had a metal scraper for removing stubborn marks - bird muck and the like.  Of course you would use the entire flat edge of the blade to ensure no scratches.  This looks like he has used a corner of his blade to remove a mark

Regarding insurance, in Scotland Window Cleaners have to be licensed by the council and have to have Public Liability insurance.  In the rest of the county I am sure that ther are plenty of window cleaners that choose to take out insurance.

Greatgimp

Any idea how much a new unit is, regardless of blame?