How do you handle situations as such

1 The price is the price. You delivered the service for the price you stated. Don’t discount, don’t negotiate. Get paid and move on. I’d still send them reminders for service, but if they don’t like my price, they can hire someone else.
2 You are the guy in charge of estimate. You should ALWAYS have your terms in written form, and saying as much verbally is a good idea to highlight your terms. When your quote, include a normal clean and a price for cleaning up the extra crud.

Simple.

I educate every single customer by telling them there is three parts to window cleaning, standard cleaning, post-construction, window restoration and I fill them in on the details of each to set the expectation level. Unfortunately I can’t communicate every single one of my terms and conditions or it would scare them and they would run off. I doubt any of us are giving quotes going oh by the way we don’t clean windows with tree branches pressed up against them, payment is due by such-and-such, if we can’t get a screen back in we will leave it so we don’t run the risk of breaking it etc etc. I mean let’s face it if you went to the gym or to the phone store and they talked for 20 minutes about terms and conditions it would be way too overwhelming. I simply try to communicate to them the stuff that is about the level of the quality of clean. However some people understand it but when they see it the reaction changes. Oh okay you don’t guarantee spot free windows yeah yeah yeah but then when they get the invoice and it’s time to pay up it’s like well how come that didn’t come off what about that and it’s like we went over this. Lol

It’s YOUR job to communicate ALL pertinent information to the customer. It’s not their job to read your mind. If you are not communicating the terms to them, they don’t exist. They need to be WRITTEN as well, so everything is in the open. If you are giving them price options, that pretty much takes care of disputes about cleaning off tape.

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From what I am hearing from you, it seems that your problems are coming from a lack of communication. Setting the expectation early on is going to help. You don’t have to get into everything, just the things that look like they will come up during the estimate.

I had an unusual comment one day, a lady whos windows I was cleaning, she accepted the bid, now I was there doing the clean I had a ear bud in and she was on the phone to her daughter, She said to her daughter that I was very confident in what I was doing. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but that is how you have to be in business, know your stuff and show it, most of my customers are soon to be retired or already are, so most have time on their hands so they normally come have a sticky beak during various processes of the clean.
When I bust out my pole and tell them how I can clean 5 stories high with it they are gob smacked, then bust out my screen cleaner their eyes light up and tell me wow what an amazing machine, or as many call it the magic brush, and I explain how the DI unit works.

All my quotes have my conditions at the bottom, I also mention it to each customer and point it out, I will soon be adding to my conditions due to a few instances have come up
, so far they state:
The about quote is for general window cleaning and/or soft washing/pressure cleaning. No removal of construction debris (including but not limited to paint, concrete, silicone etc.) nor stain removal (from hard water, oil or other sources) will be covered under this quote unless otherwise specified. All work is 100% guaranteed to be spot, smear and streak free or will be re cleaned free of charge, excluding the above mentioned.

I will also be adding something along the lines of we work to the assumption that all prior construction work has meets any relevant building codes/materials, it is the assumption that screens and blinds do not impead with the fuctinality/maintenence of the window unit.

Had a job the other day, where some fool had incorreclty installed security screens on the outside of the window blocking the drainage holes in the track, screens were riveted in place so had to be washed where it was tracks filled up with gunk and took 4 hucks per track to clean up, I told the customer if you want me to clean all this up your looking at double, she went to get me old rags she had, took an extra 30-40 mins to get the mud and water out of the tracks that would not drain, $30 tip lol

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I had a customer show me a window that had hard water deposits etched into the glass. I showed her on a small spot by using my solution, brass wool, and razor that it wasn’t coming off. Reminded her that when I bid we discussed old windows long neglected. That job paid just shy of $500 and I got a referral.

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Window cleaning is a luxury service.
Luxury services are not had at minimum wage.
The non-understanding can simply hire a neighborhood kid to swing by and work for “movie money” or parts for his bicycle.
When hiring professional services one should expect to pay professional wages.
Customers should know that they are not paying by the hour, they are paying by the job.
Life is expensive. What you bought last week or last month will most likely go up in price this week or next month.
Don’t get brought down by people who want luxury but can’t afford it.
Be kind and professional and just let them know that you are not the window cleaner for them.
Chase your dream not someone else’s.

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I think I am being misread and I have to disagree here. Think of all of the things we signed throughout our life it’s just a quick 20 second speech followed by a sign at the bottom. When you buy a used car they go you’re buying the car as is sign here they don’t read the whole as is paragraph to you, when you sign a phone contract they’ll communicate a couple of the basic things in the rest is up for you to read. I don’t know of anybody that has ever sat there and read 8 paragraphs of terms and conditions to me before I signed something. If a customer is agreeing to a service it is 100% their job to read to the service they agree to. I am not arguing with you I am just stating I highly doubt everything you’ve ever signed in your life has been read to you front to back.

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I actually communicate quite a bit to my customers. Here’s an example, I had a manager of a car dealership call me to come clean windows. I explained to her on the phone that a general cleaning was a general cleaning and any post-construction or water staining was not included. I went into details about the differences now normally I don’t do this on the phone but for some reason this time I did. I then emailed over a proposal which also had that in the terms and conditions which she accepted. When I was done cleaning the windows there was construction debris I went and grabbed her out of her office and said see this this was the construction type of stuff I spoke to you about that’s not bid at a general cleaning. She just said oh okay. I then get an email it goes just a food for thought as future reference we really would have appreciated it if you would have just removed the construction stuff while you were here. I was beyond mad I told her on the estimate phone call, in the emailed bid and at the end of the service and she said nothing. There was definitely not a lack of communication on my part here.

And that…is why I don’t do commercial jobs.

Why … Because of a miscommunication :thinking:

What message was that too?

  1. The price is the price is the price… period.

You know, I’ve always had a weird fear that on some jobs I was going to get called out for making $100 - $200+ an hour. Over the years I’ve realized its because the few times it happens to others, it gets over-analyzed here.

We charge per unit, and the price can sometimes be high for the amount of time we are there, but I can’t recall a single time that someone has said “You make too much per hour”.

  1. You have to set expectations. We straight up tell people that hard water removal is not included in a basic cleaning, and if your windows are older, there will probably be surface damage that cant be removed. We then follow up throughout the job, educating the customer as we go.

Yeah, some people are hearing and not listening, and we do get the callbacks asking “what is this” when you explained ad nauseum what it was. We will gladly do the extra work, if possible, for an extra fee, but this is a business, not a charity. You don’t walk into a dentist for a cleaning and expect them to throw in a root canal for free, right?

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To @dcbrock I’m asking Why he doesn’t do commercial

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Directed at Denver’s last post. Construction cleanup and such, dealing with managers etc.

Ok…
You explained it to her. I get that.
Did you also present the price at the same time, for the cleans, and let her decide which one she wanted?

If not, why not?

I have had this happen quite a few time over the years but it doesn’t happen often. If your a solo owner operator it will happen more often and the less you present a a well packaged presentation of your business the more often it will occur at at keast the more often customers will feel this way without ever saying anything.

When toubhave a crew it tends to not register with the customer the time it takes vs how much you are charging or if they know the person doing the job is an employee rather than you showing up to do the job by yourself. When toubhave a crew and or employees they subliminally assume and add overhead costs, gross revenue vs profit etc. They also are nore likely to do this as well if toubhave a high level of presentation to tour business like comoany vehicle, uniforms, printed marketting and invoices etc. This also sends a subliminal message that their is value in what you are doing beyond just cleaning the windows. Not that it should matter but psychologically it does to a lot of people.

It’s the same as going to the store and seeing two products on the shelf. One has generic packaging and the other is full color high gloss etc. You automatically assume the one with the fancy package is better quality and therefore you expect to pay a higher price. Reversly if the generic one is higher prices or equally priced you may view it as over priced.

How you present your company can and does play a role in peoples reaction to your pricing. Making sure you communicate the value of your service and how you present it is just as important as providing that value. If the customer doesn’t see or understand that value they may feel taken by the price.

That aside, my response would be to politely ask if they are open to hearing a response to their concerns. I would then share with them first that you dintncjarge by the hour and that the time it take can very. The better younger at your job the less time it takes. You work hard to continually improve in your equipment and procedures so you can be highly efficient at what you can be profitable while continuing to gice the customer a competitive price. There are also other time and expense that goes into each job that customrrs don’t see such as vehicle and equipment upkeep, accounting and customer management, marketting etc. I work hard wirh those time amd expenses was well to be highly efficient and also keep my price competive to benefit the customer. I assure you I do my best to keep my prices competitive enouhh to give you the best service I can at a competitive price. I hope that you can see that in the service I have provided today If not please tell me so I can make sure you feel good about what I have done today?

That would be my approach. It may or may not be the right approach but it would be my response. If they are still not happy I would encourage then to compare my pricing and whay they get with my service against other competitors and I think they will find that I have given them a great deal.

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I had a customer last year that took the first issue to the extreme. It was a repeat customer due for a sizable price increase; I gave them a realistic estimate beforehand, but he had the impression that the job didn’t take enough man hours to justify the higher cost. Sent a super condescending email, probably hoping that I would back down and offer a reduced price.

After some careful consideration with my wife, we decided to just. not. reply.

I could see in HCP that he had opened the invoice literally dozens of times. He finally paid it in full online about 4 days later.

So it all depends on the circumstances. It’s a pretty rare instance that I would completely refuse to respond to a customer’s complaint. But some day you might find yourself in the situation where that’s honestly the best choice.

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I did not provide price differences know however I explain to her the difference on three occasions. So no she did not get a cost difference however you can’t have something pointed out to you on multiple occasions and not speak up and then go just a food for thought we wish you would have done the post-construction. She literally got told on the phone in an e-mailed bid and after the service we are standing there looking at the windows and she said absolutely nothing.

Food for thought:
The construction debris BOTHERS her. If you had presented the price for both services, she could have chosen which she wanted and would pay for. While her response may annoy you, have you thought about how she feels?
You spent time telling her how a normal clean would not take off the construction debris and that it would cost more. Yet you didn’t present her with the option to choose. If she had declined to pay the extra, I could totally see your point. But you seem pretty upset she commented about the debris left, but perhaps SHE is upset you didn’t offer to clean her glass to a standard she wanted.

Not only are you irritated (which could have been avoided a bit better IMO) but you probably also missed out on making more money. Perhaps it might help to start offering a price for other things, then just what you perceive they want. You could take this example of this job and use it as a learning experience and maybe a way to grow, or you can just be mad at the lady. The ball is in your court.

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