Notice It's been a while.....

MR CLEAN

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MR CLEAN
Did you get your Shark yet?

John you use paint strainers in your inline filter, right?


And remind me, do you have a rotary extractor?
I'm looking into the shark now what was that model number again? We do have A Dyson Ball . I always use the paint strainers with the devastator filter it turns out to be around $.75 to a dollar a bag when you buy them in bulk and will last you all day when rinsing them down.
 

MR CLEAN

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MR CLEAN
And when do you bring Brian along with you?
Brian is the lead tech on every job. We work like a well oil machine together our nicknames are steak and sizzle ( given to us by a client )and we have a new tech who is now special sauce . The perfect trifecta .
 
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Greg Cole

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But just had that "call" with a client that now feels our prices are too high. He calculated our hourly average for the scope of work and determined it's more than a doctor or lawyer.

His invoice is almost two months old. Lots of calls and text back and forth trying to collect. Offered credit card, payment options etc. Never once did he say he had an issue with the price in all these communications. Only telling me he has been busy, working on bills now and it will go out, yadda yadda. Almost two months of friendly emails, texts and calls. Today, I told him if we didn't see some payment by the end of the week, I'd have to file in court. (We require payment at the time of service, but this was an old high school acquaintance so we went to do the work when he wasn't there, which is not something we do with a first time customer, but we knew the guy. See what happens when we don't stick to protocol!).

As always, I put it back on the customer and ask what would you like. I've found that typically they ask for less then I might do and it gives them a sense of control. I was floored by his response.

He is a custom builder/woodworker and wants to know our hourly rate. His on site labor rate is $55 an hour shop rate is $65 per hour and he wants to pay us his shop rate, per man, for the two and a half hours we were at his house to clean upholstery and carpets. The bill was a bit over $1200.00 and we gave him a break. He wants to only pay $65 per hour, per man so about $325.00. This is after he agreed to the price on the phone when we called him with the total. I explained we don't charge by the hour, but for the job/piece areas. Which he verbally agreed to, and didn't have any issues with paying until now. I asked him why it's taken him two months to have the discussion regarding price and why it wasn't done right away? Why is this the first he brought it up....? He said it was "uncomfortable" and that he didn't want to cause an issue.

He claims he wasn't felling well the day we went out, he was busy with work and he didn't realize what the total was. I put it back on him that it was his responsibility to speak up at that time and say he needed time to think about it and thanks for the estimate (no charge by the way) and he could have waited to have the work done or get other quotes. He agreed, but still kept going back to what we were making by the hour and that he felt "bamboozeld". Buyers remorse....

It was getting tense and he just couldn't get past the "hourly rate" thing. I ended the call saying I'd think about it and get back to him.

He's convinced he would win in court saying that verbal authorization doesn't hold up (I have texts telling him we'd call him to review the scope of work and price when we got out there, to which he replied "ok", so he knew it was going to go down this way). As a contractor, he said we are breaking the law by not having provided a written contract for the work and giving him the mandated 72 hour window to cancel. We are not contractors and don't have to abide by that law. He also has questioned the fact that we charged sales tax as he doesn't in his business. I sent him a link from the state that outlined which services are required to collect sales tax and told him if he had further questions, to contact his CPA or accountant. I don't make the tax laws, just follow them.

So, now we deal with the hassle of letting this play out legally or writing this off. We are willing work with the guy, but not $325.00 for a $1200 job!

I know I'm late to the party. The burden of proof is on you. Offer to settle for 50 cents on the dollar and move on with your life. Legally you will have to employ an attorney or spend hours of your time pretending to be one. You have a 50/50 shot of winning.... In the future be sure to document any negotiation in writing and consider this a 500-$800 lesson in business...
if you had the documentation you could sue and be awarded attorney fees....
Or just go lien the house..... You might get paid some day....
Personally I'd take what I can salvage NOW and move on... $800 isn't worth the time.....
 
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dealtimeman

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So he really doesn't vacuum?

Does even own a vacuum?

For the amount of money he charges, he could hire a maid service to come out at the right before he arrives and vacuum for him thoroughly.

How many more pages are we going to have to go thru on this???
 
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BIG WOOD

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I have a Shark ROTATOR. As far as I know, it's the only one that TRULY lifts away to get under beds.
I'm sorry you haven't used a royal yet. Plus, why are you wasting time getting under beds? The less beds you go under, the more jobs you can do in a day. Where's your efficiency, lol?
 
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MR CLEAN

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MR CLEAN
So he really doesn't vacuum?

Does even own a vacuum?

For the amount of money he charges, he could hire a maid service to come out at the right before he arrives and vacuum for him thoroughly.

How many more pages are we going to have to go thru on this???
There's more than one way to skin a cat. Truth is I figured out the formula that doesn't require us to vacuum. Or clients consistently tell us that they use us not only because the carpet stay cleaner longer because we give them value. That might be hard for some of you to comprehend because it's a different way. I am open minded and will be implementing pre-vacuuming on our jobs .
 
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Mikey P

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Charm and conviction are both mandatory qualitys to have in order to suceed in the owner op lifestyle.


Its about all you need, just look at all the padder only goobers who do well.


But just you wait....

When those tennis club yentas see you with that vacuum, your collection of happy housewife selfies is going to drive Meggers nuts.
 

Willy P

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There's more than one way to skin a cat. A-Truth is I figured out the formula that doesn't require us to vacuum. Or clients consistently tell us that they use us not only because the carpet stay cleaner longer because we give them value. B-That might be hard for some of you to comprehend because it's a different way. C-I am open minded and will be implementing pre-vacuuming on our jobs .

A-So you came up with a formula that makes dry particulate run away before you get there? Never mind that you just make more mud in the fiber and backing.
B- Not hard to comprehend, it's not different than a lot of hack cleaners or its lazy. You pick.
C- Good. Maybe you can see that removal of lint, sand and who knows what else is an important step in the cleaning.

I'm not busting your balls, but as a premium cleaner, leaving out an essential step (according to craft cleaners, mills, etc) just doesn't make sense.
 

Bob Pruitt

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I am open minded
LOL. After 343 posts to this thread, maybe... maybe not :icon_rolleyes:
If you were a hack cleaner this tread would have been 1 or 2 pages long. Lots of respect for you here or so many who know you wouldn't have bothered.
Pre-Vac; you will come up with a system that will still let you go fast...I'm sure.
 
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PrimaDonna

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Putting this to rest.....

It's on it's way!

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Jim Pemberton

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When those tennis club yentas see you with that vacuum, your collection of happy housewife selfies is going to drive Meggers nuts.

You have a communication style all your own Mike.

I think its how you made the transition from industry BB troll (I mean really....you were pretty cruel to ol' Evan and his defenders in the old days) to industry BB leader/father figure/rock star.

If you would have told me "pre-2006" you would be where you are now, I would have thought you were out of your mind.

Ok, I thought you were out of your mind then anyway.....
 

Jim Pemberton

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When those tennis club yentas see you with that vacuum, your collection of happy housewife selfies is going to drive Meggers nuts

One more thing...Mike is so right about this. I don't know what it is about a woman seeing a man vacuum her carpet....

Maybe its because her lazy husband wouldn't touch their own vacuum cleaner if it was made of diamonds....a lady I once knew used to hide her money and meds from the one place her drug abusing husband would never look for it:

In the cabinet behind her cleaning supplies.
 

Jim Pemberton

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Good stuff, also realize that if he actually is a licensed "contractor" once you file in small claims court he has to disclose if he has ever been party to a lawsuit or collection process on any job he bids on for a general contractor. Once they see this disclosed he can forget about getting any jobs until its wiped clean....I know this Ive done it before so this guy will be cutting his own throat. Make him pay what he agreed, he is a grown man acting like a child.
 

MR CLEAN

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MR CLEAN
A-So you came up with a formula that makes dry particulate run away before you get there? Never mind that you just make more mud in the fiber and backing.
B- Not hard to comprehend, it's not different than a lot of hack cleaners or its lazy. You pick.
C- Good. Maybe you can see that removal of lint, sand and who knows what else is an important step in the cleaning.

I'm not busting your balls, but as a premium cleaner, leaving out an essential step (according to craft cleaners, mills, etc) just doesn't make sense.

It's not supposed to make sense that's why it's different. I started my cleaning legacy With a scrubber wand from Steamway . One With attention to detail I can get ultra clean .
( when the average cleaner thinks it's Goodnuf I take it steps further and do another stroke with another dry pass ) with this method in the past I averaged brand-new results and 6 to 12 hours of dri time. . With new technologies like the Dev pro wand with the same technique we average 3 Hours Dry time. End result . No mud no residue very little to no wicking. Carpet stay cleaner longer . Client after client says to us. We use you because the carpet stay cleaner longer. Now I've ordered Mikey's recommendation of the shark vacuum and will use it to see a better outcome.
 

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