oh....no one called you?!

[Mark Saiger]

Had a new commercial carpet cleaning scheduled for last night with 2 vans. The company also gave out 400 free turkeys to the public. We couldn't get in because of this to do our reminder that we will be there early for our 8pm appointment. Traffic to the store was crazy and they were swamped. Showed up early for our appointment only to oh, your not from the other company. Someone was suppose to call you. Other company beat your bid. Didn't know we were bidding. They asked for a price and a preferred time last week. Still offered a discount of .04 cents. They said other company still beat us by $100. It probably cost me that just to pay the crew extra and other expenses. Was a wee bit tweaked last night to say the least. I had even complimented them on the good will to the community with the turkey give away. Had even one of my guys head out to the van to take over vacumming they were about to start and started moving items. Well thanks for the call.....we will go put the vans away now.

Oh well, something better must be on the way....

Mark Saiger
www.saigers. com

 

[Ken Snow]

That totaly sucks Mark- very inconsiderate of them.

 

[Mark Saiger]

Thanks Ken. Just very thankful my family crew is still professional and was also concerned that we were treated that way. They were still very cordial to the people and wished them a good evening as we all walked out. They were great back at the shop as well prepping the vans for the next day. I am very lucky in many regards.

Mark

 

[Jimmy L]

When they call next time....and they will.....raise your price.

 

[rhyde]

what Jimmy said

 

[Desk Jockey]

Did you at least get a turkey?

Yea that's very rude of them but unfortunately it happens every now and then. The best you can do is call ahead but if they can't be reached, not much else to do but to go. If you show up late they'd be upset.

Sucks!

 

[Connor]

Even the gesture of a turkey would be an insult, turkey is cheap. That's why they give them away.

 

[Royal Man]

Commercial can be cut throat.

This kind of stuff just comes with the territory.

It's like loosing multiple apartment complexes when they change over managers.

At least your guys handled it well.

Prices for commercial has been going down for the last several years.

A lot of commercial has just quit having their carpets cleaned with the uncertain economy.

Janitorial cuts just goes along with no hiring or expansion.

 

[XTREME1]

I did a commercial job recently(and I am by far the best in the area) and his conta=ractor didn't show up to inspect so he at first refused to pay until someone saw the job, not my problem. Then I sent Guido(danny) to his office for collection of the total due which was about $100 more than if he actually was billed when he said he was going to pay. I got my money. her thought my collection was Xtreme but I have no clue who he was

 

[Royal Man]

which was about $100 more than if he actually was billed

Real ethical?

Stuff like this give carpet cleaners and this profession bad name.

What a class act??

 

[Connor]

Sounds like a trip fee.

 

[sam miller]

That totaly sucks Mark- very inconsiderate of them.

The worst! "We called and cancelled!" Uh no You didnt! I would'nt be here if You did! :roll:

 

[bensurdi]

We've delt with that same exact issue before. The really lame thing is that there really isn't anything we can do besides send them an invoice of which they won't ever pay...

I had a Dr. pull this on us and we drove an hour to get to the job to find that they had just had the carpets cleaned a few hours prior to our arrival. She claimed she was confused and couldn't remember who she scheduled with. Are you kidding me?!!!

 

[juniorc82]

I did a commercial job recently(and I am by far the best in the area) and his conta=ractor didn't show up to inspect so he at first refused to pay until someone saw the job, not my problem. Then I sent Guido(danny) to his office for collection of the total due which was about $100 more than if he actually was billed when he said he was going to pay. I got my money. her thought my collection was Xtreme but I have no clue who he was

what do you mean you are the best in your area?

 

[rhino1]

Send an invoice regardless. It might get paid. If not at least you can write it off. If someone calls to complain about the bill explain what happened and offer to credit the amount to their next service. They still may not pay but who knows.

 

[Derek]

that stinks Mark!

we had something slightly similar happen years ago. showed up to clean a Dr's office. he was a no-show. a year later he did it a 2nd time. i Invoiced him for a measly $25. he wouldn't pay it but rescheduled. we no showed him and never went back.

childish, yes. but hopefully he learns that just because he is a Dr., his time is no more valuable than anyone else's. :idea:

 

[Jamesh921]

If someone calls to complain about the bill explain what happened and offer to credit the amount to their next service.

So, are you saying their next cleaning would be FREE?

 

[rhino1]

Well I wouldn't suggest billing for the cost of the job, just enough to cover the expenses incurred by sending the trucks and employees to the job.

 

[Ron K]

There should be an "Angies List" of Bad Customers so you would know what you're getting into in the first place.

I won't work for someone twice that doesn't respect my service and time. Raising your price the next time if it's not raised enough will just enable your customer.

All you "Coupon" guys and "Company's" that can "send a guy out right away" are enabling customers to wait for the last minute at the cheapest price and hurt this and any service business. Do you really think you are building repeat customers if they just treat you like shit? It's the Wall Mart mentality all quality businesses are fighting.

 

[rhino1]

Ron you are right and you are wrong. I have found people that have been sold on premium services won't settle for less and when they do try a bargain they aren't happy. Then you have people who will only shop bargains and discounts and just the word premium scares them to death. Then there is another group of extreme shoppers who want everything done for free.

People also want everything right now and if you can't meet that demand then they may go elsewhere.

Your fellow cleaners aren't the problem though, it is the instant gratification society we live in.

Adapt or become the boutique service that people are willing to wait for.

 

[juniorc82]

That does truely suck. Has anyone one here had the akward pleasure of arriving to a water loss the same time as another company? I had that happen about 6 months ago when a pipe broke at my loan officers house. Boy you restorers get cut throat. I thought I was gonna get jumped out in the driveway by the crew I got into it with. . Turns out the house flooded again midway through the dry out and turned into a real nip in the azz. Glad I missed that one.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Really inconsiderable of them

 

[Dmreed4311]

Hi,

Really inconsiderable of them

who is this guy? red nam and no info on him, just curious.

 

[Mark Saiger]

We hear carpets just turned out so so. They did not prevac and the carpets still had soils making them look brown. When I saw them it was going to take a good sodium precarbonate and some cti pros choice energy to get them to look a bit better. If we are called again, I will let them know the importance of their communication. I will also have them sign the estimate with the agreed price and if they book with us again at that time. Their will also be a note of cancellation fee being billed. Might even ask for a credit card to guarentee the cancellation fee. I really don't probably want to do work for these people anyway. Not a dedicated client it is sounding like. Oh well live and learn and I always learned that education isn't free....

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

 

[Ken Snow]

There should be an "Angies List" of Bad Customers so you would know what you're getting into in the first place.

I won't work for someone twice that doesn't respect my service and time. Raising your price the next time if it's not raised enough will just enable your customer.

All you "Coupon" guys and "Company's" that can "send a guy out right away" are enabling customers to wait for the last minute at the cheapest price and hurt this and any service business. Do you really think you are building repeat customers if they just treat you like shit? It's the Wall Mart mentality all quality businesses are fighting.

Uh Ron- I think Walmart has become the largest company in the world, by filling a niche. Lots of way to be successful in this or any business.

 

[Ron K]

Drug dealers fill a Niche........ don't they?

 

[rhino1]

Drug dealers fill a Niche........ don't they?

Why are you so worried about what other people are doing. You seem to want to blame other people for your lack of business, but it is a changing world. Adapt or go extinct.

 

[Ken Snow]

Re: Re: oh....no one called you?!

Drug dealers fill a Niche........ don't they?

Alrighty then.......

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[XTREME1]

So Dave

when you make an agreement and they fail to honor their agreement 4 times, didn't leave a list of things that needed to be done but still called and said just do what needs to be done, so you do the whole place and wait for the contractor to sign off and they don't show and then no one returns your calls. What do you do? I charged them for the work that was done. The Contractor was supposed to be there to show me what needed to be done and wasn't. If he had shown up that day we would've written off the additional work because we arrived an hour early but when they didn't show and started dicking me around. Damn right I got paid. It cost me money to have Danny drive to the guys office and collect the past due amount and since he wasn't returning our calls I had no other options.

We are not a collections company and if we have to collect from you after due we will not do business with you again. Unless it is a regular commercial account

 

[Ron K]

Rhino you are right I blame you. I hope you had as good a year as we did, best of luck to you,

I was commenting about the way some people are disrespectful and just because we are small business's we should not have to put up with poor behavior by people.