Unfortunate, not as happy of customer last week

[Mark Saiger]

We had a situation last week.

Client usually has more work done, but I noticed later on the work order, she must have changed her mind and less square footage was seen on the finalized work order.

Aron and Austin were on site, I was not as we are over booked and I was off somewhere cleaning while they took on this monster job.

Aron doing the walk through asking if having them move the dressers, go all the way under beds?

This time she says, do just this far in this room....indicating in the conversation what was to be open areas.

They have a large German Shepard, so dog hair was thick....

We got a call this week she was disappointed because there was still dog hair under the beds and in corners (behind dressers) and these were areas she had indicated the guys were not supposed to have to clean. Aron did the prevac and crevice tool work, reached even behind and under as much as could but not moving other items...of course...there was hair remaining...

My wife got the call, we said we will come out and make it right (at our expense) but she indicated she had already taken care of it. The home is going on the market and they are building a new home...so again, the reason we were thinking why not cleaning wall to wall also....

This situation....obvious communication problem

She indicated next time come out, please note everything to be moved....

Talked with the guys...they felt of course terrible already, and wanted to also go right back...They and us are just sad they we misunderstood her and we hope we can earn her business and satisfaction back....

This was difficult for us to have happen, as we do strive to make everyone happy...

So, today we are sending a gift certificate for $100 off future cleaning and the following message:


July 19, 2017




Dear Susan,




We are sorry to hear that we did not meet your expectations this past cleaning experience with you. We really appreciate you contacting us and letting us know so we can work to improve and not let this happen again!




We would like to offer to you and your family this Gift Certificate for any future services of $100 off your cleaning.




Again, we are very sorry for this situation that has occurred and hope we can exceed your expectations on our next visit.




Sincerely,






Mark, Shari, Aron & Austin


Saiger’s Steam Clean

 

[Jimmy L]

Why not just give her a life time pass to Golden Corral ?
Or even buy her a new car?

 

[Mark Saiger]

Why not just give her a life time pass to Golden Corral ?
Or even buy her a new car?

Send me your credit card and I will get that done right now....

Thanks for offering and I will say....Jimmy sent me....

 

[Russ T.]

Well played Mark!

Managing expectations and the communication end of things can be tricky. People are all so incredibly different.

 

[Jimmy L]

Being the only "game" in your town besides the local trailer park VLM cleaner why worry?

 

[ruff]

That is nice Mark.
It will also be a good idea to practice putting client's instructions in writing when writing invoice, and have them sign it before starting.
It will help reduce potential misunderstandings and prevent an issue when the client "forgets" what they actually asked for.

The nerve these people have suspecting our Minnesota idols! I hope the Saiger toddlers recovered, it may take years of therapy. I'd expect the client to pick up the bill for that. Or Jimmy will.

And welcome to the club brother. Unless you have some totally unreasonably unhappy clients- you haven't made it.

 

[Papa John]

They cleaned what they were told to clean..

I don't think you should be so generous when they got what they paid for.. it trains the customer to be a complainer or squeaky wheel and rewards them for not taking personal responsibility..
Having said that-- $25 off should have been enough.
Don't feed the pigeons filet mignon when seeds will do.

 

[ruff]

I agree with the notion John. However $25.00 would have felt like an FU note more than a gift.
Not sure Mark wants to send that message.

 

[Papa John]

I agree with the notion John. However $25.00 would have felt like an FU note more than a gift.
Not sure Mark wants to send that message.

But he isn't treating the customer like an adult. And rewarding bad behavior.
Ive done testing with different dollar amounts discounts and our most productive discount is just $15!!- which I find shocking considering we are in SF..
I've even had customers save $10 coupons for 2 years!--- But I think they found them when they deep cleaned the desk drawers-- haha

 

[ruff]

That's a business opportunity you're missing on, John.
Deep desk drawer cleaning

 

[Papa John]

That's a business opportunity you're missing on, John.
Deep desk drawer cleaning

Lol-- I have to learn to do my own 1st..

 

[Cleanworks]

I guess that's better than telling them to fook off and die.

 

[Small town janitorial]

When customers are wrong it's easy to make an issue out of it, but that almost never helps the situation. I like the way you did it. I take a similar approach with my janitorial jobs.

 

[Nate The Great]

I guess that's better than telling them to fook off and die.

Take a long walk off a short pier!

Being on the younger side I still will clarify what they're asking me to clean.. Having them repeat it a few times throughout the walk through helps them remember the "oh yea, I said that". Having it in writing and them signing is the best approach like Offy said..

I dislike when people try to play or take advantage of techs.. I've had my fair share of "he said, she said".. It seems as if she wanted the cleaning for free imho.. You played a good save card, I'd say fook em.. I hate when customers have Selective Amnesia..

Tell Aaron and Pizza boy they finally arrived! Don't stress over it as she don't get a fook about throwing them under the bus!

 

[Old Coastie]

And of course, the famous "while-you're-at-its."

 

[Mark Saiger]

We have had good experiences in the past with her. This is a small give back to her total regular invoice actually but we did want to take it over the top and try to keep her as a cheerleader as she has been.

I know there could be many ways to try and fix this situation...

This we hope will be an "Oh My" feel good moment when she recieves the letter in next couple days.

We will see and maybe in a year we can report back.

But the boys today first job.... Took 1.5 hours to prevac dog and cat hair... They were frustrated... But didn't want a repeat and still they said "there was no way to get all the hair today"

All their jobs today were a challenge unfortunately....

 

[ronbeatty]

Had a job earlier this year that was going to put their house up for sale. They did not want to pay to clean wall to wall, just do traffic areas. I marked to invoice ( spot thru only). She called after the house was sold and paid me to go back and clean it wall to wall. People are hard to figure out sometimes

 

[BIG WOOD]

Took 2 guys 1.5hours to vacuum??? I've seen your plastic wondervacs... Maybe it's time to update your walmart vacuums.


On a serious note: I hope that beeeyaaaaach feels guilty after complaining. If not, then maybe you should rethink your response on the few people that complain. You're very successful, and you probably have the best crew of techs this board has ever seen. It's might be time to grow a backbone and be a beeeeyaaaach back to people like her,

 

[Nate The Great]

I'm not sure about other states but here after you sell your home you need to clean the carpet.. It's state law from what I was told..

We've had realtors tell us to clean TA's only while being Staged for sale, them come back and clean it again when empty..

As long as my time is being paid for, I'll do whatever...

 

[Jack Zipper Zerkie]

Sometime on the first walk through they don't always say what they mean. Then after the job is finished then they think of what they really wanted. Most jobs are soil removal of the pathways and moving small items. The large items and hidden places are never cleaned by the owner. Even worse is the edge of the carpets that have soot from burning candles and then hairs. Your job was top shelf but she didn't tell you what she really wanted cleaned so that how some jobs go bad . Your follow up the best you can do at the time. This show how human nature doesn't always work fair. Hey Murphy's law always gets you after many great jobs of no problems. jz