what do you do when a customer lies to you?

[rhino1]

Had 2 customers in the last two days who were offered upgraded treatments to solve the special issues they had with their carpets and declined. Expectations were gone over and their pre-inspections were noted. In one case the customer even stated she was moving out and didn't really even care what it looked like. When the carpets didn't come out perfect because they chose not to pay the $13 extra it would have cost to eliminate their problems they decided it was our fault. One even claimed we didn't prespray traffic lanes. She didn't know I had actually been on the job when the tech had cleaned it so I knew for a fact it had been done. Another customer claimed we had caused a spot until her 6 yr old piped up and said"mommy you know thats where we spilled the tea". What do you say to these people who will just lie straight to your face and try to get everything done for nothing? Personally I have no use for them and I.will call them out on it when pushed too far, but is there a graceful way to deal with these lying conniving bags of wind?

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Solve their problems without needing any upgrades. Adjust your prices if you have to.

If I have a complaint, I suck it up, do it over with a smile, if that's what it takes.

...even the tea spot.

 

[rhino1]

I'm not in this business to give away additional services. And I definitely don't think raising prices on everyone just so a few pita customers get their stuff done for free is the answer either

 

[Bob Foster]

Only one thing you need to worry about - internet review terrorists.

Fix the problems if for no other reason than to protect your reputation.

 

[rhino1]

Yep no getting away from the cyber blackmailers.

 

[Art Kelley]

I can't imagine having those problems even if it meant spending an extra fifty cents in chemical and two minutes time. You actually left some easily correctable spots over some nickle and dime issue? And now you have a redo to do? Or will you go back there and spend another hour to tell her she needs to spend $13? Doesn't sound like a useful policy.

 

[rhyde]

I agree with stockwell


This reminds me of credit card posts "i don't take visa's because they take 2-3%" well, charge 4-5% more on all invoices

 

[sam miller]

Sometimes its best to do it right and let them know Your doing it free! and create a person who will at least say nothing bad about your operation!

And if You really feel they're not worth Your time, when they call again let them know Your extremely busy and cant make for weeks!

They'll move on and You wont have to haggle.

But I would probably remind them that they choose to not use the extra whatever and say I'll touch it up this time but its usually more!

 

[FredC]

I can't imagine having those problems even if it meant spending an extra fifty cents in chemical and two minutes time. You actually left some easily correctable spots over some nickle and dime issue? And now you have a redo to do? Or will you go back there and spend another hour to tell her she needs to spend $13? Doesn't sound like a useful policy.

 

[Hoody]

Out of curiosity, what were they going to get for the additional $13 more that they didn't get with your regular process ?

 

[XTREME1]

Honestly, good question hoody and others on the advice.

It obviously was a visual issue because the way you stated it. You are there to clean the carpets, get them clean and stop bitching it is the customers fault.

Crap I forgot my filter again.

 

[dday]

Out of curiosity, what were they going to get for the additional $13 more that they didn't get with your regular process ?

... good question. I was wondering the same thing myself.

 

[keithk]

So you have one price to do a crappy job and one price to do it right? That is probably the way it sounded to the customer. Give them one price to get the carpet clean, especially if it's only $13.00. Something severe might be different like pet issues in pad.

 

[rhino1]

We use a very good prespray and spot treatment in all homes but use different boosters and rinses in homes with pet spots and "MYSTERY" STAINS along with s fair amount of USR. These extras aren't included in the base price. I could raise prices on everyone I guess, but why charge every customer $10 more when only a few need the extras&

Do you clean rat nasty pee stained carpet for the same price as lightly soiled carpet?

 

[SMRBAP]

Everyone has their pricing methodology - mine is with you (though I'm opening myself up to get beat up here).

We have a base clean price, past that, everything gets charged for, pretreatment, rotary cleaning, and of course stains, it's stated up front and in great detail prior to any client booking with us.

My opinion has always been, why should our customers who get cleaned every 6-8 months and protect every time have to subsidize the costs of those that go 2 years or longer?

>20k customers have proven one thing to my company, they are more likely to call us withing a reasonable time frame (before their traffic patterns are black again) for a second cleaning to avoid those additional costs, than they otherwise used to. We get more frequent service requests, they enjoy a lower cost.

Rhino - the important things are:

A) Make sure your pricing is explained over the phone in detail
B) Create a work order/auth that your custy's must sign to accept the end result when services are declined

We still deal with the same things you are speaking about, but once they get a scanned copy of the work auth and their signature, they go away - and honestly, that's exactly where I want those sorts anyway - away.

 

[Brian R]

Only one thing you need to worry about - internet review terrorists.

Fix the problems if for no other reason than to protect your reputation.

That guy who wanted me to come back 2 months later and threatened to ruin me on the intenet never did anything. Imagine that.

 

[K P]

"Do you clean rat nasty pee stained carpet for the same price as lightly soiled carpet"?


Not for 13 dollars more.Find a cheaper alternative (30 vol) to your usr,it is a way to help when you run into these situations.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Steve T. says this job is 80% customer service and 20% actual cleaning.

I offer a 31 day guarantee and I even tell people that if there is a new stain I will come back out at no charge.. Because if I take care of the people, they will take care of me. The thing is no one uses my generous offer..

I am a customer service company that happens to clean carpet and things are going great.

 

[hogjowl]

Face it ... you can wear Howards suit and use Joey P's terminology ("clients") all day long, but it you are the guy on the wand doing the cleaning, then in your customers eyes you are just a glorified janitor. Any upsells will be viewed with suspicion ... even offering them can create an atmosphere of distrust. So, don't offer them, not unless you can clearly demonstrate, in a non-salesmanship way, the need for them ... it has to make sense to them. (By the way, a $13 upgrade is just a bad as a $1,300 upgrade ... it is too stupid to be taken seriously by your customer.)

One rule of thumb ... your base price should be a price for doing everything necessary to actually CLEAN the carpet. Anything you add to that should not effect the overall outcome of the job, unless you get a signed waver up front, and are willing to walk if they don't sign it.

 

[rhino1]

Sorry but 13 bucks to cover the cost of additional treatments, boosters, or rinse agents is not much to pay to ensure the best results. We swallowed the hike in fuel, taxes, and insurance without a whimper. When it comes down to it, carpet cleaning is a process and what we use is part of the process. If something additional is needed because of how the owner has treated the carpet then they will have to bear the cost. Walk away I have done and had the custy Chase me down and beg for me to come back. In the end, we don't cause the problems with the carpet, the owner does. We can fix it, but we don't work for free.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

"13 bucks to cover the cost of additional treatments, boosters, or rinse agents"

I'm sure I have at least as many chemicals on our trucks. We use whatever it takes to get every carpet we clean as clean as possible.


I don't give customers the option to pick ala'carte the tools or chemicals we use to get those results.


The only possible extra charge is for carpet protector.

 

[XTREME1]

We do whatever it takes. Just like the song from "The Facts of Life" You take the good you take the bad. Do you discount every easy job?

You guys sure use a lot of different chemicals. Very rare that we even have to use a spotter. Here is what we do
1. Vac if needed
2. Prespray
3. Prescrub with a 175 rotary with red pad
4. Steam clean with a glided Ti wand or Greenhorn
5. Dry stroke whole place with a prochem unglided wand without a solution line
mist our own special apple deodorizer

 

[ACE]

The customer would really be pissed if they had agreed to pay extra and you were not able to remove the traffic lane, stain or odor to their satisfaction. I take a much better position by explaining how difficult the stain, soiling, odor is to remove assure them I will make an effort to correct the issue without additional charge.

 

[rhino1]

Whatever works for you and I'm sure both of you do well with what you do. Personally id rather offer a fair price to everyone and then add charges if need be. I feel pretty good about having a customer pay for exactly what they need rather than everyone pay extra just to cover the few rat nasties that end up costing more time and supplies.

 

[XTREME1]

That is fine I don't care how anyone else runs their business, I was just giving my opinion.
$45 first room $25 each addtl up to 200 sq ft per room

 

[rhino1]

I think this is another difference. If I consistently charged what you did I prob wouldn't charge for add ons.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I charge $59 for the first room and $29 for each room after.

It work Chris, we are in similar markets.

 

[rhino1]

Probably not lee. I have found Kentuckians to be much more reasonable than Hoosiers. I had a guy who just relocated here call me and ask how in the world I could run a business here. It is a very demanding market.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Probably not lee. I have found Kentuckians to be much more reasonable than Hoosiers. I had a guy who just relocated here call me and ask how in the world I could run a business here. It is a very demanding market.

Yes you can Chris. I've known several cleaners from E'ville over the years and have never heard that. Is Jeff Day still at it? He had a nice shop and I talked with him several times over the years. I clean several KY lake homes for folks from there, they seem very clean-conscious.

E'ville is rocking, my wife and I shop there often. You CAN charge a bit more. Just do it and thank us later.

 

[hogjowl]

Are you able to charge that $59 for just one room, or is your minimum higher than that?