Who here has damaged something at your customer's house while working?

[BIG WOOD]

Mytee spinner buckled under vacuum while jet bar was spinning and smacked up a stone floor, chipped it. My fault for using a mytee product.

Employee didnt know about the rear swing an Isuzu NPR has because of how sharp the turning radius is, he was parked close to the house and the truck tore the electrical meter off the home

Old rotovac powerwand completely shredded a seam in a relatively new carpet, that was a funny one... I was brand new using that dumbass tool on every job.

My first year driving my box truck pulled an electric meter off my customer's house also. I was going up a very steep driveway, which blocked my vision of the low telephone wire connected below the power cable connected to the house. It went fine under it going forward. But when I backed the truck up to turn around...the truck grabbed it and pulled it right off the house, killing the power.

If I had been in my right mind at the moment, I would've called the telephone and power company, telling them the telephone company hooked it up too low. but In panic mode I called and payed to get it fixed. I was later told that UPS trucks pull it off all the time, and the stupid telephone company just hooks it right back in the same spot every time.

 

[Mikey P]

Oh yeah I forgot the two times the vortex doors swung open while driving, both times taking out rear tail lamps on rather pricey vehicles...

 

[Sierra Clean Care]

I was working in the home of a retired doctor a few years ago. As o was cleaning the basement, there was a shrine of sorts on the wall. The center piece was this very old, exotic looking bottle.
Anyway, I was cleaning away, off in my own world, I hadn’t noticed that I was backed into this wall. On one of my last back strokes, my elbow bumped into the stand the bottle was on....
Well, in weebled and wobbled, but didn’t fall. I immediately felt that rush of adrenaline, and slowly, and very carefully moved away.
I finished up, packed everything away, and wrote up the invoice.
As the lady of the house was paying, I was making small talk, and asked her about it.
Her response was, ‘my husband was the personal physician to a sultan in Saudi Arabia’.
When asked what it probably costed, she replied, ‘priceless, as it was a gift to the sultan from the crown prince’....
I calmly walked back to the van, and almost shat my pants...

 

[BIG WOOD]

I was working in the home of a retired doctor a few years ago. As o was cleaning the basement, there was a shrine of sorts on the wall. The center piece was this very old, exotic looking bottle.
Anyway, I was cleaning away, off in my own world, I hadn’t noticed that I was backed into this wall. On one of my last back strokes, my elbow bumped into the stand the bottle was on....
Well, in weebled and wobbled, but didn’t fall. I immediately felt that rush of adrenaline, and slowly, and very carefully moved away.
I finished up, packed everything away, and wrote up the invoice.
As the lady of the house was paying, I was making small talk, and asked her about it.
Her response was, ‘my husband was the personal physician to a sultan in Saudi Arabia’.
When asked what it probably costed, she replied, ‘priceless, as it was a gift to the sultan from the crown prince’....
I calmly walked back to the van, and almost shat my pants...

The only reason I love cleaning my $150k houses vs $5m mansion

 

[jeffexe]

Oh yeah I forgot the two times the vortex doors swung open while driving, both times taking out rear tail lamps on rather pricey vehicles...

That is pretty scary. Saw on the news last year, a contractors back doors swung open as he made a turn. Door struck a pedestrian and killed her. I have doubled checked my doors from that moment on.

 

[jeffexe]

How many of you closely inspect furniture or ask if there is any furniture that might be fragile or have bad leg, etc. I ask on every job. It is amazing the crap people have.

 

[sassyotto]

just last year on a very windy day, I backed up the van and ran hoses through the garage and put the garage door down while I cleaned. When done, I tried to open the garage door but it only went up about a foot and then came back down. Went out the front door to see what was happening and I just happened to park in the exact spot where if the wind took the van door in a very particular way, it touched the over head door. Well I was unlucky enough to have that happen and put a 3 inch gash in the door and ended up replacing it.

The good thing is that I told her right away and although it was an inconvenience, she understood that accidents do happen.

 

[Acp]

My first year driving my box truck pulled an electric meter off my customer's house also. I was going up a very steep driveway, which blocked my vision of the low telephone wire connected below the power cable connected to the house. It went fine under it going forward. But when I backed the truck up to turn around...the truck grabbed it and pulled it right off the house, killing the power.

If I had been in my right mind at the moment, I would've called the telephone and power company, telling them the telephone company hooked it up too low. but In panic mode I called and payed to get it fixed. I was later told that UPS trucks pull it off all the time, and the stupid telephone company just hooks it right back in the same spot every time.

we got extra fcked on that one because it rained that night and rain water ran into the broken open conduit, into the house and destroyed the panel....

 

[Kenny Hayes]

Yep, all the above including the fancy vase that required an insurance claim. 2 or 3k. That was a chimp. But the best was when I flooded the principals
office after she got her new office set up for her first day. Never forgave me in 4 yrs.

 

[Mikey P]

and then there was that time we ALMOST blew a 97M Warhal off a wall with an OG Airpath..

 

[The Great Oz]

I remember lots of minor things, including backing over a fire hydrant in a new subdivision, but they all pale next the vase I broke. The entire house was a display of Asian artifacts and the great hall was lined on both sides with 5 to 6 foot tall vases. As I was carrying the last rug out, the husband said something to me and I turned to look at him. The back end of the rolled rug on my shoulder hit a vase, and when it hit the floor it shattered into tiny pieces.

When I told them we have insurance and we'll pay for it, they told me our insurance probably wouldn't be enough to cover it.

Once they recovered, the wife told the husband that they should have moved them, and told me not to worry about it. They were donating the vases to museums, and any of the museums would still be happy to get a reconstructed vase, or even the shards.

 

[hogjowl]

WOW
YOU LUCKED OUT

 

[The Great Oz]

WOW
YOU LUCKED OUT

No kidding. They even insisted on paying for the cleaning (we didn't charge them) but they could afford it: Cowles 2019 donation

 

[Trip Moses]

Wish I hadn’t read this thread today.

 

[jeffexe]

Wish I hadn’t read this thread today.
View attachment 106948

I agree. I clean several dozen jet .. I always cringe when I get a new one and clean for the first time.

 

[Trip Moses]

I agree. I clean several dozen jet .. I always cringe when I get a new one and clean for the first time.

And of course, the thing they are most concerned about is a damn $5 bath mat. Rich people.

 

[bob vawter]

And of course, the thing they are most concerned about is a damn $5 bath mat. Rich people.

An if that plane EVER crashes.....I damngsunteeya
You'll be doing depositions out the ying yang forever!

 

[Brian H]

We broke an old wine bottle once filled with change. Old like from the 1960's. It had belonged to her son, who was killed in Vietnam, and it was one of only a few things of his that they still had. I still get teary eyed thinking about it and the conversation she and I had.

We have broken or accused of breaking a lot of things in customer's homes but that one was that one that really stands out.

 

[Brian H]

I agree. I clean several dozen jet .. I always cringe when I get a new one and clean for the first time.

I went out one time for an emergency cleaning on a jet. The daughter and her friends took daddies jet to somewhere in Europe and on the way home someone split a glass of red wine. And it was quite a bit bigger than the one Trip is cleaning.

 

[Brian H]

We have melted siding on a customer's home. Parked between the houses and the truck exhaust melted the siding.

We also melted the bumper on a car at a commercial job, same thing with the truck exhaust.

 

[Trip Moses]

An if that plane EVER crashes.....I damngsunteeya
You'll be doing depositions out the ying yang forever!

Thanks Bob. It’s those special pats on the back that keep me going.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

When a vase becomes a vause, you know you’re in trouble!!

 

[Desk Jockey]

When a vase becomes a vause, you know you’re in trouble!!

That's the same point where shit becomes Shhittt!

 

[Charlie Lyman]

My air mover blew Jesus off a mantle. His head fell off. I glued it back on with my glue gun. Now the man that holds the world together is held together with my hot glue.

 

[Russ T.]

A couple mailboxes along the way.

I had a helper for a while a few years ago. He was pretty good but hooked up our van to their outside spigot and it flooded in the wall A LOT to the lower level while I was cleaning upstairs...for a long time. I'm not sure if it was running for an hour or not but close. I don't know why but stuff like that happens much more rarely when I'm alone.

The lady was way too gracious. I borrowed a couple dehus from a local cleaner and life went on. I've still never made a claim.

 

[jeffexe]

I went out one time for an emergency cleaning on a jet. The daughter and her friends took daddies jet to somewhere in Europe and on the way home someone split a glass of red wine. And it was quite a bit bigger than the one Trip is cleaning.

I went out for a broken toilet leaking blue throughout the cabin. Fun times.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

That's the same point where shit becomes Shhittt!

My words exactly!

 

[Kenny Hayes]

The vause (sic) my chimp broke was much larger but just as fancy as the pic of the day It was used as an umbrella holder at a bank
Oh shiiiiit!!!

 

[Mr Brightside]

I slipped down the stairs carrying an rx20
large hole in drywall and I felt terrible and was a little banged up

called a local drywall guy told him that I was an idiot and messed up he came to fix while I was working I paid him cash and still clean for the customer yearly.

I also have had an employee back up into a garage and had to replace the whole door luckily his classic car wasn't scratched

 

[Cleanworks]

I slipped down the stairs carrying an rx20
large hole in drywall and I felt terrible and was a little banged up

called a local drywall guy told him that I was an idiot and messed up he came to fix while I was working I paid him cash and still clean for the customer yearly.

I also have had an employee back up into a garage and had to replace the whole door luckily his classic car wasn't scratched

Speaking of classic cars, my customer today has a 1970 MG roadster and a 1933 Lagonda in his garage. I would have taken pics but the customer was watching me like a hawk.