John Watson
Member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 2,885
Twas a very good day today, Besides waking up, we had a job scheduled with what we thought was a new client.
A Mrs, ____________.
Upon arrival, we were met at the front door by the gentleman of the house, He looked a bit familiar but I couldn't place him. 3 small areas of carpet to clean, Ori and karastan rugs all over the hard surface floors.
He asked me how long I have been with Claude's? 23 yrs he just said hmm. He had to leave so he said his wife would pay on completion.
I moved and was setting the truck up from the rear of the house and I saw the name tag on the back door. Oh the memories started flowing.
Back in 90, This gentleman had hired us to clean his white, not cream, but white carpet. but it was a different house, same location, Post Office had changed their street address in 92, The had their old house torn down piece by piece so all that could be salvaged and used in the new house they were going to build on the same site.
We cleaned and he thought it was a wonderful job, bought teflon and gave the tec a tip. About a week later I got a weird phone call, asking about where we got the water for our cleaning machine. I told the caller that we usually carried our own water supply but occasionally needed to use the homeowners hose bib.
What if there is no outside spigot? Well in that case we hook up to a sink or a washing machine inside. He said Thank you and hung up without Identifying himself.
The next day I received a certified letter, He was demanding $113.00 to be paid to him for the mistake our employee made while cleaning his carpets.. $30.00 for the Washing machine repair man. 80.00 for his lost time from work waiting for the repair man, and a 3.00 for postage and certified mail.
Evidently he tried to wash a load of clothes and couldn't get the washer to fill, it worked last time. He called a repair man, took off work and really felt funny when the repairman just turned on the cold water supply for the washer and Bingo it worked. I sent him a check, and a note from the Tec apologising for not turning it back on when completed.
8 months later about 9PM I received a call from him and he was livid. Our messing around with his supply hoses had caused them to become weak and break flooding his house. He just wanted me to get prepared cause we were really going to pay this time. He had a dri-out company from Seattle on the way to fix his problem. He was sending us the bill.
Never heard from him again.
Til this morning, I asked his wife about it and she said she just heard we always did a good job and didn't know what happened back then.
Thanked her for calling and coming back to the fold,
while in her driveway phone rang, previous client from years back called and wanted an est. same house different carpet, looked up her old records, Last cleaned in 92 at .26 per sqft and $2 per step. Called her back to schedule with the price. $136.00 Wow that's allot, You never charged us over 100.00 before. Well Mrs_________ Last time it was only $70 something, and gas was under a buck, Min wage was $5.50. Our min charge is now $125.00 and I now bring Helen along to make sure I do a more better job.. I booked it
Yes we do the small ones too..
A Mrs, ____________.
Upon arrival, we were met at the front door by the gentleman of the house, He looked a bit familiar but I couldn't place him. 3 small areas of carpet to clean, Ori and karastan rugs all over the hard surface floors.
He asked me how long I have been with Claude's? 23 yrs he just said hmm. He had to leave so he said his wife would pay on completion.
I moved and was setting the truck up from the rear of the house and I saw the name tag on the back door. Oh the memories started flowing.
Back in 90, This gentleman had hired us to clean his white, not cream, but white carpet. but it was a different house, same location, Post Office had changed their street address in 92, The had their old house torn down piece by piece so all that could be salvaged and used in the new house they were going to build on the same site.
We cleaned and he thought it was a wonderful job, bought teflon and gave the tec a tip. About a week later I got a weird phone call, asking about where we got the water for our cleaning machine. I told the caller that we usually carried our own water supply but occasionally needed to use the homeowners hose bib.
What if there is no outside spigot? Well in that case we hook up to a sink or a washing machine inside. He said Thank you and hung up without Identifying himself.
The next day I received a certified letter, He was demanding $113.00 to be paid to him for the mistake our employee made while cleaning his carpets.. $30.00 for the Washing machine repair man. 80.00 for his lost time from work waiting for the repair man, and a 3.00 for postage and certified mail.
Evidently he tried to wash a load of clothes and couldn't get the washer to fill, it worked last time. He called a repair man, took off work and really felt funny when the repairman just turned on the cold water supply for the washer and Bingo it worked. I sent him a check, and a note from the Tec apologising for not turning it back on when completed.
8 months later about 9PM I received a call from him and he was livid. Our messing around with his supply hoses had caused them to become weak and break flooding his house. He just wanted me to get prepared cause we were really going to pay this time. He had a dri-out company from Seattle on the way to fix his problem. He was sending us the bill.
Never heard from him again.
Til this morning, I asked his wife about it and she said she just heard we always did a good job and didn't know what happened back then.
Thanked her for calling and coming back to the fold,
while in her driveway phone rang, previous client from years back called and wanted an est. same house different carpet, looked up her old records, Last cleaned in 92 at .26 per sqft and $2 per step. Called her back to schedule with the price. $136.00 Wow that's allot, You never charged us over 100.00 before. Well Mrs_________ Last time it was only $70 something, and gas was under a buck, Min wage was $5.50. Our min charge is now $125.00 and I now bring Helen along to make sure I do a more better job.. I booked it
Yes we do the small ones too..
