Was called out a few days ago to give a W/C quote for a large house built in the 70’s.i noticed that they were double glazed windows, which the owner said were fitted about 20 years ago.All was fine until i saw the windows…they were pretty dirty.
Now it was nothing that i couldn’t handle and i proceeded to clean them today…however after i had cleaned both interior and exterior of most the windows It appears that on most windows the insides of the two panes are dirty as well as the outer facing sides of the two panes of glass…
so essentially the space in between the two windows of the double glazed window is dirty…i.e the windows are dirty from the inside out.
I hope the above makes sense to you…how can i alleviate the problem as the customer refuses to pay me even though i spent most of today cleaning her windows…is their any way of cleaning this inside dirt…i have never come ac cross it before
You should have informed the customer when you found the first faulty unit. Its either the seal blown or bad construction when putting the glass together in the workshop. I come across this all the time.
However you cleaned the glass that was cleanable, that was your job done, prove to him that its inside the glass & collect your money.
As Karl has stated, this is something we see all the time. If the seals are gone, condensation gets in. That alone can cause them to look dirty but quite often this condition will lead to you and/or the customer seeing any dirt or imperfections that have existed since production in the factory. I quite often see finger prints on the inside.
I always bring this to the attention of the client right away from the first window. After a while you’ll be able to recognize this condition and can cover your arse right from the quoting stage.
You should get paid for your efforts. prove to the customer that the dirt is on the inside of what should be a sealed unit. If they still refuse to pay, tell them to call up several window companies and ask them what can be done. I’ll bet the only option is new windows.
To be honest Im in two minds about this one,
As a proffessional window cleaner you did the job that you were asked to do , namely wash the exterior and interior surface of the glass, and you should expect to be paid
As a homeowner, who hired a proffessional window cleaner , I would expect to be told about any potential problems before the job was done , or at least as soon as the problem was discovered
I think in the end you will have to at least compromise on the price although you should begin by expecting to get paid in full
Some lads overe there do replacment of IG units as a sideline and do quite well off it, It seemingly is not that difficult to do.
I did inform the customer of the fault as soon as the fault was discovered…yes i only discovered the problem in the middle of the job…but this was because the windows were so bad…seriously if only you saw the state of them.
again as above i did bring the problem to her attention on discovery, this was over half way through the job…you see i kept assuming that the dirt was on the exterior uncleaned as yet side.
ye i suppose a compromise id in order…i pricesd them quite steeply in the first instance because it was a very dirty job so i can afford to give a reduction of some sort.
O.K. now we know these facts…
You’ve asked for the money? Right?
Now take proceedings in the small claims courts - inform them first this is your intention.
If you can’t be bothered, then I understand. Funny thing is, over here, if they fail to pay - I take steps to take the house (Spanish law). I’ve yet to have a non-payer. Only ever had one mess me around that was fresh off the boat.
I called around to the house this morning and had a chat with the lady.
(by the way i never lost the cool in the first place and remained calm and courteous)
And we talked and i offered her a discount of 10% on the original price and she accepted (thank god!!).
I think she sees it from my point of view (i backed up my point with some help of what was said by you guys in this thread) and because i never lost the head and remained professional she took somewhat more of a liking to me than previously
I didn’t really loose much on the job, like it was still a profitable job.
i didn’t think it would turn out that well at all. i was expecting a dirty row
