Hey all, it’s been a while since I last posted here.
I’ve been running my business part time for over a year and a half now (closing in on two years very soon). Over my entire period in existence, I have never (luckily) had problems with scratched glass or property damage, on my commercial or my residential routes. However, today, a freak incident occured. I still am in shock and do not think that I actually caused the damage, but nonetheless the incident was still very upsetting and I felt extremely bad for the customer, whom I like very much and have never had a problem with previously.
On my commercial route today, I cleaned a small storefront that I have been servicing for over a year and a half once a month. There are about 16 windows, small 24x24 commercial panes or so, maybe 30x30 at the most. I performed my regular routine, double checked my work and then started loading up my car. I turned around and was shocked to see my customer (who is usually very easy) staring at the glass and trying to clean one pane with windex. I walked in and asked what the problem was and was shocked to see that the glass was scratched. There were significant scratches that looked as though they could have been caused by a scraper on a single pane of glass.
Mind you, I cleaned every window and every pane (about 32 panes) and every other window had no scratches. Additionally, I did not use my scraper at all in my work. It was never used. I simply used my mop (an 18 inch ettore) and my Squeegee (an 18 inch ledger that had the rubber recently replaced). The customer claimed that he looks out his windows every day and he never noticed this before the cleaning. I was in absolute shock- I never used my scraper, and just used my mop and squeegee. I had no idea that scratches could be caused by a sponge or a squeegee. They were spaced out and vertical, and really appeared as if they were caused by a blade or a piece of rock or metal that was considerable in length (maybe 8 inches in length). I apologized profusely, and we checked every other window. There were no other scratches anywhere else, and the window that was scratched up was not the last one that I cleaned. I told the customer that it was his store and that I took his word for it, but that in all the time I’ve cleaned glass I’ve never had this happen and that I was not confident it was me. I did, however, offer not to charge him for the service and even gave him the option of going through my insurance, which he declined. I just looked into it and it appears that GL might not actually cover scratches, so I’d have to pay for it out of pocket. I would gladly do so, but again, the customer declined my offers.
I’m totally confused and sick to my stomach. Could I have caused these scratches by simply using an 18 inch sponge and a squeegee? I DID NOT use a razor in any instance, and no other windows were scratched, even the one cleaned after the alleged scratching occurred.
I did not take any pictures, but here is a google image of scratches similar to the ones appearing on the glass. Could my Squeegee/mop really have caused this?!
Just look for some input. Not sure what I should do or what to believe. I feel terrible. If this was me, I am just completely shocked- in all the residential and commercial windows I have cleaned, this has never happened.
