Is it worth keeping a crazy customer with impossible expectations

[Ymetimme]

I have a client that I've had for well over 20 years they always pay their bills but they take up the majority of my time for my janitorial business. I don't know what to do with themit's to the point where I can't even hire staff to clean the facility there so picky any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you guys

 

[The Cleaning Artist]

Those customers make up about 75% of our clients. We LOVE picky people because we do our job and leave them with nothing to complain about. Well just the amount they write on the check
And yes we do follow up calls a month or two later.

 

[Ymetimme]

Those customers make up about 75% of our clients. We LOVE picky people because we do our job and leave them with nothing to complain about. Well just the amount they write on the check
And yes we do follow up calls a month or two later.

I'm not discussing picky on discussing crazy
For example

We just want those tiles replaced that looks at PS don't charge us

Or for example we ran out of paper towel buy 4 this evening please fill the paper towel in a way that we never run out?

I can only fill the dispenser in the evening and make sure it's topped off everyday we're sorry you ran out. Will also ask if they would like an we can add a extra dispenser.

The response is it's your fault that we ran out lol

Or someone threw up in the bathroom and no one was available to come in in the middle of did that day and take care of it.lol
(We're not in all day service)
We come in in the evening we're sorry for the inconvenience will take care of it tonight.

you better!!!(like we would leave it for them)

 

[Smtwn janitorial]

I haven't had any to that extreme. We have had some that ask unreasonable things, and I've found it's usually how I reply that calms them down. I never get defensive, and I usually apologize even if 5here was nothing we can do differently. Still, the only reason I put up with them is if it's worth the money. In the end it's a buisness. If you can charge them for it, then it's worth it. If they wont pay for their own stupidity, then it's not worth it.
Also sometimes I've found it's just one particular person who causes all the headaches. So I go above them and ignore their complaints if necessary.

 

[rob allen]

I’ve never met one that was worth keeping. Your experience may vary.

 

[The Cleaning Artist]

Didn't pick up on u meant crazy. Yes we won't waste anytime on those type people. If they expect that kind of service we are very clear that it costs real money. Usually the price we estimate it to cost them weeds those expectations out upfront.
Here is an example of corporate world expectations we have encountered recently. Corporate owns and leases some buildings all over the southeast. Problems with the floors. We do the first building site unseen until 5pm the day of schedule. Tile very dirty, carpets just as bad. Corp head chief in charge for this area brought 3 guys down to clean all this tile a few days b4. Arrived 530pm packed up 5am. His words. We restored the carpets and tile (was way past cleaning). The next day they gave us another location and it was in the same condition. 2 jobs done and billed at normal rate. Both were paid in 2 weeks. Now they asked me to bid all the locations we were interested in doing. 14 I think. Then we had a conference call about the bid and it goes like this. All the cleaning is subed to company A, company A takes a large portion of the contract and subs it out to the next janitorial co B by area, they take another good size portion of the money, co B then subs it out to local cleaners to each location to perform the work with nothing left in the budget for the actual work muchless providing the paper products or the cleaning of the floors annually. Yes I hope u understand it right the last person actually cleaning the location is responsible for the floors to be cleaned. I was told the two buildings we cleaned cost her more money than she made off cleaning each building all year long. They charged her the amount we billed because the floors were neglected. Needless to say we didn't clean any other buildings for that company. They expected to pay $200 per location for approximately +- 1400sqft of tile and 1600sqft carpet at each location for annual cleaning. Too many hands in the cookie jar. Now the reason the floors were not cleaned is obvious.

 

[Ymetimme]

I appreciate it guys you've talked me down from the Bell tower lol

 

[Ymetimme]

That's it going back up lol
The customer just texted me a picture of a lint ball the size of a penny that they found underneath the reclining chair.
I explained to her we only move the chairs once a month we have it scheduled for this weekend. And that we're sorry for the inconvenience and we'll take care of it then.

Her response. I don't care if you're only paid to do it once a month it's disappointing to see anything at anytime. PS she picked it up to take the picture and then put it back where she found it and dared us to try to find it

 

[MikeGaure]

That's it going back up lol
The customer just texted me a picture of a lint ball the size of a penny that they found underneath the reclining chair.
I explained to her we only move the chairs once a month we have it scheduled for this weekend. And that we're sorry for the inconvenience and we'll take care of it then.

Her response. I don't care if you're only paid to do it once a month it's disappointing to see anything at anytime. PS she picked it up to take the picture and then put it back where she found it and dared us to try to find it

Hit the road jack dontya come back no mo no mo

Or run Forrest run!

Nah we just picked up a new janitorial. Others have left and we’ve been absolutely happy they did. Some just aren’t worth the trouble. We’re a janitorial service not a maid service.

 

[OxiFreshGuy]

I remember one time I accepted a job to clean a condo association building and I kid you not I received 30 emails from the facility coordinator asking about every detail of our cleaning.

The day of the cleaning she stood right next to me and nitpicks EVERY thing I did. I finally lost my "cool" turned to her and said. "I'm firing myself from this job"

The look on her face was priceless. I packed up and left. Next day the President of the condo association called and asked me what happened. I calmly explained it, and she offered to pay me for the time I was there, I politely declined and said I hope they find the right fit lol

 

[Ymetimme]

How would you suggest describing yourself as a janitorial service and not a maid service.

Especially when you're trying to explain it to someone that's borderline psychotic!!!

keep in mind we've had this customer for 20 years and haven't figured out how to explain it to them yet lol !!!!!

 

[keep it clean]

I'm not discussing picky on discussing crazy
For example

We just want those tiles replaced that looks at PS don't charge us

Or for example we ran out of paper towel buy 4 this evening please fill the paper towel in a way that we never run out?

I can only fill the dispenser in the evening and make sure it's topped off everyday we're sorry you ran out. Will also ask if they would like an we can add a extra dispenser.

The response is it's your fault that we ran out lol

Or someone threw up in the bathroom and no one was available to come in in the middle of did that day and take care of it.lol
(We're not in all day service)
We come in in the evening we're sorry for the inconvenience will take care of it tonight.

you better!!!(like we would leave it for them)

Lol friend of mine just fired a customer like that. Exactly what you're explaining. Actually all of his janitorial accounts sound like that come to think of it.

 

[keep it clean]

That's it going back up lol
The customer just texted me a picture of a lint ball the size of a penny that they found underneath the reclining chair.
I explained to her we only move the chairs once a month we have it scheduled for this weekend. And that we're sorry for the inconvenience and we'll take care of it then.

Her response. I don't care if you're only paid to do it once a month it's disappointing to see anything at anytime. PS she picked it up to take the picture and then put it back where she found it and dared us to try to find it

Buddy this is where Hyde comes out to play

 

[The Cleaning Artist]

I'm very thankful we only have 1 or 2 of those per year and already 1 for this year.
Client(husband) calls and says we missed a spot. Our cleaning style prevents missed areas. I'm sorry ma'am, No problem we will get it taken care tomorrow. By the way where is this missed area so I can let the tech know? It's in my breezeway. Ok tech comes in and we talk about it. We have determined that there is no way it was missed. Next morning wife calls to ask what time we are coming so I ask her "Ma'am what area did we miss?" And here it comes " your tech didn't move our tv stand" now they had every piece of furniture out of the room except the tv stand. We drove 25 miles back to that job to clean the missed spot because we were already on our way and I had told the husband we would come back the day b4. Pic is after client moved it out from the wall.

 

[OxiFreshGuy]

We don't move TV stands.

 

[The Cleaning Artist]

We don't either! That's why it wasn't moved.

 

[Ymetimme]

We don't either! That's why it wasn't moved.

Lol in 20 years I've been asked to moves many TVs followed by the response no sir we don't move TVs lol
If you would like you can move the TV and set it back and I will clean under
Very rarely does someone take the deal lol

 

[The Cleaning Artist]

We don't allow any client to move anything once the carpet is dampened. If they slip and fall you can be sued. If they hurt themselves you can be sued. If they break their own item and you have sprayed the carpet you can be sued. We don't allow the client in the work areas until we are done, and you can still be sued.

 

[MikeGaure]

How would you suggest describing yourself as a janitorial service and not a maid service.

Especially when you're trying to explain it to someone that's borderline psychotic!!!

keep in mind we've had this customer for 20 years and haven't figured out how to explain it to them yet lol !!!!!

we don't pick up baby toys! we dont pick up clothes! we dont do dishes!

we will do some dishes like coffee cups if its one or two. but we've had office where women left tons of clothes and shoes in their office or their baby stuff and kids toys.

thats just a big nope for us

 

[Ymetimme]

We don't allow any client to move anything once the carpet is dampened. If they slip and fall you can be sued. If they hurt themselves you can be sued. If they break their own item and you have sprayed the carpet you can be sued. We don't allow the client in the work areas until we are done, and you can still be sued.

Your statement is very true a customer can sue you for slipping and falling on their own wet carpet

However there is laws in place to protect you for example the common knowledge laws that are existed in almost every state if a person hires you to provide cleaning knowing that the surface shall be dampened it is also known that that surface shall be slippery this is existent in almost every state.

But a person can sue you just because it doesn't mean know when and it will be a pain in the butt

It's simply put I could sue anyone just for disagreeing with me I would never win but I could do it