"There are streaks all over the conservatory"
A customer texts in the evening with a photo of streaks on her conservatory glass. You reply that you will pop back. You are not in her area again for a week, and by then you have forgotten. She texts again, less politely. When you finally go back, you realise the streaks were from the frames you did not rinse properly on a hot day.
Another customer mentions at the door that the small window above the porch was missed last time. You say sorry and clean it. You do not write it down, so you do not notice it is the third time this year that window has been missed.
Complaints are handled as conversations and never recorded
Most window cleaning complaints are fixable in minutes. The problem is that they arrive casually and are handled casually, so nothing links them together.
- Complaints come by text, at the door, or via a neighbour.
- Re-cleans are promised but not booked.
- Nothing records what went wrong or where.
- Repeat problems at the same house or with the same cleaner are not noticed.
- Customers are not told when the re-clean happened.
Small complaints, lost customers
A complaint handled quickly often strengthens a customer relationship. A complaint forgotten nearly always ends it. Customers rarely complain twice: they cancel. Repeat faults, such as the same missed window or a cleaner who struggles with hot weather drying, cost cancellations until someone spots them.
Word of mouth matters more on a round than in most trades, because your customers live next to each other. A customer who feels ignored after a complaint tells the neighbours, and the neighbours are also your customers. One forgotten re-clean can cost you more than one house.
A complaint log that books the fix
We build complaint handling into your round records.
- Complaints are logged from a text, a photo, a note at the door or a link in your post-clean message, against the customer and the clean.
- Each complaint is tagged with a type: smears, drips, missed window, frames, sills, damage or other, and the cleaner who did the clean.
- The re-clean is booked on the next day you or a cleaner are in the area, and the customer gets a text saying when.
- When the re-clean is done, the customer gets a confirmation, with a photo if you choose.
- Specific notes, such as "small window above the porch", are added to the customer's house notes so it is not missed again.
- A monthly view shows complaints by type, house, cleaner and weather, so you can spot patterns and fix causes.
| Complaint stage | Today | With the log |
|---|---|---|
| Customer texts | Reply with a promise | Logged with photo and type |
| Re-clean | When you remember | Booked on the next nearby day |
| Customer told | Rarely | Text with the day, then confirmation |
| Same problem again | Not noticed | House note added |
| Patterns | Invisible | Monthly view by type, cleaner, weather |
Complaints become a reason customers stay
Customers who complain get a quick, specific answer and a confirmed re-clean. Notes stop the same mistakes happening twice. Patterns, such as more streaks on hot days or one cleaner missing frames, become visible and fixable. And you can see whether complaints are rising or falling as the round grows.
On a normal day, a complaint text turns into a booked re-clean in two taps, and the next time you are in that street it is already on your list.
If you employ cleaners, the log also gives you a fair basis for conversations about quality. Instead of a vague sense that someone is careless, you can see which types of complaint are linked to which rounds and conditions, and deal with the cause, whether it is training, kit or simply a tricky house.
Do complaints get lost on your round?
- You have forgotten a promised re-clean.
- Complaints are answered by text and not recorded.
- The same window at the same house has been missed more than once.
- You do not know which cleaner gets the most complaints.
- Customers have cancelled after a complaint.