Now there are cowboys who ‘steal’ our business
DISHONEST rogue traders are increasingly using scams to ‘steal’ business away from professional carpet cleaners. ‘Bait and Switch’ is one unscrupulous practice being used to lure unsuspecting customers away from established businesses.
Previously, they merely dropped leaflets through doors offering half price carpet and upholstery cleaning. Now many employ sales people who phone offering what seem like fantastic deals, such as £8.95 for two rooms. And once people fall for this scam, these rogues discredit our businesses at the same time. This is
my experience in Dorset. Several months ago a client rang to ask if I was still offering the same special
deal I had phoned her with earlier in the year. She had just received my quarterly newsletter and expressed surprise that I was still in business.
Why, I asked? She said she had been phoned by someone stating:
‘We’ve cleaned your carpets before!’ As we are the only business whohas ever cleaned her carpets, she naturally assumed she was dealing with people who had perhaps bought the business, or the database so she booked the work.
She soon regretted it because the rogue who had led her to wrongly assume they had taken over my company was rude and refused to honour the quoted price. It was only after receiving my newsletter
that she realised she had been stung.This is not a one off misunderstanding by a client but one of a number of similar stories I’ve heard from existing clients.
My client database is kept on a laptop which has never been online and is always in my possession. So getting my client details can only be down to cold calling.
Here’s another example. In March I booked work with a local club. When I arrived, I was told the carpets had been cleaned the day before! My theory is that a committee member accidentally told a cold-calling rogue trader that the club had booked me to clean their carpets on a certain day.
Now there are cowboys who ‘steal’ our business Carpet cleaning contractor John Jordan, warns of a
new breed of rogue trader: phoned the club at a later date, and asked if the job could be done on the Wednesday instead of Thursday, the day we were due to do the work. This was agreed, so we lost the business. Fortunately, the club paid me a cancellation fee when they heard what had happened.
Another client asked me to ring her in August but was surprised when I did. She said she had called asking if I could leave the cleaning until September as she was decorating. I couldn’t remember this call and asked her what number she’drang.
It was the company that had ‘stolen’ the work from me at the club. Apparently, they called saying they had spoken to her before, and she assumed it was us. She noted their number which she phoned to postpone the work.
So these phone canvassers trick the prospective client into assuming he or she is talking to their usual cleaner, saying ‘We've cleaned for you before’ or ‘We spoke some time ago’. And when they find someone
who has work arranged with the usual cleaner, they persuade them to reschedule for an earlier date, thus stealing our business.
When confronted, these cheats say it’s a simple misunderstanding.
Yet they continue to con people, exploiting relationships we have spent time and money building with our clients, and they are achieving this without even having to mention our business names.
So what can be done? Firstly it’s important to alert all your existing clients. I sent a mail shot warning of
this scam in the area and cautioning clients to be on their guard. My letter arrived just in time to prevent
someone from being hood winked by one rogue operator.
Secondly, I now confirm all appointments by letter, whether for a survey or to do the work and my letter includes awarning about unethical companies.
Thirdly, it is also helpful randomly phoning clients asking if they have receive do ther calls they assumed were fromus.This also provides a genuine opportunity to talk about booking their next job.
We may never completely eliminate these unethical tactics, but we should all work together and make life asdifficult as possible for rogue traders.
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