To expect my window cleaner to clean ALL my windows?

It is a bone of contention in our house. We pay £25!!! They come round with special distilled water in barrels and dispense it through high pressure hoses - It takes them a max of 10 minutes and they are gone in a flash. They do not clean the conservatory - that would be extra. My OH arranged a direct debit with them, so they sometimes do it when we are away and organise their own payment.

I am happy with none of it, but am losing a battle here!

£25 ... do you live in a Stately Home?

We pay £7, that`s for 7 windows and 2 doors. He used to clean 8 windows, but one was the small back bedroom window, and can only be accessed by climbing onto the sloping bathroom roof, and he says it`s unsafe to do so anymore, so that one doesn`t get cleaned anymore on the outside. £25 and£15 seems rather a lot, how many windows does that pay for?

It is a ridiculous amount, but my OH set it all up when I was out one day - I would have had no truck with it! One day, when he is not looking, I will sort it out.

Oh, for a window cleaner of any description!

That's the problem Ana, we are held to ransom out here in the sticks! James only takes a max of 20 minutes, today's too just under half an hour for even fewer windows.

At the front - two at the top, two at the bottom (one is a large bay window) and the top half of the front door, which I have just noticed also didn't get done today.

At the back, two dormers and one normal upstairs, two normal and French windows downstairs, one side window that neither have done!

James set the price himself, that's why I don't understand why he then doesn't do it all. Today's man came round with him last time, so he should know what's involved.

As for doing the lean-to greenhouse, DS's garden room den or DBH's study, which are all housed as a separate block, forget it! Even when I agreed that it would count as an extra house, James didn't want to know.

Also, it is meant to be done once a month, and it gets done once a quarter roughly. I can manage them myself just by turning the hose on them! But by some miracle James always turns up just before Xmas and I am quite grateful for that one.

They must be earning too much money. They have a conservatory next door, I must ask what they pay.

Oh numberplease I looked to see where you are. How I miss Lincs prices, I used to live near Horncastle. We went there from Kent and I knew that I could halve any price quoted in my previous Kent existence. I think of it as the home of entrepreneurs, all charging reasonable rates. White Van Man land.

Mine costs £25 if I have him regularly and £28 if I go more than 6 weeks without having him. There are 2 of them and it takes about 15 minutes. .The standard is poor and not all windows are done unless I specifically ask for it. We have 17 windows some bigger and less accessible than others obviously. Our neighbour's window cleaner is even les efficient so we don't have a lot of choice.

Mine is £10, and he does a good job.

I got sacked by my previous window cleaner! He was hoping to pick up more work in the village, and when that didn't happen he said it really wasn't worth his while coming here just to do mine, which was fair enough.

Then there was someone who advertised general handyman, gardening, window cleaning etc in the village magazine. When I eventually got hold of him he said he no longer did windows and kept meaning to change the add.

The current one I accosted some months back when I saw him up a ladder in the next close. He was happy to take mine on, thank heavens.

When I asked him how often he would be coming he replied "My usual monthly round is about every 6 weeks" Only in Devon...............

Phoenix

As janerowena says we are held to ransom if we live in the sticks

I feel quite depressed and ripped-off now

What I need is a topless dummy. I could pose her at the top windows, then move it from that room and set it up in the next while they are setting up the ladders. That might solve it.

Erm, I do live in the sticks, well a village in the sticks. Have a look for Shebbear on Google maps.

I think you must have country piles
My window cleaner comes once a fortnight and charges £5 but I only get the back of the house done if I am here to unlock the gate. I went shopping this morning and he came 30 minutes after I left the house and just put a note through to say they were cleaned

Mine comes once a month 9 windows and French doors 8 quid he also wipes all the sills and the front door. I think I am on a winner 25 quid is appalling unless its a castle.

What's a window cleaner?

No wonder mine only turns up every four months, he must be making a fortune. Phoenix, you are lucky.

I have had a couple of others put notes through the door lately. Maybe I shall give them a ring and give them a trial run.

So, mine is 10 windows and one front door, one set of French windows which should probably count as two windows, also the bay should probably count as two so I can see that maybe he thought £1 a window. Yet as harrigran says, there have been times when the back gate was locked but he still said that he had cleaned the windows. Once I had to pay up because he had got the money from my next-door neighbour, so I had to pay them back.

DBH says he thinks they are the sort of person who likes to cut corners and feel they are making more money. Which is ridiculous since they set the rates, and we are not blind or stupid.

I used to not bother with a window cleaner, just squirt the hose at the windows occasionally. It was only because of the hose pipe ban that I started to have one.

Country piles is no laughing matter.

Indeed merlot often caused by excessive tussock sitting on damp days.

goldengirl- that is a good question- as they just do not exist where I live- and we've got a lot of windows. But they all open inwards here- so it is much easier. One of my students cannot afford to pay for lessons- so I count the hours she comes and she will come and help me with the windows when get back from UK. Hurrah.

Our window cleaner in the UK was an old man- and he always came when he was in need of a good chat and a cuppa- if he missed a window or didn't do one particularly well. I'd 'chastize' him the next time- and he would smile and make sure he did that window- and perhaps missed another one. The old metal kritter windows with lead- so they were very hard work.

End terrace - seven windows and the back door - £7.50, approximately once a month, weather permitting. If I'm at home when he comes, he does a better job. However, he also cleans the upvc frames several times a year and cleans out the guttering every winter. Of course, all that costs extra. A useful man.

None of them appear to be particularly conscientious, then. If I didn't have dodgy hips and knees I think I would set up a business and do far better!

I have had the same window cleaner for 42 years, he turned up the week I moved in, I don't know what I will do when he retires as they are as hard to find as hen's teeth.