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Replies

• 

  alan mcmillan July 8, 2010 at 7:27pm

  She is only around 47 ish, but likes to look down on people, no respect.. a user.
  
  john pugh grass roots said:

  these sort of stories boil my blood !!!!! these old dears think they can cheat thehonest hard working gardener .the story before of lisa being taken for granted is shameful , i had 1 old dear who i cut lawns for and borders for 7 years , i let her go last year she asked me to do a border , i weeded removed 7 bags of weeds then a couple of days later she rung me and asked me did i weed it ???? she was dropped the next day lost out but i felt a lot better
  all i can say alan not all pensioners are like that there are a lot of good ones i hve many
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  alan mcmillan July 8, 2010 at 7:36pm

  Yes they died, I used glyphosate, the weeds she is on about are in fact new weeds, forgot to say that she got someone to pull out the weeds that i had killed or were slowly dying, she seems to have no patience, wants the weeds to die instantly.
  
  THE GARDEN COMPANY said:

  alan did the weeds die , and what weedkiller did you use etc
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  alan mcmillan July 8, 2010 at 7:46pm

  Strange one.
  
  john pugh grass roots said:

  shame on her .. theres nothing more funnier than customers last sat 2 of us painted a summer house i had a phone call from the customer that i had totally ruined the building a had painted all the plastic windows ??? appologised many times and said i would correct it ... went back yesterday with my part timer armed with every cleaning fluid i could get my hands on , looked at the windows there wasnt a mark on them ???? but to ease the customers frustration i cleaned them anyway
  
  alan mcmillan said:

  She is only around 47 ish, dut likes to look down on people.
  
  john pugh grass roots said:

  these sort of stories boil my blood !!!!! these old dears think they can cheat thehonest hard working gardener .the story before of lisa being taken for granted is shameful , i had 1 old dear who i cut lawns for and borders for 7 years , i let her go last year she asked me to do a border , i weeded removed 7 bags of weeds then a couple of days later she rung me and asked me did i weed it ???? she was dropped the next day lost out but i felt a lot better
  all i can say alan not all pensioners are like that there are a lot of good ones i hve many
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  alan mcmillan July 8, 2010 at 8:07pm

  No show sounds good, i had no choise as the woman told me she wasn't going to pay, an excuse i'm sure, for me the spray weeding is something i do for nice customers who ask me to spray a bit here and there and don't really charge for it, so to say it hasn't worked and to hand weed her garden because of it is an insult, a lot of my customers appreciete the little extra, in fact i get texts all the time saying great job etc i feel offended right now..
  
  A & J Owen Garden Services said:

  we've got an 'old dear' as well. Expects us to cut her bumpy and difficult to navigate lawn (huge) for £20 and tried to get us to take the rubbish away. We used her compost heap and she told us that it was only for pruning which she doesn't allow us to do but the son in law does and had a right go and told us NEVER to use her compost heap again and to throw the cuttings into next doors field!! This happened yesterday. Out of interest how did you let them go? Did you tell them face to face or write a letter! Alan just wants to do a no show on this one because she was so rude and paid to date but even in these circumstances think you should be professional? Normally we've got rid due to just not being able to get there or refusal to pay. The only exception we dropped was by e-mail because her insults were via that route. Just concerned with old un's if you do it face to fact they'll excuse you of bullying and we'll get an irate son/daughter on the phone.
  john pugh grass roots said:

  these sort of stories boil my blood !!!!! these old dears think they can cheat thehonest hard working gardener .the story before of lisa being taken for granted is shameful , i had 1 old dear who i cut lawns for and borders for 7 years , i let her go last year she asked me to do a border , i weeded removed 7 bags of weeds then a couple of days later she rung me and asked me did i weed it ???? she was dropped the next day lost out but i felt a lot better
  all i can say alan not all pensioners are like that there are a lot of good ones i hve many
• 

  HM GARDENS July 8, 2010 at 8:29pm

  Hope your going to try and get your money, she still owe's you despite her complaints of the extra work, Send a firm and polite letter requesting payment don't go to her level.
  I get so itchy when I don't get prompt payment think I peeved off one client, jumping a gun was a late one though, oh well see what happens.
  It's not easy.
  Don't let her take advantage you did the work.
• 

  alan mcmillan July 8, 2010 at 8:30pm

  Jenny don't give her the pleasure of trying to win her little mind games, win by droping her cold..no explanation. you win she looses simple as that. As for my customer, think she must have issues..lives alone and house up for sale.
  
  A & J Owen Garden Services said:

  I know how you feel, I really do. There are some out there that just take the p*** and try and knock your confidence - how dare she expect you to do it for nothing and then moan about the results. Most people do appreciate the extra it's just the odd few who are just psycho - must have issues in their own lives and the gardener is handy to pick on!
  Alan is determined to do the no show, he's known this woman for years and we've always worked hard for her and she was SO rude - let her find someone else! She's also sharp as a tack and keeps trying to under pay us - happened 3 times.
  alan mcmillan said:

  No show sounds good, i had no choise as the woman told me she wasn't going to pay, an excuse i'm sure, for me the spray weeding is something i do for nice customers who ask me to spray a bit here and there and don't really charge for it, so to say it hasn't worked and to hand weed her garden because of it is an insult, a lot of my customers appreciete the little extra, in fact i get texts all the time saying great job etc i feel offended right now..
  
  A & J Owen Garden Services said:

  we've got an 'old dear' as well. Expects us to cut her bumpy and difficult to navigate lawn (huge) for £20 and tried to get us to take the rubbish away. We used her compost heap and she told us that it was only for pruning which she doesn't allow us to do but the son in law does and had a right go and told us NEVER to use her compost heap again and to throw the cuttings into next doors field!! This happened yesterday. Out of interest how did you let them go? Did you tell them face to face or write a letter! Alan just wants to do a no show on this one because she was so rude and paid to date but even in these circumstances think you should be professional? Normally we've got rid due to just not being able to get there or refusal to pay. The only exception we dropped was by e-mail because her insults were via that route. Just concerned with old un's if you do it face to fact they'll excuse you of bullying and we'll get an irate son/daughter on the phone.
  john pugh grass roots said:

  these sort of stories boil my blood !!!!! these old dears think they can cheat thehonest hard working gardener .the story before of lisa being taken for granted is shameful , i had 1 old dear who i cut lawns for and borders for 7 years , i let her go last year she asked me to do a border , i weeded removed 7 bags of weeds then a couple of days later she rung me and asked me did i weed it ???? she was dropped the next day lost out but i felt a lot better
  all i can say alan not all pensioners are like that there are a lot of good ones i hve many
• 

  alan mcmillan July 8, 2010 at 8:43pm

  Miranda, I'm really peeved at the moment and thinking what to do.. as you say a letter might do the trick, was also thinking of posting an invoice, telling her that she has 30 days or something, I'm annoyed because I always do a lovley job for her grass and everyone else, don't leave grass trails from grass to trailer etc, but like you say i'm never going to drop to that level, i am always respectful of people, if she had a concience she should be feeling ashamed of herself, but that is a big if.
  
  
  Miranda said:

  Hope your going to try and get your money, she still owe's you despite her complaints of the extra work, Send a firm and polite letter requesting payment don't go to her level.
  I get so itchy when I don't get prompt payment think I peeved off one client, jumping a gun was a late one though, oh well see what happens.
  It's not easy.
  Don't let her take advantage you did the work.
• 

  jamesalbertclifton July 8, 2010 at 8:47pm

  feeling the other day that I really wanted to look after regular customers ,a £20 fortnightly lawncut customer phoned me can I tidy up the front hedge go round the back and make the cottoneaster look presenteable and shape the two connifers on the lawn ,so full of my customer pleasing zeal I drove three miles there in the van with my wife who cleaned up behind me while I ran the hedgecutter (stihl HS 81R £500 ) for 1 hour, this was because this customer had guests coming the urgent need for the job to be done I mean ,when she asked me how much I said £15 please and asked her if everything was as she wished it to be ,her reply was your work is very good its just you are too expensive for me ,after paying my wife for the hour £5 and the fuel for the hedgecutter and the van I think I saw about £5 from that job so for some people you do your best and still get made to feel bad .Her previous gardener used to do this for free and also used to cut her lawn for £16 rather than £20 but has gone back to being a postman it makes me laugh when you are competing with people who could not make a living from gardening and were probably crap as well .
• 

  Dan Frazer Gardening July 8, 2010 at 8:55pm

  Do nothing without a quote first!
  
  I visited a lady today, very poor english, who i THINK understood my price of £45 for a grass cut and hedge trim (maybe an hour and a half work here), but I have written it on headed paper and am posting it to her with clear payment instructions to be sure.
  
  Cover yourself twice in this game.
  
  jamesalbertclifton said:

  feeling the other day that I really wanted to look after regular customers ,a £20 fortnightly lawncut customer phoned me can I tidy up the front hedge go round the back and make the cottoneaster look presenteable and shape the two connifers on the lawn ,so full of my customer pleasing zeal I drove three miles there in the van with my wife who cleaned up behind me while I ran the hedgecutter (stihl HS 81R £500 ) for 1 hour, this was because this customer had guests coming the urgent need for the job to be done I mean ,when she asked me how much I said £15 please and asked her if everything was as she wished it to be ,her reply was your work is very good its just you are too expensive for me ,after paying my wife for the hour £5 and the fuel for the hedgecutter and the van I think I saw about £5 from that job so for some people you do your best and still get made to feel bad .Her previous gardener used to do this for free and also used to cut her lawn for £16 rather than £20 but has gone back to being a postman it makes me laugh when you are competing with people who could not make a living from gardening and were probably crap as well .
• 

  alan mcmillan July 8, 2010 at 9:00pm

  You were doing her a real favour, don't get it, no apprecietion.
  
  jamesalbertclifton said:

  feeling the other day that I really wanted to look after regular customers ,a £20 fortnightly lawncut customer phoned me can I tidy up the front hedge go round the back and make the cottoneaster look presenteable and shape the two connifers on the lawn ,so full of my customer pleasing zeal I drove three miles there in the van with my wife who cleaned up behind me while I ran the hedgecutter (stihl HS 81R £500 ) for 1 hour, this was because this customer had guests coming the urgent need for the job to be done I mean ,when she asked me how much I said £15 please and asked her if everything was as she wished it to be ,her reply was your work is very good its just you are too expensive for me ,after paying my wife for the hour £5 and the fuel for the hedgecutter and the van I think I saw about £5 from that job so for some people you do your best and still get made to feel bad .Her previous gardener used to do this for free and also used to cut her lawn for £16 rather than £20 but has gone back to being a postman it makes me laugh when you are competing with people who could not make a living from gardening and were probably crap as well .