Polaroid Picture when done with leaves?

[Doogiegh]

Hey guys,
Just wondering if anyone ever takes a polaroid picture when done with a leaf cleanup if the customer is not home to show that when you left, the property was spotless.


Cause I can see it now that I do a cleanup on Saturday, customer is gone for the weekend, it storms on Sunday, customer sees lawn on Monday 9:00 AM and freaks out that nothing was done...

Anyone ever get told they DIDN'T do a service that they in fact did?

Thanks!
Gary

[TurfGuyTX]

If you have customers you worry about like that, a picture may not be a bad idea. Sounds like pita customers. Good luck.

[Bob Minney]

Don't do it myself but is good idea and cheap insurance if you have that worry.

[Mykster]

My first commercial acct. did that to me. They said I was billing them for services that weren't performed. Never had any problem until that month of billing. After weeks of phone calls I got nowhere with them. They were the biggest PITA. I no longer maintain their property.

[lawnMaster5000]

I have never had that problem with leaves, and dont really expect to.

But I was wondering what you do when i customer calls to say that we did not mow the lawn this week when infact we had been there two days prior. I am pretty isolated from my clients b/c i go to college in another city and have to rely on my employees words and they claim the lawn needed to be cut, and was infact mowed.

I was just wondering if anything like this has happened to you and what you would do about it. Also this is a good client who is not out to screw me or anything like that.

Do I just call back and say, ya we cut, give me money, or try and work something out? He was not upset when he called, just was wondering when we were going to mow his lawn.

thanks

[HarryD]

lawnmaster are you sure your guys mowed it
last large LCO i worked for before going it on my own had his son working for him running a two man crew . to make a long story short he was saying he was mowing his jobs but going home and swimming in his dads pool and drinking beer with his other crew member about 2 weeks later everyone was calling wondering what the hell was going on . :p you can imagine what happened next :D

[stick9]

We had the problem a few years ago. We did the cleanup earlier in the day and the customer called @ 6 (must've just gotten home from work) and complained that we didn't do ANYTHING!! Well, it's crazy .. they must've missed the fact that there were 40 mph wind gusts all day!!

And in answer to your question, nope .. pictures were not taken then, and they still aren't to this day. And I don't know why, either. I have no logical explanation.

StiCk-NINe

[awm]

during leaf season ,my customers are told leaf work is a constant work in progress.

[JasperStorm]

Make sure that you hold a copy of that day's paper in the picture, like the old kidnapping ransom note photos, so the customer can't say that the photo was taken last week, lol.

[AielLandscaping]

i was doing a residential customers house during rather high winds. this house is supposed to take only 20-25 min. well i spend 3 hours there getting all the leaves out of the yard. i get a call the next day asking why i didn't show up. I explained that i had and it had even taken me 6 times what it should have because of leaves and high winds. they refused to believe me and then stopped service. i ran into this lady at the gas station about a year later. she says "i can't beleive your still in business".
some people really know how to hit a nerve. :blob2:

[bubble boy]

we dont take pics...where we are the town will take the bags of leaves. 40 bags at the curb seem to convince the customer we were there:)

has happened mid season when growth slows...but taking pics of every house is too much for the odd complaint.

[bridges]

How about putting a letter in there mail box saying we at your prop today and did the fall clean and so on. Letter would be made so you can put it in any clients mail box.

[bobbygedd]

very, very good question. YES, i have had people say we did a bad job, even though it was a good one. we leave the place spotless, they come home later that day, or next day, it doesnt look spotless. i aint carrying around no camera. two things u must get paid for on the spot, leaves and seeding. if u wait a week or two to collect for seeding, ive had them say they arent paying because the seed has not grown. if the leaf cleanup is a one time thing, u get paid as soon as its done. not gonna be home? leave me a check under the mat. if it is a steady customer, it is probably being done on a maintenence basis, which means spotless is not important. this is one of the biggest reasons we charge hourly for leaves, they can nitpick as much as they want this way, its thier money....

[Mow&Snow]

Poloroid????? What is that? I remember something called that back before the digital camera was invented.....

[VLM]

How are they going to know that your picture was taken when you say it was. For all they know, you may have snapped that polaroid a month ago. I dont have customers that would even think about questioning my honesty. If I do they can go elsewhere (after they pay ofcourse, hehe).

[proline32]

Customers like that aren't worth your valuable time, If they can't have the intellegence to realise that you did the job but you can't control what happened after you were done then they don't deserve your service and they should be dropped appropriately.

[ksland]

I like the logo. Simple, clear, colorful and effective.

[Doogiegh]

Well, I guess it just dawned on me.. Cause I remember being in like.... 8th grade and raking my parents lawn, helping dad out after school. Figured I'd do all the leaves.. Well, I did, and he got home late. It was dark already.. By the next morning, the lawn was covered again, even though I had done like 15 bags of leaves with a good old rake by hand... So here I was, wooped like a pup, and he didn't even notice. <G> Not that I blame him or nothing..

So then I was thinking about what would happen doing a customer... And that's how I got the polaroid idea.. I guess you could do a digital camera, but I don't keep a portable computer and printer in my truck, so printing out the picture could take a while. <G>

I wouldn't do it for everyone, just those that were NOT home when I was done.. and I'd take it showing the backyard with something else in it... like EMPTY tree branches in the background so they know it wasn't from the summer, or their covered pool or something so they know it was from right then...

And I guess since everyone says to run double blades and just mulch leaves up, there wouldn't be the 35 bags on the curb for the customer to visually SEE that anything was done.. All they see is no green grass... <G>

Gary

[LAWNGODFATHER]

When we do leaves, we blow all the beds out, pick leaves off the lawn, either dump in a specified area or vac them up with the vac truck. We try to leave the lawn spotless, but after we leave it is beond our control, much as after any area is completed.

I have not had one complaint about we were not there doing the leaves.

On the other hand when I was dealing with a 3rd party picking up sweetgum balls, 3rd party customer complained we were not ever there to do them. She has 1 guy do them in the rain to boot and he got ALL the gum balls picked up in 2 hours, from 7 HUGE trees. Needless to say I no longer service this customer and 3rd party person, and she did pay in full. She almost got ALL them back too.

CONTRACTS, CONTRACTS, CONTRACTS!!!!!

[Premo Services]

I have never had anyone say that I didn't do the leaf cleanup work that I charge for/ Pretty lucky for that. Now most are on contract and they get it once a week, and are loving it.The ones that are not on contract, get done weekly and no complaints. It is much easier to do weekly, instead of waiting til they all fall, and get wet, YUCK!!!!!

[The Mowerdude]

Originally posted by VLM
How are they going to know that your picture was taken when you say it was. For all they know, you may have snapped that polaroid a month ago.

There are film cameras that will imprint the date/time onto the photo. For the types of problems that everyone is describing in this thread, film would be better than digital. Ask around at the local camera shops for a camera with the date/time feature.

If the customer refuses to pay, and you need to take them to court, the judge will assume that your date/time is correct. After all, anyone that would go to the trouble of getting a camera that puts this info right into the photo, is obviously experienced enough that they've learned to cover their tails.

[Doogiegh]

Sounds like a good idea, just in case someone does question whether the work was done or not.. I'd have to think about really taking polaroids or not..

I think I probably won't, but if I get burnt 1 time, then I'd definatly consider that kind of system..

Thanks,
Gary