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Warning to all LA area exhaust cleaners

mbryan

mbryan

New member
Big Joe is moving in. I'll call him big Joe cause he is exactly the opposite of the little Joe we have been talking about for the past few days. Big Joe is a national exhaust cleaning company with locations is almost every major city in America. Big Joe went in to one of my accounts yesterday and told them what a crappy job we were doing and how bad the fans and hoods looked. What big Joe failed to tell the customer was that he came to look at our hoods 30 days after the monthly service, the service was due last night. Of course we get a call from our customer freaking out because apparently big Joe told them that we had done the service the night before. If big Joe is reading this, you suck. That is the greasiest slimeball move a salesman can make. Take pictures of my accounts if you like and let the pictures do the talking, I do that to my competitors all the time, just make sure you take a picture of the sticker so the customer can see when the job was really done, I do that as well. We have pissed a few companies in LA off by doing this but the fact of the matter is they call us asking us to take a look at their systems and that is what we do. Any jabroni can tell a restaurant owner that his system looks bad. Maybe you should grow a pair and back up your statements.

The warning is for any of the other LA exhaust cleaning companies out there to get your shit together. Make sure that your accounts are on the right frequencies and are getting the proper service. Tell anybody that you know who has an exhaust cleaning company that doesn't read this board that big Joe is in town and he wants your accounts and he will use deceptive business tactics to get them.

BTW big Joe, here are some before and afters of that account you were trying to get yesterday. The guy that did this job will chew up and spit out any serviceman you have.
 
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Matt

I know you don't need my help, but I'm 30 minutes away from you and I got your back if you do.
 
Matt I had the same thing happen to me concerning cleaning the walkways and dumpster pad of one of my accounts.

They went in and said it has not been cleaned in a month, very true but it was due to be cleaned the next night.

They did this two month in a row, the customer said I was not doing the job but billing them, I explained how some competitors play dirty and follow others around so they know the schedule and show up a day before.

Needless to say the slime got the account and I go by it often, no way can this whatever be using hot water or know how to clean concrete yet the snow job he did won a good account.

I should stoop to his level and take a few of his away but I refuse to go low and be called slime myself.

His day will come.
 
slimeballs

I've had an experience where a slimeball company took picures of someone elses's really really dirty screwed up exhaust system and fan and tried to pass it off to my customer as her system.

Of course it all fell apart when we saw the photos. We took the customer up to her (yes her) roof and showed her that the photos weren't even from her restaurant. Needless to say whe was pissed.

Pretty dishonest stuff considerig this large national company that is traded on the New York Stock exchange.

Hmmm...their NASDAQ symbol escapes me at the moment.

I guess there are some suits up high coming down hard on the So Cal office to make some sales OR ELSE!
Maybe So Cal sales are not what the fancy corporate income forcasts had predicted..........You all know how suits can be when the money slows down. Heads start to roll.
The suits up high are saying "WITH ALL OF THESE UPSCALE LA RESTAURANTS WHY IN THE HELL DON'T YOU HAVE THESE BY NOW."

Why lie and deceive potential customers.......are they really that desperate?

I guess So Cal is gonna have to fight back.....only we'll fight above the belt not below the belt.

Chris

:D
 

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You guys scared to post the name of this "national" compay that is traded on the NYSE?

Or are you all scared of being sued by them?

Jon
 
if these guy's are

good enuff to make sales calls within 1 or 2 days of you washing that store then they have been doing there homework.
For the hoods, i wonder if some type of inspector is writting down the info from the stickers about when they are serviced,then passing along that info. I cant believe that the comp. has been eyeballing you for the last 30/90 days., but maybe.
What do you do when you own a nice hardware store and WALLMART builds next door?
When HOME DEPOT builds a store they sell everything at a 5% loss for the first 2 years. This is to ensure no one can beat their price and effectively put all other buissness's out of buissness.
This plan worked fine untill LOWE'S starting building next to them.
It took a major co to compete with a major co.
I feel bad for you guy's.
It's going to get worse. The salesman will start to use names of customers he underhandedly took from you.
I would draft up a letter to my customers before they could spread the bullstuff. Start leaving before and after pics with the managers. Any tool they use to take a customer you use before they get their to protect your reputation.
This is going to be a nasty game of hardball and you may need to hire or get a consultant that has exsperiance in stuff like this before it's too late.
 
In a former life I held the thin blue line and we had a philosophy that applies - WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND ! Sometimes you have to take a punch, feel the pain, and wait for the right opportunity to strike back.

"Big Joe" has tried and tries similar tactics in our market and their reputation is a joke among those that know better. I gave "Big Joe" a taste of their own medicine with imaging and videos the DAY after service on some of their most notable accounts and drew a line in the sand that has not been crossed since.

Patience, perseverence, and the consistent delivery of professional service prevails in the long run. ;)
 
I agree with Ron, I leave before and after pics with each one of our customers, and also leave them on a form that we put on the hood vent itself. And just to make sure, we also email them to the health inspector. But then again, I have been in contact with both the health inspectors and the fire marshalls. One thing that we also do is, write down the frequency that the customer wants the system washed, and then what we recommend. This lets the inspector know whats going on, and then they often tell the resturant that the system needs to be cleaned more often. The resturants rarely argue when it comes from the inspector. We also have the system inspected by a fire extinguishing company within 2 days after a cleaning. They then send a report to the fire marshall. So I would say that we haven't lost a client to BIG or Little Joe yet. They just can't argue with the service we provide.
 
Hey
" Big joe" subs so much of his work out that he cant keep
control of quality, Ive got a lot of work that they had
and their quality sux.. so dont sweat it

if this is the same joe im thinking of the one that is a member and certified by pwna.....i remember when he did pest control

just keep up the quality and if a customer is that worried about saving 10 or 12% you dont need them anyway theres enough work out there but yeah it sux the way he works

if you know the tactics of these kinda people you can be pro-active and stay 1 step ahead...like u said photo and video
we have started carring hp photo smart printers with us as soon as we get finihed we photo the after and insert the smart card and print the before and afters....no pc needed just the camera and printer....that way these no mis understandings
 
Well let me see if I got this right,
Big Joe's salesman comes into the restaurant to sell them some detergent, floor cleaner and a few gallons of this and that, then he looks at the NFPA required hood sticker that says Franks Hood Cleaning last did the job on January 15, 2003 and is scheduled to clean it again on March 15 and that there were some areas not accessible in the system. The salesman takes this info back to the local office, in my case, Pasadena, and they send out another salesman on March 14, with pictures of dirty ducts and fans (file pictures from other locations) to convince the restaurant that they are not getting what they paid for?

Relax guys this stuff will eventually blow up in thier face!

E very
C ustomer
O f thiers
L oses,
A nd
B ig
 
These national companies cannot service customers for 10 -12% less then they are paying now, this is why they are having trouble in major markets, to much competition. Sure they will sell a few chain accounts, for 2-3 service cycles, or until the facilities managers see what is really going on. Mom and Pops restaurants won't pay the prices of a national company.
Also, some of you might remember a different national company (certainly not Masters in the industry) that were sub contracting to local companies until the local duct cleaners were not getting paid for 90+ days. Then the national co. moved out of the market.
 
Everycustomeroftheirsloosesbig.

Ductsteamer,

What you said pretty much sums it up.

Chris.
 
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I worked for a national company that cleaned hoods.It was a division of Safety Kleenthat was not profitable.Then that division was bought by Johnsons Wax and then it was called Prism.(I'm not scared)
The prices were as much as double the competition.Because it was a big company,that no one felt there was a future with, the work in many cases was sub standard.I don't care who it is,an employee of a big company wants to do 2 things.Get his pay check and go home.He is not concerned with having a customer stay around for the next cleaning 6 months later.He probably won't be working there then.
The best thing about it is that after charging double everyone elses prices they still didn't make a profit.I was there for 8 years and they posted losses every year.The only reason there still around is that Johnsons wax keeps bailing them out.When I started with them in 1986 they had 120 service centers in the US.When I left in 1994 they had 40.Last I heard they were still consolidating.
This new Big co will go thru the same thing.They won't make it.With all the expenses of running a national co they will eventually have to charge alot more while giving substandard work, and will loose it all back.Us little guys will benefit in the long run.I will welcome them with open arms when they arrive in my area.
 
PRISM as in the same national company that cleans bathrooms in major hotels and restaurants etc.?

If so they have been around years and years, when I used to do Uniform rental they were around, could not see how they made money doing only bathrooms.

IF it is that company they must love that smell!
 
Thanks Chuck. Likewise.

The point is these guys are moving in to LA and are now being more aggressive then they have been. I would much rather that the LA companies fight back rather than let these guys get away with it. Maybe some of the other companies have run in to these guys but this is our first run in ( we actually had another run-in a couple of years ago now that I think of it, with the same outcome.)

I'm not going to back down and I hope that the rest of the companies in LA feel the same way. I think I'll do what Shawn did and find one of their big accounts out here and do a little black ops mission. I could always send Carl Spackler in to take care of them"The only good varmint poontang, is dead varmint poontang"
 
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The Prism I worked for never cleaned bathrooms.
 
John Zema,

I don't mean clean as in mirrors and floor moping so much as toilet bowl and urinal fresheners etc.

Would that Safety Kleen be the one services automotive dealerships and others with cleaning chemicals and tanks for cleaning equipment?

Asking since it seems so many names cross over to different businesses now, what with all the major companies buying out the little ones.
 
Jon,
The Prism that does hoods and filters never did any type of bathroom or other janitorial work.Safety Kleen that I refer to is the same that you are refering to.They had a restaurant division at the time.
 
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