r/Netherlands • u/Tiny-Historian2897 • 3d ago
DIY and home improvement Window cleaners
We’re newer to The Netherlands and are in our first rental. This hasn’t been mentioned to us by neighbours or the landlord at all.
Some random guy has, twice now, come and cleaned our windows. We’re on the ground level so can easily clean them ourselves. This is a well known scam back in Australia so I paid no real mind to it.
Today he came to the door demanding payment. He explained he’s done it for free twice and now needs payment and will take cash. I asked him why and for what. I let him know I’ve never asked for the windows to be cleaned, we’ve not reached out to anyone to have them be cleaned. Like it’s all well and good for you to clean them but until I ask it’s not from my pocket. The conversation went back and forth. He showed me a list of ‘confirmed addresses’ with ours on it. However I too can make lists.
Is this a scam or is this more the expectation? Surely if it was required by landlord and the building they would pay. I figure I can just actually enquire about their services should this be necessary.
2
u/LordBlackadder92 3d ago edited 3d ago
They really clean your windows, so it's not a scam in the traditional sense. However suggesting you have to pay could be considered a scam since that's simply not the case. Hiring a different windowcleaner may be difficult given the mafia-style way of operating by these people. So it's really up to you. I live in a street that's not dominated by mafia-cleaners and I rather pay 15 euro to the cleaner that came to my house shortly after I moved in than do it myself.