Missed the mark on multiple fronts
The cleaning company was recommended by my real estate agent who was listing my house.
I spoke with the cleaning co owner in advance of her team coming on site (my home) and explained that Arriving at I used another housecleaning service that had been through the home 2 weeks prior so this would be a one time job to provide light cleaning in preparation for home staging happening in 2 days, followed by photos.
I was not at home on the day the 2 cleaning ladies from this company showed up, my late teens daughter was at home. When I returned from work that day, my 3 daughters were in disbelief seeing that all their belongings from bedroom desk/ dressers had been bagged up ~ cosmetics mixed with jewelry, books, hair products etc; and left on their beds.
Apparently theyd spent almost 2 hrs in the 3 bedrooms and had no time to clean the kitchen, 2nd bathroom , not even vacuum the carpets?!
I sent photos to my realtor that recommended this service and complained
He called and spoke to the owner of the cleaning company who proceeded to spam text me with photos of what the girls rooms looked like prior to cleaners starting and then called to say her crew had not done a good job and she understood my frustration however she would still be charging me for the service because she needed to pay her 2 staff members for 2 hrs a piece at $50 / per hour
Today my credit card was charged 10+ days after the debacle took place
- Approximate cost of services:
- $250.00
- Company Response
Hi Private User. I would like to again apologize for the unfortunate misunderstanding that took place that day. As you mentioned, when we spoke on the phone, the understanding was that it was already deep cleaned and only needed "a light cleaning for photos". We estimated 4 person hours and left room for the possibility that we may need more time than that as we charge based on time. When we arrived, we discovered that the job required substantially more work than was quoted (which is why we later sent photos to explain that need). We phoned you, but unfortunately we were unable to reach you about how to proceed and if we should expand the parameters of the job. We spoke with your agent who agreed that we should quickly put all of the belongings that were scattered around into boxes so that we could clean the area for the stagers (who were about to do the same thing anyway) as it would be impossible for us to clean around the various belongings and prep the area properly for photos in the time we had. We decided to stick to the time agreed to and make do with the little time we had.
To be clear, our staff did the best they could with the time they had considering the job should have taken twice the time they were given. They did clean the kitchen - the before and after videos were sent to illustrate how excessive belongings in that area detract from time we have for less visible areas (like under the coffee maker, which won't be visible in photos). They made the right decisions and we stand by the cleaning we did for the purpose of "a light cleaning for photos" and not a regular cleaning for you to enjoy your house. If we were hired to do the latter, it would have been a different quote. When your house was deep cleaned last, it took ten hours - more than twice the amount of time we had. But I do understand why this was not the cleaning you were expecting. Usually when a situation like this occurs, our staff let us know if they need to cut back substantially on an area (like they did by skipping the basement where the second bathroom is), but unfortunately this time they did not do so and you were surprised with the result. We always try to prevent a surprise like this with proper communication and that is where our staff dropped the ball in this case. Rarely, communication mistakes like this can happen and when this sort of situation occurs we enact our satisfaction guarantee. We offered to come immediately to fix the issues for free. You refused.
When we spoke on the phone, I tried to explain that similar to all other house services, we can't offer a service for free if we have already done the work because our staff need to be paid. However, we will be glad to return and fix any issues at your convenience. In this particular case, that meant doing the job for half the price of what it was worth (50% discount). Considering there was miscommunication on both sides of this issue, this seemed the fair solution. But you explained that you were going through a tough time and didn't want to deal with any more recommendations from your agent because none of them lived up to expectations and we were just another in a long line of dissapointments. During the call I tried to see if there was any way we could assist you with this because I didn't want to send you a bill that you were not happy with paying and you said you would contact me if there was anything we could do to help. I didn't hear back, sent the bill as discussed and processed payment on the bill as discussed in our terms (you have six days to pay the bill or dispute it before overdue notices are sent and automatic payment is made). Again, I am sorry that this experience added to an already negative spiral of experiences you are going through and I am sorry that we were not allowed to make it right for you as is our wish for every cleaning we do. We hope things start to get better as you put this recent unpleasantness behind you. Again, if there is anything we can do to make the situation right apart from a full refund, we would be happy to discuss it.