Suzie Cranley from Old Toronto

I received a brochure in the mail at exactly the right time. I had tenants moving out and new tenants moving in. The new tenants were leaving the housing market for a year or so, and had just sold a 1.6 million dollar home in the area. Our place seemed perfect for them. I admit, the previous tenants were young and the house was more like a frat house. The house needed a major cleaning. I was excited because when I saw the brochure, they advertised cleaning of homes after moving out and/or moving in. I called Maid-for-you and told them they would need a full day to clean. It was really dirty. When the ladies came to do the job, I went through the house and specified areas of particular concern. I said they had a big job ahead of them and the supervisor said “don’t worry, you will see a huge improvement when we are done.” Four girls spent four hours to do a 5 story 2600 sq.ft home. It really wasn’t until after they left that I saw what HAD NOT been done. Base boards weren’t touched; I used my finger nail to remove sticky substances here and there on the hardwood floors as well as in the showers; stairs were lightly mopped and spindles were un- touched; behind the fridge and stove were completely untouched; under the kitchen sink around the pipes were still full of soapy gunk; they had left behind “dusty sticky substances around the dishwasher and stove; webs on the window frames and walls were left behind; and dead bugs were in every hanging light fixture. I was being gentle with the manager when she called to ask me how I felt about the job. I know these ladies work hard at the job they have, and I am very sensitive to that, BUT, all I was offered from the manager of this particular Toronto Franchise was three hours credit on a future job, even after I showed her the pictures. I had tried to phone her so that she could see for herself. The tenants moved in the very next day after the cleaning. Since the move, I had the new tenants tell me that the cleaning of the house was so atrocious, and that his wife had spent several hours cleaning before she would put her things away, particularly behind the fridge and stove. I have requested a simple reduction in the cost, which by the way was $632.80! If they had done a thorough job, I might have said it was money well spent. She refuses to give me a partial refund and believes that a fair solution is be to offer me a 3 hour credit on future services. How could I ask my tenants to allow these same people into “their new home” to clean and satisfy my complete “dissatisfaction” in the initial service they provided? The Manager agrees that it should have been done right the first time. All she could do was say “I’m sorry my staff did not do a good job. This is not how we conduct business. We pride ourselves on doing a good and thorough job. Please accept a 3 hour complimentary cleaning on us!”. REALLY?