Vent--Hired Cleaning People

[sandramaac]

First let me say that I feel very fortunate to have cleaning people come in ever other week. It a nice break, and they do the big cleaning on the bathrooms, the kitchen and such.

But after speaking with other neighbors and friends who have cleaning people come in we all have the same comments

--first they never seem to be able to consistetly follow directions---for example on the note I leave every week, it states "broom sweep kitchen floor--do not pull vacuum on floor"---the warranty on my floor states that it is not good to drag the wheels on the flooring-----ok they did that the first week---today I am sitting in the toy room when I hear the vacuum at the door---and there she is with the vacuum on my floor---and I said I told you the first week no vacuum on the floor, it also says it on the note---I get that dumb look like oh..........

--they leave something dirty and when you call they say they did it---for example, thier is a special cleaner to use on my hardwood floors, the one week they did such a great job on the floors, we were slipping when we walked on it---the following week I come in and it still has all the same smudges it had when I left. So I ran a swifter cloth over the floor and they were flithy---obviously not done--call they office---well they say they did it--I say I have proof they did not

--they clean great the first few times, and then they start to drop off


Now I dont mind paying these people, but I am I asking then to much to be consistent and do the job I pay for---I always try to nice---I know it is not a fun job cleaning houses----but I am really getting pissed off

 

[KimR]

That is exactly why I no longer have cleaning help. I was getting so pissed about paying for someone to clean my house and then have to clean up again after she left. It wasn't worth the aggravation. This woman was definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer; I could write a book about the crazy stuff she did. I was about to fire her when she quit and when I started asking neighbors for references to find someone new it didn't sound like they had any better luck than I did. Either the people didn't do the job right or were unreliable. So now I just do it myself...when I get around to it. So most of the time my house is a disaster - like right now - but at least I'm not paying someone for it look that way.

Kim

 

[becka]

I find it hard to complain about this stuff because I realize how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to afford to have someone do some of the cleaning for me but I am starting to have a few problems.

The deal with my DH was that is I went back to work FT after having DS then hiring someone to come in every two weeks to do the big cleaning was going to be my one little luxury.

We hired a national cleaning company and the last few times the work has been slipping. They just came yesterday and left a note saying they deep cleaned the master bathroom (they "deep clean" two room everytime) but it looks like it has been barely cleaned. The faucets still looked pretty bad and (I know this is gross) but DH and I had that nasty stomach flu within the last two weeks and while we did clean up there were a few "stains" that I had just not gotten around to really scrubbing and they were still there.

I feel bad about calling to complain because I hate to be confrontational and I feel like I am just being whiny when I am so lucky to be able to afford this luxuery but they did a very shoddy job.

 

[Kermit]

I've found that cleaning people are hit-or-miss. We've had a few who were great, and then we've had some that weren't so great. Usually, the people who own their own businesses tend to be the ones that do a fantastic jobs. They <i>like</i> being cleaning people and they feel good about themselves, so they do a good job. Some of the agencies have a high turnover rate among the people who are hired. If you happen to get someone who's just cleaning houses until something better comes along, you just have to hope that it's someone with a strong work ethic who wants to do a good job, even if it is temporary.

We had one company that would mess up at least one thing every single time. The owner would send us a form with our bill where we could say what wasn't done to our satisfaction. The next time, the problem we had last time would be resolved, but there would usually be something else wrong.

We also had the problem with slippery hard wood floors. We left notes saying that we cleaned the floors with vinegar and water, and we left the big jug of vinegar out. But every few weeks, they'd go digging in the cabinets and get out the Murphy's Oil Soap, and they wouldn't rinse it enough. You had to wear your shoes on the floor for the next several weeks or risk breaking your neck.