To think this isn’t 3 hours of work?

But then you wouldn't worry about comeback from paying less than they asked, or by leaving a poor review? I really need to strengthen up I think.

I guess I am more cynical than you. If I don't know anything about someone, I always act on the side of caution. But we're all different. I do get paranoid about annoying someone if they know where I live, or if they're cooking me a meal etc.

Having re:read the OP's messages, there is a lack of clarity on both sides. I've worked in the cleaning industry for a very long time, and no cleaning company who really knows what they are doing should be claiming to stay until the work is done AND charge an hourly rate. It's one or the other - you pay for the time or you pay for the "job".

And the OP should have put a cap on it at the time of booking. For what it's worth, it's a good job they were late, because if they hadn't been and had stayed until the work was done, this post could now be along the lines of "they did all the work, but have charged me for six hours".

If it were me, I'd just be glad it's all over.

I’d pay them an hour each if I’m honest, tell them why and leave a review. I’d also be worried about the comeback if you didn’t pay them anything .

If you have two people than the 3hr are split, so the clean should have been done in 1.5hr.

But, they definitely didn't do a lot and I would definitely raise it with the company, especially the lateness.

We had a regular cleaning company and booked them for a deep clean after some building works. We paid £300 for it, it was dirty so I was more than prepared to pay for it.

When we came home (they had keys) we found they basically just did a normal clean instead of a deep one and when we complained they just said "it was dirtier than normal" so they couldn't have finished.

We paid the normal fee, got our key back and sacked them. Luckily all was done by email so I had proof of what I asked them to do and made plenty of pictures.

Because most people aren't interested in getting a criminal record.

No way is that 3 hours work! Totally taking the mickey and with all the messing about with timings.
Maybe offer an hour's pay between them as a good will gesture but no more!
My cleaner is amazing, cleans a good sized 3 bed every week really thoroughly, so know what they can achieve!

And like I said in my message, you've said they were in attendance for the hours they are asking payment for.

It may seem like nothing but a detail, however, it is very, very important that the difference between paying for time and paying for an outcome is fully appreciated.

You can't not pay them anything.

You really should speak to them first and state how confused you were that what you agreed upon wasn't done. See what they say, they might offer to knock some money off.

How so?

Not really, the chances of them actually turning up and vandalising my house are miniscule.

I wouldn't be paying the anything. You contracted them for a deep clean, they didn't complete a deep clean.

They haven't fulfilled the contract so don't get paid.

When I first employed our cleaner, the first clean was a three hour one. She turned up with another cleaner and it took them 1.5 hours. They did everything we agreed and charged me for three hours because there were two of them - 1.5 hours each.

In*

Is it a company or just some chancers claiming to be cleaners from Facebook? I expect the latter- if it's a professional company they would rectify and want to hear about this asap.

I'd pay, learn from this, and be quite honest via message.

"Hi, I will pay you the £69, but after seeing what you accomplished on that time, I will be leaving an honest review online and will not be requiring your services further."

I mean, some people in this world are not as reasonable as you and I might be. We don't know how they may hold a grudge against you for underpaying, and nor do you.

They may take it on the chin. Or not. That's the risk you take.

Agree totally with the first part.

The second part all comes down to whether or not you want any further grief in your life. A poor review to a local business will never be received easily and it doesn't seem worth the aggravation it will cause you. You could say all you've said here, but some people might think what went on was acceptable -it would only be a measure of your unhappiness.

Yes, you don't know these people, so who knows what they "could do" if they were that way inclined. But hopefully they will be reasonable people.

Legally, if they were charging by the hour and were there for the time stated, it is very, very hard to prove that you've not had good service as they were charging for their time, not for the work they were doing.

It's all very well them saying they would stay until the work was done, but it all comes back to the same thing - they were charging & you were paying for their time.

You can't therefore easily take an invoice where you've been charged for the time and complain that the "job" wasn't done. You can only really complain about "the job" if you were paying for "the job" to be done to an agreed standard.

For the sake of £69 and for not risking any further problems (unless you've the time & desire for the problems that will inevitably follow from underpaying), I would say pay it and write it off as one of life's less-satisfactory experiences.

Is the cleaning firm called Miss Merry by any chance?

I had 2 people do 4 hours each, so 8 hours for a 'deep clean'. It was rubbish.

They did the kitchen & utility, but not the appliances (they wanted an extra £15 to just clean the hob!)

2 bathrooms with showers & baths. But I had to completely empty the bathrooms, including moving a cabinet out.

Hoovered downstairs and one bedroom and a hallway. Didn't even dust or wipe down bedroom surfaces.

That was all. It was a joke. It wasn't even really horribly dirty, just hadn't had a thorough clean for a while, I'd been keeping on top of it but not being super thorough.

They stayed the full time & made sounds like they were busy but just did so little.

I paid £165.