Our cleaner charges more hours than she actually spends working

This. Surely you're not paying for 2 hours when she's only there 30 minutes? That's bizarre to say the least

I don't understand why you keep handing over the money for 2 hours.
I wouldn't have done that the first time.
She arrived at 12.45 and was finished at 1.30 and you said how much please and she said that's 2 hours so 2 times X amount. I would have pulled her up then. You've only done 45 minutes so I'll pay you for 45 minutes (or an hour if you wanted to be generous or you can stay and do the following jobs to make up the time to 2 hours. You can use a translating app to type that in and explain it in her language.

And then finally last time she started 12:45 and at 1:15 she said she is done, started packing and said - 2 hours for today

Why on earth didn't you just say you've only been here for half an hour so I'm not paying you for 2 hours?

Such a bizarre thread really.

Leaving ten minutes early is one thing but paying for 2 hours and leaving an hour an a half early is ridiculous and I can't believe you didn't challenge her on that tbh.

I had this with a cleaner previously. I paid her by bank transfer and she was coming when I was out. I noticed on our home security system that she was in our home a lot less time than I was paying her for so I messaged her to say what since she was just there for an hour that’s what I’d pay her for. She didn’t reply and just dropped my keys through the letterbox the next day. I assume she had assumed I was a mug and was disappointed to find out I wasn’t.

I suggest you just go to pay her for the time she’s been there at the agreed rate. I think you’ll be able to tell from her response whether she’s dishonest (I don’t see how she isn’t).

Now I have two excellent professional cleaners and they both are able to keep track of time and work their allocated hours!

Pretty soon she's just going to be knocking on the door and asking for the money and you will hand it over!

Don't be daft. If she does half an hour and claims for two hours, what on earth is stopping you from saying no?

So you log what time she's arrives and what time she finishes, stop asking how much and tell her how much.

"You got here at 12.45 and finished by 1.30, so you did 45 minutes, I'm paying you for 45 minutes."

I don't understand why that wouldn't be the conversation?

She’s taking the piss. My cleaner has recently been doing the same thing and is not making as much effort. I pay really well and the work in my place is not hard so it’s really galling.
Challenge her and then get rid of it doesn’t change.

Why are you not challenging her calculation?! Do you employ her direct or via na agency?

This, my experience and that of friends was that this happens constantly.
Someone posted up thread that good for if she works quickly and efficiently.... Er anybody im paying should be working quickly and efficiently its paid employment not an opportunity to saunter around slowly!!!
I found that within weeks every cleaner i employed started arriving late, and leaving early.

Im not a mug so i fired them.

Now i clean my own house because i can achieve twice as much in half the time, it wasnt worth it having a cleaner.

How on earth does she do the cleaning in 30 mins? If she is getting it all done in that time to a standard you are happy with then I’d suggest unless there are health/mobility issues, you don’t need a cleaner.

She would come at say 12:45 and then comes 1:30 she would say I'm done, and when I ask - ok so how much for today - she goes: 2 hours so 2timesX. I was like OK, maybe she thinks she started at 12:30 I will make a point of it next time.
Your times don’t make sense @Hocuspoc
Even if she thought she started at 12.30 by your timings that’s only an hour. Did you mean she started at 11.45? Or finished at 2.30?
I think this is confusing people, because the next pair of t8mes you give are only half an hour apart

You could say I see your getting it done sooner now. Do you still think I need the two hours?

This is why I no longer have cleaners.

So the first time was 45 minutes and the last time was 30 minutes?

It's fair enough if she gave you a flat rate figure, if she gets the job done well, but as she gave an hourly rate, that's really not on. Didn't you say 'but you've only been here half an hour?'

She is absolutely pisstaking. Charging 2 hours for half an hour of work!

And the thing is, this type of person only gets worse. Not better, not constant. Worse.

I would sack her immediately and just try to get the cleaning done between yourselves. I'd prefer my house to be a bit dirty, rather than have someone round and essentially pickpocket me.

And then finally last time she started 12:45 and at 1:15 she said she is done, started packing and said - 2 hours for today

So she was in 30 mins, charged you for 2 and you handed over the money without question? She's taking you for a mug and you're letting her

What on earth possessed you to meekly hand over 2 hours money.

On one side she is really doing great job

How can she possibly be doing a good job in 30 mins.

The rate she's going next time she'll just come to the door & demand payment without setting foot in the house

Stop being such a blooming walk over. Next time she says 2 hours tell her the 2 hours aren't up til X time so she still has work to do or ask if she wants just paid for the time she's been

She's taking the mick, why would you pay 2 hours for half an hours work, if she's that quick and efficient reduce it to one hour a week for 2 x 1hr sessions a week.

I used to pay my cleaner £20 to clean my flat. If she was hungover and took 4 hours over it, she got £20. If she was mega busy, brought her mum to help and did it an hour, she got £20. Maybe view it as are you happy with the amount and standard of her work and is what you're paying reasonable for that?

You have two options, either call her out on it and only pay for hours worked. Or think of it as she needs to get a certain amount of cleaning done in the time for you to be happy. Some cleaners work fast and others slow. It would annoy me too, but ultimately I'd decide if I was happy with the job she was doing for the price.

For 10 minutes you're being dramatic. The half hour one is different. I would ignore anything smaller than half an hour.

But your house doesn't take the exact same amount of time to clean each week. Sometimes there will be more, sometimes less. So sometimes she will likely stay 10 minutes extra in the future. If you don't need two hours, change it to 1.5 hours.

Cleaners also have a specific list of tasks to do, they don't do extra random things or ask you for things to do just to fill the time. They do what's been agreed.

If you're paying less than £20 an hour and she's a good cleaner, you'll struggle to get anyone as good or better.

She's taking the absolute piss. She's dishonest. I'd get rid.

Keep her. So long as she does a good job she’s worth it.

She can't believe her luck and seeing how far she can push it. Get someone else, or renegotiate with her.

I used to pay my cleaner for 2 hours a week but the basic clean took approximately 90 minutes
I left them with a long list of when you’ve finished do another task from the list until the 2 hours are up
worked really well for those little jobs that don’t need doing every week

finally last time she started 12:45 and at 1:15 she said she is done, started packing and said - 2 hours for today

So why on earth didn't you say "But it's not been 2 hours has it?"

You're right that she's taking you for a fool, but you are rather handing it to her.
Unfortunately I doubt that getting this onto a better footing will work with this one, so I'd simply look for someone else and then say she's no longer needed