Our cleaner got offended

make the beds *!
take the bins out - not the ‘jons out’! I apologise!! and that’s why the clever MN has a ‘preview’ button and me thinking I don’t need that pressed the ‘post’ one ..

Get a new cleaner.
This one’s a dud.

First of all apologies if you’ve already done this as I’m late to this thread and lastly please don’t feel you should need to do this but …

just for context .. could you post the list? The list of what you wanted to have done in the two hours? was is like a whole two hours ‘timed’ worth of a list or was it more of a general ‘Dear Sue, while you’re kindly here for the next two hours could you give the kitchen and bathroom a quick clean, take the jons out,see the beds, hoover the floor, mop and do a basic tidy’ kind of list …

Definitely not on the OP here as there are still jobs left to be done. My cleaner could stay for six hours and still find things to do if I could afford to pay her for that long! She charges by the hour so she should do two hours worth of work. It's a very normal way to work, lots of trades have a day or an hourly rate.

Did anyone mention OP? I can only speak for myself. 🤷‍♀️

But that's not what the OP said happened, is it? "She does not manage to do everything she did the first time around."

Mine was completely stress free. I paid an agreed rate for the house to be cleaned to an acceptable standard. It was of no concern to me whether it took an hour and a half or three hours, it cost this same. The stress comes with paying an hourly rate and then getting bent out of shape when the job’s done in less than the time allocated.

I would love a cleaner but could not bear the stress of it all.

I think possibly you’ve not been direct enough about the issue. You tried to avoid the difficult conversation about her hours and instead you’ve basically tried to tell her how to do her job. Perhaps a more tactful conversation about your concerns that she’s charging two hours but not completing them and you feel she hasn’t done as much as she did the first time would’ve had better results.

True here, too. And I hate to say it again, but it's true with most of the people I've hired to do building, yard work and home repairs, too, not just cleaners. Even if the work quality is acceptable, I find it stressful and time consuming to have to supervise them and check everything they do, especially the first time I have a new person work in my home. I don't dare to just let them get to it, as I've had cleaners and tradespeople do actual damage that I didn't notice until after they left. For instance, cleaners flushed an entire tub of disinfectant wipes down the toilet and caused the sewer line to backup. And on several occasions I've caught people "accidentally" walking away with my property, which definitely didn't sit well with me.

That should hold true, at least theoretically, but I haven't found it true with cleaners I've hired. When there were two, they seemed to spend most of their time gossiping and giggling, not cleaning. Two actually accomplished less than one, but at double the price.

Find another cleaner. This one's a bit a chancer. Wants two hours pay for an hour and a half's work. Not on. With her bad attitude she doesn't deserve a job. Let somebody else put up with her sulks.

Totally me too. I’ve had a few and never been happy with anyone. Always a huge stress

Years ago, I cleaned hotel rooms, when we doubled up the tasks were so much quicker to do, like a bed change. Initial wipe round, then clean over.
check if it’s clean, if they are doing a good job and your home smells great why worry!

Ah, fair enough. I've been lucky, in that people won't give me numbers of people they don't rate, although years ago someone begged me for the number of my mobile hairdresser...I wouldn't give it as I was desperate to cancel her as it was, if anything we were in the same boat, both wanting someone new. Mine was a good hairdresser and super reliable, but she used to bring her small children with her and of course they soon got bored. I could cope with the children, it was her that was the problem, shouting at them the whole time they were there.

No. These are people recommended by neighbors and other acquaintances in the area.

I know it sounds like I'm nit-picking, but I'm not - an "agency" in the context of cleaning services is very much a specific term, that is to say that in return for a monthly agency fee, the agency supplies you a self-employed cleaner, who you engage and pay directly by the hour.

The description you give is one of a cleaning service, especially as you say you are paying a per-job price & that several people attend at the same time.

My experience of an "agency" cleaner has been echoed here by that of @KitsyWitsy - despite paying the agency to manage the cleaner, you very often end up having to do that yourself. What I don't understand is why, when even the most mediocre of cleaners and cleaning services are flat-out with work that they've found via word-of-mouth, why a cleaner would want to sign up to an agency and do the same, but for even less money.

As I say, I am really not nit-picking, but the services offered by agencies -and experiences of same- are in a league of their own. And I'm not knocking people who do this work (goodness knows they can be a God-send and it's not a great job if you don't love it), but the lack of reliability is a huge PITA when you're the customer.

recommended "best in the area" people.

Recommended by who? Is it one of those companies who awarded certificates to local companies who have put themselves forward? I can't buy in to any of that, or anything "award winning", because when it comes to tradespeople I just feel it's a crock of shite...when you've contacted as many as you can who are all busy & never advertise, I have to question why those who are doing so are, in fact, doing so. Empty vessels make most noise & all that.

I've had one do that and maybe it doesn't get better.

Years ago, late 80s, I met an elderly man who was doing some gardening near the Welsh boarder. He must have been in his mid 80s but he was small, wiry and still fit. He said that in his youth he made his way by working quickly and thoroughly. He’d give a quote for working in a field to a farmer who’d think he was getting a bargain, but this chap did the job in half the time the farmer that it would take, got his money and moved on to the next job. He was still proud of that all those years later.

I once saw my cleaner leaving early on my ring doorbell. She didn’t say anything to me and took the money I had left out, even though things clearly hadn’t been done (worktops not cleaned etc, obvious stuff).

so I mentioned I had seen her leave early and she said her DC schools had called and she had to go and pick them up. Fair enough but she didn’t mention it until I did and she was going to take the full money for not doing the job.

Same and it's not just cleaners. I've done major remodeling on the house I bought a few years ago and I've experienced similar issues with the various tradespeople I've hired. If I want them to do anything close to an acceptable job, I have to supervise most of them one-on-one. Even with detailed instructions on what I want done, they'll rush through a slapdash job and leave the finishing and cleanup for me to do. And this includes highly recommended "best in the area" people. 🤷‍♀️ It's so frustrating.

When she was leaving after 1 1/2 hours you should have said no it's only 1 1/2 hours can you please do so and so in the half hour left so she knows not to take advantage of you.🙄