Do you pay your cleaner if you cancel?

[SomethingNastyInTheBallPool]

I’m interested in what the consensus is. If we cancel our cleaner’s visit and can’t reschedule, we pay her for her lost time.

She’s upset because a client has told her they won’t pay her after cancelling at short notice because their kids were sick. The client says they can’t afford to pay her for days when she hasn’t worked for them.

This feels completely unfair to me. It’s not the cleaner’s fault - she’s already on a low income, why should she lose out?

What do you normally do in this situation?
(And yes, the cleaner did lay out her T&Cs when she took on the client.)

Yes of course they should still pay.

I’m so cross on her behalf. She’s very flexible and helpful and this just feels like taking the piss.

Of course they should still pay. It is not the cleaners fault she is losing income.

Yes. If we cancel we still pay. If she doesn't come through her own choice (holiday or whatever) we don't pay.

Yes of course they should pay.

Depends on how much notice.

If it was within a week i would pay the full rate.

If the cleaner cancels does she provide a replacement cleaner at the same hourly rate so that the client does not lose out on the service through no fault of their own?
A commitment should work both ways.

Yes we do although my cleaner has said that not everyone does

I always pay my cleaner if I cancel her, if she chooses not to come I don’t pay (although I did during Covid) as she is self employed.

We do the same as PPs - we pay her if we cancel but not if she’s the one who cancels (I’ve actually tried to pay her when she’s been sick but she refuses to take it!)

@OnTheRoll No, she doesn’t - how is she supposed to do that? She’s a lone, self-employed person, not an agency. She’s also the one who’s missing out on pay when that happens.

But she does offer to reschedule or work longer the following week.

Of course they should pay! We pay even for holidays she takes etc, because we really value her and want her to know it. Plus you budget for the weekly cost, or should do anyway. They are not good clients and I would ditch them if I were her.

This

Good cleaners are v v scarce here, only tend to be passed on when someone is actually leaving the area.

Very limited capacity, so we treat ours as we are treated by employer, including sick pay, double rates on bank holidays etc.

Our last house move was just a couple of miles. I checked with 'Treasure' what radius she would cover long before we even started to look at new houses.

I pay my dog walker if I cancel her. She probably can’t afford to lose work, especially at last minute which gives her no opportunity to reschedule. Your cleaners other clients are likely to lose her as a cleaner. I don’t understand their argument either about not being able to afford to pay her if she doesn’t come. If the kids hadn’t been sick they’d have paid her, so they have the money available. They’re just being tight.

We do. We also paid her right through the various lockdowns. If we cancel it is not her fault so we pay. if she cancels (rarely) it is always for illness or caring duties so we pay her anyway. She has been our cleaner for decades and is worth her weight in gold.

This is such a ridiculous comment. Unless the cleaner’s contract guarantees a service (which it won’t) it doesn’t work both ways.

We no longer have our cleaner as she moved area (I miss her so much!) but we’d always pay her if we had to cancel. If she cancelled we didn’t pay and she never asked. If I was your cleaner I’d sack her off. You aren’t in the SE are you? I am desperate to find a new decent cleaner.

I pay mine if I cancel, and also if she's sick or can't get to me because of strikes etc. I don't pay for her holidays, but do for mine if it doesn't coincide with hers. I usually ask her to come once when I'm away to do the stuff that doesn't get done every week, like Windows etc

We pay if we cancel.

I always pay mine if I cancel. We try to reschedule but if there's no free slot then I just suck it up. Works both ways.

We’d absolutely pay.

Yes, we’ve paid on the few times we have cancelled. She can’t easily just find another house to clean when that afternoon is booked out for us every week. She still has to pay the same bills so it would be very unfair not to. And she’s lovely and I would hate to lose her.

With anyone who works for me “by the hour” I pay if I cancel (unless we’ve agreed in weeks in advance), I don’t pay if they cancel.

No. But our cleaner often cancels on us

We have a flexi/casual arrangement

I agree with this.
However, good cleaners are hard to find and if it was short notice I would probably pay. My cleaner came yesterday but due to a refurb she can’t clean 2 rooms so she did an hour less, she said to just pay her for 2 hours but as it wasn’t her fault I paid her for 3.

Yes of course she should be paid. I pay my window cleaner when we're away and he can't access the house. He depends upon a regular round so it's only fair.

Aside from that though I would not be happy if a cleaner slagged off another customer to me. A cleaner I had phoned another client from my house once and asked to move days, the client politely said that wouldn’t work for her (conversation was on speaker) and the cleaner hung up and called her a stupid ticking bitch. It was one of the reasons I ended up sacking her