To sack cleaner after one visit?

[Gymmum82]

Many years ago I had a cleaner and she was pretty rubbish, no attention to detail, bare minimum. Kept her for years even though I knew I could do a better job. Ended up getting rid of her eventually after years of annoyance, all my own doing obviously.

Anyway, I’ve recently returned to full time work, young children. I can’t keep on top of the house, so I got a new cleaner, made sure to ask for recommendations locally to ensure I didn’t get stuck with a rubbish one.

We agreed 2 hours and I asked for kitchen bathroom and floors. Didn’t want to overwhelm initially. She left 15 minutes early. Bathroom mirrors not cleaned, bathroom windowsill not cleaned. Kitchen cabinets with obvious marks on not wiped.
No additional done, no attention to detail.

Do I just have unrealistic expectations? Are all cleaners just lax?
Im so frustrated that after doing what I thought was my due diligence I’ve ended up with another crap cleaner. Should I just sack her straight off? Or give her a couple of weeks to improve?

She left early and didn’t clean - reasons to bin her. Had she run out of time, and not completed the tasks, fair enough, but it sounds like she didn’t even clean one room properly.

Oh absolutely I wouldn’t care what time she left if she’d done the jobs to a high standard.
I may give her another go and leave her with some specific instructions

And ask her why she left early. Be clear and direct.

Leaving 15 minutes early - get rid. You are paying her for her time and she is not providing the time paid for (and 15 mins is a fair chunk out of 2 hours).

No you don’t have unrealistic expectations. That’s a shockingly poor service. Ex-cleaner here

I would immediately sack her. A first time on the job and she left 15 mins early without completing basic and highly visible aspects of the work - absolutely disgraceful. No excuse. Disrespectful, no shits given for you paying her to bugger off early.

You would be way beyond foolish to give her any more chances. She doesn’t give a shit, she’ll never give a shit and she’s dishonest.

She’s shown you who she is - and if she were a man, people would be saying - believe her when she shows you who she is. Big red flag.

It’s better to have your home in less than perfect condition than to allow this person into it unsupervised. She’s happy stealing your money - being paid for time she skived, it’s not much of a stretch to think that she’s going to be happy stealing your possessions.

And anyone suggesting feedback and another chance has rocks in their head. Feedback is not intended to replace basic expectations, such as attending for the time paid.

She's unlikely to get better.

My last cleaner was absolutely wonderful, I was gutted when she retired.
I can't face finding a new one as I have had some horrors - from theft to not cleaning and/or never turning up, breaking things etc etc.
I really do need to find another one though

Good cleaners are like hens teeth, reliable ones also like hens teeth. In my experience they also often start well and then start getting lazy and complacent and skiving off early when they charge by the hour. So if they’re crap after one visit and skive off early I wouldn’t have them back. To me it’s a luxury and they am paying them more than I get paid an hour so it has to be a good standard of cleaning for it to be worth it for me.