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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be a bit miffed with my cleaner?

70 replies

Whirliwig72 · 15/01/2013 17:34

My new cleaner started for 2 hours today but I don't feel she got much done. I was out for the time they were here and in that time they:
Washed kitchen floor, emptied dishwasher, cleaned surfaces in kitchen, unloaded dishwasher and re-loaded it, loaded and unloaded (washing machine) loaded and unloaded tumble dryer (folded clothes) and gave play room a cursory once over. Looking on my computer history they were also on Facebook during the time :(. I pay £10 an hour - I think i've received poor value for money but just wanted to check before I text her. Have I been ripped off? - this is my first time using a cleaner.

OP posts:

Viviennemary · 15/01/2013 19:24

On the computer! That's poor. Good cleaners are few and far between. I think a deep clean session once in a while is a lot better value for money than weekly cleaners.

ivykaty44 · 15/01/2013 19:25

Did you explain to her what you wanted cleaned before she started? Did you give her any type of check list or when you first spoke to her did she give you a run down of what she would achieve in two hours?

You need to get these things sorted before they start so that you both know exactly what is expected and what is achievable

MoodyDidIt · 15/01/2013 19:26

oh that is quite rubbish OP

i have a cleaning business and thats a ridiculously low amount of work to have been done in 2 hours

and going on FB?? on YOUR pc?? thats really unacceptable.

BelieveInPink · 15/01/2013 19:31

She didn't touch the bathrooms? That bothers me as much as the Facebook, which is also terrible.

I'd probably have her back again to see if she did a better job. If not it'd be curtains.

specialsubject · 15/01/2013 19:31

not good. MIL's miracle worker blitzes the entire (admittedly small) bungalow in that time, including a cup of tea. And it is clean - no dust, clean cooker and surfaces, sparkling bathroom, spotless kitchen floor, vacuumed carpets. She even does extra jobs in the time some weeks.

thegreylady · 15/01/2013 19:31

In two hours mine cleans thoroughly bathroom,kitchen and ensuite loo.She vacs and dusts living room and two spare bedrooms including moving furniture and washing skirting boards and washes floor in conservatory.
I make her a coffee but she drinks it on the move.I do our bedroom myself and any washing loading/unloading.If there are dirty cups she washes them but I dont expect her to do dishwasher.
Sometimes she empties and cleans fridge or does out a kitchen cupboard.She has been coming for 5 years now-I pay £10 an hour-she usually does 2 hours but sometimes goes over and doesnt charge extra.If she finishes in 1 hour 45 minutes I dont mind if she goes.
She is my next door neighbour and I am well satisfied.

wanabeYummyMummy · 15/01/2013 19:34

Getting used to how you want things done and working faster is one thing, using facebook on YOUR computer while on the job is something else!! I probably wouldn't use them again if it was me

littlewhitebag · 15/01/2013 19:35

Make a list of all the chores you expect her to do starting with the highest priority and get her to tick each chore off as she does it.

tootiredtothink · 15/01/2013 19:44

Personally think you have to ignore computer, you did after all give her permission.

Unloading Dishwasher (if she put things away it'd take time finding way around kitchen) and stacking can take some time if not used to the stacking way , yes, I speak as a dishwasher virgin.

As for the washing, when I'm folding clothes for someone else it takes me longer to do as I'm doing it neatly-mine I do a very quick fold causing more creases to iron.

Was the play room tidy?

I do think she could do far more cleaning in 2 hours than she did but think you need to stick to asking her to clean rather than doing laundry and dishwasher.

Speak to her, explain jobs you'd like done and see if she's able to do them in time available.

I clean but charge for the house rather than per hour, some days it takes me 2 hours, others 4 depending on jobs that week. But I never begrudge the extra time there as I'm not on hourly rate and rushing out.

floweryblue · 15/01/2013 20:00

OP, please don't text the cleaner, talk to her next time she comes.

You need to decide what you would like done, then you can discuss with the cleaner if that is possible within your budget. As others have said familiarising yourself with a place/how things work etc will take time, as will working out priorities.

My MIL was a cleaner and some of her customers had unrealistic expectations as to what was achievable. I asked her to quote for my house to give me an idea if I could afford a cleaner (MIL lives 300 miles away, so not an option), it seems I can't afford a cleaner, so DP it is then

I think if she is highly recommended by your friend, the fact that you have been disappointed may be down to your reluctance to ask for what you want rather than your cleaner's competence or value for money.

Insanitywithlittlepeople · 15/01/2013 20:06

Sorry, havent read the full thread, but the cleaner used your computer to check her FB page? Thats taking the p1ss!! I wouldnt be offering her employment again. This is a buyers market, keep shopping around!

KatyTheCleaningLady · 15/01/2013 20:07

Being on your computer is completely out of order and you should not stand for that.

Otherwise, I would say they did a halfway decent amount of stuff. Had they not gone on FB, I think they could have gotten the bathroom, as well.

Laundry and dishes will eat up a lot of time. I don't do them because few people want to pay enough extra for me to make their home sparkle and then mess with their stuff. If someone were to pay me for an extra hour's worth of work, I suppose I would do it. Very few people want to, though.

£10 an hour is a reasonable rate for two hours of straight cleaning, although I charge significantly more. Charging more means I have to be absolutely on my A-game.

I do carry my phone with me and I will answer it (in another room/out of earshot) if it's a potential client or the school. I get alerts for Twitter and email and I may look to see what it is, but I don't reply to things (unless it's something necessary.)

I would never, ever, in a million years, use the client's computer. I won't even turn on the TV or radio. Sometimes, if I'm there a while, I may plug my phone charger in and leave it on a kitchen counter so that my phone will stay charged. I also don't help myself to their food (although there have been a couple of clients who positively beg me to do so if I'm there alone and then I might have a biscuit if I'm there a long time. Only if I've been very strongly encouraged to do so.) I will have a drink of tap water from a glass, wash the glass, and put it away. I will use the toilet. But, other than that, I consider everything their personal property, never to be touched.

SizzleSazz · 15/01/2013 20:16

I went round one day and cleaned our hose and noted down approx timings re kitchen, bathrooms, hoovering etc. couldn't all be done in 2hrs so cleaner dusts one week and cleans mirrors/mops floors the other.

I think YOU need to know what is possible in relation to YOUR house and then you will be in a much stronger position to challenge her or set up a new cleaner if you part ways. My cleaner asks me to leave my origin note with timings out if they send a cover cleaner for hols/sickness.

schoolgovernor · 15/01/2013 20:16

I'm an ex cleaner and that was rubbish for two hours. For a start, you don't expect a cleaner to be using a computer or any other activity that isn't work related on your time. Urgent or not, she shouldn't even have asked.
2 hours - I would do a good clean of a kitchen and bathroom, probably a cloakroom including washing floors. On top of that I'd expect to be able to hoover and dust maybe 3 bedrooms, a dining room and a lounge.

Depending on the state of your house (sorry!) on a first clean there might not be time to get everything sparkling, it depends on the starting point if that makes sense. But over the first two or three weeks I'd expect to have your average 3 bedroom house looking pretty good (as long as you don't completely trash it for the rest of the week).
I guess the laundry and dishwasher work that you threw in could have taken up an hour if we're generous, but she didn't get much done in the rest of the time did she?
I know people say you should give a list of jobs, but I think that a good cleaner who charges a reasonable hourly rate should be capable of using their initiative and doing a good job for you. If you give a list you risk that being the only work they do, whereas I used to fit in little extra things if there was time available.

Viviennemary · 15/01/2013 20:18

On second thoughts if this was her first visit she really is too much. She shouldn't have asked to use the computer for a start. I don't think I would give her another chance. She'll get worse and worse.

BillyBollyBrandy · 15/01/2013 20:22

Re the computer, well she asked and you said yes so can't see why you would bothered what she was looking at. however I would be at her asking.

What did you ask her to clean? I always tidy up so my cleaner just cleans, no tidying, washing, putting away. She cleans the whole house is 2 hours.

ToomuchWaternotWine · 17/01/2013 10:36

OP, sounds like the overall view is the cleaner was not good, and you need a list! Have you spoken to her yet? Hope it goes well or you find someone better!

Grapesoda · 17/01/2013 12:20

I am not very good at cleaning ( I do think there's a skill involved ) but even I would have cleaned a bathroom in that time.

Pandemoniaa · 17/01/2013 12:39

I wouldn't expect a cleaner to empty dishwashers, tbh. As for using the computer, I'd find that a very weird request.

You'd be best to draw up a list of the things you want done and ask your cleaner if she can fit them into the time you are paying her for. If not, negotiate the things that are most important or up her hours. But actually, I've never had to do this anyway since anyone who has cleaned my house has told me from the outset what they can fit into the time available. A good cleaner just knows!

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 17/01/2013 12:44

Did you not talk to her about what you would expect her to do in that time? Find it a bit weird that you didn't tidy the kitchen before she came, surely you wanted her to clean rather than faff about with the dishwasher and the laundry?

My cleaner does 4 hours alternate weeks. In that time she hoovers and dusts the whole house, cleans the kitchen, bathroom, utility and downstairs cloak really thoroughly, wipes all the skirtings, cleans the mirrors and get finger marks off picture frames, TV etc and empties all the bins. Each time she either does some windows, or pulls all the furniture out in the living room or one of the bedrooms. My house is spotless when she has finished.
Alternate weeks she does two hours, and in the that time she does kitchen, utility, bathroom and cloak, plus she hoovers the bedrooms and down the stairs.

I am at the computer use, how bloody cheeky to ask on your first day!

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