To sack the cleaner after coming home and crying my eyes out

[OlderMummy1]

I had a cleaner for 6 months when I was pregnant as I had hyperemesis, severe PGP and a 2 year old. She was fantastic! We have a modest 3 bed semi and she used to get it all cleaned and a basket of ironing done in 3 hours. I paid her £10 an hour. She worked for herself and had insurance, references, CRB etc.

3 weeks ago her father became very ill and needed full time care so she had to give up work. Since then I have been looking for someone else as I am struggling to the point of depression with a refluxy newborn. Just surviving the day is an achievement for me let alone doing the housework.

I have found it hard to find anyone. Everyone I found who was self employed had no insurance and no references. To be honest, some came across as quite dodgy. So then I thought I would go through an agency. It is a national one so seemed good. They found someone for me and she came today. I decided to have 3 hours clean and 1 hour iron as I know my last cleaner was superwoman and I didn't want it to be unmanageable. Also, as it was her 1st time here I didn't leave any ironing to be done as it's always slower when you don't know the house and we did have 3 weeks of dirt.

We don't have pets and mainly have laminate floor so it doesn't get too dirty apart from the usual mess with 2 kids. I'm also not a clean freak, as long as it's done reasonably well then I'm happy.

Well! I just walked through the door after a long day at the hospital with the newborn trying to get his medication sorted out and I honestly thought we had been burgled!

The dining room table was crooked with all the seats pushed back, the coffee table was at a 90 degree angle to where it usually is , a highchair is blocking a doorway, 2 kitchen cupboards are wide open, the Hoover is half pushed back in the cleaning cupboard so the door won't shut and she's left a note saying she's broken a vase (wedding gift) and that she didn't have time to do any bedrooms! As I walked around in shock I slipped on a duster she had left in the middle of the floor and fell over with the baby in my arms. I couldn't save myself, only him, so have now got 2 very painful knees.

My husband has just got home and I've cried!

I don't want her to come again but I feel bad about sacking her. She only gets £27 for 4 hours, the agency gets the rest - it doesn't seem enough really. Maybe I am deluded as to how much can be done in 4 hours and our last cleaner was a one off.

Am I?

Oh Gobbolino, I would pay lots and lots for the lady you have!! She sounds fantastic!

London, 2 hours, one bed flat with one bathroom and an open plan kitchen, dining and sitting area. Approx 800sqft.

£11 something an hour and not entirely sure how much the cleaner gets from that as it's with an agency.

I told the agency yesterday I wanted a different cleaner. She had been really average for ages ( not really doing a proper job on anything) but nothing bad enough for me to work up the interest to change cleaner. Came home last to a big mess she had caused which took me ages to clear up.

Told the agency and also said she had been generally a bit crap. DP says I shouldn't have told them what she did and should have just asked for a different cleaner as she'll get in trouble! I don't want her to get in 'trouble' but surely it's better to say why you want a different cleaner?

Older it's so tough when it's like that, don't give it a second thought. Also yes a thread to see what other help can be useful.

If you do want insurance then the agency is the best bet.

In bolding habit, didn't mean to bold.

older - I got my cleaner from gum tree. She's fab and 4 of my friends now use her.

She's not insured but once broke a candle of mine and tried to give me £50

We had an undignified tussle where I refused to take it and managed to stuff it back in her handbag when she wasn't looking. She then came round at night and posted it through the letterbox.

We had a Mexican standoff until we compromised on her buying DS a small toy

I have a wonderful cleaner too. She started with us through an agency, and she was fantastic from the off. She is now self employed, so we pay her directly. She's been with us for 6 years. Over that time, she has done more and more for us. She does 6 hours a week, to include ironing. Sometimes an extra hour. She also makes beds if I ask her too, empties the washing machine and pegs out and brings dry clothes in, accepts parcels etc. We pay her 10/hour (outside London but within the M25) plus a 50 bonus at christmas and about 30 at easter. I provide lunch for her if I'm there on the day that she is there and I am cooking anyway.

My point is that she was excellent when she started. To be honest, she is probably not as good now as she was then. But had she not started out doing well, we would never have kept her on and she wouldn't be with us 6 years later.

The agency will want to keep you as a customer, and will send you someone else next time.

If you decide not to stay with the agency, the best way of getting a cleaner is through word of mouth. Local facebook groups or your MN local board may have recommendations if you ask there.

Gobbolino that is funny.

Haha Gobbolino!! I'm picturing it now!

It's so hard to find a decent cleaner. I gave up after returning home early once and finding the cleaner drinking tea in the kitchen and three young girls (aged 10 or less) cleaning and a teenager in my bedroom wearing one of my evening dresses! I was shocked to say the least and have done my own cleaning ever since.

I have a £10 ph cleaner. She works solidly for 3 hours. It's a bit irritating that some of our ornaments are not put back where they came from but it takes seconds to put them where I like them to be. I know this is not the same situation as the OP's but I would just push my furniture back to where it should be in those circumstances.

I would certainly be cross about the duster left on the floor (was the floor polished? Dangerous.) and the cupboard doors open. What was she doing in the cupboards? I would also wonder what she was doing for the 3 hours if the bedrooms had not been done. Watching television? Having lunch with the OP's food? I'd also be cross that something (anything) was broken let alone that it was a wedding present.

I found mine by looking at the personal advertisements in our local Sainsbury's. She came for what you might call an 'interview' (well, sort of) and to be shown round the house. I just let her get on with the job and keep out of her way.

Pufflemom, that's awful!

puffle . That's awful - child shave labour

I once came home early to find my ckeaner's husband doing the vacuuming! Apparently she had hurt her shoulder but didn't want to say. The the poor man had to finish a nightshift and then come and vacuum. He thankfully wasn't wearing my clothes!

She also makes him come round and take our recycling and out it in their bin if ours is full! We only found this out when DH was off work one day and saw him scampering down the drive with a load of cardboard!

Older mum- yr contract is with the agency and you need to let them know as it's their reputation on the line.

I use an agency too and it has it's advantages and disadvantages. Had someone great for over a year but she left to have a baby. Had a random selection for a while as they were trying to find somone - I want mine done on a Friday which is a popular day. It was hit or miss. The agency I use is local and privately owned and sometimes the owner comes and cleans.

If I were you I would talk to them and tell thm what happened. Ask for somone else next time. And maybe in the meantime ask around for personal recommendations.

Good luck. Sounds like you are having a stressful time.

I had agency cleaners and they were crap, they used to cancel last minute and I spent longer clearing things that they couldn't possibly work around away than I would have done doing it myself.

Also, I have worked as a cleaner, and in two and a half hours I cleaned a kithcne, three bathrooms, hoovered the (six bedroom) house and cleaned windows. Your expectations were totally reasonable.

It's been a long time since I had anything to do with cleaners, and I have to say I didn't even think of insurance!

If you employ someone direct and they don't have their own, is there a way of getting it yourself?

Or if you find someone really good, offering to contribute to their insurance?

Definitely take photos and complain to the agency. If I had a cleaner I would expect everything to be put back in its place - it's part of the job!

You may well find that your own household insurance covers both breakages and the like and also liability if cleaner falls down your stairs and breaks themselves (or whatever) if you opt to employ someone directly.

Our new cleaners are here and are being so thorough that I really, really wish I wasn't here, or at least that the DC weren't here (half term this week) so I could retreat to my office and not be so aware of them finding all the filthy neglected corners which abound in this house

I don't think lack of thoroughness is going to be an issue with this lot, though - unfortunately we are about an hour away from you, OP, or I would recommend them.

That's a shame Stealth :-(

Oh puffle that made me giggle why was a teenager wearing one of your evening dresses? And oldermummy don't feel guilty if you went to the hairdressers and had a terrible haircut you wouldn't keep going back because you felt guilty? You are paying for a service so you should expect the service to be done properly I hope you get it sorted soon.

We have an agency cleaner, she was the first one they sent and she's brilliant! We both work really long hours so it's great to come home once a week and find the place sparkling. We have a spacious 3-bed flat in London, and pay £22 for 2 hours' cleaning a week (no ironing) which our cleaner does a fabulous job in. She puts everything back where it came from, folds laundry if it's dry on the racks and is generally fab.

Sounds like YANBU to contact the agency and tell them not to send her again, and even ask for a partial refund given she did such a crap job!

Forgot to mention, our cleaner gets £9 p/h and the agency gets £2 p/h. She gets to keep all of Christmas/birthday bonuses, obvs.

London, 4-bed terrace here and our cleaner does 3 hours a week of cleaning for £10 per hour. She's brilliant. When she temporarily gave up cleaning because she was having an operation, we used an agency cleaner who wasn't anything like as thorough as our original cleaner. I like coming home from work and being able to tell that the house has been cleaned - that wasn't the case with the agency cleaner.

After a few months, I contacted original cleaner to let her know that a friend (who'd also used her pre-op) and I had been discussing how much we missed her thorough approach to cleaning and how the two different agency cleaners that we'd had simply didn't clean to the same standard. I received a message saying that original cleaner had been thinking of returning to work and could start again on X date if I'd like. I was thrilled. There are weeks when she hasn't been able to come due to a family crisis or illness but she does such a good job when she comes, that I'd rather cope with that than replace her.

Looking on a local forum is how I found our cleaner.

A good cleaner, as you know is a godsend.

I pay 10quid / hour. one bed flat similar to the one described above. Cleaner nominally comes for 2 hrs.

Does a bit of ironing and boring things like plant watering, hanging out washing etc. ( I travel a lot and watering my plants is key!).

Current one not as good as previous cleaner (I moved) who now cleans twice/week for my aged and slightly difficult grandparents and my Dad. Both households love her and really really illustrate the pleasure a good cleaner can bring.