Cleaner swap

[Ghostlife]

I just happen to be in today when I hear the door and go to say hello to my cleaner. Instead there was a total stranger that I could not talk to due to language barrier.

I was very careful took 3 references for my cleaner and got her national insurance number and checked her passport.

Not happy as excuse cleaner gave is she is in A & E. I would not have minded her not coming she knows that but I do mind my keys being given to a stranger without my permission. She said she had texted me (did not receive it) but she should have waited for a reply. I was only texting her at 10 pm last night....

We sacked our last cleaner for the exact same thing. A random turned up and said she would now be cleaning for us instead of the previous woman. I said she bloody well wouldn't, took the keys off her and asked her not to come back!

She was in a&e and she managed to get the keys to another person and give them all the details? did they collect the keys from a&e? Did she go to them with the keys before going to a&e? were the keys left in an accessible to anyone place and the person just got them? So many questions!

I don't know, but that doesn't sound right. Giving the keys, the address, instructions... sounds more like something you plan to do, rather than something you do in an emergency situation, when it would be far more normal to either contact and say sorry, or not contact due to - being in A&E! but explain later.

I would hazard a guess that she regularly sub contracts her cleaning.

That's appalling and completely unacceptable!

We found our cleaner through an agency, and although they always offer us an alternative cleaner when she's on holiday we always decline - we don't want a complete randomer in our home! I'm not surprised you were shocked!

Yeah that's quite a huge breach of trust. Effectively letting a stranger into your home! And the worst thing is that you only know about it by chance! YANBU to be miffed!

That is what I think as the cleaner knows her way around the house and it is such a tall story. Pretty upset considering she knows I would not have minded in the slightest.

Plus my keys had my name and address on them which is not secure. I feel very let down...

I'm confused, is this foreign lady the cleaning business owner's employee or are they both from the same company?

I don't understand this at all as we are a cleaning company our cleaners are employed and trained by us, we are not an agency who send self-employed cleaners to clients but, although we try to send the same team to the same client, all parties know that sometimes due to sickness or holiday they have to cover one another's clients. We have never had issue with this as all teams provide the same service and are our employees, but I'm getting the impression this is a different scenario somehow.

Is it that you suspect the cleaner's employee to be an illegal immigrant or that she is not legally employed by her and working for cash? Is she covered by the business owner's insurance?

I employed a cleaner NOT a cleaning company! That is why I am so upset.

I'd change the locks and get a new cleaner/go to a cleaning company. That's all a bit too lackadaisical for me.

I sacked my last cleaner for a similar reason OP. I came home to pick up something I'd forgotten and found a stanger cleaning my toilet. Turned out she was my cleaners dd!! She said she was short on cash so her mum had suggested she cleaned my house for a few weeks and I'd said it was OK!

To be honest if she'd asked me and given me the opportunity to meet her dd first I may have agreed to it but it was the underhand wayy it was done that infuriated me and the fact she lied to her dd.

My new cleaner is lovely and very reliable but she's about to go into hospital for an operation which will put her out of action for four weeks. My house is going to be in a terrible state by the time she comes back. I'm dyspraxic, disorganised and generally find cleaning an uphill struggle (seriously hoovers and mops are a challange to me with my lack of co-ordination I keep banging into things or hurting myself on tehm) . She's the best £30 I spend every week to be honest.

Did you get your keys back?

Took them back straight away and texted original cleaner to say her services were no longer required