Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think £14 an hour for a cleaner is too much??

153 replies

LucieLucie · 09/03/2017 22:48

Booked a regular 2 hour cleaning slot with a local business on the understanding it was £14 an hour and work in pairs.

Discovered today that 2 hours actually means 1 hour with 2 people.

I turned up mid clean last week to find just one person doing the cleaning - I was charged for 3 hours.

Challenged her today after coming home to a half hearted attempt at cleaning, beds not made, bins not emptied, glass & mirrors not polished, only floors mopped.

Owner went mental at me on the phone for , only questioned how I can be charged for 3 hours when I was only out for 2 hours and it was some time during this time the clean was done.

When I asked for key back she hung up.

If she'd explained her terms and conditions properly and calmly rather than acting like a loon I may have given them another chance.

AIBU? Is it really the norm to pay a cleaner £14 an hour EACH??

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 09/03/2017 23:31

If you've never had a cleaner, how do you know what they can do in two hours?

Maxwellthecat · 09/03/2017 23:31

Lifefrog

I have a cleaner because I run a business and I could make more money doing what I do than in the hour to clean. So the way I see it I'm better off spending that hour doing my job and pay someone to clean than clean myself. Also I hate cleaning and I like a clean house

Liiinoo · 09/03/2017 23:32

little frog. I hate cleaning but I love a clean house. That's why I have cleaners.

I used to be a cleaner when I was younger and hard up but somehow cleaning my own house is more depressing than cleaning other peoples houses

GloriaGaynor · 09/03/2017 23:33

I have a cleaner as I love having a clean house and hate cleaning.

I'd rather be working and earning money. I pay £15 an hour in London.

Maxwellthecat · 09/03/2017 23:33

I'm in the north east and I pay my cleaner £12 an hour, she spent four hours doing my kitchen today. She totally gutted it, washed the insides of all the cupboards, my washing machine, my oven, all the things that I would never even think to do.

ohgoshIdontknow · 09/03/2017 23:33

LOL at 'not understanding' why you would have a cleaner.

GloriaGaynor · 09/03/2017 23:34

Xpost with liinoo - snap!

Original poster
LucieLucie · 09/03/2017 23:35

purple good question "If you've never had a cleaner how do you know what they can do in two hours?"

I know because the owner came round to assess the house and I told her what I'd like to be done. She reckoned it should take 2 hours, maybe 3 the first week (She billed me for 3 even though I came home to find her cleaning alone) Do she either did 1.5 hours alone and charged me for her imaginary friend or her friend was there and did duck out mid clean like she claimed Hmm

OP posts:
2017willbeawesome · 09/03/2017 23:35

*There's no way there's been 3 hours worth of cleaning done here today.

I booked a 2 hour slot (or 1 hour in her book) but they apparently needed longer and worked an extra half hour each.

I'm baffled.

No paperwork or formal written agreement. Nothing signed.

Just an invoice for hours.
Find a new cleaner. You should have a contract when using a professional cleaning company. If it doesn't look like 3 hours it probably wasn't. And if you have only requested 2 and have no sight of T&Cs then you how do you know if you are obliged or not to pay for them to do more hours. I really don't like the fact no formal contract is in place, but the owner is quoting it's in the terms. Insist on getting a copy of the terms and conditions, if you have not signed the terms (double check they are not in small print on the invoice), then you can not be bound them if no monies have been handed over. Note there are some grey areas over inferred contracts. Personally I would find a new cleaner, ensure you get a contract, that the hours and rates are agreed up front, along with the key tasks that are expected to be carried out during those hours.

littlefrog3 · 09/03/2017 23:40

ohgoshidontknow

LOL at 'not understanding' why you would have a cleaner.

Yeah; and LOL at the amount of people on mumsnet who have a cleaner! Wink

I can be fucking sarcastic too. Hmm

QueenMortificado · 09/03/2017 23:40

I don't "get it" that people would spend their time cleaning themselves if they can afford to hire a cleaner! What a waste of time!

littlefrog3 · 09/03/2017 23:42

What a wanky comment^

PurpleDaisies · 09/03/2017 23:44

What's "wanky" about *queen"'s comment? If you pay a decent amount you're giving someone employment plus freeing yourself from something that most people find a nuisance.

littlefrog3 · 09/03/2017 23:45

As I said it's only people on message forums who claim to have a cleaner for their home. Don't know a soul who does in real life.

Funny that innit? Grin

Goodnight all you terribly busy professional people.

PurpleDaisies · 09/03/2017 23:46

You're obviously spoiling for a fight littlefrog. It's really odd to be so annoyed that people have cleaners.

applesareredandgreen · 09/03/2017 23:48

Littlefrog - re not doing much cleaning in 2 hours - I don't have a cleaner but when cleaning the house myself I clean my whole house in less than 2 hours ...... admittedly my house is small and my standards aren't that high .......

QueenMortificado · 09/03/2017 23:49

I guess you also don't know anyone who gets their car cleaned, or gets their hair cut, or has their dogs walked. Or has their children looked after.

I mean, they're all things we can do perfectly well for ourselves right.

QueenMortificado · 09/03/2017 23:51

As I said it's only people on message forums who claim to have a cleaner for their home. Don't know a soul who does in real life.

Yes it's all made up. Cleaners actually don't exist. They're like ghosts or zombies.

Egghead68 · 09/03/2017 23:51

I pay £12 an hour in the south east (outside London)

BackforGood · 09/03/2017 23:51

YOu were being very naive to think that you would get two cleaners, plus an agency cut on top of that for £14 an hour all in.
You might get a cleaner who would work a longer shift for £7 - £8 an hour, but whenever you use an agency for anything, you will pay over the odds, as you are paying all their profit costs too.

I'm in Midlands and pay £20 for one person to do 2 hours work - so £10 an hour. All to her. No agency fees.

Strygil · 09/03/2017 23:51

"No paperwork or formal written agreement. Nothing signed."

In which case you haven't a legal leg to stand on.

CointreauVersial · 09/03/2017 23:54

I have a cleaner because I've got better things to do with my spare time than clean.

I pay £12 per person per hour. So two of them come for 90 minutes, which costs £36. If one of them does the clean on her own, I still pay £36, but it takes twice as long (obviously). It doesn't really matter to me whether two people do the clean in half the time - I'm still paying per "man" hour.

£14 is on the high side, but not ridiculous. £7 would have been very very cheap! You should have made sure you were clear about the pricing before you started.

MrsMoastyToasty · 09/03/2017 23:54

I'm obviously in the wrong job. Most of the prices PPs have mentioned are more than I get paid per hour for my admin job!

Dontactlikeyouknowme · 09/03/2017 23:55

£14 an hour is about right for cleaning someones shit up.

ArriettyClock1 · 09/03/2017 23:56

We pay our gardener £50 for 3 hours per week, so comparable.

He charges new clients £60 for 3 hours.

Haven't got a cleaner at mo as she left, but she charged a bargainous (I thought) £50 for 4 hours.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.