To complain to the cleaner?

[PrincessWatermelon]

I kind of think this needs addressing, but not sure of the best way or what to say.

We had a new cleaner come for the first time today - 4 hours for a deep clean. Not overly impressed with her work, but hey ho. However, she's obviously spilt something on the wooden floor. She's not left me a note (except her bank details to transfer her money, which I haven't yet done). There are 3 areas that clearly show it (see pics).

How would you deal with it?

She's lying, lying, lying.

Ask for her insurance details again and don't send any money.

Dear cleaner, I am so sorry to hear about all your problems. I will gladly pay what I owe you as soon as I recover the costs of cleaning from your insurance company - the quicker you send me their details the quicker that can happen

You won't hear from her again but at least you can put th £50 towards sorting out the floor. If you're in NW London try indigo floors in Mill Hill, they did a great job on ours.

List everything she's told you and see what adds up.
Can you see her personal facebook page? There can be loads of information on there about where /if she is a student; if she has lost a baby then there's bound to be messages. Even a recently uploaded profile pic could swing you either way.
Unfortunately it sounds like she's weaved herself a tangled web of lies.
I always insist on cleaners using my products, which I'm sure you will too now!

This is such a mumsnet post, first world problems.

Sorry I should mock it is a real consumer issues. Asked for a service and the service provider has failed. So naturally you wouldn't want to pay her. So ask your self what if you don't pay her?

Would she take legal action to recover the money? If so in a civil court (based on balance of probabilities) would she win? Do you think she would risk losing money and possibly a counter claim too is she took you to court and lost?

Would she try to recover the money or get revenge via other means? Maybe through constant harassment, criminal damage, physical harm? Would you be willing to face this and attempt a police prosecution or would it be easier to pay her off to leave you alone?

Personally I wouldn't pay her or since it was a big expensive job if she has done some good work in other areas pay her a fraction of her fee reflecting the good bits?

@PrincessWatermelon leave an honest review on her "company" Facebook page.

If she asked you to transfer payment, is her surname on the invoice or account details that she gave you?

I'd let it go.

If she's lying, she's a low life, and karma will bite her ass eventually.

If she's genuine, it's heaping misery on misery on someone who's struggling with money for the sake of a stain on a wood floor that the OP can afford to fix herself if she chooses.

Lessons learned, but what's to be gained now from pursuing it? Sometimes being right is just not worth it.

No surname on the bank details. I was going to message her to ask her so I can pay her!!

What if she did lose a baby? I think you need to concentrate on the floor and the damage rather than other elements of her life.

Also are you sure she did it?

Won't her insurance co ask you to prove it?

Going to go against the flow here but I think you're being a bit precious tbh. You hired a cleaner on the cheap who may or may not have damaged your floor. Did you give her instructions on how to clean said floor? Asked her to use a particular product? Checked her references/insurance?

Buyer beware I'm afraid. Pay her for the work and get another cleaner. Put it down to experience.

I don't know if this will help, but I stained a wooden floor about a year ago with the steam cleaner. It left a white mark on the floor when I switched it off but left it propped up against the wall. I looked on the Internet and found that you could use a hairdryer to get rid of the stain. You'd have to Google to see exactly how to do it, but it actually worked for me. I think it was just use the hairdryer on a medium heat, constantly moving around the stain.

I don't believe for a second her story is true. (What bereaved mother goes to work the day before their child's funeral?) I would get some quotes for fixing it and send them to her. This is what she has offered and I think it's fair enough to go ahead with that.

I would also try and find her on FB to see if any mention of a funeral. Some businesses have their personal FB page as a friend on their business page. Worth a look.

I don't think the marks on OPs floors are the water marks others are talking about which can be removed. Those marks on the OPs floor look as if the top layer of the wood has been lifted off. Wood flooring gets build up of dirt and grime over the years that is only noticeable when something takes a layer of it off. This is what has happened here I think. The zoflora has stripped the top layer off. It won't be fixable without doing the whole floor.

You'd have to be a bad person to invent a dead child.

It might be possible to fill in the lightened part with one of those wood crayons or a light wood stain but I wouldn't try that without speaking to the manufacturer.

Re the insurance - I had it for my cleaning business, Inc. accidental damage insurance (which is extra) and the excess was £500. I felt I could cover that if need be, but it doesn't sound like she could afford to a stump up a similar sum.

Littlecaf - I didn't hire a cleaner on the cheap. She has an apparently reputable FB business with a full page with reviews. I already said I got muddled as was messaging a few cleaners about availability and thought she had insurance. I also admit this isn't something I have a lot of experience in. She came in with loads of kit and products. I almost felt embarrassed telling her what to clean and how (the bits I thought important). I will be sure to be more explicit next time. And let's remember, there is a huge stain with splash marks indicating a spillage and a strong strong smell of floral cleaning products. All that tells me this wasn't just water from a steam cleaner (which surely any cleaner would know not to use on a wooden floor!). In my professional capacity I would be very annoyed if my client told me how to do my job. And I felt that I ought to offer her the same professional curtesy. More fool me apparently.

And breathe!!!

Also, I'm totally not chasing her up for anything. She has no money and she has no insurance. I already said I value her mental health more than my floor and if she needs to lie about such awful things, then she needs the help more than me and my floor. When this post started we didn't have that information.

Ok. Really need to chill out about all this!!

Thank you for the advice on improving the marks. Will do some homework too.

Hope you get it sorted @PrincessWatermelon

I would choose kindness here. It almost doesn't matter if she is lying. Choose who you want to be and let karma take care of the rest.

princesswatermelon if only all people could be as rational as you. You deserve a pat on the back.
Sorry you now have these annoying marks on your floor but hopefully you'll get them sorted one way or another.

My first thought on reading about the loss of her baby is that she has had a miscarriage. I know locally that women who have had a miscarriage are offered the option of the hospital arranging a shared cremation; the date of which women are informed of, and they can attend a short service held beforehand if they want to. Lots of these woman will be back at work by the time this service happens and they may not have told anyone about the miscarriage, let alone put it on Facebook etc. Lots of women don't attend the service but that doesn't mean that it's not a significant date or that they're not thinking about it and affected by it. Very sad if she has made this up but I'd give her the benefit of the doubt (as it seems OP has)

Just something else that's occurred to me...she said she cleaned the floor with her usual water and steam cleaner. As apparently I didn't say not to. However the floor isn't clean!! When we tried to clean the marks off, it's actually filthy! And there are loads of things in these rooms (sitting room, play room and dining room, all open plan) so cleaning the floor would be a major deal to do properly. So it makes me question her story yet further.

Perhaps she spilt from a bucket as she went from the downstairs loo to the kitchen. And didn't even notice. Hot day, it dried.

Anyway. It doesn't change that it's happened and I am going to let it go. I still struggle to imagine anyone would make such a story up.

Both DH and I said the story she has provided is rubbish. I would be very hard, whilst I appreciate funeral week very upsetting it doesn't sort my floor! You are too nice OP.

(What bereaved mother goes to work the day before their child's funeral?)

The kind that lives on a very low income and cannot always afford to eat.

Good on you PrincessWatermelon, for your maturity in this situation.

The hairdryer might work, its not in a hidden area though to try it out, which is a shame.

In future if you do redo your floors, Osmo oil is fab and you can sand down and touch up damaged patches without doing the whole floor. Your floor looks great I'd be very peeved if it can't be sorted!