iMessage didn't deliver... she wants me to pay her.

[LiveLiveAnna]

Cleaner text me via iMessage asking if she can change her days. I responded through text saying 'no problem see you on ...' - my message didn't deliver to her as she hasn't connected to WiFi over the weekend and has her iMessage enabled. I text her again to confirm and had no response. I had no idea it hadn't delivered to her. She's now turned up on the original day (I haven't been at home to let her in as she has no keys yet) and she's claiming that I need to pay her the £30 for cleaning as I didn't ensure the messages had delivered.

My argument was that if you have your phone set up to receive iMessage, and you send ME an iMessage, you should then ensure that you are connected to WiFi in order to receive my response. If you have iMessage turned on and aren't connected to the WiFi, it's your fault you didn't receive the message...

Who is BU? Me for thinking it's a mix up and I shouldn't have to pay her £30 for cleaning that didn't happen? Or her, for expecting me to pay her £30 when she hasn't done the work because her phone couldn't receive my message?

I sound really annoyed but I haven't actually responded to her voicemail yet so trying to get some honest perspective from AIBU!

Thanks.

I think this is her fault. She was the one changing times - not you - so the onus was on her to confirm what was happening.
She could have messaged again, called, dropped in - she had loads of ways to clarify what was going on, but she didn't.

Pay her £30 for nothing.. I don't think so. She should be more careful in getting her messages. If she's got a problem, you can always look for a new cleaner.

Could have rung her? It's safer than text, at least you know she will get the message.

I wrote a long considered reply then thought, fuck it, the woman hasn’t even got keys yet and you're already having issues with her. This doesn’t bode well for the future. Time to start again.

What is all this about iMessage needing WiFi?
It needs data just the same as regular messages. However the messages don’t come out of your message allowance.

@SausageOnAFork

And if you've ran out if data on your contract or credit, then you need wi-fi.

IMessage often doesn't go.

You can tell because it will say delivered if it's gone and read when it's been read.

If it doesn't deliver then I send a text instead.

As my husband would say, pick up the phone and call you. That's what a phone is for. Call to confirm you have received her message and it's ok to change days.

She didn't and assumed you didn't agree. That is not your fault.

Good point 50.
Well then it is her problem. If she was out of data or credit she should connect to WiFi to check her messages.

Absolutely her fault and you shouldn't pay. She contacted you and you responded the same way. End of.

Would be different if you had contacted her first or if you had used a different medium..

Yes she should have checked her messages if shed sent you the first one.

But like others are saying if it didn't show as delivered, you could send it by text instead. You sent her another message so would have seen that it didn't deliver, although you probably didn't notice.

It's all a bit strange, she didn't receive a reply but didn't chase it so turned up on the original day. You replied and changed day but no confirmation text so assumed she was coming on the changed date

But no let her go

Cleaning business owner here of over 20 years.

Unprofessional behaviour from her and yet she is trying to impose a 'lock out' charge which professional companies do have to apply. This would be fine if she herself were not at fault.

Sounds like she dropped the ball with communications and then had a bit of a tantrum. Not great service!

No way should you pay for work that wasn't done because the cleaner didn't check on or chase up a reply to her original message. On another note, I've never been so glad not to have an iPhone. This iMessaging thing sounds flaky as hell.

No wifi and no reply to her message, she should have texted you or call you to confirm anyway.
What's wrong with ringing and actually talking to people?

I wouldn't pay her.

@grumiosmum it won't necessarily say read once it's been read. I turned that off on my phone so people only know if a message has been delivered, not when I've read it.

It was most likely an honest mistake on both parts and if both had been more diligent then avoidable. She’s a cleaner £30 will no doubt be a lot to her too - try and do the decent thing and at least offer half. Seems kind and fair

Definitely wouldn't pay. If i email someone needing a response, I'm checking my email for one and making sure my data is fine and roaming on.

If you can prove you have attempted to send her imessages - the rest is not your problem. Otherwise it would be decent to reimburse her wasted time.

Try and do the decent thing... The decent thing would be for the cleaner (ie business owner) to acknowledge her mistake and take no further action. Not demand money for nothing and leave a rude recorded message.

Op doesn't need to prove anything. When cleaner didn't see a reply she should have picked up the phone and spoken to her customer. It's her business, her responsibility (spoken as someone who cleaned for some years).
Hope Op can update soon.

Rid rid rid! Plenty more cleaners out there. She sounds awful. And there'd always be a bit of an atmosphere and a feeling of her calling the shots.

You definitely don't need to pay. My husband is a part time gardener and occasionally people have forgotten to unlock the back gate or they have gone on holiday and have forgotten to tell him and he can't get access- this is even after I email the day before every visit to remind them he is coming. It happens, we all forget things. I certainly wouldn't charge the people for the visit as he didn't do the gardening. When this has happened I have emailed to say "unfortunately ** couldn't gain access so hasn't been able to garden. He will be back in 2 weeks time as usual"... If he has some free time then we will reschedule so we still get the £, but that isn't possibly most of the time. You have to suck it up and move on.

I haven’t read all messages. But you should have your iPhone so that if the iMessage doesn’t send then it would go as a text.
I do cleaning for 2 people at the moment as it fits in with the kids. I turned up to clean in the school holidays, no one home. So I text her to find she was on holiday. She’s forgotten to tell me. She did offer to pay me the following week. But I declined. I was pleased to not do it that week. Why should I be paid for something I haven’t done?

Absolutely not. You tried to get in touch twice you can’t control her phone settings. She’s not that nice if she’s cheeky enough to try and charge you. Get rid

Ok, let's assume she wrote a message asking to change day's and never knew if it had or hadn't sent/been read/been replied to...

She just assumed it was lost on route and went back to her normal pattern... Message lost or ignored.

She turned up-you weren't in as expected, and the unknown (at best) reason behind this was a communication error.

She didn't call you to see where you were or what had happened, and she was a little miffed at going over that day, but the voicemail was unprofessional and rude!

I wouldn't want to work with her again. I'd find a recommendation through a friend.

As for paying half or any of it-she didn't do the work and where's the proof she DID turn up?

A lot of people have got things wrong today and no-one pays for their mistakes. And she's been horrid on the voicemail instead of checking what happened, so I'd say she probably knows it was a mix up or is naturally quick to anger and rude to her client.

I knew it wouldn't be far down a cleaning lady thread for someone to point out that she may pay her gas and electric with her money... 😂

I hope most people ear-mark money for bills, but she might have planned to go on a bender with it or put it towards holiday spend!
She likely brings home more than me! "Poor" (not that we know that) but slightly rude under these circumstances lady with a job that she is paid for...

But you should have your iPhone so that if the iMessage doesn’t send then it would go as a text.

How do you do this please?