Expensive ornament and cleaner - WWYD

[crispysausagerolls]

An small but expensive ornament that was a wedding gift (and therefore means a lot to us) is usually kept on display on a sort of mantelpiece. It was there last week but over the course of this week seems to have vanished. I have searched high and low, DH swears he hasn’t touched it or been near it and there is no sight of it, no one else has been round to our place. My only thought is that perhaps the cleaner has broken it and didn’t want to say anything? However she is an agency cleaner with limited English so my only way of knowing would be to email them and I don’t want to get her into trouble. On the other hand where else could it be and shouldn’t she have said if it were her?!

What would you do? Feels like some sort of terribly boring Agatha Christie mystery

What a shame the bin men have come. I had similar, a Llandro bride and groom that was a wedding present (one if very few, long story there). It was kept on the mantle and I told every cleaner how important it was to me, please be careful. Of course I could see very quickly one day it was missing. Messaged her and she said she was sure it was where it belongs. I Looked in the bin and sure enough broken and thrown away. Being I was first home, I knew it wasn't anyone else.
The horrid thing was, was not so badly token and if they’d owned up and saved the pieces, I might have been able to get it fixed. Sadly, they literally just threw it in the outside bin so all pieces scattered about. Just too many missing to be repaired.

Yes, fired that one. The dishonesty was too much. You can understand an accident, but not being underhanded about it.

Ask her directly where she has moved it to because it is a very sentimental piece to you so you had left it in that position so you could see it easily/frequently and have happy memories when you saw it. That you noticed it was gone after she cleaned - and that if she has broken it then can she please at least tell you where she put the bits because as it's so important to you, you would like to try to mend it or even just have the bits to know that you have them...

And then see what her reaction is...

AdoreTheBeach

I’m sorry, how upsetting. What aCF though, lying to your face!!!

Can’t believe the cleaner who posted pics on fb 😱😱😱

She really speaks about 7 words of English im not exaggerating, so I’m not sure how to explain.

I would hope the agency have insurance no? Perhaps if she had told me at the time but since no one has owned up, if she had broken it and not said I would expect some sort of contribution, yes. Or is that unreasonable? Mostly I just want to know the truth - I’m very annoyed about the bins

What if i email agency just asking where she’s moved it or if she’s seen it?

You'll just have to ask her. If she admits to it, then you may feel there's no need to take it further. I would however feel the trust had gone, as she didn't admit to it.

A few years ago, my cleaner broke a glass. No biggie, you'd think? I was in the house (but on a conference call), and heard it smash. I knew she had done it. She left without saying anything to me.

She failed to contact me afterwards ,so I texted her and asked her where the glass was. It was a bathroom glass so sat in a holder on the wall.

She ignored me on text and when I rang her. So I phoned her manager and said I didn't want her back in the house as I no longer trusted her. He never even asked me why!

Cross-posted.

If she speaks to little English, then you have no choice but to email the agency. They absolutely should have insurance.

Summergems, a lot of people choose to have cash in hand cleaners as they are cheaper though. If someone wants to pay someone cash in hand, they shouldn't be surprised if that cleaner doesn't have insurance. The onus should be on the employer to check that the cleaner is properly insured - if they aren't, and you still choose to hire them, then you can't deduct anything from their wages. Of course, you are within your rights to stop using her services though, but no deductions can be made from wages!

Well the company say she hasn’t seen it. I have to say I’m 99% sure she must have because there’s literally no other explanation.

I am shocked by so many of the stories on here!

If you hire a proper cleaner through an agency they absolutely should have insurance in case they damage any expensive items. My gran’s cleaner once used washing up liquid to wash a big splash of dirt from the external wall beside the back door. It stripped the colour from the render and the whole back wall had to be re-rendered at a cost of £1500.

My gran’s cleaner once used washing up liquid to wash a big splash of dirt from the external wall beside the back door. It stripped the colour from the render and the whole back wall had to be re-rendered at a cost of £1500

Blimey. What brand of washing up liquid was that?

Fairy liquid I think. Gran had this posh new acrylic render and you’d expect to be able to wash walls with soapy water, but it stripped the colour out!

Lordy. Powerful stuff!

crispy this is absolutely the agency or cleaning company's (if it's not an agency setup)'s job to take care of.

This is whatt they are there to manage especially in the case of a cleaning company rather than just an agency set up.

But even if you are with just an agency, any insurance issues would usually go via them and even if the cleaners themselves carry the insurance they are there to facilitate use of this.

Please contact management as soon as possible surely this is what you are paying for rather than trying to manage this on your own and yet paying a company?

We are a private company and not an agency but either way I would expect clients to come to us to mange our staff not try the minefield of doing it themselves.

My daughter's squishy gel filled ball disappeared one day after the cleaner had been in. I found one plastic dolphin that had been inside the ball stuck under the staur carpet. It must have made a huge mess when it broke but she denies all knowledge of it

jgjgjg

I don’t understand why people can’t just own up to things?

I really think that this issue is all about honesty!

most of our clients understand that small breakage is not covered by our insurance due to the excess and they mainly all say 'oh accidents will happen when you do what you must for your job' .

They mostly do accept that insurance is mainly there for the big things that could bankrupt any party like fire or flood.

BUT the one thing that does come up within our cleaning company is that they expect honesty about damage! Not many clients would actually hold us accountable for damage but all WOULD want to be told about it.

If someone is being paid and is trusted to come into your home they should be trusted to follow their company's procedure and report damage.

If not the company needs to know this!

DanglyEeerieOrnaments

The agency have said she said she hasn’t seen it 🤷🏻‍♀️ To be honest I just don’t believe this because I can’t see how it’s possible, so now I have negative feelings and distrust the cleaner, but have no proof so nothing I can do.

crispy it really looks like she did it and is telling fibs.

There's no proof but where else could it be? If that is what she's done it might be best to request a different cleaner from the agency as trust is everything when someone is allowed into your home with a key.

Gosh these stories! We had a wonderful cleaner who we loved dearly, she was so sweet. She used to tiptoe around the place when I was sleeping after night shifts and leave lovely little notes to say she hoped she hadn’t woken me

The place was gleaming, she never left early and sometimes she’d bring her little boy in half term and he helped with the hoovering

She moved on to pastures new and we were so sad to see her go, not sure we’ll ever find anyone as lovely as her so no more cleaners for us!