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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

That I shouldn’t have paid cleaner for four full hours

151 replies

Bizawit · 11/10/2019 20:26

I have recently had a baby. I’m a single mum and in need of help, so I hired a cleaner through a friend’s recommendation.

I originally asked for 3 hours every 2 weeks. After coming once, she insisted it was not possible to fully clean my flat in 3 hours and she needed 4. I said ok.

The next time she came, after about 3 hours and 40/45 minutes, she announced she was done, and was leaving. I was surprised that she still charged me for the full four hours.

My bf says that’s fair because it’s a charge for every hour started. I think she was being a CF and she should have either stayed the full 4 hours as agreed, or expect to be paid less. AIBU?

OP posts:
BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 11/10/2019 22:15

DoctorAllcome

All well and good but the wait of a second week doesn't make the floorplan any bigger. If It takes 2 hours it takes 2 hours. Whether it's then repeated a week later or two weeks later. It still takes 5 seconds to dust down a shelf - whether that shelf has one weeks dust on it or two.

FinnMcMissile · 11/10/2019 22:16

I asked the same question on here once and got the same replies as you have. However, I agree with you that they should work the full amount of time agreed. There is always stuff to clean, I'm sure she could have filled 15 min.

separatebeds · 11/10/2019 22:17

Can't believe all these people thinking it ok for her to leave early!. Of course it is not.
She is paid to work for 4 hours so she needs to bloody well work. Make sure there is loads for her to do. Once she has finished cleaning she can do specific tasks like clean fridge or get on with ironing. Write her a list - make sure she is washing skirting, wiping down walls etc.

My cleaner does this if I leave her on her own. I now make sure I am in the house when she works.

DoctorAllcome · 11/10/2019 22:17

Too, OP do you have pets? Cat & dog hair.....
Older children as well as baby?

I agree you should expect a clean house top to bottom given its size.
I’d expect cleaner to log under/over so she or he can do 15mins over one day at no charge.
Just going to say this, male cleaners are faster, just as thorough and therefore cheaper from a $ per room cleaned perspective.

DoctorAllcome · 11/10/2019 22:20

All well and good but the wait of a second week doesn't make the floorplan any bigger. If It takes 2 hours it takes 2 hours. Whether it's then repeated a week later or two weeks later. It still takes 5 seconds to dust down a shelf - whether that shelf has one weeks dust on it or two.

Bull. It’s a fact it’s easier and faster to clean anything that is less dirty to begin with. Whether that is dusting a shelf, mopping a floor, scrubbing a stove, bathroom, toilet bowl w/skid marks, soap scummy bathtubs, need I go on?

LauraMacArthur · 11/10/2019 22:23

Gamerchick

I agree with you that 4 is too long, but for fortnightly I think 3 hrs is standard, so you must be fast? Lucky your clients I guessSmile I don't think I could personally do it faster than 3 including washing skirting boards with a cloth.

LauraMacArthur · 11/10/2019 22:25

Sell I could maybe do it it 2.45🙂

regmover · 11/10/2019 22:26

4 hours to clean a flat? Has it got 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms??

Original poster
Bizawit · 11/10/2019 22:28

No pets. No other DC, just me and baby. I thought the flat looked nice when I got back but it wasn’t spotless- there was certainly more that could be done. As a pp pointed out, I think I was also a little miffed that she asserted she couldn’t possibly clean my flat in 3 hours, but by 3h 45m, she had apparently exhausted all possible tasks..

OP posts:
Puzzledandpissedoff · 11/10/2019 22:29

I went out both times while she was cleaning

Somehow I thought you'd say that

Nothing at all wrong at with what you did of course, but she was handed the opportunity to take the p**s and that's what she's almost certainly done

Just get another cleaner, because this one isn't going to get any better

Majorcollywobble · 11/10/2019 22:35

I can see why you are concerned.
I can just see how it would go down if any other type of employee breezily announced “Well I’m off now “ and swanned away from their desk / checkout etc . 15 minutes early !
And at this early stage especially time keeping is an important issue .
I can trust my cleaner with her own key. As sometimes I go out and leave her to it . She does two hours- it’s a tiny house - and does a good enough job . Better than I’m prepared to do !

FavouriteSong · 11/10/2019 22:47

I think she's taking advantage of you. A flat the size you describe shouldn't take 4 hours to clean.

JudefromJersey · 11/10/2019 22:48

Mine leaves 10 minutes early most weeks and it infuriates me. I asked a similar question here a few months back and if I recall correctly, people didn’t think I was unreasonable to be annoyed. They did in fact tell me to grow a pair and tell her I wasn’t happy. I still have not grown said pair.
If I were you, I’d go back to paying her for 3 hours and tell her to keep going until the time is up, and then leave irrespective of whether it’s done. I too would query why it takes her so long to clean a flat.

darkparadise1 · 11/10/2019 22:49

Four hours is ridiculous in my opinion. Our old cleaner did our whole house (5 bedrooms) thoroughly in 3 hours.

Sometimes she could only fit us in for 2 hours and she managed a decent clean then. She's retired now and we really miss her.

We have had other cleaners since who maybe weren't as reliable etc but still did a thorough job in 3 hours.

onemorerose · 11/10/2019 22:59

I briefly tried the cleaner route and discovered food still embedded in the floor under my child’s high chair; this is mess that couldn’t be missed. I got rid of the cleaner and atm my house looks like shitConfused

Original poster
Bizawit · 11/10/2019 23:07

Ha @onemorerose! Sympathies. I think this is the reality I’m facing too- that a slightly shady cleaner is better than no cleaner at all Confused.

OP posts:
SD1978 · 11/10/2019 23:11

I don't see it being petty. This woman is an employee. I can not imagine any business who would be happy to pay their staff a full shift and have them walk out 15-20 minutes early. I'd pay the whole cost this time, and if it happened again, would have a list of things ready she could do extra to make it to the end of the time. I do t walk out of work early, or I'm not employed anymore. I don't see this scenario as any different. I found out the cleaner I employed was leaving half an hour early- so contacted the company, paid for half an hour less and left an extra list from that point on.

Comefromaway · 11/10/2019 23:16

She should do 4 hours. We had cleaners at work like this. Charged for 2 hours every week but rarely stayed more than 90 minutes. They also did the same at the boss’s private home so we got rid.

I work for a plumbing firm. The local uni uses us. Some jobs they ask us to complete a task, we say that will take roughly 2 hours and cost £x. We go and if the job is done quicker we have made but if it takes longer we’ve lost.

The same uni also says, we need a plumber for 2 hours to do a variety of jobs. We go and they tell us what to do. We do whatever is directed for those 2 hours. If we were to decide to leave early (as opposed to being told there were no more tasks) then w d bill for less time.

That’s how providing a service works. You make a contract be it written or verbal and you adhere to those terms.

LazyLizzy · 11/10/2019 23:16

Sounds like she is sitting on her arse for a couple of hours.

Four hours in a 2 bed flat and it's not spotless.

I'd rather have no cleaner than pay a piss taker.

justasking111 · 11/10/2019 23:19

Wow she is a slow cleaner if your flat is that size.

Luckybe40 · 11/10/2019 23:27

8 hours a month for cleaning is NOT a lot. And all those saying they would be happy if their cleaner charged them for cleaning for 4 hours but left after 3.45 hours...I highly doubt it. There is always things they could do for 15 minutes, she’s taking advantage. As for breaks, an employee legally doesn’t get a break until they’ve been working 6 hours. I can’t believe all these responses... ! I’d be annoyed!

Puzzledandpissedoff · 11/10/2019 23:28

I think this is the reality I’m facing too - that a slightly shady cleaner is better than no cleaner at all

Are you sure? Remembering that she's been alone in your home, are you really comfortable with someone who may already have been a bit economical with the truth around how long the job will take?

Actionhasmagic · 11/10/2019 23:31

I used to love in a small 1 bed and she did 4 hours. I think yab massively u to not pay for the 15 mins

onemorerose · 11/10/2019 23:37

@Bizawit I do wish I’d kept my cleaner but she was crap and threw out toys that had homes etc. I did feel bad about letting her go. If I’d discovered she was clocking off early though I’d have been raging at all the things she missed when she was supposed to be cleaning on my time and money

MartiniDry · 11/10/2019 23:43

I have a question for those of you with three, four, and five bedroomed houses who cleaners can do the whole house in two or three hours.
Does your cleaner clean all the skirting boards, handrails, doors, window ledges, light switches and door handles in that time? Does she take everything off kitchen surfaces and sitting room furniture and clean underneath them? Does she clean the ornaments/computer/photographs/kettle/toaster and so on which are on top of those services?

Are you including the cleaning of all the kitchen cabinets? Shower tiles? Does she move the furniture out to clean underneath it? Does she dust the books as well as the bookcases?

I'm intrigued as those are just some of the things I would expect to be included in weekly cleaning and I'm struggling to see how they could be achieved within a couple of hours in a four or five bedroomed, multi bathroom house.