Is this a reasonable refund for a shitty cleaning service?

[shoebedobedobedobedoo]

Very recently moved house to a new area. Took a fb recommendation for a cleaner. She charged for 12 hours at £16/hr to clean our house (with her 2 assistants). the brief was to make the whole house spotless. She failed to clean any of the utility cupboards, several of the kitchen cupboards (and the ones she did clean were superficially cleaned i.e. not gone into the corners etc), the cupboard in the downstairs loo, the cupboard in the living room. I text her with photos and told her that it was considerably below the standard I expected. Her first reply explained that she had hired someone new (and subsequently sacked them) and she was so sorry. She said "how can I make it up to you.My reputation is everything". I text back and said she could do 2 x weekly house cleans for me (probably about 6 hours work in total) or give me a partial refund. She text back and said that she thought that the work not done was about an hour, and "as a gesture of goodwill" she would refund 2 hours work. Do you think this is a reasonable offer or not? I think its bloody cheeky, but prepared to be told IABU. Its not really about the money, its about having paid for a service that was well below expectations. I just wanted to move in and unpack my stuff, not find cleaning materials and start cleaning.

@HanginWithMyGnomies.....please RTWT. I've already said that it was £16per hour per cleaner. Each cleaner earned £64 for 4 hours work.

The googliy eyes probably have her the heebies....anyway the first cupboard I'd have said is beyond just a clean and would need scraping etc it is pretty bad. But if she saw it first and agreed to it then she should have done it? It is pretty bad tbf why has it been left like that? I'd be complaining to whoever left a house in that filthy state.

"gave" not have and heebies as in jeebies

Heebie jeebies

@shoebedobedobedobedoo my apologies. I misread that, I thought they had done a 12 hour clean.

I can’t believe the previous owners of your house actually left cupboards in that state. The people who bought our house must have had an absolute field day when they got the keys, I cleaned it from top to bottom, I would never leave that sort of filth for someone else to clean!

Agree with PP’s that you’re absolutely not unreasonable to be annoyed that the job wasn’t done properly, but I think her offer was fair.

I'd be complaining to whoever left a house in that filthy state. thats a whole other thread. i did complain to the EA, but unless the vendors have actually done something illegal there is nothing they can do. We, on the other hand, left a spotless house, flowers, wine and a card.

I think regardless of what people say that yabu or not. You will still think your right

YABVU

@Lilmissmissy its "you're right", not "your right"- the latter meaning 'on my right side'. And on this particular issue of english grammar I am right!

£16 an hour for each cleaner is a huge amount of money per hour. How much do you all earn?

How big is the house?

@LesLavandes. I agree. Its £1 less per hour than a newly qualified nurse.

It seems cleaning boss miscalculated

2000 sq feet.

I earn minimum wage in retail and I have an honours degree. Thinking cleaning is the way forward

They didn’t do a good job but 2000 sq ft is a reasonable size house and 12 hours for a move clean isn’t enough time. She should have told you that.

I'm with you OP. Cleaners are supposed to clean and those cupboards aren't clean. That would piss me off massively. I'd ask for 4 hours back.

I don’t think you were being unreasonable by expecting the cupboards to be clean.

I think 6 hours refund is too much but 2 hours refund is too little. I’d try for 4 hours but would settle for three.
12 hours cleaning is a lot although 2000sqft isn’t small. Tricky to call it unless you saw the state of the whole house.

£16 per hour for an empty house is good. YANBU

As a cleaner it annoys me when I come across others that weren’t thorough enough and didn’t double check their work before leaving as it gives us all a bad name. Those cupboards are gross, but I’d be more peed off moving into a house where previous owners thought that was acceptable to leave. However you do sound hard work and a bit unreasonable with your requests. Did you give them a list of what work you wanted doing and showed them before the job?
The cleaner was fair and refunded you for the time it would have taken to clean the missed areas.
As the saying goes if you don’t like the way someone does something, do it yourself

Are the cupboards the only complaint op? That and not hovering between each board? Bit much to call it a 'shitty clean' in that case IMO assuming everything else was done.

1st - you need to fill In those holes, mice will get through, trust me - I know.

2nd - you’re being ridiculous asking for 50% back.

3rd - I think her two hours is reasonable. She can come back and you tell her exactly what she missed.

Used to run a cleaning company, and I do think you’re being a little unfair. I would’ve offered the same as she did to a client in your situation. As much as a company can do their best to appreciate the inconvenience and disappointment caused, at the end of the day she still completed the majority of the work and so should be paid for it. A few missed areas don’t negate the rest of the work that has been carried out.

As she says, those cupboards wouldn’t have taken any more than an hour to do, so half the refund to reflect work not done and half to reflect your disappointment seems fair. Especially as she (understandably if you were unpacking) wasn’t able to return to rectify the job as I’m sure she would’ve rather done!

As far as your floorboards go, you really won’t get anyone to hoover in between each individual board unless you spefically request that, and you’d expect the price to then shoot up to allow for how long that would take.

And for everyone saying the cleaners have been paid very well at £16ph, there’s no way that’s what the owner is actually paying them. She has to account for products, equipment, travel, insurance, uniforms, etc in her pricing as well, not just wages!

My two cents... I think yab slightly unreasonable and coming across as assertive which is good but also a bit abrasive (here at least).

There's no harm in making a counter offer of a 3 hours refund which might make you feel better and she might pay it to move on. I get where you are coming from op and understand you expect a really good job and have high standards but I think perfection is unreasonable to expect moving forward on a regular clean. Get it that you paid for a deep clean though this time. Don't employ her as you say but tbh, perhaps that is a lucky escape for her business not to work for you either. I don't mean that horribly but you have asked if yabu and I think you are a bit to expect absolute perfection and to be refunded significantly more for what would take max an hour.

What I mean is i have had an agency cleaning service for a few years and they are good, not perfect. A few times something minor might be missed and I notice but I know they will get it the next time. I go with the flow and get a good standard of clean and a good relationship with them. I think that is fair as we are dealing with humans here.

I hope you enjoy your new home.

(Tbh, my response is slight skewed possibly as my current home was a complete refurb job when we moved in so I had to learn a lot of patience, I suppose. )

Have to agree with @Milsplus3

I would be hopping mad too but the three pics you posted - the third is just you being a tad OTT.

She offered a remedy and I’d have taken her up on that TBH on the proviso it was the next day.