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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Cleaner behaviour reasonable?

59 replies

Cookiecrumblepie · 27/01/2020 18:11

My cleaner has started coming early/late by a few hours and today she didn’t show at all. I texted her and she said she was trying to come but had lost her Oyster card. I have to ask her directly when she will come and she always replies ‘around 12’, never a specific time.

I pay her £12.50 an hour cash in hand to clean a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom flat (2 hours). My flat is very tidy and clean (she has said it’s an easy job)
Is this pay rate reasonable?
Is her lateness etc reasonable?

I ask because every cleaner I’ve had has been similar - either not doing a good job or being a bit late here and there once they’ve been a few times and are comfortable. I’ve tried both through agency and by referral.

What are others experiences?

OP posts:

WipeYourFeet · 27/01/2020 18:17

How is it taking her two hours to clean a one bed, one bath?!
My cleaner used to do a 4 bed house, kitchen, 3 reception rooms & 2.5 baths in that time!!
Bin her - get a new cleaner. For an hour.

Fartymcnarty · 27/01/2020 18:18

Agree with pp. my cleaner does 4 bed house in 2 hours!

OhNoMyCheds · 27/01/2020 18:22

Yes the cleaner I had was a bit like this. You can get good cleaners but they are difficult to find! The rate is fine and standard.

Original poster

Cookiecrumblepie · 27/01/2020 18:51

Hmm thanks for your responses! I will think whether it’s worth changing cleaners. I’ve built up a rapport with her so will be difficult to let her go.

OP posts:

AlCalavicci · 27/01/2020 18:57

I think its more a case of her using you not a rapport with her .
I have never had a cleaner but going from all the post on MN in the past it sounds like you are been ripped off.
Ask around local areas to see what the going rate is and what is expected in the time frame

Sadiee88 · 27/01/2020 18:59

I don’t see how you can clean a house in 2 hours. Not properly anyway, only ‘top show’.

TulipCat · 27/01/2020 19:02

Rate and hours seem fine to me, but the erratic schedule is not. She needs to stick to a specified time. Obviously if it's 10-15 mins either way then no issue, but otherwise she should turn up when agreed.

SlothHouse · 27/01/2020 19:02

If you want it clean clean, it would take around 2 hours. Slightly less after you get used to the flat layout.

Pipandmum · 27/01/2020 19:06

If you keep your flat tidy already why hire a cleaner in the first place? Or only have one every other week?
We are a fairly messy family, have two dogs and a big five bedroom three bathroom house, and I have a cleaner for four hours at £10/hour. She doesn't get it all done (she rotates a couple rooms) but she definitely would in five (and probably go home for a nap)!

Original poster

Cookiecrumblepie · 27/01/2020 19:08

I like things to be clean as well as tidy, so clean the bathroom and toilet and vacuum/mop our floors. I think because it’s a small flat it gets dirty faster so I like to have regular cleans. (And I have a young baby so want less dust etc)

OP posts:

Pipandmum · 27/01/2020 19:08

Forgot to add she's usually 10-15 minutes late (never more than that unless she's asked if its ok) but always works the full four hours.

MrsGolightyly · 27/01/2020 19:10

I've just sacked my cleaner. She was pleasing herself when she turned up and not doing a great job. I won't pay someone to mess me about.

Whynosnowyet · 27/01/2020 19:15

Cleaner here. I have morning /afternoon slots. Gives me flexibility and I start my hours from when I do get there .
Rapport or not she is a piss taker imo.
Leave her a detailed list of jobs.
If she can't complete them all she needs gone. She has plenty of time to do a good job of your home.

SunshineCake · 27/01/2020 19:28

You haven't built up a genuine rapport with her. She learnt to make you think she has with you and you her so she can take the piss with a two hour job that should be done in less and not being reliable with turning up.

ThatUserNamesTakenTryAnother · 27/01/2020 19:39

Well, taking 2 hours on a one bedroom one bathroom place is bullshit

And the person who said this.....
My cleaner used to do a 4 bed house, kitchen, 3 reception rooms & 2.5 baths in that time!!
That's bullshit too

Brazi103 · 27/01/2020 19:40

I don’t see how you can clean a house in 2 hours. Not properly anyway, only ‘top show’.

True! I always wonder about this on MN. Or people who have cleaners every 2 weeks for a few hours. What's the point of that?
Anyway I think 2 hours for a 1 bed 1 bath is reasonable. They have time to actually clean not surface work

TARSCOUT · 27/01/2020 19:47

Cash in hand? Anyone working like this is cheating the system so you get what you pay for. Use a reputable company.

Whynosnowyet · 27/01/2020 19:55

Excuse me but I am a legit business and take some cash payments. I am not defrauding anyone!!

Judgey not...

SugarNyx · 27/01/2020 20:01

Mine cleans a 4 bed house in that time. Bin her

SlothHouse · 27/01/2020 20:17

taking 2 hours on a one bedroom one bathroom place is bullshit

Erm, livingroom, hallway? Oven cleaning, cleaning under and not around things, the skirting boards, dust in high places? A good cleaner would do that in 2 hours. A bad one will ignore all of that.

notsodimwit · 27/01/2020 20:19

A bit off the tread but interesting to know exactly what a cleaner would do in 1 hour in say a 3 bedroom house, 1 bathroom? I've never had a cleaner but thinking about getting one later in the year due to working more hours

notsodimwit · 27/01/2020 20:21

Haha! @slothHouse sort of answered my question

JosefKeller · 27/01/2020 20:25

One poster decided to save money one day, and become her own cleaner - anyone remembers that thread?

So she cleaned like she would clean a client's flat, instead of faffing around. Point of her experiment was that she did an awful lot in a couple of hours that would have normally taken her a day or 2!

SummerInSun · 27/01/2020 20:25

I don't think the time she arrives / leaves matters, as long as she is doing the full two hours you pay her for - it's not the sort of job where you expect someone to come at an exact time. My cleaner comes while we are at work and school, so it doesn't matter when exactly she is here, and I don't care when she comes as long as she does.

Whether taking 2 hours to clean your place is reasonable, only you can judge. Does she change the sheets on the bed and put the dirty ones in the laundry? Does she clean out the fridge? Clean the over? Vacuum under sofas, beds, etc, even if she has to move the furniture to do it? Empty all the bins and then take out the trash and recycling? Clean the windows? Do any ironing? You absolutely could spend two hours cleaning a one bed flat, depending on how thoroughly you do it. If you like her but don't think you are getting value for money, ask her to do some of these jobs, which aren't automatic leaner tasks.

onetwothreeadventure · 27/01/2020 20:28

My previous cleaner did this - I was on maternity leave with two kids under two and I'd have them fed and dressed and ready to go and then they'd turn up an hour late. It drove me crazy. She was actually just phasing me out for a client that lived closer to her. I let her string me along because I was used to her being in my home but in hindsight I should have asked her to stop coming much sooner.

My new cleaner turns up at the time agreed and no hassle, it's so much nicer.

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