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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to fault my cleaners?

79 replies

TFC90 · 05/02/2021 11:54

We got new cleaners in October as I was 9 months pregnant. They come every two weeks so they've been quite a few times now.

It's a husband and wife team that whizz around our 4 bedroom house in 2 hours (so four man hours, charged at £15 an hour, £60 total every fortnight)

I've increasingly been noticing little things but wondered if I'm expecting too much of cleaners who come fortnightly? They evaluated our house and told us how long it would take, as opposed to us dictating how long they are here.

Anyway they came yesterday and this it the state of the shower today. My husband thinks I'm expecting too much, and in general he's cleaner and tidier than I am, so I'm left wondering if I'm being unreasonable to expect them to clean more thoroughly?

OP posts:

bloodyhairy · 05/02/2021 15:07

@Dozer 👍

Freetigerking · 05/02/2021 15:09

It looks like the sealing needs replaced

LindaEllen · 05/02/2021 15:15

You're paying them for 4 hours of cleaning. If you want more things to do than they're currently covering, you will need to pay for more hours.

Lili132 · 06/02/2021 03:21

It looks like an old build up which is sometimes very hard to clean. Not all stains in the bathroom are removable with every day cleaning products. Try to clean it yourself and see if it comes off. If it doesn't you have an answer.
If it does and they otherwise do a good job then just point out that's what you'd like them to pay attention to. It's impossible to clean every corner spotless in the time they have so just let them know they need to prioritise it.

RabbityMcRabbit · 06/02/2021 03:30

How much would you be able to do in 4 hours in your house OP? If you'd have time to do it as part of a 4 hour clean then YANBU, and obviously the other way round too

BlueThistles · 06/02/2021 03:41

Point it out to the Cleaners... they are being Paid to provide a service.. it just needs pointed out for them to be included ... 🌺

Jumpintothefire · 06/02/2021 03:43

I have a 3 month old... If I had the time and inclination to clean I wouldn't be paying someone else to do it!

Oh how has millions of parents of babies ever ever kept a clean house before ? Pay them for more hours or do it yourself!

Lotusmonster · 06/02/2021 04:08

Do you really want outsiders lingering in your home for long periods in the current climate??. I wouldn’t. In Out as fast as possible please! Seems like the wrong time IMO to be Uber picky.

Lotusmonster · 06/02/2021 04:10

It’s mouldy scum stuff. You just need to put a squirt of bleach on it for 10 mins and rinse ...that’s all.

OhToBeASeahorse · 06/02/2021 04:11

God MN really does loathe people with cleaners.

@Jumpintothefire maybe OP has a very clingy baby? Maybe she is having to express or breast feed very often. Maybe she is finding motherhood hard? Maybe with lockdown she wanted to make life slightly less mundane? Maybe- gasp - she just doesn't like cleaning?
The world is much better when you try to be kind.

ouchmyfeet · 06/02/2021 05:59

I have occasionally thought about jacking in my job and setting up The Really Good Cleaning Company. Paying cleaners more, charging more, but doing a really fucking good job and using an dedicated app to manage communications, set up proper cleaning routines for houses, log work done, enable clients to use photos to direct to areas they want focus on etc etc.

Someone has already beaten you to this. I've had so many cleaners over the last 15 years, interspersed with periods of having no cleaner because I just got so sick of them being crap. Without fail cleaners start off brilliantly and then within a few months go on to get sloppy and fail to maintain the initial standard.

I now pay an absolute fortune for my cleaning to a company just like this. I've had them for about 3 years now and they're still brilliant. It's definitely a case of getting what you pay for.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 06/02/2021 06:11

OP yanbu

I find few cleaners actually clean and scrub thoroughly.

My current ones seem to do a lot of giving things a light spray and wipe but missing a lot of corners and its random the things they never seem to fully clean- bathroom mirror often gets overlooked and their neglect of the toilet brush is criminal. We live in a terribly hard water area and leaving bleach sat in the loo just does not shift limescaley stains, it needs scrubbing. Ours are a team of ladies so it varies week on week who you get, and some are fab but a couple are crap.

PinkyParrot · 06/02/2021 06:54

Say 'Could you clean the edges of the shower every once in a while please, the orange muck (don't know why it's orange) collects there'

The end.

speakout · 06/02/2021 06:59

OP don't you clean the shower yourself?

Having cleaners in once every two weeks surely are there to help, not to keep the whole house clean.
Just because you have domestic help doesn;t mean you should never clean your own shower.

MrsPworkingmummy · 06/02/2021 06:59

I think your cleaners are at fault here. Like you, I have a two person team visit weekly for 90 minutes each time. I live in a large 6 bed victorian end terraced (2 bathrooms and 1 toilet). They work non-stop and kitchen and bathrooms are always spotless.

im5050 · 06/02/2021 08:09

@NoParticularPattern

What you need to do with the mould in the sealant is to take it out and reseal and then every time you shower dry the sealant with a towel
basically dry any wet area in the shower
If you do this you won’t get any mould where the shower sealant

im5050 · 06/02/2021 08:13

TFC90
So many people do that wipe it down but they don’t dry it as well
You need to dry it as well to stop any mould and dirt getting ingrained
Showers are a bitch to keep clean 😂

Snally82 · 06/02/2021 08:17

I have one cleaner who does 3 hours a week, she does the kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, 2 of the 4 bedrooms and sunroom. I don’t think the equivalent of 4 hours is enough tbh.

bonzo77 · 06/02/2021 08:23

I would want that cleaned as part of the paid work, especially as it’s easy to get off (bit different if it’s caked on mould / limescale but it isn’t). Just point it out to them next time. If they’re consistently not doing what they’re asked and paid to do and you’re not happy to accept it, let them go. 4 hours is plenty: Our house is 5 bed / 2 bath and cleaners have mostly been able to do it in 4 hours including doing some ironing.

I’ve had some really awful cleaners (one stole and was unreliable, another with awful BO, several who just were not good at the job and didn’t improve once I’d shown them how I like it done). My last cleaner was wonderful and lovely and I miss her).

Pugdogmom · 06/02/2021 08:50

I have given up on cleaners. Started really well and high standards, then times get changed ( yes I know staff go off sick and things happen, but this was ALL the time). I gave them things I really wanted them to concentrate on, and asked if they needed more time, which I was willing to pay for. Ended up a wipe down rather than a clean, and looked as if it had hardly been touched . Started leaving earlier and earlier to get to their next clients, and I ended up doing the stuff they had missed. This was 2 different cleaning companies. My house was always tidy when they came ( am a tidy person anyway).
I'd rather have paid more for the job to be done properly, but cleaners were more hassle than they were worth.

ButtonMoonPie · 06/02/2021 09:08

I could have written this! Just stopped my cleaners from coming as I just didn't feel it was worth the money.
Everything was given a quick wipe over but they never deep cleaned anywhere. I don't expect every room to be done like that every week but some kind of rotation system.
I was deep cleaning the bathroom 2 days after them coming and I just thought what's the point. I can easily do the quick wipe overs - it's the other stuff I need help with.

FellowFlipFlop · 06/02/2021 09:19

I had no idea its unreasonable to expect cleaners to do their job properly. Only on MN do you just shrug your shoulders and clean the bits the cleaners couldn't be arsed to do and carry on paying all that money

SimonJT · 06/02/2021 09:23

So is the shower only cleaned every two weeks?

If it’s being left that long you’re going to get ingrained dirt and staining.

Northernsoullover · 06/02/2021 09:29

Old grime or not all it takes is a bloody toothbrush! I was a cleaner up until recently. I would not have left that.

Sunflowergirl1 · 06/02/2021 09:38

I had cleaners up to a few heads ago. I did what you did @TFC90. Asked what time they needed to clean thoroughly every week..no trying to skimp but what I kept repeatedly finding is cleaning not up to scratch once they had been employed for several months. I know they could do in the time as I could do myself very thoroughly in that time and I'm not the professional at it. I then found out they were not doing the full hours, ie arriving late or leaving early and had probably over committed.

Reluctantly we went back to doing it ourselves as it isn't worth the annoyance having to clean after the cleaner has been

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