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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

...to feel a bit disappointed in our cleaner?

33 replies

RedPandaFluff · 30/05/2021 08:49

Maybe more of a WWYD. Our cleaner has been with us for around four years. She's lovely, and we have a good relationship, but if I'm honest, she's not very thorough and will use excuses like "oh the door was closed so I didn't think you wanted me to do that room . . . " GrinI pay her £12 per hour (plus agency fees by monthly direct debit to her agency).

Our normal arrangement is 3 hours a week, which is £36. I don't usually have £36 exactly so end up leaving £40 most weeks - which is fine, it's not her fault if I don't have the correct change, so I accept that she takes the full £40.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked her if she would be able to do a full-day "deep clean" - inside cupboards, skirting boards etc; eight hours at her normal rate of £12 per hour. She said yes, and that she'd like to do a weekend and split it over Saturday and Sunday (four hours each day). Perfect, great, thank you.

DH and I went away for the weekend so I left £100 (8 x £12 = £96) but noticed on the security camera that our cleaner only spent six hours at the house on the Saturday (which would be £72) but when we got home, we saw that she took the entire £100 even though there are several things that could have been done to take the time up to the full 8 hours we agreed.

It just rankles a bit. She already leaves 20-30 minutes early on a normal week (we never get the full three hours) so this is a scaled-up version of that; I feel that if she only worked six hours, she should have taken cash for six hours and left the rest.

However my gut feeling is just to leave it and say nothing, in the grand scheme of things it's not that important . . . what do you all think?

OP posts:
Hellodarknessmyoldpal · 30/05/2021 09:14

I would get a new cleaner. I am on my 3rd. She isn't always perfect but i like her and overall am happy. The first 2 started well but standards gradually dropped. My 2nd one sounds like yours, never did the full time she was meant to but still took the full payment which i wouldn't have minded so much if she was a bit more thorough. Current cleaner will message us if she is even 15mins less than usual so i admire her honesty.

ChaToilLeam · 30/05/2021 09:17

When you are having someone work in your home while you are not there, you need to be absolutely sure they are honest and reliable. It doesn’t sound like she is, and she has been taking the piss for a while.

whataballbag · 30/05/2021 09:21

If I went to work and fucked off 2 hours early but still claimed my full wages I'd be right in the shit

LyndaSnellsSniff · 30/05/2021 09:33

You definitely need to sack her. It’s odd though that she thinks she can get away with it considering it’s all on camera.

Does she know about the security camera?

custardbear · 30/05/2021 09:52

You need to tell her. Allow her to fix it. We have cleaners who I usually tell to do certain things like Main bathroom full clean and all floors and skirting throughout the house is my usual ( can't afford the whole house as it's big so I generally get them to do the bits we don't want to do) they'll always do extra thjngs like this week they remade my kids beds and tidied my sons room even though I said to just hoover their floors and wash their en suite floors
Also if I overpay they'll always take it off the next weeks bill

Cherrysoup · 30/05/2021 10:06

Do you want to keep her? If so, you really need to a) make her do the extra 2 hours-mention the camera b) pay her exactly what she’s owed c) direct her when she wants to leave early ‘Oh, but it’s 30 minutes til finish time. Can you please take everything off the shelves and dust?’ Don’t allow her to walk all over you.

Birminghambloke · 30/05/2021 10:44

It sounds overall that’s you’re not happy with her standard of cleaning. The deep clean (should it even need one to that extent if she was good enough each week?) is the tip of the iceberg. As she’s with an agency, they can replace her with another. If she was doing a great job as a quicker worker and left a little earlier, I’d not be quite so worried-however it sounds as if she needs all the time allocated to do the basics, let alone the extras she could do in the time!

peaceanddove · 30/05/2021 11:13

I'm in a vaguely similar position. Our cleaner has been with us for about 4 years, and is very reliable. But, like yours, she's not hugely thorough e.g. we have a large beanbag in the kitchen (but not heavy) and she only Hoovers around it, not under it. Same with the kitchen bin, she never pulls it out so she can Hoover/mop behind it (where all the crumbs fall). Plus, she seems to have a mental block about the bathroom windowsills no matter how often I mention it, she neglects to clean them. Or at best will clean one and not the other?

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