To refuse to pay for 12 hours of cleaning

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I am disputing an invoice from a house cleaner. For reference I have used the same company twice, at my mums address and had a rough idea what I should be charged. I’m based in Notts and they charge £22 PH for a deep clean.

They are claiming that it took two cleaners 6 hours each to deep clean my home (it DEFINITELY wasn't 12 hours worth of cleaning dirty haha).

Firstly, they weren’t there for 6 hours. There is no way they could have been there any longer than 4 hours due to the time I left for work and DH came home. Secondly, I didn’t request two cleaners so didn’t agree to 2 x the hourly rate.

Where do I stand with payment of the invoice? I am of course happy to pay for the work that I asked for but I’m not happy to pay double when I didn’t request two cleaners

I've been there with small claims, and what you're saying isn't quite how a judge will see it, although I don't believe it would ever go to court anyway. There's mediation first and various opportunities for either side to settle.

I don't think she should be guesstimating how long it 'should' have taken based on how long her mum's took. There's too many variables. I've been into houses to do deep cleans for people who would consider themselves 'houseproud' but no. When you get stuck into a deep clean it can take longer than expected. Grime build up in places they regularly miss, not intentionally of course, but just don't think/see. Furniture, clutter on surfaces, knickknacks and books etc, every single property is different.

Imo OP needs to send one message saying as you were only here between x and y time (and how she knows this), I will pay you for that and trust the matter is closed, then leave it to them if they want the hassle of chasing the rest.

If you know they were only in the house for 4 hours then start by challenging that.

As you have no contract saying you wanted one cleaner for x hours, you are going to have to pay for the service you received.

But - you shouldn't pay for a service you haven't received. So get confirmation of the hours the cleaners claim they were in your house and let the company know if that was incorrect based on you and your husband being at home and not seeing them.

You're obviously never using them again of course.

It s not true that you simply have to pay up for the hours the cleaners were there. They have an obligation to provide a reasonable service. If the amount of work should have been able to be done by a reasonably competent cleaner (or set of cleaners) in fewer hours, OP can refuse to pay for more and a court would not force her to cover the extra. Big caveat: assuming the court agreed with OP’s assessment of how much time it should have taken.

It is simply untrue that if you don’t have a written contract you have to pay up for whatever the other party decides to charge you. Reasonableness is a key part of unwritten contracts.

I am standing my ground and they are threatening police action, which I’ve welcomed them to do as it is not a criminal matter, it’s civil. They are being most unpleasant and reminding me that they know where I live, I won’t be bullied in to paying the full invoice though.

Quite right too OP. Lol that they think it's a police matter . It will become a police matter if they threaten you though...

They are fraudulently claiming they did hours they didn't do.
It's a fraud to invoice when clearly not there. Can you report them to trading standards as invoicing for hours they falsely claim there worked in the house for when you can prove they were there for - its dishonest practice and indicates to me they may also be ripping off other people, including vulnerable people.

You should be able to put up a Yelp or whatever review - just be factual "was invoiced for 12 hours to clean a 2 bed property... on invoice they stated 2 cleaners were at property cleaning for 6 hours each (2x6 = 12) . We left and returned to the house less than 4 hours later and no cleaners were there. .. when we disputed the invoice as being factually incorrect and claiming for hours not done, they became unpleasant"

*weren't there for

I would reply

"You have sent me the wrong invoice, charging for two cleaners for 6 hours.
This was not the work done at <address> on <date>.
We asked for one cleaner, who worked for no more than four hours. Please correct your staff records and send the correct invoice."

I would hone in on the “we know where you live” comment and ask them what exactly they mean by that. Is that a threat of violence against you or to come and damage the property? Ask them when they expect the police to visit you so you can show them that comment in black and white.

You need to consider the evidence you'll need for defending being taken to the small claims court.

1. Time stamped photos of anything you use.
2. Statement from you and husband relating to the time they could have been there.
3. Any neighbour evidence from ring doorbell etc.
4. Floorplan of your house.
5. Photos of your house inside.
6. Invoice from the deep cleaning on your mother's house.
7. Photos from your mother's house showing its similarly to yours.
8. Floorplan of your mother's house.
9. Photos before the deep cleaning ... Difficult!

10. Photos after deep cleaning.

I total see your point OP and that of some commentators.
the only police matter is them threatening that they know where you live!
I’d pay 6/8 hours, leave an honest, polite but loaded review on their social media about timings and vote with your feet by not using them again.
if they scare you over for 4/6 hours now they’ve lost future business.

(for the review I’d say something like, deep clean was through, thank you, calculation of time keeping was poor. 9am-1pm is 4 hours, not the six I was charged. I was not made aware there would be two cleaners before the invoice arrived and I was charged for 12 hours. I have used previously and be delighted by the clean and pricing, will not use again do to time calculation issue, over charging and poor customer service when I raised a dispute, including a threat to my home/personal safety.)

keep it to the point.

write it off as a cost and a bad experience.

Whoops should have said chase you not scare you.

any update?

i would have just paid for the hours they were there and then leave it up to them to take it to court if they wish