Cleaners didn’t clean properly, would you say anything?

[Funnyonions]

I have two cleaners who come once a fortnight for two hours (so four hours cleaning in total) the company sends different cleaners I think (I have to leave before they arrive)
One takes the downstairs-sitting room, dining room, toilet and kitchen. The other one does upstairs-two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Stairs to be hoovered and mopped in between . It isn’t a huge house but to do a big clean alone takes me a fair few hours. They’ve been doing it around a year, nearly always (bar a couple of times) it’s always done to a great standard.
It’s a pretty minimalist, simple house and no mess to be moved around, so is just a simple case of giving it a good clean.
I’m not made of money (especially at the moment, like most people) it’s literally my only treat to myself, I don’t buy new clothes, perfume, have nights out etc, all my money goes on my 4 year old Dd.
Today I came home and the house didn’t have that lovely clean smell of cleaning products, the downstairs loo looked like the same as when I left, clean but not all lovely and sparkly as usual. Our house is tiled floor (live abroad) and the floor still has some bits to be hoovered up and marks that mopping properly would have got rid of . The patio doors/windows don’t look cleaned and still have my Dds fingerprints on from yesterday putting Halloween stickers on them. The kitchen looks like things were just moved around on the surfaces but not particularly like they’d been cleaned much…just like I left them, tidy and clean but not *Cleaned, if that makes sense. Also the dining table and tv table etc don’t look much different and still some mess from when Dd and I were doing Halloween artwork yesterday.
Upstairs is immaculate…this always seems to be the way.
I pay a good amount for the cleaning and want to keep them, it’s just pissed me off a bit that downstairs is barely any different and I’ll still need to clean (windows etc)
Would you mention it or just wait to see how the next time is?

I would phone the company and say what you've said here about the visible signs it hasn't been cleaned downstairs or at least not to the usual standard, that you've never had reason to speak to them before, but that you'll have to clean again yourself on this occasion. If it's an agency you have nothing to lose, they'll know who's done it before (who has done a good job) and not to send the one who didn't do a good job this time.

@ChicaneOvenchips I thought of maybe sending a text before the next time asking them to please make sure all is cleaned thoroughly-windows etc etc as a big hint

Go to the company, not the cleaners directly and be specific about the things you can see haven’t been done properly.

Maybe they didn’t want to clean the windows because of the stickers on them? But otherwise give them a bit of a shit sandwich: upstairs is amazing, downstairs needs more attention.

@FanTaill I’d taken them off, but they’d left a few marks (easy to clean off ones)

Of course you should call the company and complain. Either both of them are upstairs and then they bugger off or the one downstairs is doing nothing while the other is working.

You've paid for this service - they've done a bad job, so you should complain.

For goodness sakes, don't just hint, be more assertive. You are paying dearly for a service that they didn't provide on this occasion. Ring them directly* and TELL THEM you are unhappy, and why.

*The agency, not the cleaners.

Of course you should ask if there was a reason that the cleaning wasnt done to the normal standard

Definitely mention it. I used to have an agency too and had this sometimes. It really depended on which cleaners it was and how much they could be arsed. Some used to do as little as they could get away with, but what they thought was acceptable was really obvious to me as slacking.

They were supposed to be there 1.5 hours (small property) and I'll always remember one time I got home and felt like you OP - just didn't "feel" like a clean house in the slightest. Lots of little things, so I checked my alarm system and they were in the house for a grand total of 20 mins!

I contacted the agency, they apologised profusely and gave me a refund for that week.

I had to mention it a couple of times over the years when they must have taken on someone new that tried to get away with things and it always picked back up again.

Definitely mention it. I'm someone who doesn't usually like to complain, but I hired cleaners to do an end of tenancy clean, costing nearly £200. Some of it was done really well, but other bits had just been skimmed over. There were still bits of food stuck to the inside of the fridge. I took photos and sent them to the company expressing my disappointment and they sent someone round the next day to finish it off properly.

That's the danger with an agency. The consistency

Of course you mention it

You're paying for a service and you've received an unacceptable standard. A text message won't be taken very seriously

I would make a list of everything you're not happy with and call straightaway

I'd not want those cleaners back again either

I would say something.
My cleaners left the playroom carpet like this today. What kind of monster uses the small attachment on large areas of carpet?!

I had this, except that a) they did a crap job the first time they came, b) they missed the second appointment (which was me giving them a “See if last time was a blip” second chance) and c) one of the cleaners was also the owner of the company. Since they didn’t bother turning up I terminated my contract with them with immediate effect.

I would speak to the agency and see what they say. An unsatisfactory answer and/or the problem not being rectified and it’s time to get shot of them.

It sounds like perhaps they only sent 1 cleaner today, who did the upstairs and there was no one to do the downstairs. Absolutely contact the agency and ask them to return and do it properly!

So two hours to do downstairs toilet kitchen, dining room, living room and you want windows cleaning too?
Maybe it’s too big a space to do it all in 2 hours, or maybe the downstairs person is slacking. I’m not sure I could do all floors, surfaces, bathroom and windows properly in my own house 2 hours tbh.

They are exploiting the fact that you are not there and cannot see that they pissed off early without doing 90% of the cleaning.

I’d call to complain: a decent agency will send someone to redo the work asap (not in 2 weeks time!)

Do the cleaning yourself if I was you … I wouldn’t trust anybody to clean the way I do my own house and it keeps me fit too .. saves alot of money