Cleaner adding half an hour each time

[DinoHat]

I have had the same cleaner for over two years, always liked her and she worked so hard initially I have always paid her more than she charged. So she charges £12 p/h and I pay her £15 p/h.
Recommended her to friends when she was starting out - she got around 7 houses from me.

I used to rely on her to tell me how many hours she’d done but noticed lately she is missing bits off, like not cleaning a couple of rooms just tidying them - a few times she’d say she was in a rush today so I accepted that for what it was. Missed her last week and thought that was odd as I’d not been out long and she used to take 3-4 hours. I have CCTV and saw she was at my house 2 hours 11 minutes. That’s pulling on and off the drive so not necessarily working, but to be fair I paid her for 2 hours 20 mins. She text back and said she’d done half an hour longer. Which I know isn’t true.

Same this week - she was here an hour, my DH was home and of course we have CCTV and she added an extra half an hour when she told me- if she’d have asked for fuel money I’d have given it to her. Although was expecting a 3 hour clean. (She had missed bits).

This is obviously intentional - if she wanted to increase her rates I’d accept that. But AIBU to be pissed off shes lying? I thought we got along but feel she’s taking the mick out of my generosity.

If you don't sack her, you are condoning theft. The odd day you can accept, not consistently.

Or you could ask her if everything is ok? As you’ve noticed that her work and behaviour is out of character?

It's really difficult and a similar scenario happened to us. Unfortunately I think it's a hard gig to do for a long period of time and I guess the temptation is to cut back on timing if you think you can get away with it.

We now have no cleaner and the house is a tip, so I don't know what the right answer is.

she’s very open - in fact she tells me stuff I’m not sure I’d tell her. She is always “busy” before Christmas she text to say she had a busy day full of clients wanting a clean before Christmas - she doesn’t realise I drive past her house on my way to/from the office so saw her car at lunchtime parked outside. I’ve often felt she is playing me - she has said she’s ill literally on the morning she’s supposed to come etc. I think in reality her self employed work and rota at actual work don’t align so she cancels.

You’re right.

Then you need to find another cleaner, it’s gone beyond a one off. You’ve been too kind.

I think I need to find someone new. Issue is I have anxiety and am so particular about a clean house - I can’t stand crap cleaners 😂 so it takes me a while to find someone worth keeping. Having a cleaner is a huge help to me mentally as I can park the whole cleaning of the house a day or two before she arrives and it just takes that mental load from me. If you’ve not had anxiety you’ll think I’m mad but if you have you’ll understand.

I suspect she is more secure in her work, she was relatively new to the business she started and nothing was too much trouble. Now I think as others have said she could take or leave my house.

Thanks for the replies - helpful to get some perspective.

Cleaner here 🙋‍♀️ based in Staffordshire.

Shes pushing the boundaries. Who knows how far she'll push them.

Do not tell her you’ve been checking her timings on CCTV. There are laws for employers around the use of this. I’m not completely au fait with them currently, but I know one example was that the cctv could only be checked where the employer believed a crime had been committed.

You’re allowed CCTV on the outside of a private residence. I’m not filming inside.

It's horrible when someone you trust betrays your trust. I had a cleaner who I thought did an ok job for 3 years. She was supposed to work 2 1/2 hours twice a week. I was at work and she had her own key and let herself in and out. Sometimes jobs did not get done. When my son was on study leave in his room he told me she was only at our house for between 1 1/2 and 2 hours each time. I don't think she knew he was in his room as he was on second floor and never came down when she was there. Often agreed jobs did not get done and I believed her when she told me she ran out of time. I thought about it for a few days and then thought I no longer trusted her so had morning off when she was there and asked her for my key back. I paid her weeks notice in lieu which was what we agreed. I felt betrayed because when her DD was unwell and she could not come quite a few times I paid her half pay. Look for another one. As said up thread she mistakes genuine kindness as weakness and stupidity.

This.

I had a cleaner and for the most part I was working from home so I was there when she cleaned. However, I got a new job and was out every time she cleaned. What she didn't know was the place where I worked was a mile from home and because of the nature of the job I was often driving round the local area and often drove past my house.

I noticed on more than one occasion her car was not there on the morning she was due to clean. She always came the same time every week, 10.00am and stayed for 3 hours. I could see as I drove past she started at 11 and left by 12 latest. I also just had that feeling she hadn't done anything, or rather had just run the hoover round a few rooms and wiped over the sink and put some bleach down the loo (30 mins max).

I sacked her and was really upset over it. I had befriended her and bought her and her kids xmas presents etc, I could not get over the fact that she lied to me. Even if she had been there say 2.5 hours instead of 3 I would have still paid her for 3 hours but to be there less than an hour and not attempt to do anything was a right slap in the face.

I’ve got a similar thing but im paying for 2 and a half hours and it isn’t a list of set jobs, just basically as much of my house as she can get done - which could take you double that time if you were to do everything. She’s constantly leaving early. One day my dad met her in Tesco when she was supposed to be cleaning my house for another 20 minutes. I told myself I couldn’t sack her coming up to Christmas, couldn’t do it at Christmas and now I’m like I can’t do it in January but I think I’m going to text and tell her I no longer need her in February. We really can’t afford to be paying someone who isn’t even doing the job they’re paid for

I give my clients time slots. Generally they all have 2 hours unless they specifically request more/have larger houses. I manage to get a lot done in two hours.

Her hours shouldn't be changing when she sees fit. She should give you a time, say three hours and do what she can in the three hours. If she's doing this to you I'd be intrigued as to what she's doing when she's inside too.

Nobody is irreplaceable. Doesn’t matter what job you do, and that includes the PM.

I don't think that, after the past year, anyone thinks the PM is irreplaceable

I think it is hard to continue a working relationship when the trust has gone. It leaves a bad taste.

I run a cleaning business. Totally unacceptable.. she’s taking the piss. Call her out on it, and remind her that you require 3 hours each week and for x y and z to be done. Or you can just bin her off and find someone else. Plenty of cleaners out there x

OP isn't an employer.

Im a freelance cleaner with just one client. I have a list of cleaning jobs that we agreed and my client will sometimes ask me to do extras. She understands that this might sometimes mean I can’t do everything on that list but we communicate weekly and she lets me know what needs priority. It can take more or less time per week depending on how dirty/messy the place is. I take a pic when i arrive and one when I leave of each room so that we both have a record of whats been done. I frequently give them a little bit of extra time if I haven't quite finished and occasionally leave a little early if I have…but ii’m careful to log hours so they know i’m being fair.

I agree good cleaners are really hard to find. Ive worked alongside some really lazy people.

If it were me I’d maybe sit and chat with her and ask if there are any other pressures on her time which mean she is finding it hard to stay longer and then renegotiate if she needs to spend less time. If you do this and she is still taking the piss then let her go.

My cleaner often leaves 10 - 20 mins before her paid 2 hrs are up. She recently told me she couldn’t clean all our house in 2 hrs and needed more time… another half an hour… because we’d had an extension. I told her to do what she can in 2 hrs and she still leaves early.

She comes at a slightly different time each week and probably thinks I don’t notice.

The only thing stopping me properly confronting this is she’s a damn good cleaner and works very fast.

I feel your pain!

It sounds to me like she's got more clients than she can cope with and is shaving time from you and adding it to the next client. She'll be quids in as she is, in effect, getting paid travel time.

As an ex cleaner who was always meticulous about my cleaning and my timing, this makes me very angry. I'm at the age now where I would like someone to help me with my cleaning, but stories like yours really put me off. You should definitely find someone else, and you should tell her why.