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.

I wouldn’t trust someone who was willing to defraud me with a key to my house.

Time for a change, OP, and don’t feel badly about it. She’s betrayed your trust and kindness.

I would go with SugarTits suggestion. Of course she knows it. It's a way giving her a chance to change and saying pack it in and do what we agreed without backing her into a corner.

Let her go, the trust has gone.

Could you say something like your camera doorbell alerted you to when she arrived/left, and you’re wondering if it’s faulty because it doesn’t tie in with the timings she’s said. Just to call her bluff a bit and you aren’t then accusing her

Our neighbours have two cleaners once a week in the morning, for two hours. They are always sitting by the kitchen table talking to each other. I always wonder how much cleaning they do..

We had this and told a friend she was going to next. Did the same to them so was basically stealing from pretty much everyone she worked for. I’d been really nice to her too. Told her we no longer needed a cleaner, didn’t give a reason. The trust had gone. Later on I also found out that her son had been doing some of our cleans without our knowledge.

Doesn't she know you have CCTV?

If she doesn't, perhaps let it drop into conversation.

" If you find a ginger cat on the doorstep mewing to get in, don't let him. It's a stray; our camera has picked him up twice."

My father had a saying:

'he who steals my time, steals my money'

and I think this fits very well in with your situation.

Ask her to confirm the times she started and stopped the last twice, and then you can let her go with no notice period for breaking the contract/theft/deceiving. As a previous poster said, once the trust is gone it’s gone.

I agree that once the trust has gone it's difficult.

Could you get a ring doorbell? Then it's obvious her entry and exit times are logged?

But I think if you've got to this stage you are best asking around for recommendations for another cleaner.

Couldn’t have put it better myself.

There's no excuse at all for being dishonest, especially for something as cut and dry as time worked/billed.

But I think this is the reason. So for example, my flat in london is tiny and I've told cleaners "oh I just want XYZ quickly done in an hour, and I don't need it perfect at all". It's definitely possible if you work quickly (not at a madcap pace, just quickly) but every single cleaner has told me "no, we need 2-3 hours for this size". Meaning 2-3x the pay. So there's clearly an industry standard wage/reasonable speed.

Perhaps she was desperate for the job at first and agreed to a wage below industry standard. I say wage because for example you're paying her £45-60 for a much larger set of tasks than other cleaners who also charge £45-60. I think she's taking the mick because she now thinks you are/were taking the mick.

Again not berating or shaming you in any way, or morally justifying her behaviour. Just providing a possible explanation from my POV as a freelancer who often faces this dilemma! I've often had to man up and renegotiate prior rates which no longer work, but sometimes when that's not possible / new factors emerge, I do cut corners, but never to the point of outright deception.

One of our old cleaners was like this. Took twice as long to clean house as it should have taken and I frequently caught her out when I came home early and she wasn’t there.

We kept her on because she did a fairly good job and was a lot cheaper than the alternatives. In the end I caught her stealing twice. First time I gave her the benefit of the doubt, second time it was obvious it was her so I sacked her next time she came round.

we now pay a company twice as much but at least they are honest and do a good job.

We had this too. We were paying her for 4hrs then one day we came home an hour early and she was walking out the door! Goodness knows how many weeks she had been doing this for. We have just found a new cleaner!

I would look for a new cleaner.

Once things start to slip they never get back to being good again in my experience.

We're currently on the hunt for a new cleaner after our old one came for 1 hour, rather than 3, for three weeks in a row and on her last visit damaged some towels with the bleach she was basically chucking around the bathroom in a bid to make it smell very clean after she'd run a cloth round for about a minute.

I really wish I'd made the break when things started to slip in October/November time.

I wouldnt let her back in my house. Once a liar.....

Call her out. You have tge evidence, she's taking the piss and you may now need to find a new cleaner...

I clean my own house, no issues there.

Thanks for letting us know and adding a valuable post to the thread.

Isn't it illegal to use CCTV for things like this?
We have it in our building and even when a crime has been committed (theft for example) we have to report it to the police and they have to fill in a data protection form to request access to the CCTV and then only they can look at it.

I think you need to find a cleaner you can trust so you don't have to spy on them.

You could just txt and say you no longer need her services

I feel like I am in a similar situation with my plumber (sort of). Tried a bloke who was just starting out by himself, was impressed by x, y and z. Recommended him in the local fb groups several times, which I'm happy to do and because tradespeople can be a bit of a nightmare. Have used him various times in the past 12months (it's been an exciting year). Result of him getting busier - last time he was spent most of the time here (with me) on the phone about other jobs instead of cracking on/answering odd questions about the job on hand, and then he ended up charging me the upper end of the quote as he'd been here over x time.

However like you, I do overpay if someone is worth holding on to etc. I would not regret doing so, even if you have to let them go now.

Perhaps she was desperate for the job at first and agreed to a wage below industry standard. I say wage because for example you're paying her £45-60 for a much larger set of tasks than other cleaners who also charge £45-60. I think she's taking the mick because she now thinks you are/were taking the mick.

How is the OP taking the mick when she is paying £3 per hour more than the cleaner actually charges?

Actually thinking about our old cleaner who we stopped because she didn't work the hours agreed, I actually offered to put her hourly rate up and she would have been ok to say " Keep the amount the same, but I can clean the house in 1.5-1 hr now" then we would both have been happy.
Instead she insisted on keeping the rate the same and gradually reduced the time spent cleaning.