Cleaner let cats into living room

[slithytoveisascientist]

Last week she let them into bedroom and luckily I caught it before anything happened. I reminded her and she was very apologetic and promised to be more careful.

This week she has left the living room door open and the cats have gone in and scratched my leather sofa. It’s never had any damage before and I’m gutted.

AIBU to ask to claim on her insurance for a repair, and will I even have any success?

I get it OP. Mines not allowed in the living room alone and not is she allowed in my bedroom. Everyone knows to close the door to the living room if there's nobody in there.

You can't make your cleaner pay for the damage, but you can show her and hammer home that she's to close the door.

Or get a spring that het closes the door automatically.

Or lock those doors and tell her to just do the rest of the house.

Having now had chance to scroll all your comments it no longer sounds like you have your cats locked out of most of your house - which is how it came across in the original post. Sadly I have had experience of my cleaner locking my cats in rooms due to randomly closing doors that need to be left open so my cats can get out - resulting in a very scratched up carpet near the door - I showed her the damage and reiterated that the doors must be left open - luckily I’ve not had an issue since but I do sympathise with your irritation but luckily the damage is not too noticeable. When I had my cats first here I didn’t trust the cleaners not to let them out so I put a lock on one of my doors.

YANBU. She should have closed door. My cat hide when strangers come over. Not sure you could claim on her insurance, if you want repair you will need to use home insurance

It's cats nature.. why not use behaviour spray?? My cat was going into my house plant and digging.. l sprayed behaviour spray round the plant pot.. she doesn't go in now..
Can't understand having indoor cats if not allowed to roam indoors.. also don't blame the cleaner for YOUR cats natural behaviour.. it's like valuing possessions more than your love for your cats.. if a child spilt something on your sofa and stained it.. would you be the same?

It might be a surprise but our house has more rooms than a living room and bedroom...

Let's see

If I had a white sofa in a room that wasn't for children and they had access to a family room with a sofa they could use whenever they liked

And say my mum or DH or whoever let child into white sofa room with a drink

And child spilled on sofa

I'd be raging at thr grown up who had allowed it

See additional comment from me 😊

OP I would ask to claim on insurance if it’s a rule you’ve been very very clear and specific about absolutely.

Same logic as her accidentally spilling bleach. It’s an accident but she’s claim I’d it damaged something. Difficulty arises as she can say she didn’t let them in and you did though.

maybe get a different cleaner who listens to your asks.

Yes :) it's a long thread!

Frustratingly we have really struggled to find a good cleaner since ours retired

We must have tried six and the cleaning standards were shocking

One used the same cloths in all rooms 🤢

There were two who cleaned really well

One left early several times (after being paid)

And one couldn't ever come on time

This latest one seemed great but it seems to have soured since I asked about the door. I hope not.

I'm not sure where I'd find a good cleaner who starts and ends on time and is able to shut the doors!

Tell that to my 9 year old cat who refuses to leave the house. When he was smaller I would leave the door open but he never ventured out so I'd put him out and he would sit at the door crying to come in. Some cats choose to be house cats I'd rather he went out so I didnt have to have a litter tray. It's cruel to me not to my cat 🤣 he is just fine thanks.

YABU I feel sorry for the cleaner.

She's trying to do a job, herding cats about isn't it. I have a cat and a cleaner and I would never make it her responsibility to ensure cats didn't get in certain rooms. The fact you were actually in the house makes it even more unreasonable. Asking her to get it covered by her insurance is beyond awkward. It's not even that bad. Guaranteed the cat would have done that at one point anyway.

If you want something done right you have to do it yourself. She doesn't live there and wouldn't remember as well as you. I think anyone would make the same mistake. It's way too much expectation IMO. You should have secured the cats prior to her arrival so she didn't have to deal with it. She was hired to clean, not deal with your cats.

You aren’t alone and I’m shocked at the vitriol directed towards you, it’s like school yard bullying.
I’ve noticed a lot on here that people choose to say someone is BU but come across as aggressive and don’t seem to understand that a difference of opinion isn’t a reason to turn nasty. I’m sure if they were asked in real life they wouldn’t be as outspoken and it often feels like this is an outlet for frustration and the dissatisfaction of every day life!
your post wasn’t offensive and didn’t deserve the response you got.

I adopted my parents elderly cat after they died and he’s not allowed in my living room due to my leather sofas. I scrimped and saved for over a year to buy them and I’m very house proud so I know scratches from the cat would annoy and upset me.
i live in a ground floor flat but my cat is an outdoor cat and has a better environment then before as I’m surrounded by country, any visitors know to shut the living room door. It’s not a huge inconvenience for anyone to close a door behind them and I think if you’d given a different reason as to why you were unhappy it’d been left open you’d get a different response.

I didn’t realise so many people were happy to have their furniture destroyed by pets, maybe they have the money to replace it but I don’t and when you spend thousands on a sofa you want to keep it nice. My parents were strict about me taking care of things in the house to avoid them looking scruffy and I just accepted it and wasn’t bothered.

My best friends cat shredded her living room carpet and she claimed on the insurance with no issues, her cat had never damaged anything before but one day changed it’s mind. I’m sure you’ll have no issues claiming accidental damage.

You asked your cleaner to do something simple and whilst I accept accidents happen I think she’s not taken you seriously enough to remember. I’d be upset and I’m not sure if there’s anything you can do except tell her how you feel. If it happens again then look for someone else.

We have “arms” on the top of the doors to make them self closing, I see that’s been suggested on a PP and it’s good advice.

Most people I know would be upset at having furniture ruined by a pet - especially when it could be avoided. Ignore the nasty comments and I hope you get it fixed.

@slothfeatures It’s taken a turn for the worse on here over the last 12 months. People are deliberately obtuse and the jealousy is obvious.

Its nasty spiteful behaviour and they revel in it.

@junbean I have to say I find this a strange attitude: a cleaner is a professional, hired to carry out work to a professional standard. If you took someone on in your workplace to do a job and asked them to follow a similar instruction, and they repeatedly didn't do it, would your response be, "well, if you want something done right you have to do it yourself"? That's certainly one option. Another option is to hire someone and pay them to do it, and it's ok to hold professional people to professional standards ie following clear instructions. If this was an incredibly onerous or unreasonable ask that would be a different matter, but it's simply closing a door.

Every cleaner will have a different sense of their professional scope and as long as it's agreed at the outset between both parties then it's reasonable to expect that agreement to be honoured. My cleaner also feeds and checks in on my cat when she visits if that's called for, as it's part of the service she offers. Her remit is to care for my home, and my cat is part of my home!

@Miaminmoo

read the thread!! They are allowed in all the rooms bar this one

@junbean

that cleaner is getting paid. She’s doing a job. So she needs to get it right. So you are wrong.

Well she should just sack her then, like the other 6 cleaners she has got through that haven't met her standards....🤷

This thread is the absolute worst of MN what a bunch of cunts you’ve had responding here. if I could tell each one individually I would but I’d get banned because people don’t like to hear they’re cunts.

hope you find a decent cleaner who can manage to shut two doors. And I hope you can find a therapist for your poor cats they’re so deprived of space. Let’s not even get onto your POOR kids eh

honestly I was frustrated that you are having to respond to these clowns over and over so I can only imagine how you’ve felt!

@Mswest it's not sacking and the other ones were trials, I'm not alone in having a hard time finding a cleaner. It seems there is a perception anyone can just set themselves up and do the job and that's not the case, it takes ability and organisation to be good.

For what it's worth this cleaner managed the doors for two months...

Frustration is one very gentle way to describe it 😅

Omg imagine the response you'd get here if your cleaner forgot to feed your cat and you were annoyed or upset

Your cleaner is there to clean not feed your cat (despite what was agreed)

Clean yourself

I feel sorry for your cleaner

I feel sorry for your cat how dare you go on holiday

Just to prevent future problems, make sure your cats' claws are very regularly trimmed, which will cut down on scratching (and on the damage that happens if there is scratching). Also, I found anti-scratch tape really useful on my sofa - after a while the cat decided the sofa was a no scratching zone (because they don't like sticky) and then I could remove them. No scratching since It's been years.