To ask you how on earth I go about getting my money back?

[unreliable]

Booked a cleaner who came recommended on local groups to do a one-off cleaning service on our new house. Her policy is that she charges 50% of the total as a deposit and 50% on completion. Fair enough. I bank transferred her the 50% trusting the good reviews and had no reason not to believe her

I first felt unsure about her yesterday as she said her car had broken down so requested we left a mop and vacuum there. I told her we couldn’t do that as ours is packed away from our old house (waiting out the rental notice period and all our stuff is in boxes ready to move across in a few days). She said no problem, she will put the stuff in a taxi.

She has claimed she’s had a major emergency and has had to get out the taxi part-way and be collected by her dad. Apparently her head is a shed.. send her my details and she’ll transfer me the money back. I’ve not had it. £70 down. How do I get it back or am I scuppered? What can I even do? How long is reasonable to give her?

I feel so naive as usually I’m so careful before transferring people any sort of money but I just took it on good authority she would be fine

@Thedayb4youcame

I've had 3 over the past 6 years.

One stopped to become a carer during covid

The next was involved in a road accident and had to drop a day's work a week. And it happened to be a Wednesday the day she came to me

Now I'm onto no 3.

All 3 fb finds & all absolute gems

They are, she’s doing it repeatedly and relying on some people feeling helpless and just giving up. Sounds like when someone gets firm like OP, she coughs up.

No, she’s not arrogant at all. She’s providing a valuable service that is much in demand, why on earth should she advertise? She’s not obliged to advertise herself to make you happy.

You seem to have a real issue with cleaners. I hope you don’t have a cleaner, I can just imagine how you treat them.

You’re not arrogant at all. They wouldn’t say that about a lawyer being in demand.

If you are this short of cash you need to get better at money managing or not hire a cleaner and do it yourself.

Glad you got your money back.

How do you know that?

No point in even thinking about small claims court, as it costs more than £70 to raise a claim.

Of course there's a point - if the claim is successful, the claimant doesn't pay court costs. Hence why most claims get settled quickly, without even needing to go to court.

If she is in the local hospital you might be able to pop down to Casualty and ask her for cash. There is likely to be an ATM nearby and it will only take her a couple of minutes. Problem solved!

Thats a sick 'joke' @SeriaMau not funny or clever.

It's not arrogant, finding a reliable cleaner is nigh on impossible!

That said, I had a reliable cleaner when I worked full time; reliable insomuch as she rarely cancelled. I was glad to be free of her though once I was in a position to do it all myself, because she was an overbearing pain in the arse who did the bare minimum! 😂

Cleaner here. Never ever have I asked for money up front..

Would ask for refund within certain timeframe or you will be brutally honest in your online review.

It means 'my head is a mess'.

I have Barclays online banking. I just have to put in a 5 digit pin number and I'm straight into it.

Maybe it's because it's for a charity? No idea but it's a right faff getting in.

Service not provided because she had an emergency; give her a little time, surely?

It also depends how you paid her. If it's clear on your bank statement that it's for services and they haven't been received them open a case with your bank for a refund. If it's PayPal you can.opem a case so.lomg as you didn't pay via the friends and family function. Otherwise your screwed because that's a classic scam.

I’m with Barclays - I never use a card reader for my banking app

Im with barclays and can add new payee via my app

Same with mine all you need to set new payee is there name bank account number and tells you if it matches

@unreliable interesting update on her social media page.

Give her 48 hours at least. If she had to bail on her way to you then she's most probably still dealing with the emergency. Someone very sick/dying? Maybe she suddenly threw up, at which point she may not have finished yet. Maybe a child had an accident at school and is in the hospital. Be patient, it's only a clean house!

@Cailin66 How short sighted.. many, many people have a restrictive budget.

OP I've had end of tenancy cleans and they're always lacking (not to my standards but the standards of the estate agents who check) and I've had to ask for money back each time. Loads of the excuses about cars breaking down, don't have right equipment etc

Maybe..... OP got her money back 3 months ago. If only there was a way to find out 🤔
Also, OP discovered she did the same thing to others so it was unlikely a real emergency.