Cleaner has cost me £1600

[Bootsybugs22]

I was out of the country for two days and my regular ckeaner (for 5 months) went in to clean whilst I was away. She letnherself in via a back door key left in a safe place. Our decking is really slippy so I said if she needed to go in and out she coulds use the front door once she was in. I text her to say the front door keys were square yale , labelled and in a key pot in the hall.

We have a front modern door to the porch and an older wooden self locking door from porch to house.

She called me whilst away to say she was locked in the porch because the keys i left didn't fit the door. She had picked up some other keys out the fruit bowl in the kitchen.

I called a locksmith. In the meantime she called back and said that stressful situations increase her risk of a seizure (she's epileptic) and I needed to get her out now. So I called my neighbour and asked them to force the rear back paito door. This is because the cleaner had passed the keys she had through the letterbox and one of them was for the rear patio door but not the main opener. So the neighbour tried to force the secondary door open as it could be unlocked. Anyway door got broken in the process.

Locksmith arrived. Drilled the lock, got her out, fitted a new lock. But before he'd arrived the door had been damaged by the neighbour (I gave them permission to force the door)

Today I paid the locksmith £85. Had a man round to quote on repair of the door (£1500 for new set of doors.... not repairable).

I messaged the cleaner and asked if she had insurance. She's now blocked me on WhatsApp but messaged me separately on normal text messaging to say she cancelled her insurance last year when she got her epilepsy diagnosis (why?!).

I'm at a total loss. AIBU that I want SOME recompense even if uts £85?

I am ok in small spaces IF i know I can get out. Once I know I am locked in I completely panic.
For example I could be in a large sports hall. totally fine. but if I knew all the doors and windows were locked and I could not get out (eg unlock them from the inside) I would start having a panic attack. It probably is not a logical response but I dont have any control. I then have to concentrate really really hard to calm down.

If she has claustrophobia it’s easy to see why that and epilepsy might cause stress and need to get out

This! What a headache!

I have a friend a bit like this. She once asked to stay in my flat for 3 weeks while I was abroad and I was panicking wondering at what mishap might befall her and my flat. Thankfully she ended up opting to stay with her sister.

What about the cleaner's actions don't add up? It can be true that the cleaner hadn't had a seizure in a year but is still at risk of a seizure if trapped in a confined space. Maybe she was insured but it lapsed, that's not strictly dishonest. She's paid the OP towards the locksmith even though an insurance company wouldn't have so she's acted in good faith there.

The OP has admitted to panicking herself so I think while it might have been fine to wait for the locksmith, OP (rightly I think) just dealt with it. If anything has happened during the wait then she'd have to live with it and it's not worth it.

All in all it was a crap situation for both parties but the OP is the one who has most to learn from it.

It doesn't make sense that in the cleaner's mind it's low risk for her to work in someone's house alone and there's no to low chance of her having a seizure where no one would see.

vs. it apparently being super high risk her being in the porch with windows for 1 hour waiting for a locksmith.

I understand the stress element but she's just traded one stress for another tbh. The stress of being in a confined space for an hour while she knew someone was on their way to help, was immediately replaced by the stress of knowing she's caused thousands of pounds of damage to someone's home / spoilt their holiday / lost a client.

I'd say the first option was less stressful than the second.

It's dishonest to tell someone you're insured if in reality you've let it lapse once you start working for them. If it was a tradesperson / beautician / any other service people would not be impressed by that at all.

It's not dishonest if it were true when she said it. Other than that, if she had been insured then she would likely have agreed to make a claim and the insurance company would have laughed at her. So the fact that she's given OP money means she's not someone trying to cheat. She's gone over and above what the insurance would do.

When my son was diagnosed with epilepsy it was a really tough period and unpredictable time and took a while to get medications right.It was really stressful. I have two friends who have had a really tough time when first diagnosed one in their 20s and one in the 40s and it’s been a big period of adjustment. If she’s been unpredictable she might well be struggling with it all and worried. As someone self employed my insurance went through the roof when one company folded out of the blue and I can’t imagine that these circumstances would be covered by her insurance anyway. I understand it’s rubbish for you to be out of pocket but I do feel sorry for the cleaner. What seems like simple instructions sounds like an extra hassle when you have multiple clients and just want to go in and get your job done and leave and if the epilepsy is a new diagnosis I imagine she is stressed that stress, heat etc can be triggers as she might well not recognise her triggers yet.

Should have added I was guessing it’s a new diagnosis if she had insurance and it’s only just gone up, unless I’ve missed some detail.

Would ask for free cleaning for the next ? Years tbh.

You’re kidding me right? You think this lady should leave a bad review because the HOUSE OWNER gave permission to neighbour to force the door open?

For goodness sakes.

I agree 100% but I think you should just chalk it up to bad experience

Definitely let her go or update her insurance because she shouldn't be working self-employed with a medical condition if she's not covered.

There’s no way I’d expect a cleaner to go through that hassle. She’s not paid for that, she’s paid to come in, clean to a good standard (which I gather she never did) and then leave. She must’ve been very distraught.
my sympathies are with her, she’s probably still reeling from all the upset.

A valuable lesson on clear communication and not putting keys together here. Also perhaps don't get a cleaner when you are away

My sentiments entirely

The keys weren’t together. OP told the cleaner exactly where the front door keys were kept but she wandered off and picked up a totally different set of keys from another room.

OP communicated that quite clearly on this thread

She insisted on working when the OP was away...

She did not experience a medical event. She suggested she might. There is a significant difference.

She also cancelled her insurance because of her health condition (reasonable to assume because it bumped the premium up too much) but lied to the OP and said she did have insurance.

She was clearly instructed as to where the keys were and instead picked up some random keys from somewhere else entirely.

As I say, I don't agree she is liable for the full sum, but I do think there is partial liability here!

OP commincated it "quite clearly" on this thread because she wanted to put herself in the right.

The OP's set up that it is possible lock yourself in is dangerous. And that doesn't matter whether the person locked in is the brain of Britain or thick as two short planks. If you are leasing a house out , whether holiday or permanent the lay out should not allow that to happen.

Or maybe she communicated it "quite clearly" on the thread because someone asked directly on page 1 and so she provided an answer.

Nothing like Mumsnet's ability to cast suspicion and doubt on the OP lol

I'm amazed there is even an expectation of most mnetters that you would expect your cleaner to have insurance.
We live in London and would kill to get a cleaner. Any cleaner. We currently pay £16 p hr for not that great cleaning but are lucky to have her

That's a lot cheaper than I pay in Edinburgh. I'm currently using an agency so they will have insurance.

I agree about the insurance. I've never expected when I was employing cleaners direct that they would have insurance.

What has leasing a house got to do with anything? It's OPs home?

We have the same porch setup, it's very common around here because the original doors were yale locks and the new doors (fitted when the porches are installed at a later date) are upvc, if you are unsure about locks (because it is unfamiliar to you) then you should always make sure you can open one door without closing the other behind you.. it's honestly not much to ask that people use their common sense in a situation like that.

But all that seems to have gone out the window now to be fair, people make mistakes then expect other people to rally round sorting things out without taking any responsibility for it at all, and in this case making it worse by saying they could have a medical episode if they aren't let out immediately.

If it was likely she would have a epileptic fit due to stress she should not be working alone in peoples houses and she should certainly not be driving.

Your cleaner sounds like an idiot 😆😆😆

What a lot of superior bollocks there is on this thread!

People who live with these doors can accidentally lock themselves out, let alone someone who isn't familiar with the locks

Get over yourselves. It's not her fault and she's not an idiot.

OP should have made sure she was completely familiar with the locks and made sure there wasn't a chance of mixing up keys.

What has leasing got to do with it you ask?

Because the set up the OP has in her house isn't safe. She can choose to accept that risk- she doesn't have the right to make anyone else accept it.