To fire my new cleaner this quickly?

[Askingadvice100]

I was offered more hours at work at the end of last year and so decided with my husband that with some of the extra money I’d be earning we would invest in a cleaner to come once a fortnight for 3hrs to help with housework. Found a lady who is part of the same school community as me although didnt know her personally and agreed that she would come for 3hrs every other Wednesday. The first Wed she came just before Christmas and cleaned the house, and before she left I logged into my bank so that I could set her up in my account and make sure I could pay her for that day and going forward. I looked round the house after she left and she had mostly done a good job, although the kitchen wasn’t brilliant, but didn’t think too much of it as it was the first time she had cleaned and I’m realistic that you probably can’t get through everything perfect in only 3 hrs and felt sure she would rotate her focus each time and get to know the house better etc. She also didn’t like my steam mop so I said I would buy a traditional mop for her next visit. Two weeks later was Christmas so it was 4 weeks before her next visit. She messaged to say she couldn’t do the Wednesday but could she do Tuesday afternoon instead. I said fine, I would be at work but husband working from home so no problem. When I got in husband said she had been but not stayed quite the full 3 hrs, and the place looked like it had been cleaned, but quite a few areas that were a bit sloppy. For example she had cleaned the shower screen but obviously not the tiles on the wall of the shower which still had some dirty marks on them. The floor had been mopped but the odd area where there was a bit more stubborn dirt hadn’t been thoroughly removed even though she had used the new mop. I messaged in the evening to say thank you and that I had paid. Two weeks later brings us to this week. She messaged again to say she couldn’t do Wednesday and would be there at 11 on Tues. luckily H was working at home again. He rang me at 11:45 to double check when she was coming as she hadn’t arrived. She arrived just after 12 and said sorry she’d had car trouble. She cleaned and then left after only 2hrs 40mins. Again the house looked like it has been cleaned but wasn’t perfect, she certainly wouldn’t have run out of things to do! She then messaged before I had even finished work to ask that I pay her.
So AIBU to think this really isn’t working out and look for another cleaner? I mean if I pay her for 3 hrs she should give me 3hrs work right? I don’t expect her to work like a robot for the entire time but I do expect her to spend the time I’m paying her for?! Being flaky on days and times isn’t ideal either as can’t guarantee my husband won’t have to go to the office or in a meeting.
Also the message she sent asking me to pay her has pissed me off a bit. I mean if I am being generous maybe she really needed the money quickly to pay for the car repairs, but it left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth given that I had paid so promptly the first two times. My husband says we should give her a couple more cleans before we make the decision. She is a very nice lady and I completely trust her to be in the house which is obviously an important factor. What do you think?
If you are still reading thanks for getting to the end of this long post 🤣

IMO they’re all con artists anyway.

My first cleaner was caught on her mobile phone with the vacuum running on the landing and the house being less than well cleaned.

Meanwhile friend’s cleaner of many years was caught stealing from him.

I employed another cleaner and after a couple of weeks she sent me a message telling me she was sick and then started saying how hard up she is and could I help her out by lending her several hundred quid and she’d pay me back honest.

I’ve now given up bothering because I think that there are far too few honest one out there and I don’t have time to keep changing cleaners.

I'd say 3hrs for a full clean once a fortnight is a lot. Have you done a list of the areas you want doing specifically?

So say - this week concentrate on Kitchen/bathroom deep clean, vacuuming carpets, dusting.

Next visit - concentrate on doing all skirting boards, once over the kitchen/bathroom, deep clean lounge, quick hoover.

It could be that she's overwhelmed trying to do everything. If you ask for say the kitchen scrubbed and there's still bits missed. You have your answer.

Just say no, Tuesday is no good..... I'm at work and hubby in office so noone will be home I'm afraid. If she's not free on Wednesdays then she can't come 😂

Wow thanks everyone for your comments they are really helpful. It’s interesting to hear so many of you have had similar experiences. I guess I was hoping that she had just had a couple of tricky weeks, with the car trouble etc. which led the slap dash cleaning and not staying the full time.
To clarify I don’t expect a full top to bottom clean but I do clean on the in between week so have a good idea of what can be achieved in that time given that all the surfaces are clear and tidy before she arrives and she has definitely fallen short so far.
i think I’ll see what happens when she comes the week after next. If she comes on the Wed that’s good, and I will ask in advance for certain areas to be done thoroughly and see what happens. If I’m still not happy then I will tell her it’s not working and look for someone else!

I would look for someone else first, you may not find anyone else and you may prefer to stay as you are. I have been doing this job a long, long time, running a proper cleaning service, albeit alone. Many people who do house cleaning do so "on the side" and I have no thoughts on that either way as it doesn't impact what I do - all I know is that people who have used such cleaners say they either had one who was the best ever in every way, or was the worst in every way.

Frankly, with the OP, it all sounds 6 of one and half a dozen of the other - yes, you need to get used to a cleaner and it takes time, and unless you've got something rigid going on that means you require the same time and same day each fortnight, you may have to expect to offer some flexibility on the both points. After all, when someone isn't cleaning for you, they have to be doing something else, and it's not always possible to commit to the same day like they might with a weekly clean. This said, they should be giving you plenty of notice.

However, I will never ever understand people who charge an hourly rate for anything and then leave early. If they think they can get the work done in a certain time-frame then they should be charging a set price for each cleaning visit. I have never charged by the hour (because if the international franchise brands who've been doing it all over the place for over 45 years don't then I'm going to look to them for inspiration) and that way no one can say I left "early" and if they have a complaint about the cleaning then they can be explicit and say "this wasn't done" or "could this be done better?". Not that I've ever had many complaints and I've got clients now who I've had coming up to 20 years in some cases.

Mind you, I prefer to work for people who've had cleaners before, as they invariably know what a crap service looks like, and they know that I'm very much not it.

Oh we had this. The constent chopping and changing drove me mad! We cancelled her within a month and have someone new who is so much more reliable.