To not pay cleaner in full?

[Cheesybroccoli]

I hired a cleaner at the end of last year for a fortnightly clean via a cleaning company. The actual cleaner keeps changing due to staff leaving, so I seem to have a new cleaner every time which is frustrating but I appreciate this can’t be helped.

A new cleaner came yesterday and all seemed well until I went up to the bathroom, the glass shower screen hadn’t been touched and was still covered in water marks and the tiles hadn’t been wiped down, with a blob of shower gel foam still on it. Everything else in the bathroom was clean, including the shower taps, so it was odd that it was missed.

I spoke to the woman who owns the company and brought it to her attention who said she would speak to the cleaner. However, she’s still invoiced me for the full amount. DH thinks I shouldn’t pay in full since the job wasn’t completed properly, but I feel awkward asking for a discount. What would you do in this situation?

I had continuing problems when I used a company. I understand that sometimes they timed out but a couple of times they arrived late and left early. It was much better when I had someone I knew.

That's a lot for a fortnightly clean. She'd be racing around in a new place she's not used to. Honestly for the sake of a shower screen and some tiles missed once, it's really not worth pushing for money off.

No you can't ask for a discount. However it is best if you draw up a checklist.this makes it easier for any cleaner to know what your priorities are. Also leave lots and lots of microfiber cloths for them as buffing bathrooms. Glass and mirrors require a lot. Leave everything out if they don't provide products so they don't have to search. Honestly it's like any other role you get good and bad.

That’s an awful lot to get done in two hours. My parents have bathroom, ensuite, downstairs loo and kitchen done and that takes their excellent cleaner 2 hours. When she went long term sick they had new cleaners in (2 of them), charged more and between 2 working an hour each, they frequently didn’t get all that done

i used to clean and I’d say that’s at least 3 hours work to do it to a high standard! I was highly sought after and had a waiting list. I’ll health caused me to retire

OP, as someone who has been hiring cleaners for several decades, I have to concur that if you're going to be petty every time something is missed, it isn't going to work. Point out errors, that's fine, but give them time to bed in and get it to a good overall standard before going in heavy-handed.

Furthermore, unless your DH has employed the cleaners he needs to butt out, the person who employed them gets to deal with it and have an opinion. People have one boss, not several.

I do agree strongly with a previous poster who recommended you hire your own cleaner, rather than going through an agency. At one stage when I started out I went through a well known national agency. ( BTW sending two cleaners is standard). Cleaners changed constantly, and I was always being let down the night before, after I'd got home, put the baby to bed single handed and then rushed around tidying up. When I registered my displeasure, the owner started whingeing about her recruitment difficulties, eliciting the unusually sharp response from me that she was there to make my life easier, not for me to take on her stress!

Once we went our own way, we have had virtually nothing but very happy and mutually beneficial relationships over more than thirty years.

It is important that you really appreciate and respect a good cleaner when you find one. Our current lady, who is more of a part-time housekeeper, is a highly respected and valued friend and member of the family. We really appreciate her, and all she does for us, and reward her well I hope.. Whatever she wants, in terms of resources, she gets. She never takes advantage, and even trusts me to set her rate of pay. It is a relationship of mutual trust and respect, and we dread the day she decides to retire fully.

Your problem is with the company and it's high staff turnover. A cleaner needs time to establish a routine in a new place. Once they have a routine in place, they usually clean to a high standard unless their employer doesn't pay them properly or there's other issues. I wouldn't ask for a discount but you could ask for them to finish the job you are paying for.

It used to take me 3 hours to do a 1 bedroom house fully

Wow, two cleaners? When I was a cleaner I used to do that by myself in 2 hrs although I only did basic dusting of bedside tables, dressing table, sideboards, mirrors, coffee table. I was meticulous and made sure every room was left the way I would expect in my own home so I don't believe the excuse - as an ex professional, I can absolutely confirm that you don't 'forget where you were up to'. I would definitely ask for a discount on my next clean - I hate paying for something and then not getting it.

Let me guess, you have to give the poor woman a star rating. She hasn't got her stars.
Here's a crazy suggestion. treat her like a human being and speak to her.

@Cheesybroccoli I guess the agency owner doesn't know what percentage your shower represents of the whole cleaning job so just invoiced you in full (although I suppose she could have discounted the invoice by, say, 5% as a gesture of good will). Personally, I'd pay in full, but email the owner back expressing your dissatisfaction, but on this occasion you'll let it go. Assuming you're ever at home to see the cleaner herself, I'd make a point of saying the shower was missed last week and can she please remember it this week. Hopefully you'll have no problems going forward.

Not sure if specifics were made explicit

I could understand some of these comments if it was a big house, however it’s pretty small. No hallway downstairs, it was effectively a 2 up 2 down Victorian cottage, that’s had a small upstairs bathroom added and small conservatory. If I can do a deep clean in 2 hours, there is no way 2 cleaners wouldn’t be able to do a basic clean in an hour, even without knowing the house (it’s hardly a maze), plus they bring all their own products which should make things quicker and easier.

I totally appreciate mistakes happen, but cleaning the shower is one of the main parts of cleaning the bathroom not something petty. And even if she got distracted, surely she could see it wasn’t clean? The shower gel foam is green on white tiles, and the glass screen is about 1.5m wide and 2.5m tall, just a plain piece of glass with nothing on - except a load of water marks.

No I don’t give her stars, she’s not an uber driver, how odd, and if I did of course I wouldn’t give 1, she did a satisfactory job other than missing one of the main parts. I’ve spoken to the cleaner, hence how I have a reason which I’ve included in my previous messages.

I think I'd be more hacked off at the constant changing of staff - yes, will be some staff turnover, but either they are a shit company to work for, or they're moving the better cleaners elsewhere (to clients with high standards that complain, want discounts if the work isn't done properly and threaten to stop using them if they don't buck up their standards??)

If you get new cleaners every week, they won't get to know where stuff is. what needs doing, how the cleaner works...
And they are in your home - it's not unreasonable to expect to get to know and trust them - presumably they're often working when you are at work.

It was a mistake. They've admitted it.
So the question is is it reasonable to punish someone for the mistake. I'd say no, not the first time. If it's a repeated issue then sure. But mistakes happen and you have to accept it.

If I had a cleaner ( I don't )
I'd expect my shower screen to be sparkling as it's a horrid job but up there with one of the most expected jobs.
I used to be a cleaner and no way would I leave a screen uncleaned or polished.

Op

let this go and look for another cleaner - create a FB post on your local page

I think this is what I will do. I want someone I can build a relationship with rather than a different cleaner each time.

Hi OP, I would pay in full and save yourself the problems that can follow. I had a nasty experience once following a sub par clean and disputed full payment and wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Only go by personal recommendations for cleaners now

As a one off with no other complaints I wouldn’t worry but it sounds like you are unhappy generally with the service.
It’s likely to have been a genuine mistake.

I wouldn’t expect a discount (although disagree with others saying that you can’t ask, of course you can!) but would be looking for someone else if you are unhappy generally.

I also disagree with others saying that two hours with two cleaners isn’t enough time for that size of house! That’s 4 hours.

People here get really grumpy about hiring cleaners, you are either labelled as lady muck who should do her own dirty chores or you should be making your cleaner cookies and running around after them!

If she worked for the full time, you should pay up. Maybe she was busy doing something else and ran out of time.

Maybe I have been unlucky with cleaners but only 1 missed area is a win in my book(!) Normally at least 3 areas get missed and often more.

I appreciate mistakes happen, but I’m paying for a service. If I’d ordered a cake and it arrived with a slice missing, would I be expected to pay for that in full? Or if DH missed a single brick out of a wall he built, would he expect to be paid in full without rectifying it? It’s not like it’s something minor like a typo

I always find Mumsnet quite sympathetic to cleaners. I’m bemused by this. They are getting paid to do a job. They aren’t providing favours.

Honestly, if you’re not happy then don’t pay the full amount. Distracted is not a good enough excuse for not completing the work expected, and if you’re personally now left with cleaning to do, then what are you paying for?

I’m not saying sack the person, or get people into trouble, but a simple, 20% of the job was missed so I’ll deduct 20% from the cost type of approach is reasonable.

I wouldn't ask for a discount. You have mentioned it to the company. How much would you have expected them to knock off for not wiping down a shower screen if she did everything else? 50p? A pound? If you split the total cost between every single surface she wiped and every single floor she cleaned, it can't be more than that per item. And perhaps your DH left a mess somewhere else as well that took more time.

If you see the cleaner, mention it politely. If going forward you are happy with the work, then let it slide. If you're not happy, then change cleaner. I think if you're going to ask for a discount every time something is missed you're going to have to keep finding new cleaners, because they won't want to work with you.