Did I get ripped off - cleaners

[Mellowlaz]

So my parents house is the best place to host Christmas. They have a large-ish kitchen and two sitting areas.

I go over once a week to hoover, mop and just chuck old newspapers, leaflets, boxes etc.

I don’t have time to do the biggest clean before everyone comes so hired some cleaners. They came yesterday. I paid £320 for:

• carpet clean living room - 14x12 feet
• Carpet clean stairs and landing
• fabric clean 3 and 4 seater sofa
• Deep clean family bathroom
• deep clean downstairs loo
• carpet clean

4 people came for 1:45 mins.

I’m okay with the results. Carpet feels fresher.

But the bathrooms left a bit to be desired. For that price I would’ve hoped that they deep cleaned the grout. The floor has been swept and mopped but it doesn’t look as perfect as I was hoping. I will probably find time to do it as it’s should be white but is a funny orange brown color. But they didn’t even give the towel radiator a dust. It’s in a good condition and I can get it to that pristine level now without having to do the hard graft. The white painted door wasn’t given a wipe. Water marks on it.

A coffee mark hasn’t been
Taken out. I understand it at not be possible but I feel like a previous carpet cleaner would have been able to manage this.

We live in the SE. The price I think is fair. But I would’ve been willing to pay a fair price for top quality work

Do I have a right to be disappointed?

I’ll bite because I don’t think people realise that all cleans or cleaners are not the same. I can do a regular house clean at £20 p/h I charger more depending on the clean do you think a cleaner should still charge that if they are doing a deep clean which requires different equipment and training and insurance to carry out? I do your usual clean to cleans that could be where someone has passed away or a home that’s infested with maggots for example?

I turned up to a job recently that was told to me was a deep clean but nothing to worry about got there and it was a house where a family of four had been shitting where they sit and one member of the family had maggots in his leg that were crawling across the floor.

A deep clean is really a big spectrum. Someone may say can you do a few more hours this week and then there’s a deep clean where I need to be in full PPE use different products which add up and I’ve had to do courses to be able to do what I do.

Also you can usually only fit two jobs in a day and you’re not paid inbetween so to think cleaners should be on lower pay I don’t know how they would cover their costs or get enough hours in a day.

Sorry I’ve had a hard day at work 😆 Another point is you’ll be surprised how many clients won’t pay you in a reasonable timeframe which is really hard. I can do a job and be chasing up for the invoice to be paid for weeks and in that time have to work extra days to stay a float.

Yeah you've paid them all about £50 an hour, which is exorbitant for cleaning. I was stung in the summer. Paid one person £120 to come and 'deep clean' the sofa and cuddle chair. She didn't even lift up the cushions and at one point, I was hoovering around the bottom myself! She was only there for 1.5 hours! I felt completely stung and bunged all the sofa cushions in the washing machine myself when she left, which is what I should have done in the first place. For that kind of momey, I would expect it all to be bloody perfect!

But there were 4 of them so I was okay with it in theory

That's a huge spectrum.

But most deep cleans often just involve a thorough clean and no extra equipment. Just covering every inch. If i were a cleaner I'd just therefore charge a normal rate but it would obviously take much longer.

If carpet cleaners etc... are hired then fair enough charge more but in many of these disputes that isn't the case.

I'm a carpet cleaner, we're not top of the range or anything, but we're great value. For just the carpet and upholstery cleaning we would have charged you £125 but we're cheap. We've been in business 7 years and get great results and are cheap for other reasons.

I don't think the price is a lot and I think you need to accept that it doesn't matter what you pay, no carpet cleaner can guarantee it'll come up perfect after, especially on stairs where part of the carpet is walked on in exactly the same spot.

In my view they could have done better, but it's not bad enough to consider yourself "had". Carpet cleaning equipment is expensive. Honestly some companies would have charged you that for just the sofas.

I’m in the same area as you and see all the time similar complaints on our Facebook groups. Usually it’s where people have paid for a deep clean and it’s not good enough. It’s really put me off having it done, which is a shame. I think it confuses the issue having carpets / upholstery etc done at the same time as that’s usually a specialist job for a fixed price by a different type of company.

We pay £19 an hour for our cleaner and she’s very good, and brings her own hoover and products.

I would then use someone like Garlands for the deep clean on the carpets.

Just spray the grout with dettol mould spray, leave for half an hour and rinse. Should be fine. For coffee stains, distilled vinegar works miracles, even when it’s dried in. Dilute it a bit, but even using it neat won’t harm a wool carpet.

Agree carpet, upholstery cleaning is totally different to hoovering. Carpet cleaning is expensive so l don't think the amount you have paid is unreasonable.
You could complain about the lack of attention to details though.

7 hours for a deep clean should cost between £150 to £250, depending on the size of the property.A deep clean doesn't usually include carpets, and is usually quoted separately. Carpet cleaning is way more so I don't think you've been 'had'. A good cleaner would want to, at the least, know the size of the property, what your priorities are, some may want to vist the property or ask for a virtual tour. They usually advise it could take them longer than quoted so you would pay for the extra time. With the carpet, it really does depend on how long stains have been left for. But yes, the grout should have been dealt with. Good for you letting them know what you wasn't happy with a couple of things and good for them to say they will sort those items out. Sounds like you could have a good partnership going forward. My cleaner is great, a few teething problems at first due to miscommunication, mostly on my part, but getting a good, honest and reliable cleaner is the holy grail to my sanity!

Its carpet cleaning, so not the same as cleaning rates.

My father owns a carpet cleaning company and the price you've paid is fairy average/on the lower end of the scale. I don't agree you can see any marks from the dog on the stairs tbh. I do think some customers expect the carpets to look brand new again which isn't ever going to happen.

I didn’t know that normal cleaners did specialist jobs like carpet and sofa cleaning. I think I’d have picked a cleaner for general cleaning, and a professional who does upholstery/carpet cleaning.

Oh, and HG mould spray works like witchcraft. It’s amazing!

Ex cleaner here , you were totally ripped off im
sorry . It’s hard to find good honest cleaners . If they are employed by a company . Take photos and show them say how unhappy you were . If they are the ones who run their own business, still say the same . They should come back and do do they work they supposed to do . To not even clean the dust of a radiator is awful . Thats just done with a normal clean . Deep clean thats shocking . Grout everything should have been done . Tell them if it’s not finished to what you over payed for that you have no choice but to go to social media , also do you have cameras ? Il bet you anything they most probably only stayed half the time you said

Very reasonable. The carpet cleaning alone would cost a fair amount. They don't charge by the hour. They charge per job. I have just paid £150 for sitting room and stairs which is very reasonable. After all they bring equipment. I also live in SE. Cleaners are around £20 to £23 per hour but this is for a regular contract. Obviously prices for a one off are almost double.
And it was a deep clea. Y u don't get that for £20 an hr. Also it depends how often the house has had a de2p clean.
Those saying you have been ripped off are living in cloud cuckoo land. It is the SE.
I would mention the fact that some areas didn't not reach the high standard expected and maybe ask or a discount.
But honestly you don't need to fret .

We paid about £160 for a clean of our 3 seater large sofa and one large loveseat.
This is a specialist cleaning firm that has heavy special equipment to do the job properly.
It takes time to set it up , fill machine etc , do the clean and then clear it all away.
So I don’t think they’ve overcharged at all .
I actually think this is very reasonable.

You've paid for 7 hours in total of work at £45 per hour. With 4 people attending to do the clean I'd expect them to have done the things they have missed so I don't think it's unfair for you to let them know you're not happy. I'm assuming you mentioned when you spoke to whoever took your booking that you wanted a deep clean which should include grouting being scrubbed & doors wiped down. When they come back specify what you want done so there's no mistaking what's expected. It's not nice when you pay someone to do something you can do yourself but don't have time & it's not done properly.

I don't think you have been had at all.

They have done specialist carpet and upholstery cleaning and a one off deep clean which is usually a slightly higher rate than a regular clean.

Grout cleaning would be specialist clean too unless you specifically asked then to do it in which case it would take far longer than the time allowed.

honestly i stopped getting firms in for the upholstery and deep dusting. i just bought my own proper kit because i found i did a better job myself for less cash. they always seem to rush the fiddly bits