Cleaners didn't do a great job

[oberst]

Hello,

We've recently had a close family bereavement and decided to get a cleaner in just to help us around the house.

Two ladies turned up this morning and I let them know what I'd like them to focus on etc.

I popped out (partner was in office) and came back as they were just leaving.

£18ph, was £36 as two of them for an hour.

Anyway, they've not done a great job at all. I'm really frustrated to be honest. The toilets haven't been cleaned, the floors are still dirty under the kitchen cupboards etc. the floors just haven't been hoovered properly. Surfaces still had crumbs on from toast this morning. There's still my daughter's toys under her table, which makes me feel like they haven't really bothered.

I haven't paid them yet, I feel like I obviously have to even though of course but so disappointed.

Should I let them know I don't want them back next week and tell them why?

I've found another lady so I am hoping she'll do a better job. She said she'll come round before I book her to let her know what I'd like etc so maybe I'll let her know what the other cleaners didn't do!

Sorry you're having a difficult time.

Unfortunately in my experience no cleaners are particularly good, and I've had several over the years. I found that cleaning 'companies' are by far the worst and most expensive, and had better luck with independent self-employed people.

But still slack to detail - dusty corners, polishing but not actually cleaning a bathroom, etc. I gave up in the end - hope you find somebody - local Facebook recommendation sites are sometimes good, but equally the good ones always seem to be fully booked!

Thank you.

I'm sat here just having a cup of tea and I can see so much stuff that has been missed. But really obvious things.

The crumbs on the side have annoyed me the most haha! Also the downstairs toilet which needed a clean hasn't been touched.

I really wanted a good clean so I didn't have to think about doing it myself as I'm totally drained.

I found these ladies via Facebook but there is another lady who has contacted me, so I am going to ask her to come over for a chat first to let her know the deeper details of what id like! It's mainly the floors as they are wooden and the bathrooms. Ahhh.

I think 2 hours for the first clean isn't long enough tbh. It always takes longer at first until they get used to the house.

I've just had my house deep cleaned (did pay extra). 2 people were there for 4 hours - and I didn't ask for most of the bedrooms to be done in that time. I've now booked one person for 3 hours to keep up the new cleanliness.

If you're not happy then you need to let them know immediately why not and let them come to fix it. But my first thought is there just wasn't enough time.

There are a lot of crappy cleaners out there, I have had a few but my current one is brilliant so they are out there.
To be fair to them 2 hours isnt enough to do much unless your house is tidy and pretty clean already but if you have found someone else who you think will be better then just tell them you dont want them to come back, but be clear with your expectations with the next one

What have they done? And were you there - did they actually work or were they slow and looking at their phones or chatting most of the time?

The stairs looked hoovered as I saw the hoover marks, but then I saw bits still on the stairs.

It smelt nice when I walked in? That's something I guess.

I didn't ask them to do bedrooms as they are pretty tidy and clean anyway.

House is pretty tidy and clean anyway, they suggested two hours.

I asked them to focus on bathrooms (one upstairs with bath and then downstairs is a WC) and then the kitchen/lounge.

House isn't huge!

Two of them should have been able to clean your bathrooms, kitchen and lounge. It reminds me of the time I booked a “deep clean”, 3 hours for a small house. They didn’t even touch my kitchen! And not one room was properly cleaned. I did pay but wrote a complaint and never booked them again.

It will always take new cleans a few weeks to get used to your house and to get up to speed.

Two hours for a first clean isn’t very long.

What did you want them to do with your daughter’s toys under the table? Most cleaners won’t tidy things away unless they have been specifically asked to (you’re expected to tidy up so the cleaners can actually clean).

The rest doesn’t sound great but maybe they ran out of time?

Unless by recommendation most cleaners will tidy more than deep clean in my experience. I’m sorry for your loss, maybe the cleaning might be therapeutic put on headphones and scrub angrily that’s what I do a lot lol I’ve heard of the app wecasa for cleaners but never used it, although my sil had a lovely cleaner from there who did her oven!

Sorry if I've missed a relevant update. Did you book through an agency? If you did, you can call up the agency and let them jbiw you aren't happy with the results. They would then send someone else to do another clean for you at no cost. (That's what the agency I use does).

If it was a private booking, speak yo the ladies themselves and let them know you're not happy. They might give an explanation that might help contextualise the poor results and make them understandable.

Well, if they were mopping and hoovering I'd of expected them to lift the pen and book from under her little table to hoover and mop underneath?

If it was just a book and a pen then of course they should’ve picked them up and moved them.

I’ve done cleaning in the past and been to houses where there are piles of toys on the floor, sinks full of washing and surfaces so cluttered you can barely see them. In those cases there isn’t time to tidy away and clean.

@Imnotarestaurant oh no my house is nothing like that! I actually tidied last night in preparation for them to come this morning and clean! I missed the two things under her desk.

I also looked at the sofa and they hadn't hoovered with the nozzle under where there's a gap.

I just feel like it was a waste of money I guess and not what I thought it was going to be like!

Maybe I need to ask for a deeper clean.

Ah it sounds like they just weren’t very good cleaners then 🙁

Unfortunately I think this was doomed to fail from the start.
i have been cleaning for 12yrs. I have just one client who has two hours and that’s fortnightly. Everyone else has 3hrs+. It’s a small house, immaculately maintained by the retired owners and we just go to help.
I would never do two hours for an initial clean. I usually do a full day minimum. Unfortunately some cleaners think people won’t pay as much/as long as is needed and quite low to get the job then half kill themselves doing a mediocre job.

I share your pain, I had something similar when my DF was dying. Booked someone to muck out stables to take some pressure off us and wasn't thrilled with the lack of attention to detail. Tried leaving friendly notes outlining what we expected in the time we were paying her for but it didn't work. She'd bring her friends and be in and out in 20 minutes rather than the 90 I was paying her for. I wouldn't have minded if she was doing a proper job. It would have been less stressful all round if we'd carried on doing them ourselves.
Ironically dad was given 6 weeks to live, it took a couple of weeks to get this in place and we decided to book for a longer period as always busy after someone dies and a lot to sort out, he actually passed just before they started, I should have cancelled the job before they started but didn't want to let them down. More fool me.

I'd complain with a list of what they haven't done and photos, negotiate their price down and not get them back and try this other lady.
I sometimes wonder if it's deliberation exploitation of the recently bereaved or they're just useless and other people never complain when the jobs not up to a reasonable standard

This doesn’t sound good, OP.

But IME you must give new cleaners a fairly detailed list of what needs to be done and you must prioritise tasks. Doing a good job in a new place takes longer than you would expect. We cannot tell whether this eas a fair trial.

At least you will know to give the next cleaner more thoughtful instructions

With you on that.

When I cleaned, for a new customer it was a full day on day one ( 6 hours ) , then maybe 4 hours a week for a few weeks until it was possible to drop to two hours - a typical 3 bedroom,2 bath house

It took that long to get the cleaning to scratch and to train the householder :) Once the back was broken and two hours was enough to keep it to standard, then a bit of ironing got done or a wash put on or the beds changed.

OP, finding a cleaner who knows how to clean is like finding hens teeth. If by chance you find one, keep in their good books and keep them close. Im with you in thinking they didnt clean well. Even if they didnt have the time to do all that you asked, the bits they did tackle should have been done to a high standard