So let me begin. Please bear with me and sorry for the long post. I’m disabled and reliant on having cleaners to keep my house reasonably hygienically clean. I use my PiP and benefits to pay for my cleaners so I have to receive the clean I pay for. I have had the whole cohort of cleaners over the years - single independent cleaners, agency cleaners and more recently cleaners from a multitude of small companies who work in pairs so halving the cleaning time. These arrangements always start well, with highly motivated cleaners who set the schedule of how many hours needed, the time they come and cost having inspected the house and discussion. Things work well for a few weeks or months. Some cleaners go well beyond what’s expected but things invariably start slipping. Cleaners stop coming on time, arrive at any time of day, what is supposed to be a 3 hour clean for a partially trained cleaner suddenly becomes a 5 hour clean because there’s not enough time and cleans get cut short because “all the tasks on the spec have been done” (they’ve not!). At £20/hr, the going rate in our area, that makes things expensive and something my PiP and benefits don’t come close to covering. Don’t get me wrong, I’m assertive, I’m flexible when a cleaner is 15 minutes early or late, sometimes it’s a lot longer than that or the company contacts me to change the time of day at short notice and yes, I provide feedback when things need attention. I’m reasonable. I’m mostly home, have a brief chat when cleaners arrive then make myself scarce to my outdoor office that the cleaners don’t clean. There is a key safe that the cleaners can use if I am suddenly not home for any reason.
However well things start, the inevitable happens and there is an incident that terminates the relationship. We’ve experienced theft on the last working day of a cleaner moving to Wales. The last couple of times the cleaners have not turned up but have been close to my house at the cleaning time (apparently some companies track their cleaners), and then left. I then get a bill for the missed clean to be paid in full. The last time this happened I knew the cleaners were lying when they’d said they were on my property as I was in the front garden talking to my neighbour who confirmed that the cleaners hadn't been near my house at the appointment time. I have since invested in a NEST doorbell to see exactly who comes on my property and when.
Today, this happened with cleaners that I’ve been using since May 2023. Since making sure that I can get to the door in good time, I tend to watch out for the cleaners 15-20 mins before they arrive. Today, the cleaners arrived at 12.21 for a 13.00 clean. I wasn’t expecting them so early. They rang the doorbell at 12.21 and 12.23 and sat in the car until 12.30. This is confirmed by my Nest camera. Unusually it seems they intended to do a clean because they unloaded the cleaning equipment but reloaded it into their car within 5 mins. I received a messenger message at 12.31 telling me that I was out, they had been on the doorstep ringing the bell for 20 mins (not true) and were leaving. In fact, by the time the message was sent, they had left. I was home and unfortunately didn’t hear the doorbell as I was in the bathroom which has an extractor fan. I did however see the message. My first response was to run downstairs and get to the door before the cleaners left. There was no sign of them. I immediately sent a response (within 2 minutes of receiving) telling them that I was home, hadn’t heard the bell as I was in the bathroom and I wasn’t expecting them so early. I actually pleaded with them to come back believing that the message had been sent from the doorstep and that I had literally just missed them. I received a passive aggressive barrage of messages. I pointed out that they came 40 minutes early for a 1pm clean and asked why they didn’t phone me as it would be highly unusual for me not to be home when they arrive unless pre-warned and they would have been able to use the key safe. The response was that I should expect them to come up to 30 minutes either side of the appointment time (this is not in our contract and the first I’ve heard this) and that they’d waited until 12.30 (30 minutes before the appointment time). I was also told that they thought there was no point in phoning me as “I sit and watch them on my doorbell camera”. This in particular I find particularly offensive as I try to live my life to the full and no I don’t sit for hours watching my drive and only review doorbell footage in the event of an incident or if I receive an alert. The doorbell footage of their visit is interesting as it’s clear they know they’re being filmed by their body language, bowed heads and whispering voices. It’s no big surprise, I’ve received an invoice for their visit as a “missed clean” due to me not being home. I am inclined not to pay it as they didn’t come at the agreed time.
My question is, is this normal behaviour for cleaners? Is it reasonable for cleaners to expect customers to be ready and waiting 45 - 60 minutes for their arrival. As it is the cleaner who sets the appointment time and not me then surely they should know their schedule. Or is it a case of ending the cleaning relationship as soon as I’m not getting the clean I’m expecting/ hoping for. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated before I move on with yet another cleaning company