What are your complaints about cleaners........?

[blossomsmine]

I noticed on another thread a couple of people mentioned about not being happy with their cleaning service and having to get them back to do 'a few bits' they had missed. Well..........seeing as i am a cleaner at the mo i wondered, from the customers point of view, what are your main complaints and/or what do you wish your cleaner would do more thoroughly and is there anything that most cleaners seem to miss out????
Would love to know your views as i kind of do stuff 'my' way and maybe i drive my customers mad lol!

My (lovely) cleaner uses inappropriate cleaning products on the wrong surfaces...I have just had a new solid oak worktop fitted with stainless steel splashback and I am going to ban her from cleaning it. She'd get the wire wool and Jif powder out otherwise!
Don't we all sound like toffs moaning about our cleaners!

Ssnack, quite a good idea, about talking to customers...but knowing my lot they would add about another 10 jobs to the clean!! Might think about it though!!!

I think we should all agree that cleaners are fabulous though, and whatever they miss (cobwebs), there is a lot that they do!

My biggest problem with cleaners is that they are so unreliable.

My first cleaner cleaned on average every second week as she always had to go to the hospital with someone, her daughter, auntie, neighbour's dog. Funny how she never remembered to tell me until the night before or the morning she was supposed to clean.

Number 2 never ever turned up despite me giving her 3 attempts.

Number 3 was more reliable, but got the sakc from the agency.

Number 4 I have only had for 3 weeks and weeks 2 and 3 I've had a replacement cleaner from the agency as vrarious family members have been sick .

Then when they do turn up, they always just hoover the middle of the carpet, never round the edges and never clean the taps.

Mine were shite, rude, unreliable con artists.

On the cleaning front, apart from lots of stuff already mentioned by others, they NEVER dusted the tops of the door frames. It's not something that needs doing terribly often, but it does need doing once in a while, and ours were caked in dust without them ever bothering to do it.

Well.....their not all shite, rude etc.,!!! Can't you get one recommended by a friend?
I have to say though i have done the 'got to go to an appointment' thing a few times.......{blush] Oh, and i ALWAYS do the tops of doors etc., it is kind of my 'thing' always top dust and do skirting boards, never miss it!
I wish you could all get someone lovely like some of the other posters, would make such a difference.

I have a lovely cleaner but she is quite headstrong and bosses me about. That is not really a problem and the thing that really worries me is that nearly every week since she has been working for us she seems to know someone who has DIED or has had a dreadful disfiguring accident / illness etc etc. We've known her for 10 years now and I keep on wondering WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE MY TURN!!!!

Most annoying so far was leaving all the lights on while we were on holiday. I am amazed that we didn't get broken into.

I agree with all the things blossomsmine hates about customers.

i too run a cleaning company and find it incredibly rude when, having slogged myself silly in their house, they cannot leave a cheque when they know i am there every week! i have staff to pay.

Also mums please think if YOU would like to pick up someone elses discarded underwear or clean someone elses toilet after they have been used!

i always do what the customer asks (duties vary) but usually do what i call a 'top to bottom'. This means starting at the ceilings/picture rails (cobwebs) moving down to pictures and mirrors down to surfaces and dados and then finish with the skirtingboards & floors, which INCLUDES moving furniture (not wardrobes etc). Unless a floor is solid wood or carpeted it gets washed. We also wipe down door frames & paintwork. Windows & ovens usually have to be asked for, although some we do regularly.

This is also what i expect my staff to do.

i personally would rather be told that a client was not happy with the service and deal with it rather than them moan about me behind my back.

You are the boss, you are paying for this service and YOU say what gets done and how.

I like my cleaner, I'm just grateful that I'm not doing it myself.

My cleaner does have to tidy toys before cleaning, but I told her that up front and it's factored into the time. Occasionally I will forget about my discarded clothes in a heap behind the bathroom door and be a bit that she has had to dump them in the laundry basket.

There are only two very minor things about her cleaning, she doesn't stack the dishwasher correctly and she doesn't empty the vacuum cleaner often enough. I'm prepared to believe that I could be freakishly controlling about the 'right' way to stack the dishwasher as nobody has ever done it correctly except me, I'm a total slattern about just about every other domestic matter. I empty the vacuum cleaner myself every so often.

none. what's to complain about? she cleans my dirt. nuff said.

sue1911, i used to work for a cleaning company and i was taught to clean exactly how you explain.... glad we are in agreement with the complaints
broguemum...maybe she is making conversation to help the time go by!!!
Like you say bran, i think as long as you clearly state what you expect of your cleaner, regarding tidying etc., it is all fine if agreed at the beginning!
Oh well, happy cleaning and happy being cleaned!!

Not read thread but:

• always cleaning only the same bits each time and leaving the same bits uncleaned....e.g. skirting board tops that get dusty

On the upside my wonderful cleaner recently re-organised my entire wardrobe, folding all the jumbled up t-shirts/ tops etc so it all looked like a shelf in Gap!

I think she's fab!

I think my cleaner is guilty of getting slacker unless I specifically mention things she must do each week. She certainly does tend to miss cobwebs, and sweep or mop around things rather than pulling them out. We have wooden floors so it's quite easy to see the dust collecting, and disappointing if I spot dustballs in the evening after she has supposed to have cleaned.

She's also turned out to be quite unreliable. We've only had her for a couple of months and already there have been a couple of doctors appts and one time she forgot my keys, so she has had to come on a different day or do less than the usual. Her English isn't very good so I think she is wary of communicating with me and always leaves it until the last minute to tell me she can't come or wants to come a different time or whatever. I don't think I'm a dragon, either. I'm usually pretty forgiving but would appreciate more notice. But what I'd really like is someone who always comes at the same time and does what I need without me having to point things out every week.

What is more than a little annoying is that I had hoped to avoid these problems by using an agency. But I think she really needs the money. So rather than telling the agency she can't come, and asking them to send someone else, she tells me that morning or the night before and tries to arrange a different time with me.

Also, the agency have a system where you write out quite specifically what needs doing each week This is supposed to mean you're not expecting the cleaner to 'use their initiative'. I suppose they may risk focussing on bits that you don't care about while avoiding bits you do. But this system doesn't help if the cleaner finds it hard to read English. So if I'm around I try to tell her which parts to do, and if I'm not I leave a short note and take my chances that it will be done.

My cleaner is fantastic - last one seemed to ignore the fact we had a downstairs loo though! The children have to tidy up the evening before she comes - if they don't, they don't get pocket money that week and I tell her to leave it and supervise them doing it myself.
I really appreciate having her and would never not pay her - that's appalling. Ditto the dirty knickers. Shocking!

Thats lovely what you say about your cleaner, swedishmum, my heart sinks when i walk in and they haven't left the money, i feel like just turning round and going again...but i don't.
Brilliant that you get your children involved in the tidying the night before, these habits started early certainly help