I had a relatively easy time scheduling Hire a Maid for a deep cleaning with the intention of getting them ongoing, if they did a nice enough job. Three of them came and spent 2 hours in my 850 sq ft. townhouse. It was clean, but not spotless, and it costed me $240 or so for six hours of work. This seems like a lot of time to clean such a small space, in my opinion. And on their way out, I noticed that they'd not mopped the hardwood floor in my living room. They did it after I mentioned it, but you'd think I wouldn't have had to ask. Anyway, when prompted for feedback, I gave it and it wasn't super-positive, but it also wasn't at all rude.
In a couple of weeks, I decided to give them another go because elements of my house were cleaned very well (the girl that did the kitchen did an exceptional job). When I got a note back from Tammy, it was terse and said something like "We aren't available on that day", to which I replied "Do you want to offer some alternate days?". She then replied "I'll look at the schedule" and I've not heard back since.
So ... that's it for these guys. Tammy's attitude over email coupled with the negative parts of the overpriced cleaning are enough to say "no thanks" to Hire a Maid.
EDIT: I made two edits to follow-up on Carol's response below. I knew it was 3 people for 2 hours but made a typo; the dollar amount reflected the correct time, so that was just an honest mistake. And upon looking at my emails further, I was incorrect that there was a delay in getting back to me. They actually responded the following business day, which is absolutely fair. One more thing to add is that Carol called me last week to threaten legal action if this review wasn't removed. I don't intend to remove it since I believe in user reviews being a valuable resource in this day and age; however, I wanted to correct the two errors I made in my recounting of the events to make sure the review is 100% accurate.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $240.00
- Company Response
Hi Jon, I would first like to apologize that we had not gotten back to you. I understand how this feels, having contacted companies myself with excellent reviews for services and their not returning calls or emails. It is frustrating and is not how we want people to feel when dealing with us.
As a point of clarification, I would like to confirm the initial cleaning of your home on Dec 11th actually took three staff only 2 hours to complete, not 3 hours as noted in your review, for a total of 6 labour hours. (Your Dec 30th email refers to this 6 hours, and that is what is shown on the detailed receipt we provided.)
Your review says that it took a while to get a response to your initial request to resume service; however, there was not in fact any delay by us. We cleaned your home on Dec 11th, you replied to our requests for feedback on Dec 30 th (19 days after the cleaning) saying that you were looking into other agencies and would not be continuing, and then on Jan 22nd (42 days after our cleaning), you emailed us saying that our cleaning “held up quite well” and you had changed your mind and wanted to use our service again.
Unfortunately, the space we had been holding for you had been taken and there was no longer short term availability. I personally called you back promptly the same day (verified with my cell phone record) to let you know this, and I also followed up with an email the next business day confirming that we did not have availability. It was then necessary for my Manager to work through the schedule to determine when there might next be an opening. This took time and unfortunately, we dropped the ball on calling you back. I know you feel that the email exchange with her came across as abrupt as the emails were succinct. This was certainly not her intention to make you feel this way. And for this, we apologize. Carol Smith, Owner.
FOLLOW-UP TO REVIEWER EDITS: Dear Jon, the reputation of our company matters to us and is what drives us each day. Our goal is to be perfect; however, if ever we do make a mistake, we learn from it. We also know that the review system is now a fabric of our society that can publicly call a company out when a mistake is made. There is, however, a great onus on the reviewer to ensure the accuracy of the information presented, in particular that it not include false or misleading statements, whether intended or not. Thank you for making the corrections to your review.