Unreliable, unprofessional and poor quality service, at a high cost
This is a long story because I think it is fair when leaving a highly negative review to present all the details. I gave this company multiple opportunities to fix what started with small things mixed up to botched appointments to completely vanishing in the night.
The company was recommended to us by a realtor acquaintance just as we were finalizing an unexpected and exhausting renovation. All we needed was a deep clean to get our house back to normal after 6 months of crazy and going forward we intended to maintain the clean with regular bi-weekly visits from this company that seemed reliable and professional at first.
The owner, Scott, visits and gives an estimate - and he talks a good game. They use gloves (most cleaners don’t), natural cleaners (most cleaners don’t), get police checks for their workers who are “trained”.
The first visit was almost ok. They showed up with 10m minutes of warning - not at their scheduled time, brought three people, one of whom is the co-owner Stacey (the only person who knows what she is doing) while the other 2 people were on their first job . OK, that was not what I had expected but fine. Before you think this is picky, imagine expecting cleaners in the afternoon, being disabled at home in bed, having a spouse working from home, and understand that timing and details matter to our family as I painstakingly had explained to Scott.
As promised I sent Scott a detailed message after the cleaning team left as he had asked me to do in the name of quality control and so they could “fix anything not done to our satisfaction”. Given that they were only cleaning a 500 s ft basement that was absolutely empty after being renovated, the basement stairs and a laundry room and entrance hallway, I expected three people to do a good job of that. The hallway was not touched at all (Scott had forgotten to tell his wife that it was included) and there were multiple minor issues in the basement but I thought it’s just the first time, it takes new people a while to learn.
The second visit was a shambles. They got the date wrong ,and changed it on me... I said ok. Then again on the day of the cleaning, the client before me cancelled and they gave me 10 minute notice again that the crew was on the way at 9:30 instead of my booked 11-12. If you are not home during the day this makes no difference, but it really doesn’t work for us... It was supposed to be a full house effort this time, and although the renovated part - the basement - had been deep cleaned the week before, we were once again charged for a full house deep clean. No problem, good work is worth it, we thought.
Team of 3 shows up again, Stacey being the only constant. The other two people are again brand new - their first job with one being heavily pregnant and IMHO in no condition to be doing deep cleaning that I had expected to include, based on my conversation with Scott, wiping all baseboards and all shutters.
It’s ok, I needn’t have worried, because the only shutters cleaned were in two rooms - one bedroom and the master bathroom. The vacuuming and mopping, which Scott had promised would be thorough, never reached the corners, never mind under the beds. The same pail of water and mop were used in a rushed 5 minute job at the end, from top to bottom, which left the basement dirtier than before their current visit. I had asked them to get the oven cleaned (extra charge) and they forgot to bring the cleaner for it, but at least they did not charge me for that. All in all, not the “Baeumler approved” service worth $50/hr I expected.
And once again, I thought it always takes time to get a new cleaning team used to the house, and maybe they had staffing issues although Scott had been very explicit that they do a great job retaining people because of their fair wages, benefits etc. The next visit was booked for Dec 16, a Monday. That day Scott messaged me that somehow there had been a miscommunication because he had us booked for Wednesday. There was no miscommunication on my part, I had asked from the very beginning for bi-weekly Monday late morning / midday services and have the messages to prove it. I said Wednesday is fine. He also told me they’d move me to regular Tuesday (??? Not the day I asked, maybe check with the client first that it’s ok to switch the day all over the place) starting January... Fine again.
Come Wednesday they messaged me that Stacey had a bad back, work was slow and they’d come Friday the 20th. Not ideal and not sure why one person being injured / ill throws the “Company” in disarray but I wished Stacey well and said I looked forward to seeing her Friday. Given the completely screwed up schedule so far on Thursday Dec 19 I messaged to check that Friday was still a go, but by evening I had not heard back. Sent a final message stating that if I don’t hear something by 11 pm, I consider the next day cleaning cancelled. I had no desire to spend a third morning in the same week sitting around in the morning tidying everything and waiting for non-existent cleaners to show up.
NEVER heard back from them again. Not a call, not a message, not a peep of apology for their entirely shambolic mess. I understand schedule change, canceling clients (not my fault), hurt manager/ owner, “miscommunication” that is entirely on the service provider part because they are incapable of working a calendar app. I understand that this job involves new employees who tell a client that they have never cleaned professionally in their lives and this is their first job - not for one employee but practically ALL of them except the owner. What I absolutely cannot abide is the complete lack of professionalism and respect for a client who has trusted you. You cannot show up for the third time? Apologize. Explain. Offer to make up for it next time.
In a short sentence; avoid. Whatever they promise, they cannot and will not deliver. Rarely have I been so entirely misled and ill served by a company - check my other reviews. We work well with contractors, and have been fortunate to not encounter this type of business before.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $450.00
