The Maids of Fort Wayne

The Maids advertises a specific service ([*** Link removed ***] My parents have used The Maids in three other cities and have always had high-quality cleaning by a 4-person team. But this franchise does not regularly provide the advertised service. Primarily, the Fort Wayne franchise sends 3-person teams rather than 4 and will send a 2-person team if staff is not available. The staff turnover is extremely high, so individual team members will change, as well as team leaders. There is little to no consistency in the individuals cleaning your home. I repeatedly had to "introduce" the maids to my home and remind them what areas are to be cleaned. I once had a maid tell me it was her first week and another told me it was her first day. One maid, assigned to dusting, was afraid to pick things up so her work had to be repeated by others. Out of eight cleans (24 people total), there was three (possibly four) of the same employees in my house, the turnover was that great. But please note that the women who came were all polite and friendly. Many of them admired and asked questions about the antiques in my home, my interior design choices, and my puppy dog. Each month, things were missed ... basics like a tub faucet, the living room rug, and trash cans. When the cleaning is done well, it is very good, but the work most often hit or miss. The Maids solicits feedback, but if that feedback is constructively critical, it is not well-received. The manager and co-owner are very, very defensive, as can be seen in the responses to online reviews. The Maids of Fort Wayne do offer a guarantee of service, having them come back and re-clean, but dealing with the defensiveness of the manager, whom I tried to avoid as much as possible after the first few months, was not worth the possibility of a full clean to me. The manager was in my home several times, once as a part of the cleaning team, and was very critical of the employees in my hearing. She would call out, "Who did _____?" and then track the maid responsible and tell her that her work was not acceptable and to redo it. I found that incredibly uncomfortable. Maids broke things four times of eight cleans. The first three times, I let it slide. However, the last clean, a maid stepped on a floor register, breaking it. The register had been in the floor since 1920 and having a replacement made has been estimated at over $300. The Maids of Fort Wayne have not denied the action of the main, but are saying that it was already "broken/damaged/faulty." Have accused me of yelling and being hateful and nasty and creating a hostile environment for the maids in my house. The Maids of Fort Wayne's response is not about the actions of their employee but an assassination of my character. With The Maids advertising being licensed, bonded, and insured, I never dreamed that having a damage claim would turn into likelihood of having to take the company to small claims court. In sum, I think that the cost of having the house clean is high, but worth it if you actually get the service advertised on [*** Link removed ***] I did have a couple of good cleans, but most were average. Am I biased? Perhaps. I think everyone is biased to some degree or another. But what I have written here or in my lengthy review on Yelp is accurate and reflects some of the same criticisms noted by others. The Maids of Fort Wayne has a very high turnover rate in employees and cannot field 4-person cleaning teams. The maids who come to clean have the potential to be very new in their jobs and will likely miss things in your house or apartment or condo. The advertised 22-step process has never fully been followed in my eight cleans. The management is not receptive to constructive feedback.

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So good. Seriously, I'm talking toothbrushes on the interior doors good. Really loved them. Made my four year old daughters bed with places of honor for all of her stuffed animals. The ladies were so sweet and professional. Yes, it's expensive, but wow. I can't afford to have them come all the time, but if you can, I'd highly recommend them! I'd also like to mention that Kaylee (not sure if I'm spelling correctly) was awesome when I booked service.

I was given an estimate over the phone for the number of rooms that I needed to have cleaned, and although I ended up having fewer rooms that I wanted them to clean, they still couldn't get done in the allotted time so I ended up paying more. They kept giving me the impression that it was taking so long because they were thorough, but in the days after they were here, as I saw in better detail what had been done, I came to the conclusion that they were just slow. One woman spent almost the entire time (2+ hours) that they were here cleaning my not-very-large bathroom which consists of a toilet, a 48" vanity with one sink and a tub/shower combo. I wish that instead of rearranging my bath products she had perhaps swept the floor before mopping it. My hardwood stairs weren't swept. My living room hardwood was not dust-mopped. And the window sills in the LR and the aforementioned bathroom were left dusty. Both toilet tanks were dusty. Even though another individual spent two hours cleaning my small kitchen--which was tidy and had no dirty dishes--the hanging kitchen light fixture and kitchen window were both dirty. (in spite of the kitchen window being one of the things they advertise cleaning) And, although the floor may have been mopped on hands and knees, she didn't get the edges, so she might as well have used a mop. They used some sort of liquid sprayed onto a rag to dust, and, in my living room, dusted around the picture frames, and the furniture surfaces, but there were three problems. The first was there were several spots on the floor where the spray dripped that I had to clean later. The second was that when they dusted the picture frames and baseboards, they put their gloved hands on the wall, leaving smudges that I had to clean later. And third, whatever they used dulled the surface of a couple pieces of my furniture. While they were here, several times I was told that the job was taking longer than they thought and that they were busy, and that I could pay more or they would leave at the expected time. Since they had left the living room for last, I really didn't want them to leave unfinished, so I paid more, but I realized after they left that they never had finished the living room. On the way out one of the women took a spray bottle and sprayed something on my wool area rug. I'm not sure what the point was. UPDATE: I have changed the responsiveness grade to a C, because when the company called about setting up regular cleaning, I told them that I was not happy with the job that they had done. They didn't show any curiosity about why or how they could improve. As a business owner, this is hard for me to fathom! When they left they left behind a bundle of gloves and a spray bottle of cleaner in my kitchen. After they left, the house just didn't have that CLEAN feeling that you expect when you have someone clean, especially when you pay $280. I can make it feel cleaner on my own in a few hours.

Company gave a quote then did not honor the quote. Charged extra to clean windows Gave the excuse that they had to spend more time on the kitchen floor. No one came to look at the job before hand. Was at the home for 3 hours sent 4 employees gave quote of between $160 and $200. Charged $350. Single story ranch home. Kitchen, living room, 1 bathroom 2 bedroom 1 of which was empty. Will not use agin.