Maid Clean

I have my house cleaned weekly by a professional housekeeper. Our purpose for using Maid Clean was to get our home's first floor in near immaculate condition for a memorial service we would be hosting for my mother-in-law. I was quite explicit that this was the purpose for hiring. We needed someone to do all the windows, wipe down walls and cabinets that had any spots, and generally clean the rest of the area that had gone 4 days since it's last professional cleaning. The big draw to use this company was that we believed it was large enough to send in a team, get all windows inside and outside done and we believed that if they screwed up, they would quickly make it right. We believed this because of our past experience with the mother branch of Maid Clean. We had generally good, but somewhat unreliable experience with this branch. The first problem was that this new franchise didn't go up on ladders to get all the windows. Just what they could get with a step stool. They informed us of this on the walk through to quote us, about 10 days prior to the event. I resolved that this would be ok as long as they got the rest. There is a lot of glass, as we have multiple sets of french doors and lots of windows. The second problem I hadn't seen coming. My husband contacted them to do the cleaning for Thursday prior to the event (on Sunday). Lisa asked if there was any way we could do it Friday instead. She had inspired such confidence during the walk through that I agreed and said that would be just fine - maybe better since it would leave less time for anything to get dirty before the event. I did not foresee that this would come back to bite me! On the walk through I was assured that they would get everything just spotless. When we talked about washing the hardwood floor in the living room they said they could use a Swiffer wet jet on it. Not my ideal, but as long as they got it clean it didn't matter to me. They didn't quite nail that one, but I didn't complain about it ( I don't think). I specifically asked about getting spots and marks off the walls. It was not anything horrendous, but there were marks here and there. I was told they always took care of that; it was part of the service, that a magic eraser was the ticket. The spots were still there when they had gone. When I asked about it later they said they charge something like $4 per wall and that was not included in the quote. I would have gladly paid that and had no idea if that was included in the quote or not, or how they charged for it. I said I wanted the walls clean, they said they would be and they weren't. I really didn't care how much it cost. The kicker here was that during the walk-through Lisa reached up to the top of a door jamb and showed me the dust. She said "we'll take care of that", implying that that is how terrifically thorough they were. The dust was still there after they had gone! Not something I would normally notice or really even cared about. It just stinks that they promise something like that and then don't deliver. Ridiculous. I did mention this. Parts of the job were very well done. The bathroom was excellent. The small, old kitchen was quite clean, as was the sitting room it adjoins. Chair rails were dusted there and most of the windows were done. (One set of casements above the sink were still hard-to-miss dirty). The rest of the rooms were only partially done. In the kid's arts and crafts room, the table was not cleaned - I mean watercolor paint not wiped off. The three windows, one of which had crayon on it, not done. (I had specifically taken the time to point out that window and the crayon during the walk through). The glass door not cleaned here either. In the living room - the floor was spotty - like a previous small spill not cleaned - not spots left by the Swiffer. Everything was dusted (it was only four days since it's last cleaning, so I can't give a whole lot of credit there). Two sets of glass french doors with side lights - one door was done (not particularly well), the other side of the same set still dirty. Three casement windows not done, 3 other doors not done, 4 sidelights not done, 3 casements not done. In the big, new kitchen some of the stainless steel was wiped on the top half but not the bottom and streaks remained. When I mentioned this to Lisa, she said that stainless was like that, it just stayed streaky. When I pointed out that my cleaner doesn't leave streaks she asked if I had "left it on the counter". I replied that I would have if she had asked me to. (Their contract specs that they provide all supplies.) I also pointed out that the wipe marks didn't even reach the lower half of these appliances. The windowsills were dusty and one had a few dead small gnats. The six windows they did clean in this room were satisfactorally done, except that I found my step-stool sitting in the garden under one of them. The other 3 casements, 2 double-hungs, 2 single glass doors and sliding doors were untouched. How much effort went into the floor cleaning I cannot say, as it was pretty clean to start with. But there was a spot of sticky popsicle goo next to my sliders and a few spots of stuff still in front of my refrigerator. The cabinets are about 8' tall in this room. I could see marks where the wipe off stopped at about 6-1/2 feet. An oily smear still visible right above that (the only one in the room prior to cleaning). Our discussions had addressed the treatment of cabinets. I said I wanted plain water, then rub with a dry cloth. I guess they forgot the dry cloth. The fridge door appeared not to be wiped at all, nor the stainless handles. The full height granite backsplash behind the cooktop was not cleaned at all. I asked Lisa if they customarily cleaned backsplashes. She said they got the backsplash behind the sink. (I could tell they did wipe here because the streaks remained). I asked if they did behind the cooktop and she said something to the effect of "probably not". Hmmmm... Seems to me that would be a prime place to wipe. My three stainless steel sinks appeared to have been neglected, the large, main sink was left quite dirty, by my standards. When they were done she called in my husband to inspect, as I was out food shopping for the event. Distracted with his own projects, he gave it only a cursory glance and wrote a check. When I got home I was at first very pleased, but surprised they had gone already. I had expected it to take most of the day, based on the price and my clear expectation for an immaculate result. I called at first to thank them, but then I noticed the windows. I hung up when I got the answering machine. I then noticed the rest. No cell number given, so I called back and left a message. That was around 2:00pm. I was both desperate to let them know about all the things they missed and dreading making a complaint call. In the past when I had used the other branch I sometimes had problems. But when I told them about the issues, they apologized in a very genuine manner and sent someone out almost immediately to remedy the situation. This time was different. When the return call came around 5 pm, I found Lisa to be defensive and somewhat argumentative. On the wall issue she told me they charge a certain amount for each wall and they hadn't charged me. So infer "stupid me, couldn't I see from their vague contract that they hadn't charged me so I had nothing to complain about." In fact each item I listed as a problem was met with a rebuttal. Not what I wanted. I just needed the job done and fast. The windows were just plain missed. No excuses. "Sorry". I was told they'd be glad to come back on Monday and complete the job. Big problem - the whole point was that I was having 100 people at my house on Sunday for a memorial service. Lisa explained that unfortunately her granddaughter had a dance recital she had to get to and there was not sufficient staff to address my issues until Monday as is their "policy". I heard their "policy" referred to several times during this conversation. The advantage I suppose of having a franchise is that you can fall back on "company policy" when the company consists of two people. I indicated that this didn't help my situation. I was basically told it was unfortunate I had elected for a cleaning on Friday. (Hmmmm.... I thought I was helping them out by having it on Friday- shame on me.) It sounded like this was all my problem. I was informed their "guarantee" didn't kick in until they were back to normal business hours the following Monday. I told Lisa "thanks but no thanks" and asked her to refund a fair portion of the price charged. I told her I'd leave it to her to figure out what was fair. I had enumerated 95% of the detail to her on the phone that I explained above, so she knew what was not done. Plus she was one of the cleaners. She promised to get back to me Monday (6/28) and tell me how much she would refund. I had no choice but to do the cleaning myself. My brother had stopped by, so he joined in. We spent about an hour each finishing the job. I hadn't heard a word, so in a week (7/2) I called and left another message. A few days later I received a letter from Maid Clean (dated 6/29, postmarked 7/3). It offered a refund of $24.75. It also said they had spent about three hours here (x3 people) cleaning. I was reminded of the policy that they will re-do unsatisfactory work, and that they "understand it was inconvenient for" me to have them "employ their guarantee". The letter referenced specific prices for windows and sinks. Somehow this was to add up to $24. If I use the numbers she provided for the glass alone the number would be about $100. So, Maid Clean's time is worth about $40 per hour ($357/ 9 Man hrs), while mine is worth $12.73. Not to mention the aggravation or that I had not allotted time into my schedule for this.