The Cleaning Authority - Rockville

They are very good. They tell us when they are coming on that same day but usually not the exact time.

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unknown

When THE CLEANING AUTHORITY bid this job they failed to mention their "rotation system" . The cleaning women two of them cleaned my home 4 times. The first time was so bad that I insisted on another TEAM. The next 3 weeks this team with one woman constant and the second woman changing every week, would come to my home and each time they would say that they vacuumed this and that. I have MEILE vacuums one on each floor so my vacuums are really very good. These women lied and said they vacuumed the steps in my home each week. The last week 6/12 yesterday, I told the one that the steps were not vacuumed/ She stated that your vacuums are too heavy. I continued and said so you are not going to vacuum my steps, 3 sets of steps?? She said no, I have pictures from when they left. Also my counters in various places were never touched, again I took pictures. After they left, I vacuumed the steps as they were dirty and needed vacuuming, although I do not wear my shoes in the house so my home is not so dirty. I proceeded to call the office and tell them to have the supervisor call me. This morning the supervisor called me and said she was not going to do anything but send someone to look this afternoon, 24 hours later. She got very nasty and hung up on me During the conversation, I asked for her supervisors name and owner of the company. She said she would tell me the same thing that they were not refunding anything and they were clocked in and out and it was too bad. The owners name is Cindy Fields she stated. Interesting enough, the lady who was the constant cleaner and here 3 out of 4 times, gave me numbers and names of other women and said call them they would do a better job. She said when she was in the office on Fridays and the supervisor would ask her why people quit their service, she would say Don't know. when in fact she was giving names and numbers of other private cleaners.

Their price is fair and they come within the time frame. They had to send two or three different teams until I found one that I liked. The team that I have now is pretty decent but sometimes they forget things and I have to call them back. I left a note written in Spanish which translates to "Hi, please clean this". I told them in advance to clean the basement but they didn't. The contract was wrong the second time they came out. I even talked to these two women in Spanish and they said that as much as they wanted to pay attention to detail, their company doesn't allow them to. They have a tight schedule and their company's culture doesn't really encourage that. For the first few times, they missed a whole section of the house. They are not just detail-oriented. They do an "okay" minimum job but they're certainly not great. As a company, I am NOT IMPRESSED with them.

They clean the first floor and 2nd floor of the house and they do the basement if requested. They do an okay job. My wife is reluctant to change. They use their vacuum cleaners and they bang them against the doors, and leave marks, but my wife is reluctant to call them and tell them about it. I had to have repainted, and now there new set of marks. They are very highly rated on Angie's List.

They do a clean and thorough job

Sandy came to my house to provide an estimate. She offered me two prices: $120 or a lower $115 if I committed for a year and I left a credit card on file. The reason for the credit card, I was told, was in case there was ever an issue with me not paying for a cleaning. "What if I want to terminate before a year if I'm not happy with the service?" I asked. I was told that the Cleaning Authority would work with me to address my concerns. After signing the estimate for the $115 offer and reading Angie's list, I learned about others who were charged a $150 termination fee if they didn't stay with the firm for a year. Sure enough, I read the fine print on my estimate and it mentioned the $150 termination fee. I was really irritated that Sandy never mentioned this to me when I asked what the repercussions would be when I specifically asked what would happen if I didn't stay with them for a year. They called me today for the credit card number. I asked why I had not been told about the $150 fee. They danced around the issue. In the end I told them I was not happy and they agreed to tear up the estimate. If you decide to do business with the Cleaning Authority, be VERY careful read the fine print. Otherwise you may be agreeing to a one year commitment with an early termination fee without knowing it.

Glad I didn't try them!

Started out good but things went bad after a month or so. Had different cleaning crews every week. On several occasions they didn't dust, didn't mop the hardwood floors and on one occasion they left the door open to the garage. They blamed it on the wind. Too bad the door opened to the outside and it was an interior door to the garage. When we cancelled because of the inconsistency they charge are credit card $150. They left a message explaining that they were going to charge our card for cancelling early. I would not recommend this company at all. They claimed to do deep cleaning on rotations but they missed spots. They would forget to do the stairs to the basement frequently.

They show up reliably, although the timing on when they will show up is not always reliable. Sometimes they clean what is on their list; sometimes they clean some of what is on their list. There have been a number of occasions when they needed to come back to complete their work because after I looked around, I saw that they had skipped quite a few items on their list. One time I even asked for them to hand me their rag because, even in front of me, they did not do the items on their list that they came back to fix. They usually do a great job on floors and a very good job on bathrooms

Lack of attention to detail. Lack of customer service. Overall poor experience and would not recommend.

This is hands-down the worst cleaning service I've ever used. They send rotating teams, and so have no consistency in their work. The suprevisor runs through the house and runs her hands over things, taking about 10 minutes. They work fast with little attention to detail, finishing our entire three-level house in an hour. If parts are not done to your satisfaction, they will send a team back; however, there is ALWAYS something done wrong. For example, I left a scap of paper under the dining room table to check if they were even vacuuming under the table, and it stayed there for two months, unmoved. They did not move the garbage can in the kitchen to clean behind it unless specifically asked. They have left rags lying about, and i have found their cleaning supplies (and mine) around the house after they left. For several sessions, I found cleaning powder grit on a wooden shelf in the bathroom by the clawfoot tub; I had to ask them to watch that. They wouldn't clean the folding plastic door to the shower on the inside unless asked. In other words, I had to stay on them constantly to get the work done right--and we were not all that picky, as we're not particularly tidy about papers in some places. There were worse problems, though. I was home one day and watched one of the two women pick up the pine sol, moisten a rag, and rub it over my finished oak diningroom table. (I'm amazed there's any finish left on it!) They don't understand English, so it's difficult to communicated that you want stuff done differently if you are there with them. And there is the breakage and things missing--only after they've been here. Half a bag of expensive navel oranges disappeared from my counter one time; yesterday, I discovered my favorite coffee mug gone from on top of the coffee maker. I have come home after they have been here to find soda bottles which were on the shelf underneath a rolling butcher-block table leaking in the floor; and another time, a gallon jug of water was leaking a huge puddle onto the floor. I found a china mirror--the kind that stands up--chipped and broken in one bathroom after they'd been there. The worst was when I came home to find, in the small closet pantry in the kitchen where they know to go for the garbage bags, which sit in the bottom of it within easy reach, that the entire rack of shelves on the right side had been pulled down. Do NOT hire these people. You will be very sorry if you so.

Cindy, the owner, came to my home to provide an estimate and actually suggested taking my basement and third bathroom off the list and only doing them on request to help keep down the cost. I wouldn't have thought of that and appreciated the suggestion. She also offered me a discounted monthly rate if I signed on for 12 months (which I did). This was my first cleaning and will definitely continue to use them!

The first two times they were supposed to clean the bathrooms and then the kitchen, but I have found things that weren't cleaned or dusted. I had to have them come back because one of the bathrooms was not done. They are prompt, responsive and when I do call they always come back and want to help me fix the problem.

I think they do a pretty good job. I'm still kind of keeping my eye on them to see if I like them. Sometimes, I don't think that they do a thorough job if I don't follow up with them. I do, however, feel that they are always friendly and polite when they are in my home.