Distinctive Cleaning

I purchased a "Three, two-hour general cleaning sessions" package through Living Social deals. I scheduled a cleaning and they called me the night before to let me know what time they were going to arrive, "between 11 and 1". When they had not arrived by 1:15, I called to get an update on their arrival time. The woman who answered the phone said,"I'll call to find out how long it will be and call you back." After 15 minutes, I called her back, but no answer. I left a message to please give me a courtesy call, even if it was to tell me they weren't going to show. I've heard nothing and its been an hour since they were supposed to arrive. My time is more valuable than that. I'm sure yours is too. Unprofessional. Unreliable. Unacceptable.

Provider did not clean anything. I could not tell that they had come. Everything was in the same condition as it was before their arrival. Worst cleaning service I have ever had in any city (for the past 30 years).

The guys showed up on time and were very professional. When they left the carpet looked great, but after it started to dry and was walked on you could see where they had missed and the walk patterned really showed up and the carpet felt crunchy when walked on. I called and they came out the same day and re did the section they missed. It only took them half a hour to complete the entire job and although it is an improvement maybe if they would have spent more time it would look better and have removed more of the cleaner. Also took 3 days to dry with fans on it. I do have say the carpet gets lots of use as I do in home childcare.

I gave this company a D. This due to the fact that there was an attempt to clean. A sad, mis-guided, half hearted attempt I will grant you, but an attempt was made. I reserve the F for people who make no attempt, burn down my house etc. ***Update*** I have changed the overall grade to an F now that I have discovered that they have continued to charge me for 2 months. Upon reading other reviews you will likely notice a pattern develop. This pattern is; Show up (maybe), Perform incredibly poorly, Dis-satisfied customer cancels, and Disitinctive Cleaning continues to charge your accounts. As this certainly appears to be a pattern of fraudulent behavior I will be conntacting the MN State Attorneys Generals office, The Better Business Bureau, and the Hennipen County attorney. I recommend similar action for others that have been fraudulently charged.

We had them clean about 10 times. I didn't realize they were charging my card twice. $110 a week and then also $240 every two weeks. They didn't notice the error. I didn't either for a while. Then after sub par cleanings and a few times the door was left open (literally wide open) when I came home after the clean. We live in SouthWest Minneapolis so not a good idea to leave a door open. The cleans were not as good as the other three companies I've had clean. The floors were not always mopped. The bathroom sink was dirty. So I let them go. Then a few months later I noticed they were still charging my card. I called and they were very unresponsive at first. Then I told them I would dispute it through my bank and they offered to give me a refund but only did it for one at a time instead of the full $4,000 at once. My bank got me $1,000 back right away. But said since it was over two months ago I'd have to wait for the rest. The owner of the company called and told me to drop it with the bank and she would refund me, but I really didn't trust them to do that, they seemed really eager to have me drop the dispute with the bank but not all that eager to pay me back for more than one or two cleans. They also claimed they cleaned a few times they actually did not clean. So I'm still in this dispute with them and it is really annoying and expensive. If I don't get the money I'll have to take them to small claims court. I don't think they will be in business much longer as they are not a well run company, I think they purposely were stealing that money from me and hoping I wouldn't find out. I had to cancel my credit card to make sure they didn't take anymore. BEWARE DO NOT PAY WITH CREDIT CARD THEY MAY STEAL FROM YOU

We are appalled at Distinctive Cleaning's service. After we bought our house (approx. 1500 sq ft) we hired them to clean it. It was not very dirty to begin with, just hadn't been lived in for a while. The only furniture in the whole house was a dining table with chairs and a hutch. Basically, the only cleaning to be done was to mop the hardwood floors and dust the windowsill, kitchen and bathroom fixtures. We wanted the house cleaned before we'd move in, so we left the keys in a lockbox hanging on the door handle and told them the combination. Their payment check was on the table. When we came back to the house we were unpleasantly surprised to find that the keys were not locked into the lock box but left out on the porch railing. The house showed no sign of having been cleaned. The floor was still dirty, there was still a dead fly on the windowsill, there was a dirty Q-tip in the medicine cabinet. It seemed that they only went in to pick up the check. But what angered us most was that they didn't call to say there was a problem closing the lockbox with the keys in it. They should have called the next day with an apology to say that the house is in effect open to be entered by anyone. When we called to complain, the person in charge of "Quality control" - Laurie - said she would personally come and fix the problem. The next time we went into the house was when we moved in several days after the re-clean. It was a very busy day and we were unloading trucks of boxes. Then we noticed that the house was still dirty. Laurie may have cleaned some of the house but definitely not all. A Swiffer run across the living room floor was almost black. It had obviously not been cleaned. The dead fly was still on the window sill. The bathtub was coated with white dust (probably from a paint job done before the house went on the market). Greasy spots on the kitchen floor. When I called to ask for our money back, Laurie said the company policy was to re-do the job, not give a refund. Apart from the fact that they had lost our trust, by that time there was nothing to re-do: if we were to start living there, we'd have to clean the bathtub and floors, so we did it. I called a couple more times to ask if there was a way that they could refund us, and they didn't call back. Unfortunately, the only thing we can do now (short of suing) is warn others of their bad business practice so that they do not get the next customer's money. In all, they have a non-existent refund policy and highly unconscientious staff who do not complete the job and may well leave your house unlocked and vulnerable to intruders.

I purchased 2 Groupon's for 139.00 each for 3 2 hour cleanings sessions. One was for me and one as a gift for my husband. I then had to pay the sales tax to Distinctive Cleaning. After I purchased the Groupons, I was so glad that I had finally decided to get some help for around the house. You see, as a pedestrian my husband had been hit by a car a couple of moths earlier. He spent about a month in the hospital, a month in a nursing home and came home in a wheel chair, could not bare weight on either leg, and only had the use of one arm. Before he came home, I cleaned the house from top to bottom as we needed to outfit the house with all of the handicap accessible items I could think of. I know that I had a lot of people coming and going (nurses, physical therapists, home health care, etc.) and I was really stressed out caring for him, making sure we had help at home, and working 60-80 hours a week trying to get caught up at work and I thought this was the PERFECT way to reduce some of the stress. NOT TRUE WITH THIS COMPANY. When I called, I expected to set up 3 appointments with them at intervals that I thought would work for my needs (every other week). They told me they would only set up the first visit. I made the first appointment for a Friday 2 weeks out, and expected them to be there. They missed the first appointment and did not call. I tried them off and on through out the weekend to reach someone by phone. No answer and no replies to my messages. I finally got someone that picked up the phone the following Wednesday. They apologized, thanked me for calling back, and used the excuse that through a computer issue, they had lost a bunch of the appointments that they had set up, and set another appointment for about 10 days out and explained that they called the day before the appointment between 3 and 5 to confirm. The day of the confirmation call came and went and when I tried to reach them again, I could not get through. They shut down their phones when they start making the confirmation calls at the end of the day, and don't return the calls until the next day or the day after. Don't leave a message expecting to get a prompt reply. Only deal with them when they answer the phone and be prepared to call 3 or 4 times before you get someone to pick up the phone. Two days later, I got the confirmation call. I had to change my schedule to accommodate them. I did contact them via there web site and explained the situation to them in an email. I was surprised that I got a really good response from them after I explained what my situation was. But that victory was short lived. When I went to redeem the second Groupon, this was a total disaster. I need them out on a specific Thursday because I was having company Saturday morning and knew that I had to take my husband to the doctor on Friday and that would take most of the day. I set the appointment, got a confirmation call and waited for them to show. Got a call when they were an hour late, they said would be another hour and a half before they would be here.They called back two hours later, the cleaner told me she had about 15 more minutes and then a 45 minute drive. I told her I would wait. She called back an hour later and delayed again. By the time she actually called me to tell me she could get to my house, it was 6pm and she was 45 minutes away. I told her to start driving. She called me back 45 minutes later with some dumb excuse and I finally told her not to bother, by the time she drove here and put in 2 hours of cleaning, it would have been 10:15pm. Maybe you will have better luck if you tried this company when you pay full price but I doubt it. I have waited to rate this company this long because I didn't want my utter frustration and anger with their lack of customer service to make this rating just a rant at how lousy they are. And by the way, I was told by at least 3 employees of this company that each cleaner does not have attachments for their company provided vacs, and they only have a couple of handheld vacs that can do carpeted stairs that the cleaners can get for use when they need to "check them out" for specific jobs. I have a 110 lb black lab. Do you know how much they shed throughout the summer? My stairs were ignored 3 out of 6 times, twice they were vacuumed using an upright and the other time they used my central vac system to vacuum them with because the cleaner showed up without a working vac. The 2 times they used the upright, the hair was left behind enough that I could collect a pile of it by just running my fingers along the back side of the steps. Lousy at keeping appointments, slow cleaners, cleaners that would work for 45 minutes and charge you for 2 hours and not get what you asked done, unresponsive customer service. And apparently no financial security on their credit card transactions. When I paid for the sales tax on the first Groupon, I used a debit card for a brand new account and paid for it over the phone. This was the first time I used it (and the last). About two weeks later, my bank statement told me I was the new owner of a "no contract" cell phone and that I had purchased a minute card for it also! This was just too much for me to even consider using this company again! If you want to add to your stress level, this is the perfect company for you to use.

Our home was very clean- the hardwood floors were shiny and spotless, the carpets were all vacuumed, and the bathrooms looked and smelled great. Everything that I mentioned was addressed. I will not be home at every cleaning, but when I am not, I will leave notes as to what to focus on.

I found Distinctive Cleaners via Google and had called them. I originally approached them for a quote that was immediate and very fair. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit them in the schedule with all the work being done on the house. When I realized I only had one day that would work, it was only 24 hours notice. I called to see if they would be willing to help us. Initially they said they couldn't, then when I said I would have to go elsewhere the person asked if she could call me back while they tried to juggle the schedule. Indeed, I did get a call back and they were able to accomodate me. I subsequently joined Angie's list and looked them up. I was very concerned as it doesn't appear they have a good rating. With timing being so critical in my plan, I was very concerned. Nevertheless, I received a call the day before reminding me of their visit. They were to arrive between 12 and 1 and indeed arrived at about 12:45. The 2 person team was professional, helpful, kind and even offered the best way to maintain our granite. They did quick work and kept me posted on imperfections they found. I would definitely use them again. I also hired them to clean the home I am currently living in for move-out. I will likely have them come back after we unpack to clean up after the move. I am not sure what happened with the other respondents, but our experience was very good.

I joined Angie's List specifically so I could write this review. I found Distinctive Cleaning while doing an online search for someone who could do a deep house and carpet cleaning for a final move out. The owner was reponsible and professional as we communicated about what needed to be done, as well as the price. I also received a confirmation call the day before, as well as a call the morning of the cleaning to confirm they were on their way. Given what sounded like some communication issues with their schedulers regarding the scope of what needed to be done and when, we did have some initial kinks to work out. That said, they were able to bring in an additional person to get the job done, and done right, prior to the scheduled final walk-through of my home later that day. I'd never seen staff so proud of their work; one in particular walked the new owner and her realtor through the house; both so impressed they both asked for the cleaners' business cards. My new husband and I contracted with them very recently on his final cleaning (we are merging households). I requested one of the same cleaners I had at my own home (Sarah). We are using an agency to rent out his property so we thought it critical that it be move-in ready while it is being shown. The rep from the agency contacted my husband a bit ago, again requesting Distinctive Cleaning's info - she recently lost her cleaning service and is looking for a new one, and she'd never seen such a great job! Finally, the carpet work is wonderful. They use Zerorez or something very similar. My carpets never looked better - including the day I moved in. From reading these prior reviews, I am not sure what happened - it is unfortunate when a service requested does not meet expectations or if there was such a mix-up that the service does not even occur. The initial kinks I mentioned earlier regarding my timeline could have resulted in a much different outcome had we all not talked about what the issues were and how we could help one another so we each got what we wanted. But they were willing, and so was I. In the end, I was very, very happy with their services. Best money I ever spent.

Distinctive Cleaning has done a good job. I am quite flexible and they clean when I am not at home. When I get home, you can certainly tell that they have been there and the house has a slight lemon smell (which I love). Our house can be a challenge and they have worked around those challenges (rooms not picked up etc) and really gone the extra mile. I am quite happy to continue service with Distinctive Clearning. They call to confirm the appointment each time. I can always count on a great feeling the day that they have been to my house.

I bought a deal from Livingsocial for Distinctive Cleaning to wash the interior and exterior of 20 window panes. I made a reservation to have this done on August 15,2012 and the company was to call me the day before to let me know when they were coming on the 15th. I did not receive a phone call the day before or the morning of the 15th. At about 1pm on the 15th I called Distinctive Cleaning to find out if they were coming because it had rained in the morning. I was told that there was no record of my reservation in their computer and that sometimes their computer goes down and not all the information comes back. I gave them all my information again and made a reservation for August 18th, again with a promise to call the day before to let me know what time of day they were coming. I did not receive a call on the 17th. So, at about 6pm on the 17th I called to see what was going to happen on the 18th. I was told that the office was closed and that I would be called after 9am on the 18th to let me know what was going to happen. It is now 11:46 am on the 18th and I have not heard from the company at all. It is clouding up and the forecast is for scattered showers but it would be common courtesy for a business to call to cancel if rain is a problem. I e-mailed Livingsocial to get a refund. Living social has always had great deals in the past that I have used many times. This is the only time the deal didn't work out.

When the representative, who I later learned is the husband of the owner of the company, came to power wash my vinyl siding he stated that the window trims may flake. I told him that it was OK since I needed to have them repainted.The service person proceeded to pressure wash the siding. I was disappointed that he was unable to get the grease and residue off the siding by my gas grill but I understood.After he left I noticed that my wood garage door paint was severely damaged. The door is old but it had just been painted last year and it looked good with no pealing or chipping. I Iearned that he had decided to pressure wash the garage door. They even say on their website that they do not pressure wash wood.The garage door looks horrible, paint is chipped off and pealing. It is an eyesore. In addition to that all of my clean windows that had been professionally cleaned a few weeks ago were filthy, spotted and streaked with grime.I contacted the company and asked for them to either repaint my garage door or in the least rewash the outside of my windows. They refused to do either and were defensive; I spoke to 3 different people and the service person who is the husband of the owner.Today the husband returned my call and said if I was unhappy I could contact Crowd Cut and get a refund. He also said, "I don't want you to say anything bad about us." I think it is my responsibility as an Angie's List member to warn others about this company. I wish I had read the reviews before I bought the Crowd Cut coupon!

We used them to clean up a home that we had completely renovated and they showed up a day late. They left cleaner in the bath tub and they didnt even clean and entire level of the home. They were very expensive, not professional and did a terrible job. I am 7 months pregnant or I would have cleaned the home myself which is what ended up happening after they left. They wouldnt refund the money and then they proceeded to charge our credit card 3 more times for no reason. To a total amount of $700 after almost an hour on the phone with them they are supposed to be refunding us but who knows at this point. They are only refunding us the money that they charged illegally for no reason no compensation for the poor job or what we went through.

I had this window cleaning scheduled for a month. They called the day before to tell me they would be at the house between noon and 1:00. At 1:30 they called and said they were "lost" and would be there at 3:30. At 4:15 I called and cancelled, as no one showed up. I would NEVER use this company again. We completely moved around our schedules so that someone could be home and that our kids would be gone - all wasted. Save your time - call someone else.

It was a horrific experience. Groupon did refund our money. They were extremely nasty. They could not schedule us in for the service times per our coupon as they said they had too many to do. When they finally did come out after all the canceling and rescheduling, the girls were sweet and polite. I called the chamber and the better business bureau. Their on-line reviews are horrible except from the owners and staff posting positive reviews which I felt was a bit shady. Anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Their company's quality was horrible but their staff was sweet. Out of the three scheduled appointments, they never did come on that day or time. They also charged us for taxes for each time as they had my credit card information. I called to cancel them and they stated that they would charge our credit card for the remaining services. I feel sorry for their staff. They also own a tanning salon and have bad reviews for that also.

I bought an online deal for three house cleaning, for the price of the deal the services were dandy, but if I had paid full price I would be sourly disappointed. I sent a couple emails regarding the services and I even left a voicemail. They didn?t call back. I eventually got them on the phone to book my services - I wanted the monthly option, but they said I called to late and they would squeeze me in once every two weeks. Fine, I called late. Except, they were offering another deal on a different site and they were offering cleaning dates which overlapped with the dates they said they were booked on. Getting close to the first cleaning date, I knew they might have trouble finding the house (most people do) so I sent them an email with a map to my house and also told them I would be gone but that I left the door unlocked. The day of the cleaning, a staff member called, she was nice but she said that the cleaners couldn?t find the house. I told them that many GPSs didn?t have our address yet and that I had sent them an email. Nobody had looked at it. The house was pretty clean in a basic way ? it took us a couple hours to pick everything up for the cleaners to come, but it would have only taken us a couple more to clean what she cleaned - vacuumed, made all the beds, washed the floors (just ok, the edges where not great), cleaned the bathrooms. The sinks and toilet were clean, the shower was just ok, and the tub bottom didn?t look to have been cleaned. She dusted some surfaces, but she didn?t dust the window ledges for sure (we even drew up all the blinds so she could get them easy). We let a fly sit on the wood ledge for all the weeks and nobody got him. They say they will come back if you are not happy, but I never feel comfortable with those ?offers? especially when I didn?t pay full price. The next time the cleaner herself called and said she couldn?t find the house. Since she was in route, I had to pull up a map and help her find it. She cleaned about the same way?only a little less good. I don?t think the third person called for directions, but she also didn?t clean as well as the first person. All the staff were pleasant to talk to?we did talk talk to the first and third person since they were still there when we got home from work. They said there would be a ?crew? but there was only one person whenever we came. This was a bit disappointing because I left a tip for each person I thought would be coming (and more then I would have given a single person). I was not home anytime when they got there, I left the door open and a tip envelope on the table (not required, but I do tip those who clean for me). I had other cleaners in the past (different company) and they spoke maybe 20 words of English so I left pictures and small words on the notes (I didn?t pay for the basement cleaned so I shut pets down there, I didn?t want them to open the door so I left a sign on the door). These cleaners were easy to communicate with and they probably found my baby word notes odd. There are reviews online that say this company has trouble showing up on time - I didnt have an issue, but I also wasnt sitting around waiting for them. I imagin they were a bit late since they got lost.

My review is based on my experience with NOT using them. When their cleaners actually show up, they might do a fantastic job, but I'll never know.... I was very excited to use Distinctive Cleaners. I had a great conversation with Liz (who I believe is the owner) and learned a lot about what they did, and received 3 referrals. The one I heard from spoke very highly of the company's services. Their website and marketing materials are really kitchy and cute, and I was pretty sure I was going to be in good hands. I felt very comfortable scheduling an appointment. I spoke with another employee a few weeks later to schedule cleaning. I settled on 9am, which was the earliest time available. The same woman called me back the day before to confirm 9am. The morning of the scheduled cleaning, when no one showed at 9am, I called to make sure they were on their way and was told in one of the most "why are you bothering me" voices, "I told the cleaners to come between 9 and 9:30." I was pretty annoyed, but was assured they would "be there really soon" as they were close to our home. 25 minutes later, still no one had arrived, so I called to cancel. Again I was told "they'll be there any second." I didn't have time to wait any longer, and hardly believed that "any second" would come anytime soon since "really soon" apparently means more than 25 minutes. When I said I wanted to cancel the woman even suggested I "just leave a key for them" which I thought was ridiculous because they had never been to my home, and I don't know of anyone who would feel comfortable leaving a key for strangers. Very bad first impression.

The cleaning was perfect. The service provider was early. The front door of our vacant rental property was left unlocked when we expected that it would be locked when the service provider left. We were never asked our preference. When the service provider left, she left me a voice message but did not mention that the front door was left insecure. We feel this should be a question we are asked at every service. The last time we worked with this company, the door was left locked so we had reason to believe that the door would be locked this time. Their customer service staff was not flexible in compensating us for this oversight. We will not work with this business again.

The quote I received was for a full house cleaning - both the main floor and the basement and I called to have them come to perform that service. While they did a nice job on the main floor, the basement did not look like it had been cleaned at all. Both the basement coffee table and bar area was still dusty, and I couldn't tell if they vacuumed. In addition, I had them perform the work when I was not home (but left them the code to our lock box). They were able to get in the house just fine, but left the front door wide open when they left. Not only did they not lock it, despite having a key, the door was left ajar! I called to complain about the open front door and basement not being cleaned, and they did apologize. However, they refused to give me a credit for services not performed. Instead, they said I could get $10 off my next cleaning. I think $120 for a one floor house (basically what they charged given that they didn't clean teh basement) is too much and will try to find a better service or individual next time.

Liz showed up at 1:38pm. (Although I know the quote is by the job and not by the hour, I was still surprised she was so late). Liz left at 3:40pm. All in all, she was there 2 hours. I was extremely disappointed and I immediately called Distinctive Cleaning in regards to my dissatisfaction. Easy to reach light fixtures, wood chairs, picture frames, and other knick-knacks were not dusted. Those dusted were never moved back. I hate to say, but you could wipe your finger on these items and still see the dust (the reason I hired a cleaning service). I saw her working the floors, but there were several places it was obvious no washing had occurred (again-I needed the cleaning). There were several dirt patches visible. I found several large pieces of plastic on the rugs and I even found a sock in plain view on the floor in my bedroom. There where hug cobwebs in the kitchen which were hung-up on the door pulls (she had been there-just moved the cobwebs from the walls to the pulls). When she cleaned the kitchen, I believe she used one rag. You see, items were wiped down, but covered with dirt and hair. The only room I was happy with was the bathroom (which is the room where she started). I have several pets and I know how hard it is to clean up the hair....although there were hair b****...this is not and was not a complaint. It was the fact that I was quoted $140, for a sub-par cleaning job. In addition, Liz broke a figurine which I found later hidden in the back of the shelving unit. I was happy with the response to my complaints; however, there was a mis-communication. They could not come out until the following Tuesday, which was hard since I had a guest at my home and the service asked me to leave everything as it was so they could see the sub-par cleaning job. None-the-less, I thought Jenny was coming to inspect the issues I discussed over the phone that Friday and she was planning to fix the problems. Showing up over 30minutes late of our scheduled appointment, we were off to a bad start. When I showed Jenn my complaints, she stated they were the worst she had ever seen. She did not know what her employee had done while there, but agreed it was totally unacceptable and stated it was not normal. Additionally, there was no way she could fix the problems in the 30min she had left (she needed to leave by 6pm), which worked for me since I had a dinner party that evening I would have been late for if I had stayed for her to clean. We were forced to reschedule. We rescheduled for 8am on a future Thursday. Once again, she was over 30min late. She got right to work. I have to say, I was very happy with the cleaning the second time around; however, Jenn broke a glass ball (which I found after she left) and an irreplaceable piece of artwork. She indicated I would be reimbursed for the artwork; however, my charge from Distinctive Cleaning was actually $20 more than the estimate. I made multiple calls and this issue is still unresolved.

We hired a cleaning service because we have a newborn baby at home and needed help. The cleaning person showed up promptly and spent an expected amount of time cleaning. When it came time for me to check the work, my son was crying and I wasn't able to do a thorough check. Later that day, I saw how much had been missed. Issues included: shower was only half cleaned and there was a pile of scrubbing powder on the floor; anything that was cleaned with scrubbing powder (shower, sinks) wasn't rinsed and/or had a soap film; the cleaner missed corners and around sink faucets; ceiling fan wasn't cleaned; baseboards weren't wiped down; tile floor had a film and hand prints; when dusting, cleaner wiped dust around onto whatever was near (e.g. when dusting a high shelf, the dust just wound up all over the couch). Overall, there was good general surface cleaning but little to no attention to corners and details. We called the office and requested someone come, correct the issues and do a more thorough cleaning. We were told that their policy was to send back the same person. While we appreciated the cleaner coming back, their sending the same person was essentially me having to train and correct their staff, rather than the company taking the time to make sure the job is done right. While taking care of a newborn, I just don't have the time to give the needed supervision and the final job was average at best. We gave them the chance to do a good job and their response was the same as the quality of their service: average. We won't use them again.

They have very good communication skills. They don't use a lot of strong chemicals or products that make my house smell. They also use products that are safe for my pets and children.

I've had three different girls come and do the cleaning for me from this company. The first one came and did a good job. The second girl though didn't clean my floors and seemed to leave early. The third girl was very good and I will probably request her in the future. I would recommend them. They call every time.

They have been very thorough with their work. There have been a couple damaged things and they have been very prompt to fix the situation. They charge by the job and not by the hour.