Merry Maids of Wilmington

They have been excellent and reliable. They are flexible, very pleasant to work with, and I would highly recommend them.

Perfectly!!!

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unknown

Since we started with them about five years ago with this beach house, while living in RTP area, we naturally have had different schedules. We have noticed the changes in them and their providers' quality of service as well. The main office locally would always call and remind us of our upcoming date for cleaning and an approximate time, which was one professional note to the business. They are quite flexible, even at the last notice, about changing a day or week. The first year we set a schedule for cleaning during our "away" or lighter use of the home for only once a month; this was sufficient and we had no or few complaints, and understood that they do not touch inside of any appliances, my main complaint. Also I did not really care for the fact that they will do no laundry nor did they ever even open the laundry closet to clean the tops of the dryer and washer. I really had no other options as we were not here enough to discover anyone else reliable and bonded, etc. so they did a sufficient and above average overall job in the beginning years. I was too distracted at our home with our sons and family life away from here to pay attention to details going on here, as long as it was done. It was not often clear, and avoided if I was not here, which bed(s) to put clean sheets on, which I had to lay out on the stripped bed. Perhaps it is on their website with explanations, yet the ladies cleaning would shift the story around to suit their schedule. They will alter what they do if you ask for extra things on their list, like extra beds to make; this is also up front reflected though in the price. And I had to be prepared for complaining right in front of me if I needed an extra one done! A couple of areas that we contracted them to do from day one were not consistently cleaned, for example: our outdoor screened in porch has never really been cleaned as they listed in our total price, despite repeated requests. It would happen, and they only would barely sweep, if I were at home at the time. Another example is our master bedroom walk-in closet, cluttered admittedly, as I was not yet organized, had experienced moving things in and out all of the time, and a close family member's death, keeping me away from here and that next step towards organization in this house; but still they charged me for cleaning it and would avoid vacuuming it often, which was requested by us from the start, unless I was home and watching them. The best part was that still, all surfaces were well-cleaned, all baths, carpets, cleaned well; hardwoods damp mopped, they did ignore our dusty ceiling fans often, and did not seem to personalize anything that they did in the house. Dusting was ok, but molding or window ledges,although included in our cost, were often not clean. Our long flight of hard wood steps were always cleaned well, as was all of our interior hanging/mirror/art/lamps and most furniture dusted/cleaned properly. However, when I began to notice over this past year or so, that they had not moved a chair or sofa to vacuum beneath, or small rugs were not even lifted to clean/vacuum the floor beneath, I began to doubt their work totally. I noticed many things ignored. Small afghans and comfort blankets placed on chairs, even pillows, were found behind my sofas! I sometimes began cleaning behind them! And the main reason I increased their visits to twice a month was due to my back pain, which won't allow a lot of extra cleaning much less lifting. This is when I decided to call the manager to follow up, and he actually drove down to talk to me, as the former one had done over the years if I had concerns. The main problem was it made no difference. He would agree with me, but to no avail. Also I began to notice complaining from some of the crew, talking about one another, or telling me in a negative way, how many houses they had to do and how they had no time for them all. Of course that partially explained why things were slipping. When finally I realized that the manager had come out here twice, the 2nd time with one of the regular cleaning people herself, and there was still no improvement, I called and said I had to stop or at least take a break and re-evaluate spending $300/visit for a service I truly needed, only to end up finding such slackness in the people's work. He actually told me that he understood, he was also frustrated, and that he could not find enough people willing to work. I must say, though, they never broke anything, despite how quickly they moved through the cleaning, from the beginning, nor did I notice anything missing or out of place. Now that we live here, I truly am now looking for a more personal one-on-one cleaning person(s) who will understand the flow of our lives, which naturally shifts or changes as we travel or have out of town family. Merry Maids is good for what I initially hired them for. As I re-read this I wish they would see it and understand what is needed to keep good clients, to create needed changes in their organization in order to provide such a more personalized and caring service. Otherwise it is very disappointing, and expensive.

It went great I am continuing to use them, if things change I will let you know. BTW if they miss anything or do not do work to your satisfaction all you have to do is call them and they will come back and fix it to your satisfaction, they also ask you to inspect the house before they leave to make sure you are happy with their work.

The prices kept going up and they also started cutting back on their employees. They would leave dust in one room, forget the trash, or leave something out. I would not recommend them anymore. They have high prices and they do not really care about the quality of work. The girls would come out and complain about the work.

They came in to do a “total clean” and we agreed on a price before hand. The day of, she said she was going to have to charge for an additional two hours. I was at work while this happened, and when I saw it, well that’s not what I call clean at all.

I have given these people a year of my business. At first they were very satisfactory. I think that was because someone was present during their service. Lately, they seem to have stopped dusting, they have stopped straightening, cobwebs are found in the house, the blinds are dirty, etc. This week, I came in the house and could not be certain that they had even been there. Dusting has always been an issue. i have had to leave a note begging them to dust the light fixtures and chandeliers. One time I was having a party, and had to clean the entire house myself, and they had been there the day before. The cobwebs and dust were undisturbed after they left.