LEMON FRESH HOUSE CLEANING SERVICE

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I wouldn't hesitate to recommend, they get right to work, they're very personable. The house is spotless.

I got scammed.
The estimator/supervisor, (Eliene a/k/a "Lee"), I spoke with was very nice and showed good communication skills when she came over to bid on the job.  I made it quite clear that we would be painting upstairs and re-doing the floors throughout the house, so the cleaners were not to spend time cleaning walls or floors (they did anyway).  I told Lee at the bid interview that we mostly needed kitchen and bathroom cleaning and pointed out a few other areas of grime that we wanted done.  Lee seemed to clearly understand.  She said it would cost $225 and a maximum of $300 for 3 cleaners at $25 an hour.  She also said she needed to be paid in cash, since they'd been ripped-off by checks from one-time-cleaning clients.  I agreed to pay cash, provided they give me a receipt.  Yes, I'm an idiot.  So far, I haven't even received the receipt for the full amount, just for half what I paid, the $225 I was originally quoted.  They just gave me a receipt for the quote, not what I actually paid.  So I'll get to pay yet again come tax time.  Lemon Fresh charged me six hours at $25/hour for three people for a total of $450 for what their supervisor/estimator bid as a 3-4 hour $225-$300 job!
I actually feel sick about it.  My wife is furious.  Plus I still gave each gal an undeserved $10 tip.  After 6 hours and $450 into what was supossed to be a $225-$300 3-4 hour job. I STILL gave each gal $10 tip!  Now I'm usually a good-to-huge tipper, but I really had to grit my teeth this time just to give 'em each the $10).  They were polite and said thank you, but gave me the "you cheapskate" look.  I guess I must look like I'm made of money.  I only earn about $20 an hour at MY job, so this was a lot of money to me.
I'm now $480 poorer and the house is only marginally cleaner.  Job ran twice what I was quoted because they squeezed me into having to pay for twice the time just to get them to attempt to finish the last 3/4 of the job.  It was either that or send them home and call a real cleaning company to do the last 3/4.  In retrospect, I wish I had.
THEY DIDN'T EVEN START ON THE MAJOR ITEMS UNTIL 3 HOURS INTO WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A 3 HOUR JOB!  I had to call their supervisor (Lee) and leave a message just to even get that to happen.  Lee conveniently doesn't answer the phone after 4 PM.
Many things I'd specified needed to be done, both to Lee and to the group leader, were completely ignored.  Those things done, were done, well . . . totally half-arsed.  The cleaners spent most of the time doing things I'd specifically instructed NOT be done and making a racket doing them.  Like blinds.  Like wiping things that were going to be painted anyway.  They seemed to have some kind of aversion to cleaning things that were really dirty and had to be cornered into doing it.  Or maybe they had selective vision and couldn't see the dirty parts.
When I was there, I actually had to ask a gal THREE TIMES to please stop wiping a door that was going to be painted.  I think she went back to wiping it as soon as I left the room.
We hired Lemon Fresh cleaners mainly for kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and garage cleaning.  Three hours into the job, with three cleaners, they had done only ONE of four bathrooms and one or two bedrooms.  They still hadn't even touched the kitchen, laundry room or garage.
They didn't even start hitting the oven with oven cleaner until they'd been there over three hours AND I'd called their supervisor and left a message insisting they start on the kitchen and bathrooms on the main floor of the house [the main floor is 2/3 of the house].
The kitchen was done so badly that I had to actually tell one of them to clean the microwave again.  The venting slots on the face were still brown with grease.  When I asked the cleaner working in that area if she'd done the microwave, she said "yes."  I then tried to politely ask her to do the vent slots.  She grabbed a can of spray cleaner and hit it a few times.  When she was done with wiping the grease I'd just pointed out, I was still actually able to wipe brown spots off with my finger that she'd missed, but I certainly wasn't going to ask her to clean it a third time.  I was done. 
My wife and I work very long and difficult hours.  We will now have to re-clean the kitchen ourselves after paying $480 to have it cleaned.  The burner grills are still covered with grime that would easily come off with a couple hour's soaking in Easy-Off.  Not only is the microwave still filthy -- I can actually wipe the brown spots off that they missed -- but I'll have to wipe off the counters too.  They didn't even do the inside of the dishwasher -- When I pointed this out to the gal cleaning the dishwasher, she seemed shocked that I actually expected the inside to be looked at.  The oven is still filled with charred ickiness that a few hours' soak with lye/Easy Off would have fixed.  I guess I'll be cleaning the oven after all.  The one thing I most did NOT want to do.
It was very difficult to get these gals to do something other than dusting, shelf wiping, or blind cleaning.  Most of their "cleaning" consisted of wiping the clean spots over and over with a damp rag while completely ignoring everything else.  Well, that and rattling blinds -- I think they spent at least 20 minutes on each window blind, making a good racket in the process, beating and bending the metal. 
I had been told by Lee they would sweep, mop, dust, and generally clean the garage.  All the garage got was a dust mopping toward the end of the job, and that was only after I'd yet again requested the garage be done.
After five hours, I knew it just wasn't going to get better, but by then I was so exhausted I figured I'd just let them finish as best they could. 
After six hours, I finally realized I just couldn't afford to pay them any more to NOT clean the house, no matter how badly it still needed cleaning.
Sadly, the gals were moving quickly the whole time, making a great show of cleaning, but usually just whipping the dust and grime around.  It was almost comical.  I think they did work hard, but mostly at looking busy.
There many more issues than I've mentioned, but here are just a few:
Yet more Lemon Fresh Tales of the Day . . .
I actually had to laugh when I saw an upstairs double sink they had "finished" where one faucet was relatively gleaming and the other hadn't even been touched.  I actually had to tell them to go back upstairs to do the other faucet!  I felt like The Grinch -- Mean Old Me, the Man, keeping 'em down by requesting they actually finish something and by criticizing their hard work.  It was still pretty icky in the hidden places after TWO CLEANERS went upstairs to clean a faucet.
The dirt and grime in just about every nook and cranny of the house was ignored, while a few surfaces were wiped over and over with a dirty rag.  I had to beg them to do everything at least three or four times, and when they finally did it they usually just did a little of it, and then moved back to rattling blinds, dusting, and wiping the same shelves over and over.
This one is pretty funny:  During the interview/bid, I'd told their supervisor, Lee, several times, we needed the sliding door runners on the two sliding doors units cleaned.  I'd also mentioned it several times to their group leader when the cleaners arrived.  Toward the end of the job, the door runners were still undone, so I asked the group leader (for the fourth time) to please make sure they get done.  Finally, after I insisted, she put a gal on them.  The gal did one side of one door by hitting it with a damp rag a few times, completely ignoring the dirt in the corners

It was great. No issues & no problems.

GREAT!

A crew of three showed up promptly and were scheduled for 3 hours. I was unable to be present during the entire scheduled time but left specific instructions as to my expectations. When I returned, the house looked much better but upon inspection of work, I noticed doors were not wiped down, the cabinets were still sticky and the freezer had not been cleaned nor the top of the refrigerator. Considering the house had no furniture in it and I did not have them do windows, walls, or baseboards, I was disappointed. Although the crew, once instructed, re-cleaned a few areas, I eventually cleaned the house again to ensure it was clean. It was not money well spent.

My housecleaning work was done very nicely. The people were very kind, courteous and respectful. They were very clean and made sure that they cleaned up everything that was out of the ordinary. I also noticed that they were on time. The one thing that puzzles me, is why they would send all Spanish speaking people. This happened on two different occasions. After the two times this happened, they started to send out bilingual cleaners and that was when the service improved for me.

When they come, they let themselves in with a key that I leave them and collect their check that I leave for them also. They are very flexible and were able to come out on only a couple days notice. The house always looks great when they are done and I plan on hiring them again.

There are three women that come out once a month. They are a great company and do a great job with the cleaning. They actually do extras and don t charge me for it; they will move the furniture and vacuum underneath it. I would recommend them. I call them to take care of the heavier things. I am an older woman and they really help me out a lot.

Lemon Fresh House Cleaning Service was very nice people to do business with. They were very honest and detail originated. I felt that I could really trust them in my home. In fact we have used them for some time now and they even sent me a Christmas card. I feel that they used top of the line cleaning products and don't ruin anything in the cleaning process. They charged me eighteen dollars an hour.