Home Town Housekeeping

The Nutshell: Their communication is absolutely terrible. I had 3 different conversations with them about specifics I wanted, but they wasted time on things I didn't want done, and the primary things I had pointed out multiple times were not. The cleaning itself was mediocre, and I'm left with a dusty house. Not happy. The Long Story: I did a walk through with the owner (I believe) on Wednesday, and the cleaning was on Friday. During the walk through, he noted what I wanted done, wrote things down, and asked specific questions about the type of cleaning. Did I want knick-knacks moved and the tops of books dusted? Yes. Did I want the blinds cleaned? Yes. Etc. I specified that the main things I'd like done were the kitchen, bathrooms, and dusting everywhere. The owner was friendly, and pointed out all the things his people would do, such as cleaning inside and out of the microwave, cleaning out the sink, etc. Since this was my first clean, it would be a deep clean, and may take a bit longer than usual, and I was fine with that. I was just looking forward to finally having everything clean and dust-free after being ill and not being able to keep up with things. The next day, I received a call from the company - they wanted to confirm everything I needed done. When she began listing off rooms, I was concerned, since four different bedrooms were mentioned. We only have two. There was a baffling conversation that basically indicated that none of the information the owner had taken down at the walkthrough had been passed along. I thought we had finally clarified things, and I was told to expect the cleaners around 11:30 the next morning. The cleaners arrived at 12:45, though part of the delay was their GPS not being able to find our house. The ladies were friendly, brought all their own supplies. I was still wary about miscommunication from the day before, so I walked them through and explained again what I needed, (dusting, bathrooms, kitchen, etc) including downstairs blinds, which really needed cleaning. I specifically pointed out one set that were loose, so they could be careful with it. When they let me know they were done, for some reason they said they had done the upstairs blinds, which I did not need done. They had not done the downstairs, which I specifically requested (I'm baffled as to why they thought I was pointing out the loose blind and saying, "When you clean this...".) I then requested they please do the downstairs blinds, and the ladies were very obliging, but they whipped through them, leaving the strings in disarray and the blinds looking like jagged teeth on each side of the windows. I've been trying in vain to straighten them out ever since. There are still streaks of dust. After I handed them a check, they were removing their supplies, and I realized the kitchen had not even been touched. At this point I was more than a little frustrated, and I think it must have shown because they offered to do the kitchen "really fast." I asked them what HAD actually been done, and it turned out no dusting had been completed anywhere in the house, and they were unaware that this should have been a "deep clean." When I asked why there was such confusion about what needed to be done, and what was the point of all the specific questions the owner asked, I got a bunch of excuses about how many walk throughs the owner does and how busy he is. But this stuff is kind of basic. If you can't give customers what they're paying for, you're not going to have happy customers. Bottom line. After they left, I walked through the house because I was hoping at least that what they HAD done was quality work. The floors were clean, which was nice. As far as I can figure, that and the bathrooms are all that were done. But the shower door still has scum all over it. I rubbed a clear spot in it with a washcloth. The baseboards in the bathroom upstairs still had dust and grit on them. I'm still left with a dusty house. My blinds are all askew, and still streaked with dust.