The Cleaning Authority

I wish I could write a glowing review, but our experience with this company does not rate one. First, we were told the first cleaning, which would be a comprehensive deep clean, would take two cleaners 4-5 hours and cost twice the regular bi-weekly rate. Three very pleasant young women arrived a few minutes early and were gone in just over two hours. Yes, there were three and it wouldn’t take as long as with two, but all the problems we found after they left indicated great haste. First, though, I would like to highlight some of the things that went right. The bathroom and kitchen fixtures were done perfectly. The stove top was also perfect. The wood floors were cleaned well. My husband was most impressed with the scrubbing given to the inside woodwork by the primary outside entrance. Unfortunately, they missed at least the following (after a week we are finding more things every day). The scale in the master bath was not wiped clean, nor was the tray my husband keeps his shaving brush and razor in. The carpet in the master BR had obvious dust clots on it. Admittedly, some of these were under the blanket chest, and I learned later they don’t move furniture. I’m old, and it is easy for me to move this chest to vacuum under it, but this company prohibits their employees from doing what is necessary for a deep clean. The head and foot board lower bed rails were not dusted. The vent cover on the landing vent came apart when they cleaned and they did not call this to my husband’s attention—he was at home the whole time. They just left the pieces. On the main floor, the headboard lower rail was not dusted. An open shelf over the pantry was also not cleaned, reachable with an extendable duster. In the basement, there was a section of the laundry room floor just as one enters that was covered with litter. The TV remotes, which we neatened up in anticipation of the cleaning were left in a jumbled pile. I see from the agreement we were asked to sign with the company that they strive for clean and comfortable, not, spotless. Our last company was able to do spotless, and in about the same amount of time. The agreement also has what I consider a negative tone, full of thou shalt nots addressed to the customer. For example, no towels or magazines left around, so I dutifully collected all the towels and hid them in the washer, tossed most of the magazines and, per the office, piled up the magazines on the end table. And there are financial penalties for any misstep on the customer’s part with regard to scheduling. Monthly cleaning which we’d had before, is not available. Miss a cleaning? Go back to square one and start again with the expensive job. I have never encountered such inflexibility with a service company before. I have terminated the service—for a $25 fee or for the entire fee of the next cleaning of $170 if I didn’t call soon enough. They’ll get back to me on that she said. This experience sure made me appreciate what we had before that is no longer available to us.