SPARKLING HOMES

We received a call by our routine cleaner to inform us that she had a partner who we didnt know was entering our house was stealing from us. I had to reach out to the owner to discuss the matter. I felt he should have called himself. They offered me a free cleaning and wanted to replace the money that was stolen. I was very disappointed that I was never informed of this person coming into my house and obviously disappointed that someone had stolen from us. We canceled service with them due to lack of trust of employees.

I contacted Sparkling Homes for information about their home-cleaning services. I talked to the owner, Scott, who was very nice and easy to reach. (No phone tag or missed calls, etc.) I first met with him at my house for an estimate and to talk about what services would be provided. He had a list of things that would be done each time, and pointed out some tasks that could be addressed on a rotating or seasonal basis. Everything sounded great and the price was right, so I went ahead and scheduled the first cleaning. Scott said the first visit would be a deep clean and would take longer (4 hours, probably) and cost more than what I'd be paying for each session in the future. Not a lot more, but it all sounded reasonable to me. The deep cleaning would be $126. The price for each visit (2x/month) would be $72. (Context: We have a two bathroom, 3 bedroom home, but two of the bedrooms were not to be cleaned as they are a guest room and an office and we do those ourselves. She was to clean the master bedroom, two bathrooms, kitchen, dining area, living area, and hallway.) In all honesty, we do not have a messy house: clutter is kept at a minimum, no kids, one hairy dog. Perhaps a few too many magazines and books on the coffee table, but nothing awful. Chores add up, though, and I thought basic housecleaning would be one I could farm out. Here's what happened on the day of the first cleaning: 1. The employee arrived over an hour late. 2. She asked to use our vacuum (which is fine, but Scott said that they used their own equipment - I asked specifically about vacuums because of the dog hair). 3. Some of the furniture was still dusty when she left: dresser, nightstands, lamps, leather couch, etc. (Not little nitpicky stuff.) 4. The cabinets in the kitchen were not wiped down. (This is on the checklist of work to be done that Scott provided at the first meeting.) 5. I had to clean a ring of dirt she left in the shower. 6. One of the bathroom mirrors was not clean. 7. She broke a picture frame that was a wedding present. 8. She was done with this "deep clean" in about two hours. Overall, it was a pretty poor job of cleaning a house. I was very disappointed with the results. If this was the more expensive, more intensive, deep-cleaning session, I am not interested in seeing what she does (or doesn't do) next time. So...no. I am canceling the service. I can do a shoddy job cleaning my own house; I do that already. (It's free and I never break anything!)