Maid Service Incorporated

I am a new client. [redacted] was extremely nice in arranging scheduling for me. He is honest, and has a very simple and easy to understand contract. I negotiated times at a schedule convenient to me. [redacted], my new maid was extremely efficient, and cleaned my floors and bathrooms like my mother had me clean them when I was a young girl. I am very pleased with both the company, its ethical practices concerning scheduling, billing, etc. I am also very pleased with the level of cleaning of my home. I would recommend this service for all those who have not tried a service before. And the price is in line with other maid services in the area. Great value.

Review: The cleaning service was to return our keys in March 2015 when our service contract ended. When this did not happen, I called and talked to the Paul (son of the owner) and he stated that they had forgotten and as he came by our Main Street office often, he would drop them by. This did not happen in April, May, June nor July. I called today August 31 and was told I would have to come to Brandermill to pick them up and they did not deliver keys back to a customer. I tried to explain and the stated owner, never gave me his name, hung up the phone. I called back and requested on voice mail that he return the keys by any employee that had cleaned either our office or my home. We lease this building and I would think that any service provider would return the building keys at the end of the contract.Desired Settlement: I would like the building keys back in working order.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com spoke with the owner of the business who stated that they did not have a contract with this customer, but that they took over her services when her previous cleaning company went out of business. When her services ended, he stated that the customer was told to come by and pick up her key, which is their policy to prevent any liability on their part in mailing the key, should there be an issue with the post office or it being stolen out of a mail box. He stated that she called 6 months later inquiring where her key was, and was told that they had destroyed the key after it was not picked up, and no longer have the key as it was not picked up by the customer.

Review: On March 6, 2013 I signed a contract for maid services with the “Maid Service of Richmond” for cleanings to take place on Wednesdays, and as the first cleaning of the day for the assigned cleaner. Although I have found the use of formal contracts in this line of business to be practically unheard of for residential cleaning, I signed the contract because with a brand new baby and a husband that runs a business out of the home it was imperative that I have a cleaning service that could guarantee to meet the day (and time requirements) laid out in the contract. However, on April 2, shortly after the service started they began sending cleaners on unassigned days, and more often at any time of the day, which I considered a material breach of the terms of the contract therefore making it voidable. Due to an illness in the family I was not able to put forward my request to terminate the contract until April 29. This request was followed a by an email asking me to call their main office, during this call their employee, [redacted], went back and forth as to whether or not he would accept my request for a termination, finally ending saying that he would not honor the termination request, as a result of the breach of contract, and fully intended to send cleaners through the current contract period and an additional six cleanings as a result of an automatic renewal.

I would like to also mention that during this call [redacted] said that his company was “the” top rated cleaning service on the web, which I have found to be untrue, unless they believe themselves to be “The Maids” of Richmond which is a different company with a conspicuously similar name that is a top rated cleaning company, with exceptional customer service. I cannot say for sure whether he was intentionally attempting to misrepresent the company but I nevertheless found it very troubling. I was also told, before I signed the contract, that their cleaners only cleaned two houses a day which appears to not always be the case. Moreover, I found the cleanings to be lacking in some key areas, which I believe show that the company did not honor the terms of the contract.

Footnotes (unable to upload to form but all items are available upon request) - dated Tuesday, April 2, 2013.

2 Note: The company keeps a record of the date and time cleaners are sent, arrive, and leave a residence by having them call using the customers phone (identified by the customers phone number).

3 See April 29, 2013 email. Wednesday, August 7 cleaning ([redacted]).

5 See copy of contract.Desired Settlement: Formal acknowledgement that the Maid Service of Richmond was in breach of its contract.

Business

Response:

09/11/2013.

The business owner called stating that they have only come to the consumer's house on scheduled Wednsedays unless the customer has asked to change the date. Concerning the April 2nd date in question he states the customer called and asked to reschedule her wednseday appointment for that date. Concerning the Monday April 29th date he states that according to his books they came out on Wedns May 1st not on April 29th.

Concerning specific time frames, he also states that the contract does not say what time frame on those Wednesdays the maid will be out. The only time frame given is for 3 hours on each visit.

NOTE: This company operates under 3 names: Mid-Atlantic Maid Service... aka Maid Services, Inc... aka Maid Service of Richmond. Before you hire this company, please do a background check. What I found most useful was their public court records. As of April 2014, this cleaning company has sued 45 individuals in a period of 6 years. In the last 2.5 years alone they have sued 37 times. And these figures may be understated as I only searched in Henrico and Chesterfield, VA...

You can find these figures publicly on the Virginia General District Court website: (http://epwsgdp1.courts.state.va.us/gdcourts/captchaVerification.do?landing=land...⇄ First select "Chesterfield" or "Henrico". Then under "Civil Court" search by Name ("Mid Atlantic Maid" as well as "Maid Service"). Don't forget to flip through pages as there are multiple...

My individual case was lost on account that I signed a contract that I could not get out of. The contract offers no way out for the client even if you are not happy with the services, cleaners, owner, etc. I also found the owner to be incredibly rude and unprofessional. Should you need further explanation please feel free to contact me at: [redacted]

I too was deceived by the number of positive reviews on [redacted]. I have an exceptionally clean house and I decided to use Mid Atlantic because they are supposed to work from a list I provide. What I ask is just not difficult, I want normal cleaning done but I also want specific things done, for example cobwebs cleaned one visit and then baseboards cleaned the next visit so they are both done once each month (I have a biweekly contract). What I got was a surface cleaning, and I'm using that term loosely. The list I provided didn't even get read by the first or the second person who came to clean. The current employee used some of the list the first time she was here and has cleaned her way since. That cleaning in no way resembles the cleaning outlined on the Mid Atlantic website by the way. The employees are obviously not trained, there is no consistency whatsoever. There is no detail cleaning, what you get is very basic dusting, vacuuming of floors (even hardwood which just sends the dirt to the corners) swishing a mop about and wiping surfaces with a wet rag. What's my recourse? Talk to [redacted], the very abrasive owner. I have talked to [redacted], he sends someone else and we start the same process over again. The fact is I signed a contract for 10 cleanings and they can't be fired by me for the poor job they do. I have to pay them for whatever they choose to do, or not do in this case. And, since [redacted] requires 30 days notice of termination, or your contract AUTOMATICALLY renews (at a higher rate). Well, my fault, but I gave him only 29 days notice. I expect I'll be sued by [redacted] to pay for a service I do not want. I've checked Chesterfield County court records and he has no problem suing his "customers". [redacted], the owner, called me following my notice of nonrenewal, he offered to see if he could "sell my spot", I asked what that meant and apparently if someone calls and contracts for Wednesday mornings every two weeks before my contract is up, I can discontinue my service. He also said he would check with the "owner" (records say he is the only owner) and let me know if 29 days was good enough. Since he did not call back I sent him an email stating that I was not satisfied with the service and that October 17 would be my last service date. This is by far the worst cleaning service I have ever used.
[redacted]Email from [redacted], the owner of Mid-Atlantic, on October 31, 2012. "Just want you to know we will file suit 11-5-12 and let the judge decide. Good Luck to you and look forward to this meeting." (And yes, I was served yesterday.)

My very first experience with the owner was very pleasant. He has "the sell" down pat. I have used this service every other week for five months. The rotation of gals that do the cleaning means a new start each time (though it seems like it should be pretty straight forward). During this time I have had to request that someone come back twice. And a few other times the cleaning was simply okay and no call was made. As I put it to the owner, I felt like a teenager was told they couldn't meet their friends until their chores were done. That's the kind of cleaning I was getting. Very skimming of the surfaces, not moving items but simply sweeping a rag around stuff, whether its on the floor or the counter. "Half [redacted]", is what my mother would have called it. I was about to call to have yet another cleaning redone, when I figured it was ridiculous to have go through this routine. There are so many good housecleaners out there. The owner never asked why I was canceling his service, and was less than professional. Also, be aware of their cancelation policy. 30 days. Even if there is a track record of poor performance. They came one more time, and of course it was meh. I opted to not even have them come for the last date and am simply sending them a check for services they're not even providing. That's how poor this business is.