Mrs. [redacted] accusation that we're only raising her rate because she complained is totally false. Her complaints have never been anything major. Although, she does expect too much for her rate of... $110. The house should already be picked up and fresh linens laid respectively on their beds, if linen change is desired. There is no commitment required to use our service and there is no contract agreement with our service. After the first cleaning, a customer can choose to continue weekly, biweekly, triweekly, monthly, call as needed or go just the one time. We do have the right to raise our rate if the home doesn't fall in the "normal" for the estimate given by phone, sight unseen. Her tiled basement floor was expected to be cleaned (by hand) and everything sitting around needed to be moved in order to clean the floor under and behind it. Doesn't sound like an unreasonable request, by phone, until you see the amount of stuff sitting around all the walls and the stacks on top of stacks of stuff. You cannot see one baseboard in that area - it's piled up that much. To properly move all this "stuff" to clean that basement floor, every visit, would require much more time than she was paying for. She expected us to pick up any toys or shoes laying around, again a house is to be picked up prior to our arrival. Moving all of the stuff that's piled up on that basement floor could easily take the entire amount of time given to clean a whole "normal" house. Also, to keep her happy the team was going in her linen closet to get the bed linens she forgets to leave out. This became a regular occurrence and required time because of the condition of the linen closet. None of the sheets are together - fitted, flat or pillowcases. The closet is a jumbled mess and to find sheets to fit her beds took time, because her bed (alone) took 10 pillowcases. To find matching pillowcases was impossible every visit. This is why upon getting the estimate potential customers are told, we will strip and make beds if clean linens are laying on the bed or the bed will just be made with the linens already on them. She EXPECTED her linens to be changed every visit and for us to search through her linen closet for them - then she'd complain if the pillowcases didn't match. Plus, her daughter's bed had at least 30 stuffed animals that we were expected to pick up and put on her bed after making it - if we didn't she'd complain. Her home has always required more time than the "normal" - when compared to other homes of her size. Her home is a standard 4 bedroom 3 bathroom size, which is smaller than the majority of homes we clean, but it takes as long as some of our larger homes to clean. Her home should take, based on room count and rate quoted, up to 1 hour 45 minutes for the team of two. Her home ALWAYS took 2 hours 15 minutes to 3 hours, every visit. We keep record of calls from our customers and issues they report. Mrs. [redacted] was cleaned on the afternoon of 06/27/16. She called on 06/28/16 at 6:15pm, more than 24 hours after the cleaning was completed. Her call was returned the very next business day on 06/29/16, there was no answer so a message was left for her. On 06/30/16 we made contact with her and she reported: • not lifting rug in basement • the nanny reported a mop was used in the basement (nanny wasn't even there at that point) • husband wanted to cancel service • she doesn't want to cancel because she likes the ladies & doesn't want to start over • she's already re-cleaned the basement floor and just wants a $10 credit or wants them to come back out Tuesday (7/5) or Wednesday (7/6) to redo the basement floor (this would now be 8-9 days after the initial cleaning) In this conversation on 06/30, she was only asking for a $10 credit for the basement floor. How is it now she's requesting the whole $110 to be refunded, as if to say the 2 hours 15 minutes they were there that day to clean 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, Laundry Room, Foyer, Hallway and Steps was for free. There were a lot of other areas/details done, so to say it should be free sounds unreasonable. Before this particular complaint call she had only called on 3 other occasions in the 20 months of service...... • 05/24/16 to check ceiling fans, kitchen floor along the cupboards and to lift rugs when cleaning floor - "we did this for her on her next visit" • 02/03/16 to clean the buildup at the bottom of the master bath shower door - "we did this for her on her next visit" • 10/16/15 to say the kitchen wasn't cleaned like normal, basement floor appeared to be left undone, bathrooms were wiped not scrubbed - "we issued a redo at no charge to her of her WHOLE house to make her happy which was redone on 10/19/15" On 07/06/16, in an effort to keep us from raising her rate, she called us again (fighting tooth and nail) to keep her same ladies coming at her current rate of $110 and continued on to say that they COULD use a mop on the tiled basement floor - as long as it was a new mop every time. When she was told her rate had to be increased to $175 to cover the extra time her house required - SHE started yelling. Since we had heard she was studying Ministry, as she's yelling on the phone to my office manager, my office manager says - "you need to pray about this, because Jesus wouldn't be pleased with the way you're handling this situation". Mrs. [redacted] responds, "I know Jesus better than you ever will". My office manager responded, "Well, I'll pray for you - God bless". Mrs. [redacted] hung up on my office manager! Mrs. [redacted] account of details are way off. Never was it said, "God is not pleased with your complaints..... and we'll no longer clean your house" and she was not hung up on. It didn't happen that way! Once she started ranting and yelling, the phone was put on speaker for the others in the office to hear how she was acting. This BBB complaint, made by Mrs. [redacted] , is based on her dissatisfaction with the basement floor. I feel the $10 credit/refund she requested is fair. I do not feel she is entitled to the whole cleaning amount of $110 to be refunded, now that she's mad that her rate has been increased. We've been in business for a little over 22 years. I believe there was "one" BBB complaint in the early years and now this one is the second, that I can recall. That record should speak for itself on how we, as a company, try to do everything we can to keep our customers happy. We still clean for our very first customer, 22 years later, and have many that have been with us 15-22 years. I'll wait for a response from the BBB to advise me if the initial $10 credit that was being requested by Mrs. [redacted] will suffice - as I feel this is a fair settlement. Tina J [redacted] , owner Dana W***, office manager Helping Hand Cleaning Service, LLC [email protected] 540/972-2241
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The response by Helping Hands seems very combative. At no time was I combative with anyone. After the last cleaning, I left a message. I only spoke to the manager one time after that. She called to listen to my complaint, I was very nice about it and wanted to see what we can do to get the girls to do what they are suppose to do when they come over to my house to clean. Looking at my previous complaints, they were always the same and very similar but yet the girls never seemed to get it done, it was ALWAYS the girls do not pick up the carpets, they do not clean the fans, they do not hand wipe the floor as agreed, etc. The bottom line is we were given a quote of $110 AFTER a representative came over to our house 20 months ago, looked at our basement and entire house and told us the normal rate is $100.00 for your house. In order to hand wipe the basement floor, they required an additional $10.00. I agreed to the extra $10.00 (20 months ago). I find out 20 months later, by the manager I spoke too on 07/06/16 that the girls stopped hand wiping the floor after only a few visits and have used a mop on my floor for atleast a year without our knowledge (out of her own mouth) while I was paying them to hand wipe the floor. They never told me they stopped hand wiping the floor nor did they ever suggest that the rate would increase to $175 if I wanted the girls to continue hand wiping the floor. It wasn't until I complained about their last visit that they decided the rate needed to be increased. This should have been discussed at the beginning of our agreement (20 months ago) after they determined $110.00 was not sufficient to hand wipe the floor. Therefore, the expectation is that they will do what was agreed on our initial agreement 20 months ago until discussed otherwise. The only time any of this was discussed is AFTER my last complaint when all of the sudden it takes 3 hours to clean my house, the price needs to be increased, etc etc. If it took 3 hours to clean the hours, this should have been discussed long before my complaint. This is why I believe the rate was increased do to my complaint and not because of anything else. If I were told the rate would increase long ago, as I should, then none of this would be occurring.
In a nutshell, I paid this company for a period of 20 months at a rate that I was quoted based on all of the factors they observed when they came to the house. My basement is NOT full of stuff as she stated. The toys are confined to a corner of the room by the computer desk and I told them they do not need to clean that area. We have fish tanks against two of the walls in the basement, so we don't expect them to clean behind the fishtanks either. All we required was the open area of the flooring in the living space and hallway. We pick up all the toys on the rug where they are required to clean, but they NEVER picked up the rug to clean under it. I did not require them to clean around the baseboards where my daughters toys are located, this is not the issue of my complaint. The issue of my complaint was, they did not clean as they agreed meaning, under throw rugs, ceiling fans, kitchen floor, and shower as my complaints indicated and after complaining about these things, they still did not follow through at every visit as they are required too in cleaning these areas. The only time they did so is when I called to complain and they were made to come back out to do it. You would think the first complaint should have been enough but it was a persistent problem. I attached a photo of the shower the day AFTER the girls came to clean on 02/ 03/16 when I complained about the shower. They never even wiped down the shower rails! I complained about the same thing on the last visit when they never even touched the shower in the basement or never cleaned behind the door in the bathroom.
The company should not have agreed to so something they could not realistically honor, meaning if it was truly taking 3 hours to clean the house, which I highly doubt this, they should have contacted me over a year ago and this should not be new information to me now after I complain to the Revdex.com. This is the fist time I am hearing of this information. I am not accepting their offer because the house was not cleaned as agreed on the last visit an many more prior to this visit to include the shower in the basement, the shower in my master bath, the floors were moped with a dirty mop against our agreement, the floor was not touch in the bathroom downstairs, and multiple times the rugs were not picked up in the basement and cleaned under which was a repetitive complaint of mine in the past. Based on the fact that the girls did not had wipe the floor as agreed for many months without my knowledge, they should be required to pay for much more than one visit of $110.00. I am requiring $110 because the last cleaning was not done properly in many ways beyond the rug in the basement which was explained to management. Since the company did not send the girls back to redo the areas of complaint, as I agreed could be done after talking to management, it is too late at this point to make that happen.
Finally, discussing a clients religious beliefs or even mentioning to me about my religious beliefs or how God feels about me is totally unacceptable in every way so justifying it by saying the company had knowledge of my training in ministry is ridiculous. I have been in ministry as a pastor, for 15 years and my training occurred years ago so what they thought they knew about me was inaccurate and their opinion should not have been expressed. I don't hold grudges as the manager insinuated in her statement when she said I am asking for a full refund because I'm upset. I'm not upset at all, I just expect a company to honor their word and Helping hands went against their word when they continued to clean my house for many months in the way they wanted too instead of in the way we agreed meaning hand wiping the basement floor instead of using a dirty mop. Due to using a dirty mop, my floor is more dirty now than it was when they first started cleaning my house due to using a mop which is what I tried to prevent. The grout is filthy due to moving the dirt around with the mop. Now I need to hire a professional to come in and clean the entire tile floor because of the neglect of Helping Hands Cleaning service.
I still respectfully request that the $110.00 be returned to me for the last cleaning due to the many reasons mentioned above.
Regards,
[redacted]
Mrs. [redacted] accusation that we're only raising her rate because she complained is totally false. Her complaints have never been anything major. Although, she does expect too much for her rate of...
$110. The house should already be picked up and fresh linens laid respectively on their beds, if linen change is desired.
There is no commitment required to use our service and there is no contract agreement with our service. After the first cleaning, a customer can choose to continue weekly, biweekly, triweekly, monthly, call as needed or go just the one time. We do have the right to raise our rate if the home doesn't fall in the "normal" for the estimate given by phone, sight unseen.
Her tiled basement floor was expected to be cleaned (by hand) and everything sitting around needed to be moved in order to clean the floor under and behind it. Doesn't sound like an unreasonable request, by phone, until you see the amount of stuff sitting around all the walls and the stacks on top of stacks of stuff. You cannot see one baseboard in that area - it's piled up that much. To properly move all this "stuff" to clean that basement floor, every visit, would require much more time than she was paying for. She expected us to pick up any toys or shoes laying around, again a house is to be picked up prior to our arrival. Moving all of the stuff that's piled up on that basement floor could easily take the entire amount of time given to clean a whole "normal" house.
Also, to keep her happy the team was going in her linen closet to get the bed linens she forgets to leave out. This became a regular occurrence and required time because of the condition of the linen closet. None of the sheets are together - fitted, flat or pillowcases. The closet is a jumbled mess and to find sheets to fit her beds took time, because her bed (alone) took 10 pillowcases. To find matching pillowcases was impossible every visit. This is why upon getting the estimate potential customers are told, we will strip and make beds if clean linens are laying on the bed or the bed will just be made with the linens already on them. She EXPECTED her linens to be changed every visit and for us to search through her linen closet for them - then she'd complain if the pillowcases didn't match. Plus, her daughter's bed had at least 30 stuffed animals that we were expected to pick up and put on her bed after making it - if we didn't she'd complain.
Her home has always required more time than the "normal" - when compared to other homes of her size. Her home is a standard 4 bedroom 3 bathroom size, which is smaller than the majority of homes we clean, but it takes as long as some of our larger homes to clean. Her home should take, based on room count and rate quoted, up to 1 hour 45 minutes for the team of two. Her home ALWAYS took 2 hours 15 minutes to 3 hours, every visit.
We keep record of calls from our customers and issues they report. Mrs. [redacted] was cleaned on the afternoon of 06/27/16. She called on 06/28/16 at 6:15pm, more than 24 hours after the cleaning was completed. Her call was returned the very next business day on 06/29/16, there was no answer so a message was left for her.
On 06/30/16 we made contact with her and she reported:
• not lifting rug in basement
• the nanny reported a mop was used in the basement (nanny wasn't even there at that point)
• husband wanted to cancel service
• she doesn't want to cancel because she likes the ladies & doesn't want to start over
• she's already re-cleaned the basement floor and just wants a $10 credit or wants them to come back out Tuesday (7/5) or Wednesday (7/6) to redo the basement floor (this would now be 8-9 days after the initial cleaning)
In this conversation on 06/30, she was only asking for a $10 credit for the basement floor. How is it now she's requesting the whole $110 to be refunded, as if to say the 2 hours 15 minutes they were there that day to clean 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, Laundry Room, Foyer, Hallway and Steps was for free. There were a lot of other areas/details done, so to say it should be free sounds unreasonable.
Before this particular complaint call she had only called on 3 other occasions in the 20 months of service......
• 05/24/16 to check ceiling fans, kitchen floor along the cupboards and to lift rugs when cleaning floor - "we did this for her on her next visit"
• 02/03/16 to clean the buildup at the bottom of the master bath shower door - "we did this for her on her next visit"
• 10/16/15 to say the kitchen wasn't cleaned like normal, basement floor appeared to be left undone, bathrooms were wiped not scrubbed - "we issued a redo at no charge to her of her WHOLE house to make her happy which was redone on 10/19/15"
On 07/06/16, in an effort to keep us from raising her rate, she called us again (fighting tooth and nail) to keep her same ladies coming at her current rate of $110 and continued on to say that they COULD use a mop on the tiled basement floor - as long as it was a new mop every time. When she was told her rate had to be increased to $175 to cover the extra time her house required - SHE started yelling. Since we had heard she was studying Ministry, as she's yelling on the phone to my office manager, my office manager says - "you need to pray about this, because Jesus wouldn't be pleased with the way you're handling this situation". Mrs. [redacted] responds, "I know Jesus better than you ever will". My office manager responded, "Well, I'll pray for you - God bless". Mrs. [redacted] hung up on my office manager!
Mrs. [redacted] account of details are way off. Never was it said, "God is not pleased with your complaints..... and we'll no longer clean your house" and she was not hung up on. It didn't happen that way! Once she started ranting and yelling, the phone was put on speaker for the others in the office to hear how she was acting.
This Revdex.com complaint, made by Mrs. [redacted], is based on her dissatisfaction with the basement floor. I feel the $10 credit/refund she requested is fair. I do not feel she is entitled to the whole cleaning amount of $110 to be refunded, now that she's mad that her rate has been increased.
We've been in business for a little over 22 years. I believe there was "one" Revdex.com complaint in the early years and now this one is the second, that I can recall. That record should speak for itself on how we, as a company, try to do everything we can to keep our customers happy. We still clean for our very first customer, 22 years later, and have many that have been with us 15-22 years.
I'll wait for a response from the Revdex.com to advise me if the initial $10 credit that was being requested by Mrs. [redacted] will suffice - as I feel this is a fair settlement.
Tina J[redacted], owner
Dana W[redacted], office manager
Helping Hand Cleaning Service, LLC [email protected]
540/972-2241
Mrs. [redacted] accusation that we're only raising her rate because she complained is totally false. Her complaints have never been anything major. Although, she does expect too much for her rate of... $110. The house should already be picked up and fresh linens laid respectively on their beds, if linen change is desired. There is no commitment required to use our service and there is no contract agreement with our service. After the first cleaning, a customer can choose to continue weekly, biweekly, triweekly, monthly, call as needed or go just the one time. We do have the right to raise our rate if the home doesn't fall in the "normal" for the estimate given by phone, sight unseen. Her tiled basement floor was expected to be cleaned (by hand) and everything sitting around needed to be moved in order to clean the floor under and behind it. Doesn't sound like an unreasonable request, by phone, until you see the amount of stuff sitting around all the walls and the stacks on top of stacks of stuff. You cannot see one baseboard in that area - it's piled up that much. To properly move all this "stuff" to clean that basement floor, every visit, would require much more time than she was paying for. She expected us to pick up any toys or shoes laying around, again a house is to be picked up prior to our arrival. Moving all of the stuff that's piled up on that basement floor could easily take the entire amount of time given to clean a whole "normal" house. Also, to keep her happy the team was going in her linen closet to get the bed linens she forgets to leave out. This became a regular occurrence and required time because of the condition of the linen closet. None of the sheets are together - fitted, flat or pillowcases. The closet is a jumbled mess and to find sheets to fit her beds took time, because her bed (alone) took 10 pillowcases. To find matching pillowcases was impossible every visit. This is why upon getting the estimate potential customers are told, we will strip and make beds if clean linens are laying on the bed or the bed will just be made with the linens already on them. She EXPECTED her linens to be changed every visit and for us to search through her linen closet for them - then she'd complain if the pillowcases didn't match. Plus, her daughter's bed had at least 30 stuffed animals that we were expected to pick up and put on her bed after making it - if we didn't she'd complain. Her home has always required more time than the "normal" - when compared to other homes of her size. Her home is a standard 4 bedroom 3 bathroom size, which is smaller than the majority of homes we clean, but it takes as long as some of our larger homes to clean. Her home should take, based on room count and rate quoted, up to 1 hour 45 minutes for the team of two. Her home ALWAYS took 2 hours 15 minutes to 3 hours, every visit. We keep record of calls from our customers and issues they report. Mrs. [redacted] was cleaned on the afternoon of 06/27/16. She called on 06/28/16 at 6:15pm, more than 24 hours after the cleaning was completed. Her call was returned the very next business day on 06/29/16, there was no answer so a message was left for her. On 06/30/16 we made contact with her and she reported: • not lifting rug in basement • the nanny reported a mop was used in the basement (nanny wasn't even there at that point) • husband wanted to cancel service • she doesn't want to cancel because she likes the ladies & doesn't want to start over • she's already re-cleaned the basement floor and just wants a $10 credit or wants them to come back out Tuesday (7/5) or Wednesday (7/6) to redo the basement floor (this would now be 8-9 days after the initial cleaning) In this conversation on 06/30, she was only asking for a $10 credit for the basement floor. How is it now she's requesting the whole $110 to be refunded, as if to say the 2 hours 15 minutes they were there that day to clean 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, Laundry Room, Foyer, Hallway and Steps was for free. There were a lot of other areas/details done, so to say it should be free sounds unreasonable. Before this particular complaint call she had only called on 3 other occasions in the 20 months of service...... • 05/24/16 to check ceiling fans, kitchen floor along the cupboards and to lift rugs when cleaning floor - "we did this for her on her next visit" • 02/03/16 to clean the buildup at the bottom of the master bath shower door - "we did this for her on her next visit" • 10/16/15 to say the kitchen wasn't cleaned like normal, basement floor appeared to be left undone, bathrooms were wiped not scrubbed - "we issued a redo at no charge to her of her WHOLE house to make her happy which was redone on 10/19/15" On 07/06/16, in an effort to keep us from raising her rate, she called us again (fighting tooth and nail) to keep her same ladies coming at her current rate of $110 and continued on to say that they COULD use a mop on the tiled basement floor - as long as it was a new mop every time. When she was told her rate had to be increased to $175 to cover the extra time her house required - SHE started yelling. Since we had heard she was studying Ministry, as she's yelling on the phone to my office manager, my office manager says - "you need to pray about this, because Jesus wouldn't be pleased with the way you're handling this situation". Mrs. [redacted] responds, "I know Jesus better than you ever will". My office manager responded, "Well, I'll pray for you - God bless". Mrs. [redacted] hung up on my office manager! Mrs. [redacted] account of details are way off. Never was it said, "God is not pleased with your complaints..... and we'll no longer clean your house" and she was not hung up on. It didn't happen that way! Once she started ranting and yelling, the phone was put on speaker for the others in the office to hear how she was acting. This BBB complaint, made by Mrs. [redacted] , is based on her dissatisfaction with the basement floor. I feel the $10 credit/refund she requested is fair. I do not feel she is entitled to the whole cleaning amount of $110 to be refunded, now that she's mad that her rate has been increased. We've been in business for a little over 22 years. I believe there was "one" BBB complaint in the early years and now this one is the second, that I can recall. That record should speak for itself on how we, as a company, try to do everything we can to keep our customers happy. We still clean for our very first customer, 22 years later, and have many that have been with us 15-22 years. I'll wait for a response from the BBB to advise me if the initial $10 credit that was being requested by Mrs. [redacted] will suffice - as I feel this is a fair settlement. Tina J [redacted] , owner Dana W***, office manager Helping Hand Cleaning Service, LLC [email protected] 540/972-2241
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The response by Helping Hands seems very combative. At no time was I combative with anyone. After the last cleaning, I left a message. I only spoke to the manager one time after that. She called to listen to my complaint, I was very nice about it and wanted to see what we can do to get the girls to do what they are suppose to do when they come over to my house to clean. Looking at my previous complaints, they were always the same and very similar but yet the girls never seemed to get it done, it was ALWAYS the girls do not pick up the carpets, they do not clean the fans, they do not hand wipe the floor as agreed, etc. The bottom line is we were given a quote of $110 AFTER a representative came over to our house 20 months ago, looked at our basement and entire house and told us the normal rate is $100.00 for your house. In order to hand wipe the basement floor, they required an additional $10.00. I agreed to the extra $10.00 (20 months ago). I find out 20 months later, by the manager I spoke too on 07/06/16 that the girls stopped hand wiping the floor after only a few visits and have used a mop on my floor for atleast a year without our knowledge (out of her own mouth) while I was paying them to hand wipe the floor. They never told me they stopped hand wiping the floor nor did they ever suggest that the rate would increase to $175 if I wanted the girls to continue hand wiping the floor. It wasn't until I complained about their last visit that they decided the rate needed to be increased. This should have been discussed at the beginning of our agreement (20 months ago) after they determined $110.00 was not sufficient to hand wipe the floor. Therefore, the expectation is that they will do what was agreed on our initial agreement 20 months ago until discussed otherwise. The only time any of this was discussed is AFTER my last complaint when all of the sudden it takes 3 hours to clean my house, the price needs to be increased, etc etc. If it took 3 hours to clean the hours, this should have been discussed long before my complaint. This is why I believe the rate was increased do to my complaint and not because of anything else. If I were told the rate would increase long ago, as I should, then none of this would be occurring.
In a nutshell, I paid this company for a period of 20 months at a rate that I was quoted based on all of the factors they observed when they came to the house. My basement is NOT full of stuff as she stated. The toys are confined to a corner of the room by the computer desk and I told them they do not need to clean that area. We have fish tanks against two of the walls in the basement, so we don't expect them to clean behind the fishtanks either. All we required was the open area of the flooring in the living space and hallway. We pick up all the toys on the rug where they are required to clean, but they NEVER picked up the rug to clean under it. I did not require them to clean around the baseboards where my daughters toys are located, this is not the issue of my complaint. The issue of my complaint was, they did not clean as they agreed meaning, under throw rugs, ceiling fans, kitchen floor, and shower as my complaints indicated and after complaining about these things, they still did not follow through at every visit as they are required too in cleaning these areas. The only time they did so is when I called to complain and they were made to come back out to do it. You would think the first complaint should have been enough but it was a persistent problem. I attached a photo of the shower the day AFTER the girls came to clean on 02/ 03/16 when I complained about the shower. They never even wiped down the shower rails! I complained about the same thing on the last visit when they never even touched the shower in the basement or never cleaned behind the door in the bathroom.
The company should not have agreed to so something they could not realistically honor, meaning if it was truly taking 3 hours to clean the house, which I highly doubt this, they should have contacted me over a year ago and this should not be new information to me now after I complain to the Revdex.com. This is the fist time I am hearing of this information. I am not accepting their offer because the house was not cleaned as agreed on the last visit an many more prior to this visit to include the shower in the basement, the shower in my master bath, the floors were moped with a dirty mop against our agreement, the floor was not touch in the bathroom downstairs, and multiple times the rugs were not picked up in the basement and cleaned under which was a repetitive complaint of mine in the past. Based on the fact that the girls did not had wipe the floor as agreed for many months without my knowledge, they should be required to pay for much more than one visit of $110.00. I am requiring $110 because the last cleaning was not done properly in many ways beyond the rug in the basement which was explained to management. Since the company did not send the girls back to redo the areas of complaint, as I agreed could be done after talking to management, it is too late at this point to make that happen.
Finally, discussing a clients religious beliefs or even mentioning to me about my religious beliefs or how God feels about me is totally unacceptable in every way so justifying it by saying the company had knowledge of my training in ministry is ridiculous. I have been in ministry as a pastor, for 15 years and my training occurred years ago so what they thought they knew about me was inaccurate and their opinion should not have been expressed. I don't hold grudges as the manager insinuated in her statement when she said I am asking for a full refund because I'm upset. I'm not upset at all, I just expect a company to honor their word and Helping hands went against their word when they continued to clean my house for many months in the way they wanted too instead of in the way we agreed meaning hand wiping the basement floor instead of using a dirty mop. Due to using a dirty mop, my floor is more dirty now than it was when they first started cleaning my house due to using a mop which is what I tried to prevent. The grout is filthy due to moving the dirt around with the mop. Now I need to hire a professional to come in and clean the entire tile floor because of the neglect of Helping Hands Cleaning service.
I still respectfully request that the $110.00 be returned to me for the last cleaning due to the many reasons mentioned above.
Regards,
[redacted]
Mrs. [redacted] accusation that we're only raising her rate because she complained is totally false. Her complaints have never been anything major. Although, she does expect too much for her rate of...
$110. The house should already be picked up and fresh linens laid respectively on their beds, if linen change is desired.
There is no commitment required to use our service and there is no contract agreement with our service. After the first cleaning, a customer can choose to continue weekly, biweekly, triweekly, monthly, call as needed or go just the one time. We do have the right to raise our rate if the home doesn't fall in the "normal" for the estimate given by phone, sight unseen.
Her tiled basement floor was expected to be cleaned (by hand) and everything sitting around needed to be moved in order to clean the floor under and behind it. Doesn't sound like an unreasonable request, by phone, until you see the amount of stuff sitting around all the walls and the stacks on top of stacks of stuff. You cannot see one baseboard in that area - it's piled up that much. To properly move all this "stuff" to clean that basement floor, every visit, would require much more time than she was paying for. She expected us to pick up any toys or shoes laying around, again a house is to be picked up prior to our arrival. Moving all of the stuff that's piled up on that basement floor could easily take the entire amount of time given to clean a whole "normal" house.
Also, to keep her happy the team was going in her linen closet to get the bed linens she forgets to leave out. This became a regular occurrence and required time because of the condition of the linen closet. None of the sheets are together - fitted, flat or pillowcases. The closet is a jumbled mess and to find sheets to fit her beds took time, because her bed (alone) took 10 pillowcases. To find matching pillowcases was impossible every visit. This is why upon getting the estimate potential customers are told, we will strip and make beds if clean linens are laying on the bed or the bed will just be made with the linens already on them. She EXPECTED her linens to be changed every visit and for us to search through her linen closet for them - then she'd complain if the pillowcases didn't match. Plus, her daughter's bed had at least 30 stuffed animals that we were expected to pick up and put on her bed after making it - if we didn't she'd complain.
Her home has always required more time than the "normal" - when compared to other homes of her size. Her home is a standard 4 bedroom 3 bathroom size, which is smaller than the majority of homes we clean, but it takes as long as some of our larger homes to clean. Her home should take, based on room count and rate quoted, up to 1 hour 45 minutes for the team of two. Her home ALWAYS took 2 hours 15 minutes to 3 hours, every visit.
We keep record of calls from our customers and issues they report. Mrs. [redacted] was cleaned on the afternoon of 06/27/16. She called on 06/28/16 at 6:15pm, more than 24 hours after the cleaning was completed. Her call was returned the very next business day on 06/29/16, there was no answer so a message was left for her.
On 06/30/16 we made contact with her and she reported:
• not lifting rug in basement
• the nanny reported a mop was used in the basement (nanny wasn't even there at that point)
• husband wanted to cancel service
• she doesn't want to cancel because she likes the ladies & doesn't want to start over
• she's already re-cleaned the basement floor and just wants a $10 credit or wants them to come back out Tuesday (7/5) or Wednesday (7/6) to redo the basement floor (this would now be 8-9 days after the initial cleaning)
In this conversation on 06/30, she was only asking for a $10 credit for the basement floor. How is it now she's requesting the whole $110 to be refunded, as if to say the 2 hours 15 minutes they were there that day to clean 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, Laundry Room, Foyer, Hallway and Steps was for free. There were a lot of other areas/details done, so to say it should be free sounds unreasonable.
Before this particular complaint call she had only called on 3 other occasions in the 20 months of service......
• 05/24/16 to check ceiling fans, kitchen floor along the cupboards and to lift rugs when cleaning floor - "we did this for her on her next visit"
• 02/03/16 to clean the buildup at the bottom of the master bath shower door - "we did this for her on her next visit"
• 10/16/15 to say the kitchen wasn't cleaned like normal, basement floor appeared to be left undone, bathrooms were wiped not scrubbed - "we issued a redo at no charge to her of her WHOLE house to make her happy which was redone on 10/19/15"
On 07/06/16, in an effort to keep us from raising her rate, she called us again (fighting tooth and nail) to keep her same ladies coming at her current rate of $110 and continued on to say that they COULD use a mop on the tiled basement floor - as long as it was a new mop every time. When she was told her rate had to be increased to $175 to cover the extra time her house required - SHE started yelling. Since we had heard she was studying Ministry, as she's yelling on the phone to my office manager, my office manager says - "you need to pray about this, because Jesus wouldn't be pleased with the way you're handling this situation". Mrs. [redacted] responds, "I know Jesus better than you ever will". My office manager responded, "Well, I'll pray for you - God bless". Mrs. [redacted] hung up on my office manager!
Mrs. [redacted] account of details are way off. Never was it said, "God is not pleased with your complaints..... and we'll no longer clean your house" and she was not hung up on. It didn't happen that way! Once she started ranting and yelling, the phone was put on speaker for the others in the office to hear how she was acting.
This Revdex.com complaint, made by Mrs. [redacted], is based on her dissatisfaction with the basement floor. I feel the $10 credit/refund she requested is fair. I do not feel she is entitled to the whole cleaning amount of $110 to be refunded, now that she's mad that her rate has been increased.
We've been in business for a little over 22 years. I believe there was "one" Revdex.com complaint in the early years and now this one is the second, that I can recall. That record should speak for itself on how we, as a company, try to do everything we can to keep our customers happy. We still clean for our very first customer, 22 years later, and have many that have been with us 15-22 years.
I'll wait for a response from the Revdex.com to advise me if the initial $10 credit that was being requested by Mrs. [redacted] will suffice - as I feel this is a fair settlement.
Tina J[redacted], owner
Dana W[redacted], office manager
Helping Hand Cleaning Service, LLC
[email protected]
540/972-2241