I just purchased a new house, so I requested a deep clean of the entire house by email, including appliances, furniture, carpets, drawers, etc. Over the phone, I made it clear that I wanted the carpets and furniture steam cleaned or shampooed.
There were still cracker crumbs and some questionable yellow goop on the loveseat, and dust on the shelf in the master bedroom and light fixtures. Some of the carpets were vacuumed (not all, as shown by the dog hair still thick in the carpets), but they definitely weren't shampooed (when they called me back after emailing them complaints, they said they do not shampoo anything. If I had known this, I would not have requested their services in the first place). The insides of the refrigerators were cleaned, but the outside (where the ice/water dispensers are) definitely weren't touched, the stove top wasn't wiped down, and the washer/dryer were left a mess. The kitchen drawers were full of pencil shavings and hair from the previous owners, although it did look like at least some of the bathroom drawers were partially wiped, but with very little attention to detail (corners and edges were completely neglected). The empty storage closet was also completely ignored, leaving cobwebs and mess on the walls and floor.
They did an excellent job on the windows, the hard flooring, the inside of the refrigerators, and vacuuming some of the carpets, but that's really all I've seen that was cleaned well. Being that they were given as much time as needed (I just wanted it all completed within a month with no time limit daily), I was expecting much better.
When I emailed them with my complaints, they were very prompt at getting back to me by phone, which was wonderful and very appreciated. I can't remember her name (not Kate, but I believe the other owner), but she said that she would find out when someone would be able to come by sometime today or tomorrow for an hour. She later called me back letting me know that someone would be by in fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes later, no one had shown up. I called (getting the answering machine) to let them know that I would no longer like the person to come by, as I have just been cleaning it myself, and would like a partial refund. I have not heard back from them yet regarding this.
The only reason why I am giving two stars rather than one is the efficiency of the customer service. Hopefully I will not have to modify this, pending their response to my last call. They have thus far been very prompt at responding and very kind. They also left numerous gifts cards for places in the area that were very fitting for a new home.
However, due to the lack of attention to detail throughout the majority of the home, I cannot give more than two stars for the services I received from Lily Maid Cleaning.
---------------UPDATE-----------------
Another woman who works for LMC stopped by shortly after I posted this review. She went over the house and found many more problems I did not even notice myself, such as the floor boards being dirty and the top of EVERY door jamb not being dusted. She asked me if they did anything. She reported back to LMC to let them know what she had seen, but she did not stay to clean, at my request, since we were leaving.
Kate, the owner, called me later and let me know that she could not give a refund for the work that had been done since the girls who "cleaned" my home had already been paid. Instead she said the option was to send someone out to clean or just be happy with what I had gotten. Since I now have time limits instead of the previous availability, I requested cleaning within two and a half days since I would not be there after and did not want to inconvenience the person who had helped me the last time.
They were able to send a woman, Jen, out for two hours. For only having two hours to do what the others were supposed to do in 12 man hours, she did an amazing job, actually staying an extra hour since she wanted to try to get as much done as possible. At my request, she allowed me to use her vacuum in order for me to help her clean some too. While vacuuming rooms that were supposedly completed by the first cleaning, I found tacks, grape stems, an allen wrench, and other things that would not have been there if the corners and closer than a foot away from the wall had been cleaned. Jen cleaned as much as she could, but, with such limited time, she could not have possibly done what LMC should have had completed the first time.
I have to lower my rating to 1 star due to the lack of refund for the poor job done initially.
All photos attached are after the first "cleaning." read more