We chose Mary after reading her great reviews, but the reality is she is not that great of a housecleaner and is lacking in integrity as well. I reached out to Mary via text in September as we had just finished a complete home remodel & was trying to find a housecleaner to establish a long-term relationship with. I've included screen shots of our text exchange, where you'll see Mary quoted me $100 per cleaning every 2 weeks, or $200 a month. I passed this information on to my wife, who then called Mary & set up an appointment for Mary to see our house. Apparently, Mary didn't realize that the texts from me & my wife's phone call were for the same house, because you'll see that Mary sent me a follow-up text a couple days later offering to discount the price to $150 a month, or only $75 per cleaning every other week. I didn't respond to this text because I knew she was coming out to see the house & because I wasn't looking for a bargain price, rather a long-term relationship with a good housecleaner.
Mary shows up at our house & takes a look around with my wife & then tells us her price is going to be $125 a week. We ask Mary how she came up with this number, because our home is not that large at only 1800 square feet & it is just my wife & I living here, as we are empty nesters as our kids are all gone. I also pointed out that every square inch of our home is brand new as we did a complete remodel, so there is no heavy cleaning that needs to be done, matter of fact, our hallway bathroom with the brand new tile floors & shower, with granite counter-top & double sinks doesn't even get used, EVER, so it just needs a dusting & wipe down. Mary stumbled for a good answer, especially after I explained to her that we had the same housecleaner for many years and only paid $80 every 2 weeks & that was when we had 2 kids still at home (1 just moved out with her fiancé and our son is away at college for the next 4 years). Mary said she came up with her price because she felt it was going to take her 4-5 hours to clean our house, because she takes such great pride in her work.
Then I showed Mary the text she had sent me offering to discount her price to only $75 & she realized she'd been exposed & I explained to her that I wasn't looking for a discount, as I was willing to pay the $100 that she'd originally quoted & I further explained to her that I felt she was bumping her price up because she could see that we spent a lot of money on a top notch remodel, as we used all high line materials & she saw that both my wife & I drive newer Mercedes-Benz vehicles, so I felt she was trying to take advantage. So, I offered why doesn't she come clean our house a couple of times & she could let us know if she really needed more money than the $100 & we'd go from there, as I was confident that she would see that we're extremely neat & clean people, who actually straighten up before our housecleaner comes! And that we're not looking for a maid to do dishes and laundry, just the housecleaning services that we don't have time to do. She agreed & came to clean our house about 2 weeks later & we were over the moon happy! I came home from a business trip I was on & my wife couldn't stop raving about how good Mary was! Then when it was time for Mary to clean the second time, she was a no show on that day & when my wife texted her, Mary said she had to do us the following week because she couldn't get one of her existing clients to move times. We were frustrated by the lack of communication, but rolled with it & Mary came the following week, but had to come later in the day than normal & she was in & out of here in just under 3 hours. I was working in my home office & my wife was out & about, so when she was done, I didn't even bother to go look, as we were so happy with her first service, so it was my mindset that if she cleaned our house in less time, good for her. Then my wife comes home & calls me out of my office to show me all of the things that Mary had missed that day, which were numerous...& not nit picky stuff either, big stuff that you would only miss if you were in a hurry! My wife called Mary & let her know very professionally that she wasn't happy with her 2nd cleaning & Mary's excuse was that it was later in the day & the light wasn't so good so she couldn't see many of the things that my wife pointed out! Note that we have brand efficient LED canned lights in just about every room, so you can really light up this house if you choose to!
So Mary came back in 2 weeks & did another great job & we paid her extra $ & thanked her, as well sent her a follow-up text letting her know how happy we were. Two weeks later we text Mary to confirm that she is cleaning our house the next day & she doesn't respond. The next morning I send another text & she responds that she can't clean our home any longer. I assure you we are not difficult people, so save yourself the frustration of dealing with the uncertainty of Mary Cleaner. Very sad. read more