Jacqueline is a good person who loves animals and children, but doesn't quite understand how to scale or run her business. I employed her services several times for dog sitting and housekeeping. Each time, went smoothly and everything was done well.
So well, that I considered a weekly service schedule. Specifically, I was going to have a recurring housekeeping service with one of her employees, but the payment structure didn't quite add up. I had already used the service twice, and thought Nancy (MJS employee) did a great job.
When I wanted to set up the weekly service, there was suddenly a monthly cost and an additional deposit of $300 for prepaid services. I asked for a per diem arrangement, and was still asked for a deposit. At this point, I had already spent between $400-500 with MJS in the month of June through mid-July.
I decided to not use the housekeeping service, because the payment arrangement seemed strange and I wasn't comfortable.
I continued to use her dog sitting services at $50 a day. It seemed reasonable and my dog seemed to like her.
The last time I used the service was in late July. I gave her a copy of my keys, because she needed access to my apartment to come and go as she was dog sitting. I didn't collect the keys when I got back on 07/21 because I knew within a few weeks, I would be traveling again. I told her early in summer that I travel a lot in the summer and would need her services multiple times a month. In fact, over the summer she had already dog sat 4-5 times.
Fast forward to late last week. I asked her if she was available to watch my dog and she said was occupied and could not. I then tried again this Monday/Tuesday. She proceeded to tell me she was in NJ and was not available. I have to leave town for 10 days and then return for one day, to just leave town again for 10 days. That is 20 days and a potential $1000 she or an employee could have made.
To be clear, the reason I want my keys, is because even though I have a set...I don't feel comfortable with someone I don't know having access to my apartment while I am traveling. And it follows that if she doesn't have the keys..she left them somewhere. I have no idea where she is keeping my keys. I have no idea who else knows where I live or has access to my keys. And the behavior that follows only made my worries grow deeper.
Not only is she not available, but she has no one to bring me my keys. At all. She is a one woman show. I specifically asked her at the outset of working with her, how many employees she had and she specifically said about 4-5 rotating. I did not realize that if she had my keys (as the business owner) that she would not have any one else to bring them. She doesn't actually have a way to scale or grow her services yet. She is a one woman show, with a few people she sets up to work for her in housekeeping. That is totally okay, but she could have warned me.
I offered to meet anyone closer to her residence and pick up my keys. I was thinking she could have someone run down and bring them to me. She agreed to this arrangement. She told me she would text me the address and then didn't follow up or text me back.
The crazy thing is, she claims to have no cell phone service after texting me a few times from New Jersey. Yep, you read that correctly. No cell service at all in NJ.
No house phones or other cell carriers or computers either, I guess.
So here I am, the night before I have to travel, and she still has my spare set of keys. The way she is handing this whole situation makes me feel unsafe. So I am changing at least one deadlock to secure the apartment. I am really disappointed that she wouldn't at least give me a heads up if she was going to be out of town and offline for weeks.
If this had not happened, I would give her 4 stars. She responds quickly, usually is available on short notice and provides good service. The thing is, she doesn't have a back up...
It is also critically important to note that professionalism is everything. If you are a sole proprietor, you have to warn your clients when you are essentially closed for business. I assume Jacqueline left town to work for another family. I get that business is business. However, you just can't be offline and unavailable without notice when you have access to a client apartment. She also doesn't list her available hours on her website or offer any other way to know when she is completely offline or unavailable.
This ordeal will end up costing me $350, because I won't just leave town and leave access to my apartment unchecked for 20 days. I arranged to have the locks changed. I WILL update the review once I return because she still has access to the building and coop keys are expensive. If I don't get the keys back at all, I'll have to file a police report, in case anything else happens or there is unauthorized access to my place. read more
