We were, we thought, valued customers of SudsBuds Clean for approximately seven months. Until we…read more... took a vacation?
We had a biweekly service, were happy with the team and the level of service provided, and thought we had developed a wonderful rapport with Joksan, Linette, and Alexa. We had continuously sung their praises to our neighbors and other friends in the area.
The problem would seem to be that we booked a long-overdue trip to see family this summer for a few weeks in July. Our last scheduled cleaning before we left was to be June 30th. The morning of June 30th, we received a text stating the team would be unable to make it do to a family emergency. Obviously, this was not an issue with us, we said we hoped everything was OK, wished Alexa a happy birthday, and said that we'd see them in August. We even reached out a week later on July 7th to say we had been thinking of them, and that we hoped everything was OK. We did not receive a reply. A second message was sent on the 7th stating that we were leaving the following day, and wanted to confirm when they would be returning. We did not get a response until two days later.
July 9th, we got a rather cryptic message thanking us for using them, saying "we love you and your family very much and appreciate our time getting to know you" and wishing us a good vacation. The cryptic bit was about being a growing business and expanding their client base and their "sudsbuds clean teams", and saying they needed to honor the clients on their wait list? ... which was really strange to us, as all we were doing was taking a vacation. We replied a few days later on July 12th (we were out of the country visiting family, and didn't have the best cell coverage). We thanked them for their kind words, but sought clarification and confirmation about when services would resume. There was never a response.
Eighteen days later, on July 30th (the day after we arrived home) we sent yet another message asking if they could confirm which day they would be resuming services, only to find out that they were not going to be returning! Our spot had "been filled by one of their clients that were on the waitlist", but they were "in the process of hiring for team two" and could "reach out to ... resume services at that time".
We never asked to suspend services, never suggested we were not going to continue ... we took a vacation. Our communication that this was a vacation and the dates were unambiguous. We booked it in April and informed them when we next saw them (either last week of April or first week of May, providing more than two months notice). Nothing was said in the two months leading up to our departure that our time away would be an issue.
The "not professional" flag comes from this sole interaction... It's a big deal, as far as we're concerned. It is challenging for my wife and I to find people with whom we are comfortable to allow into our home in this capacity, and yeah - this is admittedly a first world problem... But to ditch us, in such a fashion and with no notice, without even the courtesy of a phone call, is disappointing, to say the least. Particularly given what, we thought, was a mutual respect among the five of us. Dumping us as customers in this fashion was most unprofessional indeed.
If our being away for three weeks was a concern, there was plenty of time for it to have been addressed; we would have been more than happy to work something out. We valued the service they provided, thought very highly of the entire team, and valued our relationships with them both professionally and personally. It is a shame, the manner in which they chose to handle this situation.
We will not be responding when they "reach out" after they've hired a new team... or we may once again find ourselves unexpectedly, and without reason or warning, without a cleaning service.
So if you hire them, rest assured they'll do a great job. Just don't take a vacation, or you may just find yourself needing to find a new provider when you get back!
Hopefully, they view this as a learning experience. We will.
