The Deep Cleaning that Wasn't Deep or Clean!…read more
For context, this is a large home that just had the floors refinished. Duraclean was recommended by the flooring company for a deep clean.
There is almost no furniture in the house (six recliner chairs, three small game tables and 15 barstools.) I spoke to the owner weeks before and requested a deep clean to get everything cleaned from the construction so painters could start the following week. She quoted me $900 - which was outrageous for an almost empty house but I was desperate. I explained that this was post-construction and that I needed everything deeply cleaned.
Beth at Duraclean said she would send 5 cleaners, and they would be there 5 to 8 hours. Important: Note that totals to 25-40 man hours. I clearly explained that there was very little furniture but the floors, walls, doors, baseboards etc. and the furniture that was there was filthy from the floor refinishing. I wrote down what she told me they would clean: inside cabinets, baseboards, windows, ceiling fans, all baths, all furniture, all appliances.
Day before the clean, I called again and spoke to the husband, and reminded him that because of the floors being freshly refinished I needed everyone in socks, no rollers like vacuums or mop buckets, and very minimal water on the floor. He said he understood and would tell the cleaners.
Day of clean: 3 very nice women showed up at 8 am. None of them spoke English, and my Spanish is minimal at best. Nonetheless we got the basics communicated through Google Translate, and then they started. Two were in socks, one was barefoot but at least no shoes, right? Then they got out the mop bucket (which they put on a towel - my towel, but okay at least not on the floor.) Reinforced the need to have no water - or very minimal - on the new floors. Returned multiple times to find trails of water across the floor, wiped it up with towels each time and repeated several times that we could not have water sitting on the new floors as they weren't cured yet.
Husband showed up mid-morning concerned about the handyman that was installing crown molding in the basement, and that he was creating messes in rooms they had already cleaned. We agreed that we would clean up any debris he left, and would not expect them to re-clean those areas. (Note: Handyman finished one room and one hallway then left late morning to go finish another job, so he never even worked in the bigger part of the basement nor in the upstairs at all.)
About lunchtime, I called Beth and discussed my expectations, as I could see that they cleaning was not only not thorough but entire areas were being skipped. I said I expected inside the window sills, the ceiling fans, and inside the cabinets cleaned and she said yes, yes and yes, and that she would tell the team.
Around 2 pm, all three women came to me ready to leave. They showed me their phones where it was scheduled 8-2 pm. I told them I really needed them to finish the baseboards and inside the windowsills (this was debated as it was "not their job" but they agreed to do that.) They stayed until about 3 pm then left - with my check for $900.
That's when I realized how poorly our "Deep Cleaning" had been. The baseboards were literally still covered with brown dust/floor debris. Only a few windowsills had been cleaned. None of the ceiling fans were cleaned. The media room chairs were cleaned nicely but none of the bottoms of the tables or barstools had even been wiped off. The shutters were still covered with debris. Above every door and window there was dirt and dust. Some of the cabinets had been wiped out inside but not all of them, same with the light fixtures. They had dusted, not cleaned. *SEE PHOTOS*
My husband and I spent about three hours that day, about 9 hours Friday and at least ten hours over the weekend cleaning. We went through two LARGE containers of wet wipes. We cleaned baseboards, we cleaned windowsills, we cleaned the shutters, we cleaned the tops of every doorframe, and I personally cleaned all of the ceiling fans.
So - I was extremely frustrated. I wrote a very long letter of disappointment to the owners, and attached an entire bag of filthy wet wipes to it that were ONLY from cleaning the office. The office which was upstairs (so no handyman) and had no furniture in it. And it was filthy. I attached the letter and the bag to their ladder, which was on the front porch, and which they eventually picked up.
Duraclean did not contact me. There was no apology, no explanation, not even a text or a phone call. They cashed my check and took their ladder and moved on to the next victim.
Life lesson: Don't trust a "Deep Cleaning" service unless you can verify that they know what they're doing, and confirm that you are getting your promised services before paying. I got 21 manhours instead of 25-40, without any "deep cleaning." 0/10 stars, do not recommend.
