At first the team was responsive and friendly. Their quote was rather competitive, and (the only…read morereason we selected them), was that they could work with us from a timing perspective. That was it. The good news stops here.
Once here, the "team", a ragtag group of men, came to our house and, after two men finished their cigarettes outside our front door, they came in to "clean". What I saw was just Clorox wipes and a lot of paper towels. No mops, no dusters, no "specialized tools" for the DEEP cleaning that we had paid for.
When they were done, they left. Both my spouse and I were unable to check their work as we were working at the time and could not make it back in time to review the work. They finished well before they said they would be done and thus we made other plans (going to the office, running errands, etc.)
We got back and it was ... moderately ... cleaner. We had done a little bit of cleaning when the house was empty prior to moving in, so we thought they would spend the time getting into the nitty gritty, like their quote (and website) promised. Windows were not cleaned (out of scope), but they were made dirtier with soapy/greasy handprints, the window ledges, kitchen cabinets, stair hand rails, appliances (except W/D), and vacuuming upstairs, tub/shower/toilet/sink cleaning, along with many other things, were not done at all, or were clearly done half way (Clorox wipes). Mirrors were "cleaned" with wipes as well, and left streaks everywhere. Upon coming home, not only were we surprised at how dirty and untidy things were, but the smell.... it was horrible. Cigarette smoke, BO and bleach all mixed together into a wonderful cocktail of smells.
We called to share our experiences. With a groan the owner/operator said that he and the team would come back. I appreciated that and thought this time would be better, plus one of us was home the entire time.
Second visit: They were supposed to start at 9:30am, they arrived at 9:22am, each in their own cars (same team, but clearly contractors), and proceeded to smoke, like, 84 cigarettes before coming in; I have it on video from our security system. One fellow even was blowing smoking into the house when entering. Also, while cleaning upstairs, one of the cleaners was vaping with the window open. Classy.
At this point, I they completed most of what we had talked about to about as much satisfaction as we knew we would get from this company. It wasn't great, but it was done. Now, over the course of a few days, I noticed that debris had been hidden behind doors, swept (literally) under the rug, or made into piles and never vacuumed up. Other areas that we were told were cleaned, were not, but they wouldn't have been noticed in the final walk-through (jetted tub, etc.).
THIS IS WHERE THINGS GET WORSE. I wrote an e-mail to state that based on the contract that we all signed, this just wasn't up to our expected standards. I said, instead of making the trip back, let's work out reduction in cost since they did *somethings* well enough, but many others were poorly done, or not done at all. The owner/operator proceeds to tell me that I am committing a crime by asking for some money back and stated that we are "clearly, very dirty and messy people". My jaw hit the floor...we didn't even have any furniture in the house, nor were we living in it yet. THIS IS WHY WE HIRED a "professional" cleaning company, to clean out the previous owners' natural dirt and grime.
BUT, the best part was, after refusing to work with me on anything (yet, continuing to email be), the owner/operator threatened to take me to court for writing a review (which I said would be fair, but negative; which I think this is), about MY impression of the services we received. He said he'd sue! I *really* couldn't believe it.
So, here is my review on pain of a threatened lawsuit. It was a terrible company, disgraceful customer service, and a real shame to Maine businesses everywhere.
