I have been a client of The Cleaning Authority since 2006, I've moved once in that time and retained their services in the new home. So, six years in our last house, two years in the current one.
I share that information to make the point that this is not a fly by night review; I have received hundreds of cleanings from this company, so this is based on many, many experiences.
That said, I am at the point that I am looking for a new service.
I am patient, to a degree, but I have reached my threshold.
My biggest issue is consistency. I've had the same requirements about my home from day one; and these folks, no matter how many times we've discussed with the managers the same issues over the years, can't seem to consistently get it right.
Some times are better than others, but overall, I have an issue of some sort on every cleaning. I typically don't call to complain unless there's more than one issue, otherwise you'd be calling every two weeks, waiting for a follow up; who has time for that?
You be the judge if my requirements are too nit picky.
I have indoor pets; so I ask that they please leave certain doors open & certain doors closed so that the pets don't get locked in a room without food, water, or bathroom access. If the crew shows up at 11, it can be 6, 7, even 8 hours before I get home & my pets are old & it's really hard on them if they're accidentally locked up for that amount of time without access to basic necessities.
We can't seem to figure out from one cleaning to the next which doors stay open. It's just random, even with having the same crew every week.
I have a major pet peeve about my bedding or towels being touched (you just cleaned my toilet with those hands...washed the grease trap on the stove...but you're going to rearrange my pillow, the thing I put my face against for hours at night, without using soap to clean yourself up first? Eeeeeeeew. That makes me dry heave just thinking about it.)
I have lost my mind repeatedly when that occurs; and that's the problem. It keeps occurring. Might not happen for 6 months, but over the years, I'll come home & just randomly, my bed has been stripped and remade. (It's not like I didn't make it in the first place, it's not part of the cleaning agreement that this is supposed to happen, but for some reason, it's randomly remade, & every stray pillow in a 500 ft radius ends up on or in my bed, no matter where it started out. Is that the dog's slobbery pillow from the corner of the room? But it's between my sleeping pillow & my otherwise clean sheets now? Great. So, I'll need to strip the bed and wash all of that in hot water and bleach right now, then? And we didn't wash our hands, did we? Blech!
I have issues with the alarm to the house being set when they leave for the day. If you allow someone access to your home, (like a maid service) and they don't secure the property when they leave, and as a result, a theft or robbery occurs as a result of the breached access....your home owners insurance may not pay because you let the people in that allowed the crime to happen.
Kind of a big deal.
Half the time the alarm is not set. That makes me crazy.
I am also big about not leaving lights and fans on; if I'm gone all day, those things left on and running can add up on my electric bill on a hot, summer day. I don't mind if they're on when the crew is here, and needs to use the lights or fans or a/c while they're working. That's fine.
Just that things be turned off before they leave so I'm not paying for a bunch of stuff I'm not home to use.
It's a crap shoot. Hhalf the time I find fans on full shag, lights on randomly through the house. I have to check the whole house after the crew is here because I know I am going to have to turn something off, open a door, close a door, put something back where it should go. It just is what it is.
That's the list. It's very rare that everything on that list gets done correctly each time. It's always something.
After having an issue so severe three cleanings ago, we were refunded the cost of the cleaning, and here we are, three cleans later, and the situation was just as bad. Same crew as we had the same issues with before.
The crew means well, in my opinion, it's a management & follow up issue.
I'm not convinced the managers really care about any of this stuff, and when management doesn't care, the crew surely won't.
After 8, almost 9 years (or it would have been, this coming July) I am done.
To be fair, the actual cleanings themselves are good, for the most part. I rarely have issues with the work quality when it comes to getting things dusted, wiped, mopped, vacuumed.
The problem is the way your specific requests are handled; if you don't have pets, if you don't have an alarm, if you don't care about your things being moved around, if stuff like that doesn't matter to you, then they'll do a great job & you'll probably be really happy.
I'm more picky, I guess. read more