So I’m trying to sell my apartment and need to get it really clean. I am not really the person to do it, since I have a bad tendency to get distracted or wander off and do something else while “cleaning.” So I figured I’d hire a cleaning service. I used to have a housekeeper, but two years ago I lost my job and had to give her up. I’ve since lost her number, otherwise I would have just hired her and saved myself some serious headache.
I got the name of the cleaning service through a reputable source. They advertised a special intensive cleaning during which they send out two cleaners for 4-6 hours and clean every last thing. It’s not cheap, but given that I’m trying to sell, I figure it’s going to be worth it if I wind up with a good price and a quick sale. Besides, I watch House Doctor on BBCAmerica, and Ann Maurice says that spending 1% of the asking price to fix the place up pre-sale is a good investment. Given what I’ll be asking for this place, what I expected to pay for a really thoroughly clean apartment was going to be worth it.
Things didn’t go quite so well.
Now, I’ll readily admit that I’m pretty well a slob, but my problem is less real dirt than clutter. And I even got rid of most of the clutter, since I wanted them to spend their time doing cleaning rather than straightening. But I have a lot of dust, and pet hair, and I was frankly in denial about the state of my refrigerator.
However.
There were two people, professional cleaners, in there for SIX HOURS. Twelve person-hours. And I came home to find:
Shoes in my hallway scattered randomly rather than at the very least lined up neatly. The bags of paper recycling that I couldn’t bring down to the basement the night before (it closes at 9:30) still there. A chair still piled with stuff and not touched. The one little rug I have in the entire place unvacuumed. The vacuum in the hallway, along with the mop bucket, which they had found under the sink and didn’t put back. The dishes washed, but not put away, while the contents of the cabinet where the dishes go was rearranged. Dirty glasses on top of the refrigerator (which was clean inside). The counter with some kind of sticky stuff on it. In the bedroom, all of the same stuff that was on the dressers to begin with still there. All the laundry that had been drying on a rack not put away. The bed had been made, but the blankets hadn’t been tucked in, the comforter was askew, and the throw pillows hadn’t been put onto the bed (and this service promotes its turndown service as a big part of their spring cleaning package; you’d think they’d know how to make a damn bed). A dirty water glass was on the nightstand. The sheets that had been taken off the bed were put into the corner.
Oh, but it gets better.
As I stood there, wondering what the hell two professional cleaners had been doing for SIX HOURS that all these things weren’t done, and wondering why my pets
were so freaked out, the doorbell rang.
It was my super.
Seems he had had to break into my apartment from the fire escape because water was running down from my apartment into his, two floors down. The cleaners had left my bathroom sink running, and it had overflowed, and they had done something to the waste pipe from the tub (mine is outside the tub, as I have old plumbing) so that the tub, which was draining slowly, drained into the floor instead of the drain (not to mention, they didn’t bother cleaning out the cleanser from the tub). I didn’t see what they had done to my plumbing because the super fixed it before I got home. But the sink is unusable until he gets another pipe.
Oh, but this was my fault because my apartment was dusty and my refrigerator so daunting that it took two professional cleaners SIX HOURS to fuck up my plumbing and not finish cleaning my apartment. At least according to the person from the service to whom I spoke when I called to complain.
I still don’t know if it’s going to cost money to fix the damage to my super’s apartment and the one downstairs, but you can be damn sure that I’m putting together a package of pictures and testimony (from the super, the president of the co-op, and my dogwalker, who all saw the place before I got home) to show what went on. And I’ve contacted my bank to contest the debit charge.
Oh my lord. That is awful.
I hope you get your money back, and then some. What kind of fool business-owner doesn’t see this as bad for business and at least offer to send someone out to fix the mess they made?
Give ‘em hell. Take lots of pictures and sue them.
Is one of your readers hacking XOXOHTH.com? If so, good work. It’s about time those racist fuckers got taken down…
State Attorney General’s office.
Now.
(I’d also suggest an aluminum bat, but I try to be above that these days.)
I’m so sorry! I have no advice to offer, but good luck!
Sorry, I’m hypnotized by the kitties.
You should never, ever use a cleaning service. They exploit their workers horribly. You may pay something like $25 an hour, but the workers generally get little more than minimum wage. Read the chapter in Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickle and Dimed for more info about this.
If you want to hire a cleaning person, it’s best to work with an independent cleaner. Many cleaners advertise in places like Craig’s List. Or you can get a recommendation for a friend. But whatever you do, make sure you pay them well. If you have a regular person, that should include a paid vacation.
The glowing eyes of Zuzu the kitty have you in their power!
Gah. This morning, I noticed additional issues. There’s a shelf in the bathroom that wasn’t dusted at all, nothing in the bedroom was dusted. Yet they rearranged my spice cabinet and my canned goods. Who gives a crap — make my bed!
Oh, and the “slow draining tub” they were griping about? It drains just fine if you OPEN THE DRAIN. You’d think these people never saw a pre-war before.
Actually, I do know this, and I asked how their workers got paid. They do much better than minimum wage and apparently have a stake in the company.
I was reluctant to pull someone off craigslist or otherwise go with an individual cleaner without a recommendation from someone I trusted. I figured going with a licensed-and-bonded company would be a safer bet in the event that anything went wrong. Which it did.
Having worked for a cleaning service before, there are some things they just won’t do such as moving piles of papers and doing something with them. When I used to do weekly cleanings, we didn’t dust the stuff on the shelves but we did move everything off, dust, then put it back. It was because people like me broke stuff when the only thing I did was hold it to get the dust off. (Yes, I’m Chunk of Goonies.)
When we’d clean offices, we didn’t touch desks or anything on it. If the people wanted us to, we warned them that we were not responsible for anything broke and/or missing.
Also, if there are certain things you want done, you have to specify that to the main office because, chances are, it’s not on their usual checklist. Making beds is part of that checklist, but straigtening shoes and putting the drying clothes away might not be.
You should certainly complain about the drainage issue, the dirty dishes, undusted shelves, etc. though because that is what you paid them for to begin with.
(And I’m with Vulture on using commerical, chain-operated cleaning services. The one I worked for was just starting and I was friends with the owner/founder so I got paid decent wages.)
whoa, that’s a nightmare! i hope you get it all sorted out, but even so, you obviously can’t get back all the time, energy, and money you spent trying to get it all sorted out! and that is what seriously sucks.
Zuzu, I feel for you. I hate cleaning. Everytime I start, I keep telling myself, “I could be reading instead of scrubbing this, I could be working on a manuscript, etc.”
The problem, of course, is what happens when you pay someone to clean instead. Just the fact that they’re “professional cleaners” that can’t clean lends credence to the fact that they’re idiots. It’s like a professional football player, a kicker, who can’t make the point-after attempt. It’s the ONLY thing the guy does, and it should be easy for him, but sometimes he misses. Why? I don’t know. The uprights are right there in front of him, just a few feet away. Just kick it straight.
You did right in notifying the bank that you’re disputing the charge. If it’s Visa/Mastercard, you may have some luck, especially since they inflicted water damage on the building
Good luck.
That was a nightmare– sorry it went so poorly. The Ehrenlich book Nickle and Dimed was eye opening– especially the description of how little mop water they use, and other “lets you know it’s been cleaned, but not really cleaning” parts of the job.
I shouldn’t talk, because my place is currently kind of trashed since I’ve been rearranging stuff, but the thing that made me come to terms with housework was a lightweight bagless Dirt Devil with extensions. Seriously, I vaccum everything–furniture, counters, bathroom, balcony, the cats themselves if they’d hold still–just dragging it behind me with the extension out–it’s bagless super-sucking so it’s like a cat hair extracting bonanza. Not that you care about domestic tips but I don’t know, it made houework less daunting for me.
Honestly, it’s not so much the dauntingness of it as the “Ooh! Shiny!” aspects of it. I seriously will get all involved with some ridiculous task like organizing my CDs or scrubbing my grout or putting all my jewelry and makeup into cigar boxes while ignoring other tasks, which then sort of build up and get beyond my ability to even want to deal with them.
That, and I work all week and tend to spend Saturdays napping after going to the dog park. Sundays I often cookall day for the week, plus there’s socializing, so there goes the cleaning time.
Not to mention the natural slovenliness.
Heh, the ooh shiny factor is why my vaccum cleaner is still out from this weekend. But I cleaned out my desk and moved the Pandagon operations center to an ottoman so I have a place to put my herb garden while seeding it. Moral: Anyone who doesn’t get sidetracked probably doesn’t have interesting stuff to sidetrack them.
By the way, I dig your couch.
Thanks! There’s even a long story about the couch involving my kleptomaniac hunchbacked super (prior apartment), theft of sofa cushions, and the NYPD.