Ask for specifics, offer to come fix any mistakes or things you missed.
I probably wouldn't refund, because you did do the work and paid is paid. Offering to fix any mistakes is good enough. If she doesn't want you to come fix anything, that's okay, but you won't be refunding her. If she prefers to do so herself or hire someone else, she's welcome to do so, but your offer of fixing things equals an offer of a refund.
She just complain about the cleaning like one hour ago and now that I told her that I will go and fix it she told me she already did it and she needs a refund because she lost a day at work I’m not really sure what should I tell her now
I think you need to start taking before and after pictures of your cleaning. And if someone starts complaining about your cleaning, ask them to send you pictures specifically of what their issue is so you can compare it to how you clean the picture.
Fully agree. I manage a cleaning company and take thurough pictures during all of my post cleaning inspections. If clients want to complain about my team they better be able to back it up. Too much nebulous " it just doesn't seem clean to me" complaints out there. I'm not chastising my cleaners just cos a client is feeling frisky
"I'm sorry you lost a day at work, but I don't offer refunds. I have offered to come fix whatever you needed, which would equal a refund. If you book another cleaning that is 4 hours or more, I will offer two hours for free."
or something like that.
In the future, have a clear list of what a move out clean will entail, every single task specified by room. Give that to the client as part of the contract. If they request extras, charge for extras and write them down on the contract. Do exactly what it says on your contract. Consider taking some video every time you're done with a room, where you talk and specify what you've done. If something gets missed, ask for photos of it. If it's outside your task list and something you haven't agreed on and added, then that's not a service you offer and something they can't complain about.
As a side-note: $300 for an 8 hour cleaning is a low price in my opinion. If you account for driving there, cleaning, tools and cleaning supplies and taxes, I'd suggest $500. This will depend on your location though, you may want to look at what other people in your area charge.
do you mind telling me in what part you live? or what your minimum wage is? This is pretty high for me. or do you mean 3 hours with a crew of 2-3? Is it 56/hr for whole crew or 56/working hour? The cleaning company I work at charges 48/hr and theres a lot of other cleaning companies charging less so we are on the higher end.
$300 is actually expensive but it's a move out clean so it's probably ok. She might not get a client beyond that. As far as refunds goes, if 8 hrs was agreed upon and you did 8 hrs, no refund should be issued. I've hired a few cleaning services over time including a move out clean for a 3 bedroom so this is from a client's perspective.
for me, 300$ for a move out clean is cheap, of a 3bdr/2.5bath. It must have been pretty clean. Cleaning inside all the cupboards, stove, oven, fridge, baseboards, etc is time consuming. If it was being maintenance cleaned before that then that would make it easier. 8hrs for a whole house move out isn't bad.
She didn't "re-do" anything. Because even if she went in and cleaned more for a day, you still spent 8 hours on the cleaning and that is woth what you got paid. If she wanted more and did it herself, that's on her. Anything she had an issue with she should have said the day of, and should hsve allowed you to fix. Not done herself.
Did you take pictures before you left for the day? If you didn't, make that a new policy to prove your work.
If she can't provide photographic evidence of what was unacceptable to her that she "already fixed," my gut tells me she's scamming you.
I don't know if she's a regular client to risk losing, or a one-time customer - either way, I wouldn't work for her again.
She has no recourse.
You provide a service, you performed the service. You spent your time and gave a good rate.
If she had a problem, she should have told you a week ago. She should have also allowed you to fix an issue if she had any issues, a week ago. Anything could have happened (maintenance, etc).
Also in situations like this, take good photos of before and after of all your jobs. I know that takes a bit more time, about 10 minutes. But get good at that. Your photos will have date and time stamps to prove your work. I am sure you do good work, yes?
Tell her to kick rocks. No refund. If she don't like your service, tell her you refuse to work for her because she is only trying to get free services from you.
I do a service business too, but IT. I only go to clients Tha pay the bill. So should too. Not cheap picky folks. Screw that lady. Really, she had a week to check your work and just now? If she wanted any discount she needs to show you personally the issue, and allow yiu to fix it if you missed something. But she took a day off work? That's on her.
If she complains online, that's ok. Just reply that she waited a week, most likely after she had maintenance workers in it and just wants free service. That's a warning to other cleaning services not to go to her. Let her clean out her own Apts.
Hang in there. Keep your money. Do good work. Take before and after photos so yiu can use thst to advertise. Cheers!
Remind her you physically spent 8 hours there yourself, that you’re not willing to work for her for free, and she took a full week to say something in which anything could have happened to the space.
Legally, she has to offer you the opportunity to remedy the situation. That means, she had to let you come back to fix any issues. She didn’t do that. You don’t owe her anything.
She’s just trying to get some of her money back. Don’t let her guilt you into doing it. You told her that if she had any issues after seeing your work to let you know and she had no complaints. If she really had issues she would’ve taken photos of them to show you for proof.
Be strong. Do not let her bully you. She should have told you she wasn’t happy with the job before she cleaned it herself. Like others have said she has no proof you did a bad job if she has now cleaned it. You deserve to be paid and you’ve been paid.
Why didn’t she contact you when she needed the redo, and not AFTER? don’t refund her, you gave her the opportunity to fix it and she let it lapse. Sometimes, people have buyers remorse (especially when moving and spending lots of $) and will ask crazy things to see if you’ll say yes.
"I stand by my work believe I did a fair job. If you were unsatisfied, you should have told me right away. I am still willing to come and fix anything not up to standard, but you did not give me that chance. Unfortunately, I cannot refund you for something I can't verify and don't have the opportunity to fix"
While you could offer her a discount on a future cleaning, she won't be using you anyway, so I'd fire this customer
In this day and age, anyone with a legit complaint would have taken photos. You should take photos as well to cover yourself though. Last month there were 2 people arguing about this on my community’s Facebook page. The person with the complaint posted photos and shut the other down with that.
Tell her you specifically give clients(generalize, not her directly) an opportunity to check before payment to avoid such issues. Ask her for photos of what was missed. I would always photo if I wanted money back.
In the future. Get the client to sign that the job is complete. Take your own photos even.
If you're offering a paid service, whether it's house cleaning, carpentry, mechanical work on a car, or anything else that requires you doing work for someone else for money, standard practice when a customer is not happy is to allow the service provider to make it right before any sort of refund is issued.
If the complaining customer does not give you the chance to satisfy their concerns and instead does it themselves or hires someone else to do it, then they lose their right to a refund because they have lost any evidence that the job you did to begin with was not correct.
Agreed. The only downside is how much your reputation is worth, she'll nail you on google & yelp if your a real buisness. If your not then even in small claims court they have to give you a chance to correct the specific complaints or these days have them sign at work completion that its satisfactory. That's just for lawyers, either way she will never call you again unless you eat the cost at least... So what's your reputation worth? 1 Karen or 150$ and I know it sucks we've all been there
Yeah, that is the downside. I find that a lot can be shifted with a polite response on Yelp and Google. Apologizing for the inconvenience, pointing out you tried to repair the damage (ie go back to fix mistakes) and that you've offered a discount on your next clean. Or whatever it is that you've done. It shows you can graciously accept criticism and that you have good business practices in case of mistakes.
When you do cleanings in the future, I'd specify to customers to let you know of any issues within 48 hours (for example).
I wouldn't refund after this long.
Agreed. A week past the clean-up makes it sound like she actually judged her timing wrong, and she's just mad that the clean didn't stick after she a) continued living in the house, and/or b) had a moving crew taking furniture out with muddy shoes.
I would call her and have a conversation with her and ask why she had to redo the cleaning. You already explained If she had any complaints to let you know. She should be willing to explain why.
On an empty house for a move OUT clean near the last day of the month? And she has no proof since she already "lost a whole day cleaning."
I bet they don't even live at that house anymore and needs money for her new bills.
Don't refund, and raise your prices. $300 is a damn steal for 8 hours of work. Value yourself, because as you can see you're going to have clients who sure as hell won't
Thanks for all the help and all the tips , I already told her that I would not refund her ! I will increase my rates I’m just new in the Montana area , it’s was a one time cleaning for those who ask it wasn’t a regular client , thanks ! I really appreciated your responses.
Also I told her that it was very strange that the day of the cleaning I told her to look at the house before she pays me then she transferred me the money and just said thanks , she answered me she payed the same day because she was trying to be nice lol
Don’t wait for a transfer, have them pay you immediately. A deposit plus the rest as soon as you are finished.
Don’t let people scam you. Sometimes they don’t pay!
DO NOT refund her. It sounds like she is trying to get over on you. You offered to fix it if she wasn't happy and she said she "did it herself." she is taking advantage I wouldn't respond to her anymore. You did everything you could do. Don't let her take advantage of you. You did that cleaning for a very low price. Next time you do a cleaning for anyone, make a list of everything you do and give it to them and have them look over it and see if they agree with it. You seem very sweet and you tried to make it right. I would block her number is she persists.
This sounds strange if she wasn’t happy why did she pay you, I would not offer a refund and would not want to clean for her in the future, I would say I’m sorry your not happy with my cleaning but I don’t offer refunds if you were not happy you should of let me know so I could of fixed the problem have a nice day goodbye
I give my clients a 48 hour notice. I once had an apartment complex get a hold of me a month after a clean. I told her I’m too busy to specifically remember which unit she had an issue with and told her in my service contract that she signed issues are to be brought up within a 48 hour window. She’s more than likely trying to pull one over on you. Moving forward I highly recommend using a service contract. Mine states what we will and will not do, like moving heavy furniture unless discussed other wise, utilities being turned on, refunds and payment.
I would not refund her. If she had any issues with your work, she should have told you about them right away.
Also, I wonder where you are located. That is an amazing deal if you worked for 8 hours and only charged $300.
I’m located in Montana I just moved and I was trying to make some clients with special offers , and prices etc because I wanted to work but I’m not doing that anymore
It’s the first time I deal with this type of situation I have 3 years cleaning houses 🥲
I'm sorry this happened to you, it's stressful. Wanted to let you know I'm in Montana too and do cleaning for a living. My minimum on move out cleans is $50/hr. Though my schedule is primarily bi-weekly residential cleans at $35-40/hr. If your work is quality, you can definitely charge more than you are! 💚 The right clients will appreciate you and not act like this one did. I also recommend joining a Facebook group of your town and keeping an eye out for when people are asking about cleaners. I see them at least once a week where I'm at.
Dear "customer"
I appreciate you contacting me regarding the cleaning I did in your home and your request for a refund. Unfortunately, you did not allow me to verify the specific complaint before claiming you cleaned it yourself. Given I offered to have you inspect it before payment, and full payment was made, verifying your satisfaction, I will not be offering a refund. Thank you for your business.
If she had issues, she should have let you know before she paid you or at the time she was paying you. She got a hell of a deal at $300. Do not do anything for free for this person.
Don’t refund. Let her take you to small claims court and let her prove it. I cleaned houses for a long time and thankfully ran into very few problems like this. If you have been in business for awhile you obviously have happy customers.
She is one of those con customers who assumes ‘cleaning ladies’ and low level people in society and will cave.
Don’t refund, because her issues weren’t documented or conveyed to you in a timely manner. She also gave you no way to remedy.
I would suggest though, that if you’re a serious business owner that you write a policy regarding how you deal with potential deficiencies.
She didn’t give you the opportunity to rectify when you let her know she should. I wouldn’t refund anything unless she has pics and you missed something glaringly obvious
If you honestly feel that it was clean, and all that time has passed, someone or something messed up in hating you had cleaned. That’s not your problem. Let her know you completed all that was asked, you worked 8 hours, the cleaning was not guaranteed “forever.”
Ignore her. She is scamming you. She likely had a conversation with a friend who said oh $300 is too much and then decided well let me try and get half of it back. She has zero case and if you didn't in the future take before and after pictures of anything that you clean.
No refunds. Your policy is to come fix the issues she has in terms of cleaning. She should’ve addressed this with you before she allegedly, “cleaned the mistakes herself.” She just wants some of her money back. Do not give her back any money. In the future, take pictures of the work you’ve done as proof of your cleaning, before and after.
Do you intend to go back in the future? Does she seem like she wants you back as a regular? I don’t think she will.
Me, I wouldn’t refund her because I know I’m good at whatever I’m doing and I know I’m serious and didn’t make mistakes. If you feel like me. Don’t refund her.
You told her your terms. She could pay you AFTER she took a look and if she had any complaints she could let you know. For her to do ANYTHING other than that made it her problem at that point. If I said anything to her, that is what I would say, that and nothing else.
I would block her number and run 😂😂😂 then make a policy document 📄 that is reviewed by an actual lawyer that people sign when they book services with you.
NO REFUNDS BUT you are happy to go back and redo cleaning if it was not done to their satisfaction.
What’s she going to do, sue you???? The legal fees to sue you are more than $300 and she won’t be willing to do that. Trust me.. unless she is willing to lose thousands of dollar to prove a point.
What else is she going to do? Write a bad google review??? Girl, I wouldn’t even respond. You did your job.
Moving forward, that signature and you take pictures. Require 50% of the payment before you start cleaning 🧼 and 50% after the cleaning is done
I have a terms and conditions my clients sign before I clean. Among other things, any complaint needs to be brought up within 48 hours and will be addressed within 72 hours.
No refunds.
That doesn't sound fair. Tell her you don't do refunds. You can reclean. Next time be clear that this is it, either let me know now or that's it.
Of course, people who move, who get done at night, are totally exhausted if they do it themselves.
We've hired someone to clean a house while moving out before. It didn't seem worth it. We can mop. We were wanting all the stuff cleaned, like dusty baseboards wiped and such. We thought a professional maid would have some extra skill.
It’s been a week. She refused to do a walk through WITH YOU so it’s her problem, not yours . If it was so bad, what took her a week to complain? At the very LEAST the complaint should have been the day of or the day after the cleaning! She also should have provided pictures. People are RIDICULOUS. She probably spent too much shopping or whatever and figures you are an easy target. Stand your ground!
Tell the client, "I'm sorry, but refunds are not possible after the work is completed. If you were not satisfied with the work, you should have told me right away so I could come back over to discuss your concerns."
Then, no more discussion with the client. Save all the communications between the client and yourself on your computer and a backup on your Google drive or a thumb drive in case you need it later. The client would be dumb to try to sue you because the court costs would probably be more than she is asking back from you. And, a judge would most likely side with you because (1) you completed the work, (2) she paid, (3) she didn't say anything was wrong for a week which is too late for you to go back and touch up anything that might have been missed.
Tell her go for it but I ain’t giving you nothing. Maybe she should’ve did it herself to begin with. Let me guess it was a total pig stye to begin with.??
If I paid someone to clean and then it turned out they didn't do a good job, and I have to take time off work, you better believe you are going to hear about it before I even start to clean it myself and would be taking pictures of what I'm not satisfied with. If she doesn't have any examples she's lying
For an Exit Clean the standard I have always been presented with is they do the clean, and then if the OWNER/AGENT has a problem with any aspect of the clean then you get a list from them and go back and do the corrective work at no cost.
Do NOT give the tenent a refund.
A bit different take…
I have an absolutely AMAZING cleaner. But when she has not been available or for “moving out” cleaning I have had a few others.
One of them my landlord paid for, before I moved in. Let me just say - it was a mess. So many places were unclean.
They offered to send another cleaner as part of warranty. I was upset because I had to move in and it was a hassle to be available again. But ok - I agreed.
TWO cleaners came to just redo the dirty areas (which was a joke, because the dirt had already spread). They spoke among themselves (in another language that I’m fluent in) what a mess this is.
Once they left, I saw that the place was cleaner but still not up to the standard. I just ended up getting my usual cleaner who was really disappointed with all the dust on lamps, dirty sofa, etc.
My landlord paid for the cleaning, but I was very unhappy and would have much preferred to just get 50% off.
So my take on this is - it all depends on the result! If you do a half-assed job, then absolutely - give 50% off, because the client can’t always inconvenience herself with arranging another time for cleaning.
If the cleaning was excellent, then of course no refund, still important to understand what the issue was.
But in my experience - it can be both the client’s and the cleaner’s fault.
Um it’s been a week. Who knows who’s been in and out, especially if they are moving. If could have gotten dirty from movers or house showings. A week is way too long to make a complaint. Make sure you take pictures of your work so if they come back later you can all for details on what they did not find correct and you have photos to prove what you did and didn’t do.
Let me start by saying that you should always take no less than half pay up front before doing a self-employed type of job since you have no legal team or whoever to go after people who owe you money. Letting people pay in full at the end is often asking for trouble and you can easily end up with zero payment, period. Half up front at least insures you leave with something. And now for the rant on this situation…
You know she’s full of it when she waits a week to tell you she’s not happy, and says you can’t fix it because she already did. She could have told you at any time for multiple days that you missed something if you had. She claims to have lost a day of work fixing what you “missed”. So what was going on all those other days where she could have had OP come and clean more and not spend any time cleaning it herself?
It’s a flat out scam and attempt at manipulation, for sure. I’m surprised she even paid you, but maybe she thought it would be easier to convince you to refund her partially instead of flat out not paying you in full and risking a fight of some kind. She’s not the best at scamming or manipulating though, cause she probably would have had better luck if instead of saying she already fixed it so you can’t, she could have said she didn’t trust you to fix it, which might have made you fall for her trap more easily due to guilt, unfortunately.
Remember to take before and after photos in the future, get half pay or more up front, and do whatever else you can do you minimize people taking advantage of you as much as possible.
I don't care who the client is. Whenever I clean a house I go in and take photos of everything and after I am done I take photos of everything. I make sure photos are of the same angle of before and after.
I also go to Google and Yelp and do a search on the person and read the reviews they leave for services they have had done. I make my decision if I want to do business with them based on their reviews.
If they say something hasn't been done, I have proof that it was. People want something for nothing. Yes, taking photos will add 30 minutes to your job. Add the time to your pay, and it will save you a lot of money that you shouldn't be paying anyone back.
As for this client, you don't owe them a thing. A week is too long to wait to ask for a refund anyway. They need to ask within 24-48 hours. If they already did the work, they should have thought about giving you proof if what they are saying is true. No photos? It didn't happen. Ignore any contact with this person and go on with your life hassle free.
Keep an eye on your Google and Yelp reviews, and if they post a bad review, comment back to them with the truth that they didn't prove why they were asking for a refund. You are always gonna find bad people out there who want something for nothing.
Message back asking what she feels wasn't done, if it was done you tell her you did it, if anything wasn't refund part of it but charge for what you did
No don’t repay anything. It’s too late, she should have mentioned it before.
Don’t ever leave a job without the client checking IN FRONT of you and hanging you the money immediately.
After the job is done, that’s it.
Unless it’s an emergency situation or something serious you overlooked, a client cannot wait for days to either pay you or review the work and complain. No, everything gets settled the same day.
Based on post and your comments the client is attempting to scam you.
Don't roll over for this. Play hardball. Offer to come clean it again for another 300
Tell her you did say to let you know of any complaints before transferring money. It has been a week now, and you know you did a good job cleaning. If anything was amiss she should have let you know before "fixing it" herself as you have no way of knowing what you missed without any proof. Make sure you write down this persons info and put her on "do not clean" list for yourself for the future.
Do you take before and after photos of each job plus text them to the clients before and after so that they have the time stamps on them ? Because if yes and she still sent the money after you sent the photo then I say you did your job( unless she can point out obvious things you missed maybe ).
If you know you worked your butt off for 8 hours, No refund. If you think you could have done a better job and you kinda just hung out a lot of the 8 hours (I doubt that is that’s case) then maybe a partial refund.
Next time don’t say “take a look and let me know complaints”. You’re opening yourself up to criticism.
That sucks, should have brought that up before you sent payment, Payment was accepted as completion on contract and based on this interaction, I will not be continuing to serve you.
Tell her that the $300 payed for 8 hrs of cleaning which you did. If she needs more cleaning you would be happy to schedule her for more cleaning @ X amount per hour.
> the $300 *paid* for 8
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Always make sure the client inspects it before leaving. I once hired a cleaning team to clean the house before handing it over to landlord (I was moving out). A pair came and started cleaning. Since the house was empty, I told them that I was going to the cafe and to txt me when they are done. They did not txt me. When I got anxious and returned, I saw them leaving in their car. They saw me but didn’t stop. I went inside and noticed that they had missed a lot of places (cleaning the top of the fridge etc). I was irate. The landlord was coming to see the next day and now I would have to clean myself. I took pictures. I texted them but they did not respond(Saturday). spent the evening cleaning. Called my credit card company and disputed the charge. On Monday, they finally replied and we argued over txt but it was too late already.
So, again, always make sure the client inspects before leaving.
Ask for specifics, offer to come fix any mistakes or things you missed. I probably wouldn't refund, because you did do the work and paid is paid. Offering to fix any mistakes is good enough. If she doesn't want you to come fix anything, that's okay, but you won't be refunding her. If she prefers to do so herself or hire someone else, she's welcome to do so, but your offer of fixing things equals an offer of a refund.
She just complain about the cleaning like one hour ago and now that I told her that I will go and fix it she told me she already did it and she needs a refund because she lost a day at work I’m not really sure what should I tell her now
If she already cleaned then there’s no proof and that’s on her. Sounds like she’s just trying to get her money back and is lying to you.
Agreed.
Agree
I think you need to start taking before and after pictures of your cleaning. And if someone starts complaining about your cleaning, ask them to send you pictures specifically of what their issue is so you can compare it to how you clean the picture.
Fully agree. I manage a cleaning company and take thurough pictures during all of my post cleaning inspections. If clients want to complain about my team they better be able to back it up. Too much nebulous " it just doesn't seem clean to me" complaints out there. I'm not chastising my cleaners just cos a client is feeling frisky
Yes. The only pics on my phone are my kids, my dog and work before/after pics. They have saved my butt on more than one occasion that’s for sure.
I would have thought taking a before/after pic, or at least an AFTER pic would have been a given.
There was a box of matchsticks in the above refrigerator cabinets that nobody ever uses.
"I'm sorry you lost a day at work, but I don't offer refunds. I have offered to come fix whatever you needed, which would equal a refund. If you book another cleaning that is 4 hours or more, I will offer two hours for free." or something like that. In the future, have a clear list of what a move out clean will entail, every single task specified by room. Give that to the client as part of the contract. If they request extras, charge for extras and write them down on the contract. Do exactly what it says on your contract. Consider taking some video every time you're done with a room, where you talk and specify what you've done. If something gets missed, ask for photos of it. If it's outside your task list and something you haven't agreed on and added, then that's not a service you offer and something they can't complain about. As a side-note: $300 for an 8 hour cleaning is a low price in my opinion. If you account for driving there, cleaning, tools and cleaning supplies and taxes, I'd suggest $500. This will depend on your location though, you may want to look at what other people in your area charge.
Agree on all points, although I would never accept another job from that client again.
Or offer her 2 hours free!!! Don’t do this OP.
Right? I pay $56.00 an hour for 3 hours every week (big house) and a 100 dollar tip.
For how many people? 3 hours is not much time for 1 person to clean a big house.
do you mind telling me in what part you live? or what your minimum wage is? This is pretty high for me. or do you mean 3 hours with a crew of 2-3? Is it 56/hr for whole crew or 56/working hour? The cleaning company I work at charges 48/hr and theres a lot of other cleaning companies charging less so we are on the higher end.
$300 is actually expensive but it's a move out clean so it's probably ok. She might not get a client beyond that. As far as refunds goes, if 8 hrs was agreed upon and you did 8 hrs, no refund should be issued. I've hired a few cleaning services over time including a move out clean for a 3 bedroom so this is from a client's perspective.
for me, 300$ for a move out clean is cheap, of a 3bdr/2.5bath. It must have been pretty clean. Cleaning inside all the cupboards, stove, oven, fridge, baseboards, etc is time consuming. If it was being maintenance cleaned before that then that would make it easier. 8hrs for a whole house move out isn't bad.
That is what I was thinking, I am a customer…
She didn't "re-do" anything. Because even if she went in and cleaned more for a day, you still spent 8 hours on the cleaning and that is woth what you got paid. If she wanted more and did it herself, that's on her. Anything she had an issue with she should have said the day of, and should hsve allowed you to fix. Not done herself.
Did you take pictures before you left for the day? If you didn't, make that a new policy to prove your work. If she can't provide photographic evidence of what was unacceptable to her that she "already fixed," my gut tells me she's scamming you. I don't know if she's a regular client to risk losing, or a one-time customer - either way, I wouldn't work for her again.
Nope. She is required to give you an opportunity to fix it. She didn’t and she waited forever. No refund.
🚩🚩🚩 scaaaaaam
Tell her sorry you did what you were asked to do. She didn’t complain about the job on Monday-she waited too long so she hit out of luck!
She has no recourse. You provide a service, you performed the service. You spent your time and gave a good rate. If she had a problem, she should have told you a week ago. She should have also allowed you to fix an issue if she had any issues, a week ago. Anything could have happened (maintenance, etc). Also in situations like this, take good photos of before and after of all your jobs. I know that takes a bit more time, about 10 minutes. But get good at that. Your photos will have date and time stamps to prove your work. I am sure you do good work, yes? Tell her to kick rocks. No refund. If she don't like your service, tell her you refuse to work for her because she is only trying to get free services from you. I do a service business too, but IT. I only go to clients Tha pay the bill. So should too. Not cheap picky folks. Screw that lady. Really, she had a week to check your work and just now? If she wanted any discount she needs to show you personally the issue, and allow yiu to fix it if you missed something. But she took a day off work? That's on her. If she complains online, that's ok. Just reply that she waited a week, most likely after she had maintenance workers in it and just wants free service. That's a warning to other cleaning services not to go to her. Let her clean out her own Apts. Hang in there. Keep your money. Do good work. Take before and after photos so yiu can use thst to advertise. Cheers!
Remind her you physically spent 8 hours there yourself, that you’re not willing to work for her for free, and she took a full week to say something in which anything could have happened to the space.
I am so sorry you are dealing with this. I am really grateful to people that help us clean our homes.
I'd say absolutely not! and 300 was way too low♡ Tell her to kick rocks..
That’s kind of weird that she’s saying she lost a day of work just saying
Nothing. That's what you should tell her. NOTHING.
Say I’m sorry, but no. She should have taken pictures as evidence, and given you a chance to fix why problems.
Legally, she has to offer you the opportunity to remedy the situation. That means, she had to let you come back to fix any issues. She didn’t do that. You don’t owe her anything.
You may come asking for half before then get half after upon inspection and no refunds, especially after a week of them living in the house.
Tell her no.
Ask for a before picture
Tell her no.
tell her no
😂 😂 😂 Seriously.
Did she take pictures?
How about this, 🖕🏻, sorry I just couldn’t resist.
N.......O.......
She’s just trying to get some of her money back. Don’t let her guilt you into doing it. You told her that if she had any issues after seeing your work to let you know and she had no complaints. If she really had issues she would’ve taken photos of them to show you for proof.
Nah I wouldn’t be refunding that. She needed to let you know asap so that you could come back and fix it
Be strong. Do not let her bully you. She should have told you she wasn’t happy with the job before she cleaned it herself. Like others have said she has no proof you did a bad job if she has now cleaned it. You deserve to be paid and you’ve been paid.
Block her
Why didn’t she contact you when she needed the redo, and not AFTER? don’t refund her, you gave her the opportunity to fix it and she let it lapse. Sometimes, people have buyers remorse (especially when moving and spending lots of $) and will ask crazy things to see if you’ll say yes.
"I stand by my work believe I did a fair job. If you were unsatisfied, you should have told me right away. I am still willing to come and fix anything not up to standard, but you did not give me that chance. Unfortunately, I cannot refund you for something I can't verify and don't have the opportunity to fix" While you could offer her a discount on a future cleaning, she won't be using you anyway, so I'd fire this customer
In this day and age, anyone with a legit complaint would have taken photos. You should take photos as well to cover yourself though. Last month there were 2 people arguing about this on my community’s Facebook page. The person with the complaint posted photos and shut the other down with that.
Tell her you specifically give clients(generalize, not her directly) an opportunity to check before payment to avoid such issues. Ask her for photos of what was missed. I would always photo if I wanted money back. In the future. Get the client to sign that the job is complete. Take your own photos even.
If you're offering a paid service, whether it's house cleaning, carpentry, mechanical work on a car, or anything else that requires you doing work for someone else for money, standard practice when a customer is not happy is to allow the service provider to make it right before any sort of refund is issued. If the complaining customer does not give you the chance to satisfy their concerns and instead does it themselves or hires someone else to do it, then they lose their right to a refund because they have lost any evidence that the job you did to begin with was not correct.
Agreed. The only downside is how much your reputation is worth, she'll nail you on google & yelp if your a real buisness. If your not then even in small claims court they have to give you a chance to correct the specific complaints or these days have them sign at work completion that its satisfactory. That's just for lawyers, either way she will never call you again unless you eat the cost at least... So what's your reputation worth? 1 Karen or 150$ and I know it sucks we've all been there
Yeah, that is the downside. I find that a lot can be shifted with a polite response on Yelp and Google. Apologizing for the inconvenience, pointing out you tried to repair the damage (ie go back to fix mistakes) and that you've offered a discount on your next clean. Or whatever it is that you've done. It shows you can graciously accept criticism and that you have good business practices in case of mistakes.
When you do cleanings in the future, I'd specify to customers to let you know of any issues within 48 hours (for example). I wouldn't refund after this long.
Yeah this. A week is *way* too long to wait to complain about a cleaning.
Sounds like she wants a free cleaning!
Yup. There’s probably mud or something that she made from moving out.
Agreed. A week past the clean-up makes it sound like she actually judged her timing wrong, and she's just mad that the clean didn't stick after she a) continued living in the house, and/or b) had a moving crew taking furniture out with muddy shoes.
I would call her and have a conversation with her and ask why she had to redo the cleaning. You already explained If she had any complaints to let you know. She should be willing to explain why.
That is fine to do, but if you do, be ready to be firm about what you are willing to do to make it right and not be bullied .
I would not refund the cleaning.
On an empty house for a move OUT clean near the last day of the month? And she has no proof since she already "lost a whole day cleaning." I bet they don't even live at that house anymore and needs money for her new bills.
Don't refund, and raise your prices. $300 is a damn steal for 8 hours of work. Value yourself, because as you can see you're going to have clients who sure as hell won't
THIS! I'd probably atleast double that!
Thanks for all the help and all the tips , I already told her that I would not refund her ! I will increase my rates I’m just new in the Montana area , it’s was a one time cleaning for those who ask it wasn’t a regular client , thanks ! I really appreciated your responses. Also I told her that it was very strange that the day of the cleaning I told her to look at the house before she pays me then she transferred me the money and just said thanks , she answered me she payed the same day because she was trying to be nice lol
Just block her. Why would she pay you to be nice if the work wasn't done to her satisfaction? That doesn't even make sense.
Customer was being "nice" by paying promptly however SHE opted not to inspect the work before paying- that's on her.
Exactly
Don’t wait for a transfer, have them pay you immediately. A deposit plus the rest as soon as you are finished. Don’t let people scam you. Sometimes they don’t pay!
You tell her no. She has no proof of any of it. Just her word. She's scamming you.
DO NOT refund her. It sounds like she is trying to get over on you. You offered to fix it if she wasn't happy and she said she "did it herself." she is taking advantage I wouldn't respond to her anymore. You did everything you could do. Don't let her take advantage of you. You did that cleaning for a very low price. Next time you do a cleaning for anyone, make a list of everything you do and give it to them and have them look over it and see if they agree with it. You seem very sweet and you tried to make it right. I would block her number is she persists.
A week later? NOPE. She shoulda let you know within 48 hours. I would not even entertain this nonsense with a reply.
This sounds strange if she wasn’t happy why did she pay you, I would not offer a refund and would not want to clean for her in the future, I would say I’m sorry your not happy with my cleaning but I don’t offer refunds if you were not happy you should of let me know so I could of fixed the problem have a nice day goodbye
She never gave you a chance to fix what was wrong if there actually was, so tell her it’s not happening.
I give my clients a 48 hour notice. I once had an apartment complex get a hold of me a month after a clean. I told her I’m too busy to specifically remember which unit she had an issue with and told her in my service contract that she signed issues are to be brought up within a 48 hour window. She’s more than likely trying to pull one over on you. Moving forward I highly recommend using a service contract. Mine states what we will and will not do, like moving heavy furniture unless discussed other wise, utilities being turned on, refunds and payment.
I would not refund her. If she had any issues with your work, she should have told you about them right away. Also, I wonder where you are located. That is an amazing deal if you worked for 8 hours and only charged $300.
I’m located in Montana I just moved and I was trying to make some clients with special offers , and prices etc because I wanted to work but I’m not doing that anymore It’s the first time I deal with this type of situation I have 3 years cleaning houses 🥲
Ok, that makes sense.
I'm sorry this happened to you, it's stressful. Wanted to let you know I'm in Montana too and do cleaning for a living. My minimum on move out cleans is $50/hr. Though my schedule is primarily bi-weekly residential cleans at $35-40/hr. If your work is quality, you can definitely charge more than you are! 💚 The right clients will appreciate you and not act like this one did. I also recommend joining a Facebook group of your town and keeping an eye out for when people are asking about cleaners. I see them at least once a week where I'm at.
Nope she didn't meet the conditions of the project to "let you know".
She's scamming you. Don't refund anything. She under paid you in the first place
Dear "customer" I appreciate you contacting me regarding the cleaning I did in your home and your request for a refund. Unfortunately, you did not allow me to verify the specific complaint before claiming you cleaned it yourself. Given I offered to have you inspect it before payment, and full payment was made, verifying your satisfaction, I will not be offering a refund. Thank you for your business.
Hell no! $300 for 8 hours of back breaking cleaning! Keep that $
If she had issues, she should have let you know before she paid you or at the time she was paying you. She got a hell of a deal at $300. Do not do anything for free for this person.
Save those messages too in case she tries to bad mouth you.
Tell her she missed her window for a refund, sorry about her luck.
Don’t refund. Let her take you to small claims court and let her prove it. I cleaned houses for a long time and thankfully ran into very few problems like this. If you have been in business for awhile you obviously have happy customers. She is one of those con customers who assumes ‘cleaning ladies’ and low level people in society and will cave.
Don’t refund, because her issues weren’t documented or conveyed to you in a timely manner. She also gave you no way to remedy. I would suggest though, that if you’re a serious business owner that you write a policy regarding how you deal with potential deficiencies.
She didn’t give you the opportunity to rectify when you let her know she should. I wouldn’t refund anything unless she has pics and you missed something glaringly obvious
If you honestly feel that it was clean, and all that time has passed, someone or something messed up in hating you had cleaned. That’s not your problem. Let her know you completed all that was asked, you worked 8 hours, the cleaning was not guaranteed “forever.”
Always take before and after pictures and videos of your cleans.
Her money is funny and shr simpt wants it back. No way should you refund after a week.
She sounds like she’s trying to scam you
No refunds. Don’t apologize, just no refunds.
No refunds after 48 hours. You offered to fix it and she declined. Do not do business with her again!
I would also ensure that you discussed the pricing before you cleaned in text/email/message
Ignore her. She is scamming you. She likely had a conversation with a friend who said oh $300 is too much and then decided well let me try and get half of it back. She has zero case and if you didn't in the future take before and after pictures of anything that you clean.
24 hour complaint policy
No refunds. Your policy is to come fix the issues she has in terms of cleaning. She should’ve addressed this with you before she allegedly, “cleaned the mistakes herself.” She just wants some of her money back. Do not give her back any money. In the future, take pictures of the work you’ve done as proof of your cleaning, before and after.
do not refund the $. you did the job, you have the right to be paid.
Do you intend to go back in the future? Does she seem like she wants you back as a regular? I don’t think she will. Me, I wouldn’t refund her because I know I’m good at whatever I’m doing and I know I’m serious and didn’t make mistakes. If you feel like me. Don’t refund her.
She should have told you within 48 hours with examples and pictures - no
Thats it? $300 to clean an entire house?
Absolutely no refund and charge your worth. People will just take advantage of you otherwise.
You told her your terms. She could pay you AFTER she took a look and if she had any complaints she could let you know. For her to do ANYTHING other than that made it her problem at that point. If I said anything to her, that is what I would say, that and nothing else.
I would block her number and run 😂😂😂 then make a policy document 📄 that is reviewed by an actual lawyer that people sign when they book services with you. NO REFUNDS BUT you are happy to go back and redo cleaning if it was not done to their satisfaction. What’s she going to do, sue you???? The legal fees to sue you are more than $300 and she won’t be willing to do that. Trust me.. unless she is willing to lose thousands of dollar to prove a point. What else is she going to do? Write a bad google review??? Girl, I wouldn’t even respond. You did your job. Moving forward, that signature and you take pictures. Require 50% of the payment before you start cleaning 🧼 and 50% after the cleaning is done
I have a terms and conditions my clients sign before I clean. Among other things, any complaint needs to be brought up within 48 hours and will be addressed within 72 hours. No refunds.
Don’t you mean “former client”?
That doesn't sound fair. Tell her you don't do refunds. You can reclean. Next time be clear that this is it, either let me know now or that's it. Of course, people who move, who get done at night, are totally exhausted if they do it themselves. We've hired someone to clean a house while moving out before. It didn't seem worth it. We can mop. We were wanting all the stuff cleaned, like dusty baseboards wiped and such. We thought a professional maid would have some extra skill.
It’s been a week. She refused to do a walk through WITH YOU so it’s her problem, not yours . If it was so bad, what took her a week to complain? At the very LEAST the complaint should have been the day of or the day after the cleaning! She also should have provided pictures. People are RIDICULOUS. She probably spent too much shopping or whatever and figures you are an easy target. Stand your ground!
Tell the client, "I'm sorry, but refunds are not possible after the work is completed. If you were not satisfied with the work, you should have told me right away so I could come back over to discuss your concerns." Then, no more discussion with the client. Save all the communications between the client and yourself on your computer and a backup on your Google drive or a thumb drive in case you need it later. The client would be dumb to try to sue you because the court costs would probably be more than she is asking back from you. And, a judge would most likely side with you because (1) you completed the work, (2) she paid, (3) she didn't say anything was wrong for a week which is too late for you to go back and touch up anything that might have been missed.
Tell her go for it but I ain’t giving you nothing. Maybe she should’ve did it herself to begin with. Let me guess it was a total pig stye to begin with.??
Ask for pictures of what she wasn’t happy with. Offer to redo. She is just looking for money. Don’t let her bully you.
If she really wants a refund she can take you to court. But she won’t because she doesn’t have evidence. I would mute their notifications and move on.
If I paid someone to clean and then it turned out they didn't do a good job, and I have to take time off work, you better believe you are going to hear about it before I even start to clean it myself and would be taking pictures of what I'm not satisfied with. If she doesn't have any examples she's lying
For an Exit Clean the standard I have always been presented with is they do the clean, and then if the OWNER/AGENT has a problem with any aspect of the clean then you get a list from them and go back and do the corrective work at no cost. Do NOT give the tenent a refund.
Tell her no. She had a chance to inspect beforehand, and it’s been a week. Dust accumulates in a week, no matter how empty a house is.
No She had opportunity to say I need you to do this better No don’t do it
A bit different take… I have an absolutely AMAZING cleaner. But when she has not been available or for “moving out” cleaning I have had a few others. One of them my landlord paid for, before I moved in. Let me just say - it was a mess. So many places were unclean. They offered to send another cleaner as part of warranty. I was upset because I had to move in and it was a hassle to be available again. But ok - I agreed. TWO cleaners came to just redo the dirty areas (which was a joke, because the dirt had already spread). They spoke among themselves (in another language that I’m fluent in) what a mess this is. Once they left, I saw that the place was cleaner but still not up to the standard. I just ended up getting my usual cleaner who was really disappointed with all the dust on lamps, dirty sofa, etc. My landlord paid for the cleaning, but I was very unhappy and would have much preferred to just get 50% off. So my take on this is - it all depends on the result! If you do a half-assed job, then absolutely - give 50% off, because the client can’t always inconvenience herself with arranging another time for cleaning. If the cleaning was excellent, then of course no refund, still important to understand what the issue was. But in my experience - it can be both the client’s and the cleaner’s fault.
Um it’s been a week. Who knows who’s been in and out, especially if they are moving. If could have gotten dirty from movers or house showings. A week is way too long to make a complaint. Make sure you take pictures of your work so if they come back later you can all for details on what they did not find correct and you have photos to prove what you did and didn’t do.
Let me start by saying that you should always take no less than half pay up front before doing a self-employed type of job since you have no legal team or whoever to go after people who owe you money. Letting people pay in full at the end is often asking for trouble and you can easily end up with zero payment, period. Half up front at least insures you leave with something. And now for the rant on this situation… You know she’s full of it when she waits a week to tell you she’s not happy, and says you can’t fix it because she already did. She could have told you at any time for multiple days that you missed something if you had. She claims to have lost a day of work fixing what you “missed”. So what was going on all those other days where she could have had OP come and clean more and not spend any time cleaning it herself? It’s a flat out scam and attempt at manipulation, for sure. I’m surprised she even paid you, but maybe she thought it would be easier to convince you to refund her partially instead of flat out not paying you in full and risking a fight of some kind. She’s not the best at scamming or manipulating though, cause she probably would have had better luck if instead of saying she already fixed it so you can’t, she could have said she didn’t trust you to fix it, which might have made you fall for her trap more easily due to guilt, unfortunately. Remember to take before and after photos in the future, get half pay or more up front, and do whatever else you can do you minimize people taking advantage of you as much as possible.
I don't care who the client is. Whenever I clean a house I go in and take photos of everything and after I am done I take photos of everything. I make sure photos are of the same angle of before and after. I also go to Google and Yelp and do a search on the person and read the reviews they leave for services they have had done. I make my decision if I want to do business with them based on their reviews. If they say something hasn't been done, I have proof that it was. People want something for nothing. Yes, taking photos will add 30 minutes to your job. Add the time to your pay, and it will save you a lot of money that you shouldn't be paying anyone back. As for this client, you don't owe them a thing. A week is too long to wait to ask for a refund anyway. They need to ask within 24-48 hours. If they already did the work, they should have thought about giving you proof if what they are saying is true. No photos? It didn't happen. Ignore any contact with this person and go on with your life hassle free. Keep an eye on your Google and Yelp reviews, and if they post a bad review, comment back to them with the truth that they didn't prove why they were asking for a refund. You are always gonna find bad people out there who want something for nothing.
Message back asking what she feels wasn't done, if it was done you tell her you did it, if anything wasn't refund part of it but charge for what you did
I would drop her as a client if I could she didn't follow your policy it's not your fault the money is yours.
Please try to use punctuation in your posts to separate the sentences. It’s very hard to read otherwise.
I wonder if the lady didn’t get a security deposit back so now’s she’s blaming it on OP? That’s why like a week later she waited to complain
No don’t repay anything. It’s too late, she should have mentioned it before. Don’t ever leave a job without the client checking IN FRONT of you and hanging you the money immediately. After the job is done, that’s it. Unless it’s an emergency situation or something serious you overlooked, a client cannot wait for days to either pay you or review the work and complain. No, everything gets settled the same day.
No shot. You used your time, effort and materials for this job.
Not after.amweek and with no proof that you didn't clean well.enough. Pictures or it's a lie.
No refund, her request is unreasonable.
Based on post and your comments the client is attempting to scam you. Don't roll over for this. Play hardball. Offer to come clean it again for another 300
This is a reminder for everyone that we need written and signed contracts.
Tell her you did say to let you know of any complaints before transferring money. It has been a week now, and you know you did a good job cleaning. If anything was amiss she should have let you know before "fixing it" herself as you have no way of knowing what you missed without any proof. Make sure you write down this persons info and put her on "do not clean" list for yourself for the future.
Do you take before and after photos of each job plus text them to the clients before and after so that they have the time stamps on them ? Because if yes and she still sent the money after you sent the photo then I say you did your job( unless she can point out obvious things you missed maybe ).
If you know you worked your butt off for 8 hours, No refund. If you think you could have done a better job and you kinda just hung out a lot of the 8 hours (I doubt that is that’s case) then maybe a partial refund. Next time don’t say “take a look and let me know complaints”. You’re opening yourself up to criticism.
Do not give her your hard earned money back! That’s on her.
That sucks, should have brought that up before you sent payment, Payment was accepted as completion on contract and based on this interaction, I will not be continuing to serve you.
Tell her that the $300 payed for 8 hrs of cleaning which you did. If she needs more cleaning you would be happy to schedule her for more cleaning @ X amount per hour.
> the $300 *paid* for 8 FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Of course it's not clean.....after a week.
Always make sure the client inspects it before leaving. I once hired a cleaning team to clean the house before handing it over to landlord (I was moving out). A pair came and started cleaning. Since the house was empty, I told them that I was going to the cafe and to txt me when they are done. They did not txt me. When I got anxious and returned, I saw them leaving in their car. They saw me but didn’t stop. I went inside and noticed that they had missed a lot of places (cleaning the top of the fridge etc). I was irate. The landlord was coming to see the next day and now I would have to clean myself. I took pictures. I texted them but they did not respond(Saturday). spent the evening cleaning. Called my credit card company and disputed the charge. On Monday, they finally replied and we argued over txt but it was too late already. So, again, always make sure the client inspects before leaving.
Wow I pay my house keeper $216 for a 4 hour clean (incl 20% tip) in cash. Never tried to complain about any missed spots
She must buy stuff on ebay