"Hope, Disbelief & Upset"

My wife and I agreed to find a reputable cleaning company to deep clean our elderly neighbour’s bungalow whilst he was receiving respite care in a local care home.

Because of availability, and of course the promise of good service we chose ‘April Clean’ to carry out the task. The owner/manager Lynne visited the property 2 weeks ahead to the ‘deep clean’ day quoting the estimated time that it would be necessary for a deep clean of all rooms in terms of surfaces, flooring & windows. We were told that 3 team members would attend at 0830 on the 1st of June ‘23 and that the work would be completed by 1230 latest.

It was agreed that I would open up the property to be cleaned before 0830. At 0810 I left my home closing the front door firmly leaving my wife still safely asleep in bed and went next door to await the team from April Clean to arrive. As I had not had any confirmation from Lynne since her inspection visit I decided to call her just to confirm the arrival time of her team. On answering my call Lynne advised me that she, in fact, was just about call me as an issue centred on staff availability had unexpectedly arisen that morning when a number of her staff had not turned in for duty. She went on to advise me that only 2 team members would be available to carry out the ‘deep clean’ and that they could only provide their services for. 1.5 hours each (0830>1000). I would, therefore, have to prioritise what was to be done in the time available to them.

Disappointment however turned within minutes to a sense of disbelief verging on anger when the 2 team members (1 female in her 30’s and 1male in his early 20’s) knocked on the door and greeted me with ‘we’re very sorry and we’ve’ apologised already to your wife for disturbing her’. Initially thinking that they had rung on our doorbell & disturbed my wife from her sleep to answer the door, I discussed with the cleaning team the priorities given the new time constraints. I emphasised that there was no need to vacuum any carpets or touch any soft furniture or bedding. I then returned home where I found my wife in a distressed state. My wife told me that she’d woken to hear doors opening and then in a sleepy haze to find the young man from April Clean standing in the open doorway to her bedroom. The man said ‘oh!’ before turning to walk back the long corridor leading back in to the lounge and entrance lobby. When I later questioned the man about why he thought it appropriate for him to walk uninvited in to our home and proceeding almost immediately to a bedroom at the rear of the property his answer was that the front door was wide open and he had been told it was number 3 and not number 2 that required the deep clean. Their version of events was easily set aside after cctv footage clearly showing that the young man had manually opened our front door without either ringing the bell or knocking and waiting for a reply.

When I contacted Lynne all she said was ‘sorry, it’s been one of those days’!

Approximately 20 minutes before the allotted deep cleaning time was up I went back to number 2 only to find the young man vacuuming the lounge carpet instead of him carrying out any priority work as requested.

In summary we were badly let down. The ‘deep clean’ didn’t happen and what was cleaned was carried out in a sub-standard way. Emotionally we started with hope which turned to disbelief & then upset and all that took one hour & forty minutes!

I paid the revised account based on the hours worked, the cleaning team departed and we’ve since heard nothing from Lynne - a refund of all charges, or at least a bunch of flowers for my wife would have been a welcome gesture, but nothing?

If you want integrity, reliability and good work practices look elsewhere.

K. L Grey JP