Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:16/11/2022

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have been getting regular residential cleaning in my home from this company since May 2022. Their rate was quoted to me as $43/hour and all invoices have reflected this until now. They booked me for Oct 20 but did not advise me and I was out of town when the team showed up. When I notified the owner she then advised they were transitioning to a new system and since I hadn't been notified she would reschedule me to October 26. She stated "For our recurring clients you will always be on a set calendar every 3 weeks and on the same day." On Nov 7, I checked the next appointment and noticed it was scheduled for Friday, Nov 11, which was a surprise as it was supposed to be the following week. I emailed the owner to ask to move it to the three weeks we had agreed to. She responded by telling me she had already done the schedule and would have to charge me a cancellation fee. I pushed back and she offered to take 15% off if I agreed to the Friday clean. I agreed even though it was an inconvenience. I was shocked when I got the invoice and was charged $64.50/hr. When I reached out to clarify she told me it is a mandatory holiday and her staff get time and a half and that she was not required to advise me of this. I told her I would pay the $43/hr we had agreed on at the outset of the business relationship, minus the 15% she committed to. She told me clients don't set the rates and they send unpaid invoices to collections, and they will take any further legal action to protect her business. I'm willing to pay, just not at this inflated price. She then sent me a link to her website "terms and conditions" which I had never seen before nor been told about. What recourse do I have? I've already told her I want to cancel all future appointments, but I'm now stuck in a tough position with the threat of having a bill go to collections which I've never experienced before. She doesn't appear willing to budge. Can I pay it partially or will it still go to collections either way?

  Business Response

  Date: 17/11/2022

  Our client ***** has been a recurring client for quite some time. She messaged us through our website to inquire about a quote for services which is where our terms and conditions are listed. 
  We have had her in our system every 3 weeks which gets pre programmed when she signs up as a client and auto generates until the end of the year. 
  Our team arrived to her home for a previous clean and was unable to access her home - instead of charging our lockout fee we agreed to reschedule her to the following week to ensure her home was cleaned. 
  

  Upon sending the invoice for that service we noted the date for her next clean which lands on November 11th (Remembrance Day) which is noted on our website under terms and conditions as being charged at our time and a half Holiday Surcharge. 
  

  The client Messaged me the evening of November 7th to ask why it wasnt 4 weeks from her previous clean and I explained its because she had been rescheduled to accommodate allowing her to have a clean after our cleaners showed up to a locked house the week before and our system keeps to her previous schedule so not to disrupt our other bookings we have programmed. 
  She then said she wanted to cancel which I explained would carry a cancellation fee as its less than 5 days before the booking and the teams schedule has been assigned for the week  (as stated on our website). Had the client messaged a day earlier the cancellation fee would not have applied. 
  She chose to continue with the booking for Friday November 11th. 
  Our team completed the clean and I invoiced the client at our holiday rate the same as all of our clients that day and for previous holiday bookings. Our rates have been the same since our business opened and the terms and conditions have been on our website since May. 
  As any *************** service provider, we have a holiday surcharge. 
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 18/11/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The owner has misrepresented certain parts of the story and left out key facts that are relevant context to the issue. Here are facts that I have proof of, in writing:

  1. I had not seen her terms and conditions before she pointed them out to me on November 13, after I questioned her invoice. It is not ethical practice for a business to quietly post terms and conditions and not advise their customers. How can a customer agree to terms and conditions they have not been advised of? She said her business is "not required to advise of the holiday rate". I can't understand why a business would operate this way. We had a positive business relationship for many months, and she chose to lose a client rather than be up front about charging 1.5x on holidays.

  2. Cleans were not pre programmed until the end of the year as she claimed. At the start, she would send me ****** calendar invitations. These were every three weeks but not always on the same day so I relied on these notices. There were times where her 'system' double booked cleans and her team would show up twice for one appointment. She explained she was having issues with her system. She then changed her system and did not notify me. 

  3. To assert that a lockout fee would have been applicable in Oct is misleading as I have emails where she admitted this was an error on her side. She said they had been working on switching their system and put next clean dates on client invoices as an interim measure, but the Oct 20 appointment date was not listed. So, she rescheduled my appointment to Wednesday, October 26 due to the error on her end.

  4. On Nov 7, I did not ask why it wasn't 4 weeks from my previous clean; what she stated is false. I asked her why it wasn't 3 weeks from my last clean as that is what we had agreed.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 21/11/2022

  I have continued to repeat the same policies that our company has in place to protect the business and our staff. 

  The client is assuming she knows the ins and outs of how our schedule for recurring cleans is done. 

  We have a system "When i work". A recurring client is programmed into this system and it repeats "weekly, bi weekly, tri weekly, monthly etc". For fluidity we schedule all of our clients until the end of the calendar year to allow us to view where we have space to take on future properties and not overbook our staff. 

  1. Our website has our terms and conditions listed. When a client books through our website, they are bound to those term and conditions whether they have chosen to read them on their own or not. 

  2. Due to multiple reschedules early on in our bookings with the client we began to have double bookings as when we originally input her property it had pre booked her home until the end of 2022 and upon trying to accommodate the reschedules without any penalties it created two schedules of her home and didn't delete the original schedule that had been set which caused overlaps in the schedule. I used to send ****** calendar invites as a way to let clients know of their next booking rather than a text or note on an email but it became too much to work with multiple systems so we have since started transitioning into a new scheduling system that can notify our cleaning team as well as our clients all within a single platform. There was delays with the provider and so while we phased out ****** calendar I began notifying clients of their next cleans in the invoice notices they received after each clean. 

  The client has made it very clear she is refusing to pay the balance of her invoice and has decided to only pay a portion of her balance and choose her own rate for the day we cleaned.

  As stated to her multiple times now, all of our unpaid balances are sent to collections after 30 days and she will have to dispute it with collections. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 24/11/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The fact there were multiple double bookings on her end was not something I could control as I am not responsible for her scheduling system.I felt bad for her staff who would show up in those instances. They were counting on hours they didnt get because her system was flawed.
  We could go back and forth for about specific details but the bottom line is, ***** has chosen to not be upfront with her clients. An honest and up-front business would ensure their customers are aware of any terms and conditions they bind us to. When I asked why she didnt advise me previously that she would charge 1.5x her response was, we are not required to advise of the holiday rate. She chose to not disclose she would be charging more on a day she scheduled that was outside of our agreed three-week schedule. I have had home cleaning in previous years and have never come across this situation with any other company.
  As a result, she chose to lose a client who was paying her and her staff every three weeks instead of doing the right thing. She keeps saying the 'client does choose the rate they pay" - I find this frustrating. I'm ot choosing the rate I pay, I'm asking her to charge me the rate SHE QUOTED to me at the beginning. She chose not to disclose she was changing the rate, which is dishonest and unethical in my opinion.
  I spoke with a lawyer and was advised to pay the invoice at the rate we had agreed to, so that is what I have done.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************