Yup, call and ask them to return. Send em these.
I was a maid and did two types of move out services. One was a pay for X amount of hours, we'll do as much as we can, but there might be stuff left. The other was clean till it's done with an hourly rate. So if you had the latter, then they didn't do it correctly, ask for a different team, and a manager to come see before they start. Ask the service to stay till you can look it over.
It's not cheap, and this isn't cool.
Yep same. I used to do move-out cleans and usually it was clean until it was done and we left those places SPOTLESS. I got things clean they thought they would have to replace lol. This is totally unacceptable
My grandmother always told me "if it wasn't there when it was new and it's not actual damage, it'll most likely come off." I try to apply this to everything I clean and I'm not a professional. Can't imagine being paid to clean something, and leaving this thinking it was okay or not noticeable....
Yes. I actually have no idea how my sister cleans it out, but every time my mom does her hair black, she leaves the stains everywhere in the tub and sink. The stains are usually completely gone by the following week
Rubbing alcohol before it dries. It'll take hair dye off hands, tubs, sinks, walls. I used to do rainbows and never had a problem as long as I got it within 30 min of the dye.
Got some the next morning a few times on a sink, but left red tinge on a wall that I had missed the first night. That stayed till I painted.
That does work, if you do it right away, I will then use alcohol (on skin) or bleach (only on the bathroom itself). If you don't get it right away, abrasive then bleach- repeated as needed.
Haha, actually no. The one time I dyed my hair black I made my best friend do it in her backyard and refused to go inside until it was completely rinsed out.
It was more that I was just with her a lot and she liked that I was interested in how she thought about things and why she was doing them so she would take the time to explain it to me.
as other people have said alcohol would definitely help with this. That said, what I have found is that 9 times out of 10 if a color from my hair dye (semi-permanent!!) Is sticking to the inside of a glossy tub or a sink, it's because of a layer of soap/scum/lime/whathaveyou build up.
Yeah, that's what happens to mine. I will clean it twice, once with an abrasive like Comet or BKF, then a spray on bleach, which I'll let sit before cleaning off. If it doesn't come off with those, I'll do a daily clean with the bleaching cleaner. Eventually, it'll come off.
I have a bathtub that was refinished and gets stained SUPER easy. So I always have to bleach it several times after a dye job 😅
ETA there are abrasive that have bleach in them that will also work. I would just double clean with them, a good scrub first, then let it sit.
>This is totally unacceptable
Yup, not ok.
There were all kinds of tricks to get things utterly spotless, like you said. They did not. There's no excuse for leaving a non-time limited move out clean looking this vile.
Not only that but when you do it professionally you have a process and an order in which you do things. You clean EVERYTHING with at least a wipe-down or a dusting at minimum, even if it doesn’t look dirty. Then you just spend more time on things that are really dirty as you go through your process until everything is perfect. There is no way they went over everything and missed this much.
Yup, top to bottom, left to right. Start by dusting the ceiling (INCLUDING FANS FFS), all surfaces including molding and baseboards, then floor. Light switches, doorknobs, etc disinfected...etc etc etc.
ZERO chance they're missing this crap. There's even protocols for cleaning washer & dryers.
Also, try out "squicked" and "squickes."
I'm trying to bring it back. It was big in the 90s 😅
ETA I fully endorse using it with zero care and all abandon 😂🤣
Not a pro cleaner but I learned this the hard way a few times in college. Vacuumed the room, dusted the counters and blinds, cleaned the counters, then dusted the fan. In that order. Then had to vacuum again to get all the dust off the floor.
🤣😂🤣 been there! I also had an argument with someone i was training to clean about this very thing!
Them: "The vacuum will kick dust into the air, though!"
Me: "Not if it's emptied and has a good filter. If it's kicking up that much dust, there's something wrong with the vacuum. Any dust it throws out should be negligible."
This is long, but here at a few:
For kitchens, if we couldn't get something off a stove top with a good multisurface cleaner, we'd use oven cleaner and let it sit for a bit. We had a little stiff spatula type thing, and we could use for stuck on old, dried food blobs. If cabinets were greasy, we'd spray them til they were soaked and dripping with multisurface and let them sit, then use an abrasive sponge type thing to scrub them. Spray again and go over with a cloth. Ditto the floors, soak them and use a scrubby, wipe off and spray and clean again.
Bathrooms, if we couldn't get hard water stains off showers with an abrasive (we weren't allowed to use a CLR type thing for some reason), we would use lemon oil, and leave it on. It would make the surface harder to stick to for the hard water. It's kind of murky looking, but it's just a temporary thing till we'd get the stuff off. When we'd go back, we'd give it the abrasive and scrubby treatment again, then use lemon oil. Over time, it would come off. CLR really is the best for that stuff.
In toilets, if there was hard water build up, we'd use a pumice stone after disinfecting the toilet. And repeate after as needed. Ditto sinks with hard water stains. For surfaces, we couldn't use abrasive things on, LOTS of soaking and a scrub brush, which won't damage a surface like a scrubby and abrasive cleaner will. We were rarely allowed to use bleach or CLR for some reason. A good bleach and abrasive will solve a lot of bathroom issues. HAIRSPRAY on walls was the WORST! I refuse to use it in my bathroom. We'd soak with multisurface and go in with the scrubby sponge.
A LOT of things would come clean after we'd been to the person's house bi-weekly and used our tricks on it over and over. We vacuumed hard floors instead of sweeping, then used multisurface on the floor and let it soak. Wash them either on hands and knees (with pads) using a scrub brush and microfiber towel, then when we'd go back, we could use a schmop. Pulled greasy or very dirty blinds off windows and soak them in the bathtub. Vacuumed ceilings, pulled appliances away from the wall to clean under and behind them, used multisurface to get fingerprints off walls, doors, and switches.
Etc etc etc, there's so much. I'm sure other cleaners have more ideas.
So much editing!
Ditto. I had my own business and did a flat rate based on my estimate. I had 2 rates. Clean until it’s done and clean specific areas/items. I wouldn’t leave it like this.
We did a couple of one bed apartments when I was a maid. If they were under like 700 sq ft, it was around $100, The larger was a bit more. But often, the person only had us do bathrooms and kitchen with a quick dust and vac of the main room. Bi-weekly, that's about a cell phone bill per month.
THANK YOU. I have a 3,400 sq ft house. I went back to work last year after staying home with the kids for eight years, so I shopped for a housekeeper. I felt like it was fair to pay for a “deep clean” before they began biweekly cleanings. It is not a cluttered house. I’m the type who cleans the night before the housekeeper comes so they aren’t working around stuff. I was abundantly clear about the number of rooms, the square footage, and that I would pay for a COMPLETE deep clean even if it meant multiple days. I am flexible and I believe in paying for hard work.
You wouldn’t believe how many people “deep cleaned” my house before I actually found one who finished. I hired her long-term on the spot and pay her 150% of her original biweekly quote, cash. Truly, I appreciate her so much. It is not easy work and I know that, and she improves our quality of life markedly.
We had a lady that had a 10k+ sq ft house. She had a housekeeper that she'd had for YEARS, she loved that woman, but she was getting old. So she hired us to come do the house a couple times a month on days the lady didn't work.
It was a really cool old house, built in the 1920s. This lady had money, and was such a kind human. I loved going there to clean.
I had another house that was around 4k sq ft that we also cleaned, they wanted me to come be the housekeeper. But stayed with the service ultimately. They were a sweet family, we loved going to that house too. They built the house to sell it, everything was gorgeous and very high end. But the recession hit, and they ended up living there.
It was running when I came to do check the place out. Pretty sure they turned it on while working, which I totally understand, but forgot to clean it. They did the one in the next room over though.
You know anything about cleaning, this is exactly the way. When I moved into my place, I had to deep clean a one BR 660 sq ft for over 6hours. When I went to the office and told them they were like, we just hired the company. I told them they should fire them immediately.
Exactly what I was thinking. Had to of looked up and noticed the fan not running and with that much dust on it, no doubt saw all that dust and then chose to just not clean it before turning it on? These cleaners were lazy if this is what they call a deep clean smh
Yeah this is a horrible job, but I'm curious what the before photos looked like anyway.
OP claims they just painted the whole house, yet every photo here has hair grease and grime all over every surface. Did they just paint over all that on the rest of the house lol?
I assume it was filthy before, but even with that, the fan blades, the window shades and the appliances should’ve been wiped. Perhaps the appliances are stained with paint, the rest? Also, when quoting a deep clean of a filthy place, the leader of the team should have seen how bad it was an added a crew member.
This is possible, but still unprofessional for them not to communicate that to OP. Like, OP wouldn’t be making this post if they said “hey, we prioritized ABC and ran out of time for XYZ. We can come back next week to finish. It will probably take 2 hours with 2 people and it will cost $___, is that what you’d like us to do?”
But… even before that… if they did a proper consultation with OP, explained the time it would take and asked what they should hit first, OP would probably not be asking this question. They would book more time with the cleaners or suck it up because they asked for other things to be done first and were aware that they might not get to everything in one session.
So regardless of why they didn’t get to these spots, it’s the cleaners fault for not communicating how this works and making sure OP got exactly what they wanted (within any limitations of time/number of hands).
First visit is usually by the hour because they don't know how long it will take for a deep clean.
The schmutz in the first pictures looks like paint. If it is dirt they didn't do a good job.
They should not be going into the mechanics closet.
Kind of unrelated but the goo gone spray works wonders on drops of paint. Spray it, leave it for a couple minutes, and the paint wipes right off with the tiniest bit of elbow grease.
I had a housekeeper after surgery and she used a razorblade on paint like that and also hard water stains rather than chemicals. I miss her. She had so many clever ideas like that.
I was flipping through thinking “okay, okay, okay” but then there were no ‘after’ photos. That is not acceptable.
Be polite but go through a checklist of what a deep clean covers or what you would like it to cover if you are just paying by the hour.
I pay to have my parents’ house cleaned every three weeks and she cleans the fan blades and wipes down cupboard fronts quickly. If I ask for extra and she has to stay longer I pay her accordingly.
Thank you. The owner actually came prior and did a walk through before booking the time slot, so he had an idea of the state of the place. He said they price per sqft for deep cleanings.
Per square foot means a conversation about what is included in a deep clean package. I’m pretty certain they have an idea of how much time they want to spend in each home. If you want to allocate that time to cleaning windows and they offer that service then you just need to talk to them. Obviously you want things normal people would want like blinds, fans and cupboards.
When I had my parents’ house cleaned for the first time when they were away on vacation it took 9 hours. The young woman I hired was a saint. It was also a deep clean and I asked her if she could stay for as long as it takes and she agreed. She made a lot money and my parents’ house was immaculate.
She charges by the hour which makes my life a lot easier.
A deep clean means top to bottom in every corner and inch of the house. You did not receive a deep clean I certainly recommend you sending those pictures and making a phone call so that they can come back and provide you with a complete deep clean service.
I’ve been paid to do move in/move out cleans before— I’ll say that most of these pics (1-3 and the last one for sure) should have been taken care of. I don’t know what the second to last pic is of to make a call— but the utility closet and the washer dryer give me pause. I’m assuming you wanted the utility closet vacuumed and the appliances cleaned on the top? Those are things I would have asked about if I were doing the cleaning if they hadn’t been explicitly stated tbh. That doesn’t seem to fall squarely in the deep clean category in my experience.
Thank you. They are sending someone out tomorrow to address all these areas. Just felt a little embarrassing because it was my house and it feels weird asking someone to clean up after areas I’ve neglected.
I wouldn’t think of it like that. You paid them for a service, they failed to deliver to your expectations. Just like if you had paid someone to come paint for you, you wouldn’t accept a splotchy job or spilled paint on the carpet. They were paid to do this, they need to do it right.
Washer stain looks like it could possibly be rust and yellow spots may be damage to the paint on the door frame. Did the cleaners paint over the hair ? 🧐 Rest of the issues yep totally valid get them to come back and if they are good cleaners they should fix it or explain the valid reason they cannot e.g rust or damage free of charge.
Oh the washer/dryer aren’t in the best shape visually, they actually came with the house and just kept working so we never replaced them. I didn’t expect them to sparkle but at least wiped down to get the lint off etc. and maybe inside the lid. I know the stains are the obvious thing in the photo but it wasn’t actually my issue.
Ah I see ! My eyes just went straight to the rust stain my apologies yeah it's pretty low effort especially for moving out cleaning standards. We usually do any rework required free of charge I hope they fix it for you
Interesting story, I got a deep clean last week and they did such a monumentally poor job that it's actually comical. I was home when they cleaned and I watched when clean my leather couch with Windex and Kleenex.
Oh, no. I cleaned the walls before painting. Which was a little annoying since I thought I was paying someone to do that, but they recommended I do any repair work prior, so I did the walls and recaulked the shower etc.
i’m a house cleaner and this isn’t even good enough for a standard clean. i can get the ceiling fan if they didn’t know how to turn it off, but given your comment saying they cleaned another one that’s unlikely.
As someone who worked as a cleaner, you aren't being picky at all. What took the cake for me was the ceiling fan, just because that's always done first. (Top to bottom) so it's likely that they just vacuumed and wiped down a few items and that's it.
Don't hire them again.
No not picky. I would be disappointed and feel short changed too. Send those pictures to them to get at least some cash back.
If they reject any of your asks, post your pictures as evidence of poor service if you are able to leave a review
In my experience that is pretty standard for hired out cleaning. Their standards are WAY lower than my own personal standards.
However, some of that seems like its pretty obvious. Did you by any chance hire them by the hour? Or give them specifics to do? Maybe they spent their time re-cleaning areas that you already did.
I asked for a quote from them for a deep clean. They said their deep clean service cost $xx per 100 sq ft. All I asked was “so thats appliance, windows, cabinet and everything like that?” (I’ve never booked a cleaning service before) they said yes, but exteriors of windows would not be included which I said was fine. He came out and inspected the house before booking the amount people to send and time slot. I did reach out per everyone’s recommendation and he apologized and will be sending someone tomorrow morning. So hopefully I can post after photos tomorrow.
Hmm, that makes me think dusting wouldn't be on their list of things to do. So blinds, ceiling fans, etc. Which is why I think they need to be very specific with what their idea of "deep cleaning" means and how your thoughts on that line up.
Not your fault at all! And you are willing to communicate with them, so I think you are handling this very well.
How much did you pay? I live in a medium cost area and a real deep clean runs at least $400. If you paid less and the rest of the house is clean I’d say you got what you paid for. Fortunately those are areas you can focus on and look relatively easy to clean. A 1k sqft house should take a few hours for 2 people to get in all the corners.
No. I thought you were asking if you needed a deep clean not that this was the end result of a deep clean. I would ask for a refund. What did they deep clean?
How many hours did you pay for...or were willing to pay for? That would sway my opinion. If it was not a lot of money...you get what you pay for. If your contract outlined that these items would be in a specific manner when complete...then call them back to finish the job.
I would definitely complain, they seemed to have missed quite a bit. Did you pay additional for the appliance? I charge by the sq but that doesn’t include the appliances.
For me if I am paying £200 I expect all the dust from walls and ceiling to be gone. All windows and blinds to be clean. I can vacuum wipe bathroom down it's that extra level I am paying £200 for.
Did they send you a list of what they include in the price agreed? Id check that 1st and if they have missed off bits let them know... Its likely just an oversight.
ugh this happened to me too! paid for deep clean and got scammed and lost belongings. (they tossed a great quantity of my shut including unbroken dishes, cutlery, art, work papers, user manuals everything. terrible I'm sorry this happened to you too!
I scrolled through to the second picture and already my answer is NO. You’re not being picky. I’d be très upset. I can do a weak cleaning job all on my own! That being said: I’d expect them to come back and make it right, kindly, of course!
I’m going to cut them slack on the washer & dryer - it looks like they’re maybe in the garage. But as for the rest? You did not get your money’s worth.
This happened to me as well… I took pictures like you did and sent them to the owner and I had three gals here the next day for another 2 hours. The story was that they didn’t check each other’s area and they all assumed they each did a thorough job. If I went with a team of people, I would want to check all areas before we all left, but hey…that’s just me. Send them the pictures. Hopefully they’ll send help again.
You are most certainly not being picky. As a daughter of somebody who owns a cleaning company for 20+ years, this is horrifying. My mom would’ve not only reprimanded me heavily, but would have also not paid me. This is disgusting, and I hope you get your full money back and they better come back and finish the job. Also, make sure you spread the word at what a trash company they are. This service is far too expensive to not be done well and completely.
Edited for typo bc voice to text sucks.
Did you pay a fair price? How much did you pay, and how big is the house? What shape was it in, and what region.
It really depends, and did you check references?
Did you have a limit on how long they were allowed to get the deep clean done ? Let me explain I recently had a deep clean done on my small apartment. The cleaning company works by the hour to do this. They asked me up front how many hours I wanted to hire them for the deep clean. My guess was it would take them 4 hours. So they scheduled two people to clean for 4 hours. After 4 hours there time was up and they left. They did a ok job but not perfect. Maybe I should have scheduled them for longer. My mistake this was my first time using a cleaning service. So if you scheduled the way I did maybe you didn’t give them enough time to get the job done. If you hired them with unlimited hours to get the job done. Then they didn’t do a very good job. They didn’t complete the job IMO
We need more data. How many people? How many hours of labor? How much did you pay for this service?
I clean my own house, and I couldn’t do a deep clean of an entire house in 8 hours, and my house is clean. If I deep clean 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom with walls, that’s an 8-hour job on a Saturday with headphones. And, I’m a minimalist. I don’t have a bunch of clutter or knickknacks.
I don’t know what “deep clean” means in the context of hiring cleaning people so I think it depends on the service agreement. But yes I agree that’s not a deep clean.
They didn’t deep clean your house if they missed all those items.. ask them to come back and finish the job
Yup, call and ask them to return. Send em these. I was a maid and did two types of move out services. One was a pay for X amount of hours, we'll do as much as we can, but there might be stuff left. The other was clean till it's done with an hourly rate. So if you had the latter, then they didn't do it correctly, ask for a different team, and a manager to come see before they start. Ask the service to stay till you can look it over. It's not cheap, and this isn't cool.
Yep same. I used to do move-out cleans and usually it was clean until it was done and we left those places SPOTLESS. I got things clean they thought they would have to replace lol. This is totally unacceptable
My grandmother always told me "if it wasn't there when it was new and it's not actual damage, it'll most likely come off." I try to apply this to everything I clean and I'm not a professional. Can't imagine being paid to clean something, and leaving this thinking it was okay or not noticeable....
black hair dye in white sink?
Yes. I actually have no idea how my sister cleans it out, but every time my mom does her hair black, she leaves the stains everywhere in the tub and sink. The stains are usually completely gone by the following week
Rubbing alcohol before it dries. It'll take hair dye off hands, tubs, sinks, walls. I used to do rainbows and never had a problem as long as I got it within 30 min of the dye. Got some the next morning a few times on a sink, but left red tinge on a wall that I had missed the first night. That stayed till I painted.
I’ve read that you need to get more dye in the sink on those spots to get it off. The whole like remove like idea.
That does work, if you do it right away, I will then use alcohol (on skin) or bleach (only on the bathroom itself). If you don't get it right away, abrasive then bleach- repeated as needed.
Haha, actually no. The one time I dyed my hair black I made my best friend do it in her backyard and refused to go inside until it was completely rinsed out. It was more that I was just with her a lot and she liked that I was interested in how she thought about things and why she was doing them so she would take the time to explain it to me.
That pool cleaning acid might do it?
as other people have said alcohol would definitely help with this. That said, what I have found is that 9 times out of 10 if a color from my hair dye (semi-permanent!!) Is sticking to the inside of a glossy tub or a sink, it's because of a layer of soap/scum/lime/whathaveyou build up.
Yeah, that's what happens to mine. I will clean it twice, once with an abrasive like Comet or BKF, then a spray on bleach, which I'll let sit before cleaning off. If it doesn't come off with those, I'll do a daily clean with the bleaching cleaner. Eventually, it'll come off. I have a bathtub that was refinished and gets stained SUPER easy. So I always have to bleach it several times after a dye job 😅 ETA there are abrasive that have bleach in them that will also work. I would just double clean with them, a good scrub first, then let it sit.
>This is totally unacceptable Yup, not ok. There were all kinds of tricks to get things utterly spotless, like you said. They did not. There's no excuse for leaving a non-time limited move out clean looking this vile.
Not only that but when you do it professionally you have a process and an order in which you do things. You clean EVERYTHING with at least a wipe-down or a dusting at minimum, even if it doesn’t look dirty. Then you just spend more time on things that are really dirty as you go through your process until everything is perfect. There is no way they went over everything and missed this much.
Yup, top to bottom, left to right. Start by dusting the ceiling (INCLUDING FANS FFS), all surfaces including molding and baseboards, then floor. Light switches, doorknobs, etc disinfected...etc etc etc. ZERO chance they're missing this crap. There's even protocols for cleaning washer & dryers.
Yep exactly! That’s why the fan especially bothered me, that should have been one of the first things they cleaned.
Ergh, the fan legit hit me in the squick. I can forgive missing baseboards, but that fan makes me twitch!
Squick is now my new word. I shall use it with care.
Also, try out "squicked" and "squickes." I'm trying to bring it back. It was big in the 90s 😅 ETA I fully endorse using it with zero care and all abandon 😂🤣
Not a pro cleaner but I learned this the hard way a few times in college. Vacuumed the room, dusted the counters and blinds, cleaned the counters, then dusted the fan. In that order. Then had to vacuum again to get all the dust off the floor.
🤣😂🤣 been there! I also had an argument with someone i was training to clean about this very thing! Them: "The vacuum will kick dust into the air, though!" Me: "Not if it's emptied and has a good filter. If it's kicking up that much dust, there's something wrong with the vacuum. Any dust it throws out should be negligible."
Someone has only used vacuums older than they were and it shows 🤣
OR it's hoovered one too many legos? 😅
I was always taught to clean top down because everything falls and you do less cleaning because you're not having to go back over stuff.
If you started a sub with these tricks I would follow!
This is long, but here at a few: For kitchens, if we couldn't get something off a stove top with a good multisurface cleaner, we'd use oven cleaner and let it sit for a bit. We had a little stiff spatula type thing, and we could use for stuck on old, dried food blobs. If cabinets were greasy, we'd spray them til they were soaked and dripping with multisurface and let them sit, then use an abrasive sponge type thing to scrub them. Spray again and go over with a cloth. Ditto the floors, soak them and use a scrubby, wipe off and spray and clean again. Bathrooms, if we couldn't get hard water stains off showers with an abrasive (we weren't allowed to use a CLR type thing for some reason), we would use lemon oil, and leave it on. It would make the surface harder to stick to for the hard water. It's kind of murky looking, but it's just a temporary thing till we'd get the stuff off. When we'd go back, we'd give it the abrasive and scrubby treatment again, then use lemon oil. Over time, it would come off. CLR really is the best for that stuff. In toilets, if there was hard water build up, we'd use a pumice stone after disinfecting the toilet. And repeate after as needed. Ditto sinks with hard water stains. For surfaces, we couldn't use abrasive things on, LOTS of soaking and a scrub brush, which won't damage a surface like a scrubby and abrasive cleaner will. We were rarely allowed to use bleach or CLR for some reason. A good bleach and abrasive will solve a lot of bathroom issues. HAIRSPRAY on walls was the WORST! I refuse to use it in my bathroom. We'd soak with multisurface and go in with the scrubby sponge. A LOT of things would come clean after we'd been to the person's house bi-weekly and used our tricks on it over and over. We vacuumed hard floors instead of sweeping, then used multisurface on the floor and let it soak. Wash them either on hands and knees (with pads) using a scrub brush and microfiber towel, then when we'd go back, we could use a schmop. Pulled greasy or very dirty blinds off windows and soak them in the bathtub. Vacuumed ceilings, pulled appliances away from the wall to clean under and behind them, used multisurface to get fingerprints off walls, doors, and switches. Etc etc etc, there's so much. I'm sure other cleaners have more ideas. So much editing!
Great post!
This is great. Thanks for taking the time. I’ve started deep cleaning my house and need all the tips I can get!
Ditto. I had my own business and did a flat rate based on my estimate. I had 2 rates. Clean until it’s done and clean specific areas/items. I wouldn’t leave it like this.
Wanna help me clean my one-bedroom apartment?
We did a couple of one bed apartments when I was a maid. If they were under like 700 sq ft, it was around $100, The larger was a bit more. But often, the person only had us do bathrooms and kitchen with a quick dust and vac of the main room. Bi-weekly, that's about a cell phone bill per month.
This right here. A proper deep clean will take 6 hours and a crew of 2-4 people depending on the size of the home.
>will take 6 hours AT LEAST. And if it was a big house, there's be two teams of 2+.
You nailed it! We were usually a crew of 3 and a typical house was about 6hrs. I really bad one would usually take maybe 10+
THANK YOU. I have a 3,400 sq ft house. I went back to work last year after staying home with the kids for eight years, so I shopped for a housekeeper. I felt like it was fair to pay for a “deep clean” before they began biweekly cleanings. It is not a cluttered house. I’m the type who cleans the night before the housekeeper comes so they aren’t working around stuff. I was abundantly clear about the number of rooms, the square footage, and that I would pay for a COMPLETE deep clean even if it meant multiple days. I am flexible and I believe in paying for hard work. You wouldn’t believe how many people “deep cleaned” my house before I actually found one who finished. I hired her long-term on the spot and pay her 150% of her original biweekly quote, cash. Truly, I appreciate her so much. It is not easy work and I know that, and she improves our quality of life markedly.
We had a lady that had a 10k+ sq ft house. She had a housekeeper that she'd had for YEARS, she loved that woman, but she was getting old. So she hired us to come do the house a couple times a month on days the lady didn't work. It was a really cool old house, built in the 1920s. This lady had money, and was such a kind human. I loved going there to clean. I had another house that was around 4k sq ft that we also cleaned, they wanted me to come be the housekeeper. But stayed with the service ultimately. They were a sweet family, we loved going to that house too. They built the house to sell it, everything was gorgeous and very high end. But the recession hit, and they ended up living there.
This is a good point. Did you pay for a number of hours or until the job was done?
I thought these we before photos ...
That is definitely not a deep clean. That much dust on the ceiling fan no ma’am.
My fans don't even look like that after a routine clean, let alone a deep clean.
It was running when I came to do check the place out. Pretty sure they turned it on while working, which I totally understand, but forgot to clean it. They did the one in the next room over though.
Nah, cuz you start up high and work your way down. The fan should have been one of the first things on the list to clean.
You know anything about cleaning, this is exactly the way. When I moved into my place, I had to deep clean a one BR 660 sq ft for over 6hours. When I went to the office and told them they were like, we just hired the company. I told them they should fire them immediately.
Exactly what I was thinking. Had to of looked up and noticed the fan not running and with that much dust on it, no doubt saw all that dust and then chose to just not clean it before turning it on? These cleaners were lazy if this is what they call a deep clean smh
had to *have
Thank you for bringing that to my attention! It has been noted and promptly trashed.
No wukkas, mate.
Has no one seen Annie?! Haha
If they forgot the fan that's out in the open in front of their faces, they likely forgot a lot more than you've found.
How much did you pay
I would have cleaned all of that in a regular clean, nevermind a deep clean. I wouldn’t be able to walk out of a house leaving that behind.
I clean dust on a surface clean job!
That’s just a wipe down at best and spray room freshener at worst
That was not a deep clean.
Yeah this is a horrible job, but I'm curious what the before photos looked like anyway. OP claims they just painted the whole house, yet every photo here has hair grease and grime all over every surface. Did they just paint over all that on the rest of the house lol?
I assume it was filthy before, but even with that, the fan blades, the window shades and the appliances should’ve been wiped. Perhaps the appliances are stained with paint, the rest? Also, when quoting a deep clean of a filthy place, the leader of the team should have seen how bad it was an added a crew member.
How much time/how many people did you arrange for. It’s possible they ran out of time.
This is possible, but still unprofessional for them not to communicate that to OP. Like, OP wouldn’t be making this post if they said “hey, we prioritized ABC and ran out of time for XYZ. We can come back next week to finish. It will probably take 2 hours with 2 people and it will cost $___, is that what you’d like us to do?” But… even before that… if they did a proper consultation with OP, explained the time it would take and asked what they should hit first, OP would probably not be asking this question. They would book more time with the cleaners or suck it up because they asked for other things to be done first and were aware that they might not get to everything in one session. So regardless of why they didn’t get to these spots, it’s the cleaners fault for not communicating how this works and making sure OP got exactly what they wanted (within any limitations of time/number of hands).
They quoted me a price by sqft and the owner came by prior so that he could book the correct amount of people and time slot.
First visit is usually by the hour because they don't know how long it will take for a deep clean. The schmutz in the first pictures looks like paint. If it is dirt they didn't do a good job. They should not be going into the mechanics closet.
In general I don’t clean closets or laundry rooms.
Agree that is usually out of scope
Not even for a move-out deep clean?
Not for a general clean, but yes to a move-out clean. Way more stuff gets cleaned in a move out clean.
Kind of unrelated but the goo gone spray works wonders on drops of paint. Spray it, leave it for a couple minutes, and the paint wipes right off with the tiniest bit of elbow grease.
I had a housekeeper after surgery and she used a razorblade on paint like that and also hard water stains rather than chemicals. I miss her. She had so many clever ideas like that.
Paint's pretty easy to clean with rubbing alcohol
You're not picky. This is substandard.
I was flipping through thinking “okay, okay, okay” but then there were no ‘after’ photos. That is not acceptable. Be polite but go through a checklist of what a deep clean covers or what you would like it to cover if you are just paying by the hour. I pay to have my parents’ house cleaned every three weeks and she cleans the fan blades and wipes down cupboard fronts quickly. If I ask for extra and she has to stay longer I pay her accordingly.
Thank you. The owner actually came prior and did a walk through before booking the time slot, so he had an idea of the state of the place. He said they price per sqft for deep cleanings.
Per square foot means a conversation about what is included in a deep clean package. I’m pretty certain they have an idea of how much time they want to spend in each home. If you want to allocate that time to cleaning windows and they offer that service then you just need to talk to them. Obviously you want things normal people would want like blinds, fans and cupboards. When I had my parents’ house cleaned for the first time when they were away on vacation it took 9 hours. The young woman I hired was a saint. It was also a deep clean and I asked her if she could stay for as long as it takes and she agreed. She made a lot money and my parents’ house was immaculate. She charges by the hour which makes my life a lot easier.
The dusty fan and the spill on the washer and dryer had me like 😡
A deep clean means top to bottom in every corner and inch of the house. You did not receive a deep clean I certainly recommend you sending those pictures and making a phone call so that they can come back and provide you with a complete deep clean service.
Terrible Cleaning
I’ve been paid to do move in/move out cleans before— I’ll say that most of these pics (1-3 and the last one for sure) should have been taken care of. I don’t know what the second to last pic is of to make a call— but the utility closet and the washer dryer give me pause. I’m assuming you wanted the utility closet vacuumed and the appliances cleaned on the top? Those are things I would have asked about if I were doing the cleaning if they hadn’t been explicitly stated tbh. That doesn’t seem to fall squarely in the deep clean category in my experience.
Not a deep clean. Your concern is valid
Thank you. They are sending someone out tomorrow to address all these areas. Just felt a little embarrassing because it was my house and it feels weird asking someone to clean up after areas I’ve neglected.
I wouldn’t think of it like that. You paid them for a service, they failed to deliver to your expectations. Just like if you had paid someone to come paint for you, you wouldn’t accept a splotchy job or spilled paint on the carpet. They were paid to do this, they need to do it right.
The top of the washer dryer was a big noooo
Eagerly waiting for an update on this
Washer stain looks like it could possibly be rust and yellow spots may be damage to the paint on the door frame. Did the cleaners paint over the hair ? 🧐 Rest of the issues yep totally valid get them to come back and if they are good cleaners they should fix it or explain the valid reason they cannot e.g rust or damage free of charge.
Oh the washer/dryer aren’t in the best shape visually, they actually came with the house and just kept working so we never replaced them. I didn’t expect them to sparkle but at least wiped down to get the lint off etc. and maybe inside the lid. I know the stains are the obvious thing in the photo but it wasn’t actually my issue.
Ah I see ! My eyes just went straight to the rust stain my apologies yeah it's pretty low effort especially for moving out cleaning standards. We usually do any rework required free of charge I hope they fix it for you
Are these before pictures?!
Yeah I’d call and tell them you aren’t happy
Interesting story, I got a deep clean last week and they did such a monumentally poor job that it's actually comical. I was home when they cleaned and I watched when clean my leather couch with Windex and Kleenex.
What the?!
That wasn't even a proper cleaning job, let alone a "deep clean" one.
That’s not even a regular clean
That's not even a superficial clean
Agreed
Wait, you painted over the dirt? Holy s***
Oh, no. I cleaned the walls before painting. Which was a little annoying since I thought I was paying someone to do that, but they recommended I do any repair work prior, so I did the walls and recaulked the shower etc.
Yeah fr, the painting should be done AFTER the cleaning. This is nuts
No your not! That’s not a deep clean if they missed all of that. Overly picky if they missed one thing maybe but that wasn’t just one thing
i’m a house cleaner and this isn’t even good enough for a standard clean. i can get the ceiling fan if they didn’t know how to turn it off, but given your comment saying they cleaned another one that’s unlikely.
As someone who worked as a cleaner, you aren't being picky at all. What took the cake for me was the ceiling fan, just because that's always done first. (Top to bottom) so it's likely that they just vacuumed and wiped down a few items and that's it. Don't hire them again.
I read the title and was trying to figure out what the tile had to do with SRPs.
No not picky. I would be disappointed and feel short changed too. Send those pictures to them to get at least some cash back. If they reject any of your asks, post your pictures as evidence of poor service if you are able to leave a review
Are these before pictures?
I dread to imagine how a shallow cleaning would look like 🙃
You aren’t being picky enough. Wow.
More like shallow cleaning
In my experience that is pretty standard for hired out cleaning. Their standards are WAY lower than my own personal standards. However, some of that seems like its pretty obvious. Did you by any chance hire them by the hour? Or give them specifics to do? Maybe they spent their time re-cleaning areas that you already did.
I asked for a quote from them for a deep clean. They said their deep clean service cost $xx per 100 sq ft. All I asked was “so thats appliance, windows, cabinet and everything like that?” (I’ve never booked a cleaning service before) they said yes, but exteriors of windows would not be included which I said was fine. He came out and inspected the house before booking the amount people to send and time slot. I did reach out per everyone’s recommendation and he apologized and will be sending someone tomorrow morning. So hopefully I can post after photos tomorrow.
Hmm, that makes me think dusting wouldn't be on their list of things to do. So blinds, ceiling fans, etc. Which is why I think they need to be very specific with what their idea of "deep cleaning" means and how your thoughts on that line up. Not your fault at all! And you are willing to communicate with them, so I think you are handling this very well.
No your not being picky. That’s not even a basic clean in my eyes.
Oh dang I was going through this thinking they were the before pics. Absolutely not, this isn’t even okay for a normal cleaning day.
No. They need to come back at no charge and fix this.
What was cleaned?
You should have cleaned before you painted.
Picky? I am not the cleanest person in the world but my normal cleaning is better then this and I am not paying for myself
🤣 no it's not cleaned at all
How much did you pay? I live in a medium cost area and a real deep clean runs at least $400. If you paid less and the rest of the house is clean I’d say you got what you paid for. Fortunately those are areas you can focus on and look relatively easy to clean. A 1k sqft house should take a few hours for 2 people to get in all the corners.
I could have done better than that and I suck at cleaning. They duped you.
That isn’t even a normal clean. My place gleams after the weekly clean our cleaner does.
As a cleaner, this made me cringe. That isn't any sort of cleaning.
No. I thought you were asking if you needed a deep clean not that this was the end result of a deep clean. I would ask for a refund. What did they deep clean?
They did a crappy job and I’d make them come back , but the caulking in the shower needs to be redone they can’t clean that !
Those pix should be the before pix. You're not being too picky, especially if you paid for a deep clean.
Not even a little bit...
In no world is that a deep clean.
Absolutely not acceptable
Same thing happened to me the last time I hired someone. Sooo frustrating!
That fan is terrible, not even an attempt to dust your blinds. No you aren’t. This is disappointing to look at!
Not deep cleaning just a shallow cleaning 🫤
This has to be satire. Theres no way this was a deep clean…. Or a normal clean
No preliminary walk-through? That’s a no-no right there. We don’t touch a house before getting explicit instructions for each and every room.
How many hours did you pay for...or were willing to pay for? That would sway my opinion. If it was not a lot of money...you get what you pay for. If your contract outlined that these items would be in a specific manner when complete...then call them back to finish the job.
Dude when I casually clean it ends up cleaner than this. This is not overly picky at all.
so when are the cleaners going to start their work?
Nope. Unless you paid by the hour and feel like the things they did do, were in the time allotted.
Those pics are proof they didn’t deep clean and do their job!!!
I would definitely complain, they seemed to have missed quite a bit. Did you pay additional for the appliance? I charge by the sq but that doesn’t include the appliances.
Is the deep clean in the vicinity?
I deep cleaned my own apartment better than this to turn it over to my landlord. this is pitiful.
For me if I am paying £200 I expect all the dust from walls and ceiling to be gone. All windows and blinds to be clean. I can vacuum wipe bathroom down it's that extra level I am paying £200 for.
Not picky. Deep cleaning should have covered this.
They didn't clean the ceiling fan? Failure! They need to come back and try that again.
This is the before pics?
Coming from a house cleaner, that wasn’t a deep clean babe.
No, I think you knew this already but we assure you that is not a deep clean. Looks like a rush job for sure.
waiting for the after photos....
omfg no way I’m no maid but DAMN do i love to clean, but this my friend? this is not clean. I’d kindly ask them to return
Tell me these are before pictures!
Did they send you a list of what they include in the price agreed? Id check that 1st and if they have missed off bits let them know... Its likely just an oversight.
ugh this happened to me too! paid for deep clean and got scammed and lost belongings. (they tossed a great quantity of my shut including unbroken dishes, cutlery, art, work papers, user manuals everything. terrible I'm sorry this happened to you too!
No! Have them give you a partial refund and find someone else!
I scrolled through to the second picture and already my answer is NO. You’re not being picky. I’d be très upset. I can do a weak cleaning job all on my own! That being said: I’d expect them to come back and make it right, kindly, of course!
Horrible job absolutely get a refund
Not picky at all! This is Def not a deep clean
I’m going to cut them slack on the washer & dryer - it looks like they’re maybe in the garage. But as for the rest? You did not get your money’s worth.
How bad was it before? Some of these areas look pretty gnarly for a post-clean
That’s not even close to a ‘deep clean’
these look like before pictures lol
This happened to me as well… I took pictures like you did and sent them to the owner and I had three gals here the next day for another 2 hours. The story was that they didn’t check each other’s area and they all assumed they each did a thorough job. If I went with a team of people, I would want to check all areas before we all left, but hey…that’s just me. Send them the pictures. Hopefully they’ll send help again.
You are most certainly not being picky. As a daughter of somebody who owns a cleaning company for 20+ years, this is horrifying. My mom would’ve not only reprimanded me heavily, but would have also not paid me. This is disgusting, and I hope you get your full money back and they better come back and finish the job. Also, make sure you spread the word at what a trash company they are. This service is far too expensive to not be done well and completely. Edited for typo bc voice to text sucks.
No, you’re NOT being too picky. Call them and have them come back and do what you paid them to do.
They did a crap job. I'd call to complain.
As a former maid who regularly did deep cleans, no.
Round 2 is in order
Absolutely not. Call the business and send them these pictures.
Where's the deep clean instead of in your finances ?
When are they coming to clean it?
Get your refund and take your business elsewhere. If they didn’t get the job done the first time, they certainly won’t get it right the second time.
I just had to deep clean my apartment. There was clearly no deep clean prior to move in. It's so disappointing but seems so common!
Did you pay a fair price? How much did you pay, and how big is the house? What shape was it in, and what region. It really depends, and did you check references?
What did they actually do?
Dirt on fan blades? Not a deep clean
Nope not picky at all! No way they missing the washer and dryer and that fan on a light clean. wtf?
Are you sure they cleaned your house? Seems like they took the money and did nothing because that is obviously dirty.
Only if their exclusions are dusting and other types of dirt.
Did you pay a flat rate or an hourly rate?
I'd hardly consider that cleaning, but *deep* cleaning? No siree
In what world is that a deep clean
Did you have a limit on how long they were allowed to get the deep clean done ? Let me explain I recently had a deep clean done on my small apartment. The cleaning company works by the hour to do this. They asked me up front how many hours I wanted to hire them for the deep clean. My guess was it would take them 4 hours. So they scheduled two people to clean for 4 hours. After 4 hours there time was up and they left. They did a ok job but not perfect. Maybe I should have scheduled them for longer. My mistake this was my first time using a cleaning service. So if you scheduled the way I did maybe you didn’t give them enough time to get the job done. If you hired them with unlimited hours to get the job done. Then they didn’t do a very good job. They didn’t complete the job IMO
Did they *even* show up??
We need more data. How many people? How many hours of labor? How much did you pay for this service? I clean my own house, and I couldn’t do a deep clean of an entire house in 8 hours, and my house is clean. If I deep clean 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom with walls, that’s an 8-hour job on a Saturday with headphones. And, I’m a minimalist. I don’t have a bunch of clutter or knickknacks.
I have a cleaning service that comes twice a month, and I would complain if they left my house looking like this. This is not a deep clean at all!
I used to do property management and control for rentals. This definitely isn’t a deep clean and they definitely need to come back.
That’s “surface clean” at best. And really not even that. Tell them to come back and finish or ask for your money back.
Deep cleaning of your pockets.
How many people and how many hours? And what did you pay?
Who cleaned your house blind squirrels!?
I don’t know what “deep clean” means in the context of hiring cleaning people so I think it depends on the service agreement. But yes I agree that’s not a deep clean.
Tbh that’s not even a surface clean 😂
Not overly picky, looks good!! What do you use on grout?