I hired this company to clean my rental home after a tenant moved out and before the next tenant moved in. They offered a move out-move in cleaning package on their web site and it looked comprehensive and reasonably priced. I was able to schedule quickly too. They asked for payment in advance via my credit card, which seemed reasonable. The cost was $139.
The cleaning lady came and I immediately didn't feel this was going to end well. She came in wheeling a dirty Hoover upright vacuum that was probably older than the one I own at home, and bottles of 409 cleaner, Windex, and Pledge. I was under the impression the cleaning person would show up with industrial cleaners and a super vacuum - otherwise why wouldn't I just do this on my own? The messed up part is that I ended up doing it myself, and paying them. I was quoted as having the cleaning lady for 4 hours. At one point I came home because I forgot a key, and when I walked in the cleaning lady was on her cell phone, straddling the door between my balcony and my living room. She was smoking a cigarette and drinking Starbucks. Where did she get Starbucks? She didn't walk in with it when she arrived! I politely asked if she was finished? She stammered and studdered and said uhm, no, sorry, no, I'll finish. I really should have stayed but I had appointments scheduled with the new tenants to sign the lease and the my insurance agent.
When I got home, the cleaning lady was gone. No receipt left, no thank you card, no report of what she's done. Nothing. Except for the smell of cigarettes in my supposed to be spotless home. I literally said OMG. Also, I came home a half hour early just to make sure she got everything cleaned to my needs. I planned on doing a walk through with her before she left. So she left at least a half hour early, who knows how early it really was when she walked out. This is where the real problems began. I took out my notebook and walked through the home to do the move-in inspection where I document the condition of the rental before the tenant moves in. This is used to compare with the condition on move-out and also I use it as a reference when the tenant sends in their own move-in inspection report.
Walls had scuff marks on them. The toilet had rust rings under the rim. There was a pubic hair on the toilet seat that was NOT there when I left, and also it was dirty blonde, and the cleaning lady had blonde hair. I was so grossed out. The tub wasn't even wiped down, the vent/fan in the bathroom was full of dust. The kitchen light globe was greasy and dingy. It was clearly never touched. The floors had little pieces of what looked like rolled up paper towel? Or broken pieces from a Magic Eraser maybe? I don't know. There was a dirty foot print barely visible in the carpet by the balcony door (think cleaning lady straddling door and smoking when I came home for a moment). The stove top burners had not been soaked or scrubbed. They did look like someone did a once-over with a rag, as the grease and burned food was slightly smeared. The inside of the microwave was removed of its food residue but was not actually scrubbed to remove the built up dirt and residues. This is all basic stuff right? The windows in the bedroom had a hand print on them that was sticky and the window sill still had dead bugs on it. It wasn't vacuumed or wiped down. The bedroom closet floor was not vacuumed. I was in complete shock.
I tried to call the company but they were closed and had no afterhours answering service. I left a voicemail (which was never responded to by the way). I called the next day (Monday) and got someone on the phone who denied this experience was possible, and said this cleaning lady was always receiving rave reviews. I said well I have pictures and this was rave in the wrong sense of the word. I also had to go buy cleaning supplies and clean MYSELF at 6pm all the way to almost 9pm, in a house that I had already paid to be cleaned at a level that was supposed to exceed my own capabilities. I asked for a refund and reimbursement of the cleaning supplies I bought. I didn't ask to reimburse me for my time cleaning. They said they have a no refund policy.
I said where did I agree to this policy? I never saw any such policy nor did anyone verbally tell me about it when they were taking my money from my credit card. They said on their web site at the very bottom of their services page, when you click Privacy Policy, then click Payment Policies at the bottom of that page it talks about their refund policy. They said I had to follow this exact set of steps because that's where the refund info was, I couldn't get to it from the main page or any of the other pages. I nearly had to hold back a disgusted LAUGH.
I asked for a manager and was told ""I own the company. I'm the manager now what do you want me to do that I couldn't already do""?? I said that I wanted them to own up to their responsibities, handle the staff issue internally, refund my payment and consider reimbursing me for my cleaning supplies as an act of good faith! I said I own several other rental properties in the area and would like to consider them for future services, but if they couldn't work with me on making this situation right then that would send a strong message to me. The owner said he does not make refunds and his cleaners do a spectacular job for their clients. I asked if I could email him the pictures. He said ""no. I have made my decision."" and he HUNG UP ON ME!
I filed a chargeback with my credit card company where I included pictures of the rental before the cleaning service came through, and pictures after and also pictures after *I* cleaned it myself by hand.
E&K Cleaning Service Reviews
I hired this company to clean my rental home after a tenant moved out and before the next tenant moved in. They offered a move out-move in cleaning package on their web site and it looked comprehensive and reasonably priced. I was able to schedule quickly too. They asked for payment in advance via my credit card, which seemed reasonable. The cost was $139.
The cleaning lady came and I immediately didn't feel this was going to end well. She came in wheeling a dirty Hoover upright vacuum that was probably older than the one I own at home, and bottles of 409 cleaner, Windex, and Pledge. I was under the impression the cleaning person would show up with industrial cleaners and a super vacuum - otherwise why wouldn't I just do this on my own? The messed up part is that I ended up doing it myself, and paying them. I was quoted as having the cleaning lady for 4 hours. At one point I came home because I forgot a key, and when I walked in the cleaning lady was on her cell phone, straddling the door between my balcony and my living room. She was smoking a cigarette and drinking Starbucks. Where did she get Starbucks? She didn't walk in with it when she arrived! I politely asked if she was finished? She stammered and studdered and said uhm, no, sorry, no, I'll finish. I really should have stayed but I had appointments scheduled with the new tenants to sign the lease and the my insurance agent.
When I got home, the cleaning lady was gone. No receipt left, no thank you card, no report of what she's done. Nothing. Except for the smell of cigarettes in my supposed to be spotless home. I literally said OMG. Also, I came home a half hour early just to make sure she got everything cleaned to my needs. I planned on doing a walk through with her before she left. So she left at least a half hour early, who knows how early it really was when she walked out. This is where the real problems began. I took out my notebook and walked through the home to do the move-in inspection where I document the condition of the rental before the tenant moves in. This is used to compare with the condition on move-out and also I use it as a reference when the tenant sends in their own move-in inspection report.
Walls had scuff marks on them. The toilet had rust rings under the rim. There was a pubic hair on the toilet seat that was NOT there when I left, and also it was dirty blonde, and the cleaning lady had blonde hair. I was so grossed out. The tub wasn't even wiped down, the vent/fan in the bathroom was full of dust. The kitchen light globe was greasy and dingy. It was clearly never touched. The floors had little pieces of what looked like rolled up paper towel? Or broken pieces from a Magic Eraser maybe? I don't know. There was a dirty foot print barely visible in the carpet by the balcony door (think cleaning lady straddling door and smoking when I came home for a moment). The stove top burners had not been soaked or scrubbed. They did look like someone did a once-over with a rag, as the grease and burned food was slightly smeared. The inside of the microwave was removed of its food residue but was not actually scrubbed to remove the built up dirt and residues. This is all basic stuff right? The windows in the bedroom had a hand print on them that was sticky and the window sill still had dead bugs on it. It wasn't vacuumed or wiped down. The bedroom closet floor was not vacuumed. I was in complete shock.
I tried to call the company but they were closed and had no afterhours answering service. I left a voicemail (which was never responded to by the way). I called the next day (Monday) and got someone on the phone who denied this experience was possible, and said this cleaning lady was always receiving rave reviews. I said well I have pictures and this was rave in the wrong sense of the word. I also had to go buy cleaning supplies and clean MYSELF at 6pm all the way to almost 9pm, in a house that I had already paid to be cleaned at a level that was supposed to exceed my own capabilities. I asked for a refund and reimbursement of the cleaning supplies I bought. I didn't ask to reimburse me for my time cleaning. They said they have a no refund policy.
I said where did I agree to this policy? I never saw any such policy nor did anyone verbally tell me about it when they were taking my money from my credit card. They said on their web site at the very bottom of their services page, when you click Privacy Policy, then click Payment Policies at the bottom of that page it talks about their refund policy. They said I had to follow this exact set of steps because that's where the refund info was, I couldn't get to it from the main page or any of the other pages. I nearly had to hold back a disgusted LAUGH.
I asked for a manager and was told ""I own the company. I'm the manager now what do you want me to do that I couldn't already do""?? I said that I wanted them to own up to their responsibities, handle the staff issue internally, refund my payment and consider reimbursing me for my cleaning supplies as an act of good faith! I said I own several other rental properties in the area and would like to consider them for future services, but if they couldn't work with me on making this situation right then that would send a strong message to me. The owner said he does not make refunds and his cleaners do a spectacular job for their clients. I asked if I could email him the pictures. He said ""no. I have made my decision."" and he HUNG UP ON ME!
I filed a chargeback with my credit card company where I included pictures of the rental before the cleaning service came through, and pictures after and also pictures after *I* cleaned it myself by hand.