Why did this other cleaner drop me as a client suddenly?

I just had another problem with another cleaning service today. I got an in home estimate & I was told they’ll come over to clean my house.

The funny thing is that they quoted me $100 as a flat rate. Then after seeing that my house needs a little extra work, they doubled that at a $200 flat rate which is excessive.

Anyways, they set a date then rescheduled. Then today I asked them for a written quote again as I never received one.

They said they’d send one but they didn’t. So I said I didn’t receive anything nicely & to please resend it.

Then I got a text telling me that they can’t accept me as a client anymore due to something their parent said which was odd.

I don’t know if these people know that lady who got freaked out by the gun incident the other day.

I didn’t mention that of course. I said that another service canceled on me for no reason.

Why would I be dropped as a client for no reason after they saw my house & agreed to clean it?

I suspect that their intent was to charge me more money again for services with no proof of anything in writing.

It’s happened before, the switch with the prices. Has this happened to anyone else before?

Sounds like a scam, jeskya, could you use whatever the version of checkatrade is over there? They get independently checked on there, and previous clients can leave reviews, idk if checkatrade is a thing where you are, but here's the link if it'll help, checkatrade can be trusted Just a moment...

Thanks. Maybe it was a scam. They contacted me on Nextdoor. Is that why I was quoted low then high? Then bailed on as they probably wanted to charge me more at the time?

sounds like it

As far as I know, nextdoor don't check companies, I might be wrong.

Were they young? Comment about parent is strange.

Nextdoor is just neighborhood chat and info exchange. It’s not a service. Just hire cleaning company.

100 is rather cheap. Especially if your house needs a lot of work. They doubled it after they figured out how much work it is. I think

It’s entirely possible these people know each other. And it’s possible they share the info re gun safety and this persons parent said she heard you have guns laying around. Possibly

Again find cleaning company but they’ll charge more. They won’t clean for 100 bucks

No, they were around 30? Idk, maybe they were younger?

What if this had nothing to do with the gun? Maybe it was all about wanting to charge me more.

Even if my house needs extra cleaning, to charge double is ridiculous & excessive.

I have a bad feeling that they were probably intending to raise the price after cleaning everything.

They probably didn’t want to provide proof. The chances of them knowing that other lady is slim.

The fact they didn't want to provide a written agreement with you, I think is suspicious. Get everything in writing from whoever you employ

That’s exactly what I thought. I called a few other places that said they’d provide a written estimate. Hopefully they’re not just saying that too.

Decide which company to go for, out of the ones that give you a written estimate

Will do. I don’t understand why that last place agreed to send me an estimate then drop me after I reminded them to send me one. They shouldn’t say yes to things they have no intention of doing.

How big is the house? I pay more than $100 to have a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment cleaned (and it is not particularly dirty).

I’d say if hiring an individual it’s best to ask for more than one written reference (and check them out), better again if you get someone recommended by someone who you trust. If you use a company check them out. And yes cheapest often isn’t best.

Can’t be too careful with your home.

It’s average sized. There are 2 small bathrooms & 2?bedrooms & 2 small rooms. The kitchen is small too The living room is average sized.

Yeah. I’m sure they intend les to charge me more.

It would cost more than $100 to clean it.

That’s way too big for 100. You’ll never find anyone to do all that for that little money. Just no way

I now have a cleaning lady but in the past, some years ago, I hired day workers from the local Day Worker Center.

Here is one in San Jose: Day Worker Center — ConXion to Community

This is how it works at my local day worker center: to hire day workers, you need to have all the cleaning supplies and materials on hand. You also need to pay in cash and provide transportation to day workers.

They may or may not speak English. I understand enough very basic Spanish to get by.

They clean well.

I've hired cleaning help a few times when I got overwhelmed. It's not cheap. Someone coming in to maintain a home that is well organized and just needs a going over is very different from hiring someone to cope with accumulated disorder and mess.

I paid $50 just to have my stove and oven cleaned. I paid $100 just to get my bathroom cleaned. (I'ld been away for months, and it was a mess for a number of reasons.) I found that even immigrant workers - who were working under the table - did not come cheap at all. Of course, prices vary depending where you live. Where I live is not real expensive, yet help isn't cheap.

Charging $200 for the house that size: four rooms, living room, kitchen, two bathrooms (and it’s not in a very good shape)- is neither ridiculous nor excessive.

Actually, I have. Someone from another message board saw what I weote & recommended their cleaner who only charges $20 an hour.

Then this lady yesterday said she’d only charge $80 for a flat rate.

Tomorrow a cleaner who is going to charge $150 for the flat rate is coming over tomorrow.

That lady didn’t get back to ne. She had to wait for a plumber so she didn’t do the estimate yet. Weird. It’s hard to find anyone who’s reliable.

Thanks for providing that link.

My point was I thought it was odd to how the orice doubled for me. I understand that my house needs more cleaning, but that is a bit to much of a price hike. And the facr that they refused to give me a written quote was a red flag too.

I’m sure they would’ve charged me more had they kept me as a client.

I think they might be inexperienced do they didn’t know what to charge? 200 isn’t a lot.

These rates, $20/hr etc, are below market for our geographic area. I wonder: might you find people unreliable because you are looking for thr cheapest possible rate?

Are you providing tools and supplies or are you expecting the cleaner to bring her own?

You are welcome. there is also Yelp. On Yelp, you can message multiple businesses at the same time and they will compete with each other by providing you quotes. I got excellent inexpensive car detailing done this way in October.