Not very happy with cleaner.

In the past you paid a cleaner ££ an hour and gave them a list of jobs. You expected them to stay for the hours paid.

However there was a thread in Mumsnet about this and some posters said the more recent trend is to tell the cleaner you would like X, Y and Z doing and they will tell you approximately how long it will take and quote a price. You then agree for ££ for XY and Z jobs rather than an hourly fee. So if the cleaner picks up speed as they get to know your house they feel its ok to leave early so long as the agreed tasks are done and upto standard.

An other words, the cleaner quotes by the job rather than the hour. Some clients dont like this because they cant just walk out of the office when the agreed tasks for the day are done. They have to work the hours set by the employer.

I sacked my cleaner a few weeks back when I found her riffling through the boxes in my stock room. She knew that I traded in jewellery (among other things) and was no doubt looking for something to filch. I now have one of my nephews friends doing the cleaning - a gay guy whom Ive known for 15 years or so. Rather than leaving early its diffcult to get him to go as he doesnt like leaving anything in the room not done. I asked him to clean the front door and window sills and he washed all the downstairs windows (which I hadnt asked him to do). Hes one of those people who puts everything away in cupboards and drawers so I have to hunt around the kitchen after hes gone for the things I usually leave out.

I think all cleaners have their own quirks. I had one who was very short and was great with skirting boards but not so good with the tops of doors.
My present one is fantastic at folding towels etc.

She's unreliable. I couldn't be bothered to train her! I'd just find another cleaner.

My lovely cleaner retired last year, and I couldn’t find anyone else so eventually, and reluctantly, I went to an agency.
I have three cleaners, for four hours a week, twelve hours in total, a lot of things are done well, but not everything. They never seem to notice cobwebs, and they never move any furniture, I wouldn’t expect them to move big items, but it seems they never move anything.
Im torn to be honest, it’s not great, and it’s expensive, but finding a cleaner is almost impossible around here, so I just accept that no one is likely to be perfect.

I think we can generalised in that not doing behind the doors is bad. I sacked one we had who did that.

Absolutely Primrose. No two houses are the same and you can’t generalise.

Depends what your house is like. My friend is a cleaner but now goes and looks at them beforehand before deciding whether she wants the job.

Some houses are on different levels, steps everywhere, some are full of clutter and ornaments, some have cats and dogs that never get brushed and leave a mess. She has so much work that she only takes on places that are already neat and clean.

I don't have a cleaner but I would have thought the type of house would make a difference to how much she can get done in the allotted time. I have a modern house which is very easy to clean quickly and thoroughly, but I have also had a very old house which was anything but quick and easy. If you have a lot of ornaments and such like to be dusted that also takes time - I prefer a minimalist house because I don't enjoy housework so the less stuff to collect dust the better.

Depends how big your house is and if you have a lot of 'stuff' and also how much you pay. I paid my cleaner £20 an hour and told her to do her thing. She was brilliant as she concentrated on the areas she thought needed doing but she was professionally trained.

Not you are not unreasonable - you are paying them and if you aren't happy you are going feel cheated .

Once they start cutting corners - it will get worse and worse .

Finding a great cleaner isn't that easy .
In the past , I've had cleaners and discovered that despite paying for them to clean for three hours - they've considered their work finished after one and a half or two hours .

One of them made a great start - spending hours cleaning the grouting for hours and then , her work really deteriorated .

She left a tap on flooding the upstairs , ripped the wires out of my computer , my dog out into the road and I discovered her doing her family's ironing in my time .

One evening , a lady phoned me about employment .
She'd been using my home phone to get more work !

When I sacked her - I had a tirade of abuse before she stormed off .

As Avalon said you need to draw up a list of what you need doing then discuss it with your cleaner to make sure your expectations match. You are the employer and should get value for money. Having said that my daughter had a cleaning round and found employers often added to her tasks by saying "can you just do". She got wise to this and would say yes I can but then won't have time to do xyz. There were some very rich people amongst her clients and they were the worst for being very demanding.

I am so lucky to live in London because cleaners have mega problems finding work as there are so many cleaners.

You may not be so fortunate Nandaot.

Time for a serious talk to your cleaner I think. You have made it clear just what you want doing and this has not happened........they could have been having a bad day, felt unwell, have a worry at home, so on this occasion give them the benefit of the doubt but make it crystal clear that you expect jobs to be done properly. Failing that, reduce their payment accordingly or get a different cleaner.

You are like me, I also have circular floors!
Seriously you have not asked her to do the bedrooms so she has plenty of time to do what you want. I would make a written list of what you want done and if necessary if you think it is too much she can do x this week and y the next and rotate.
She thinks she has found a cushy number and the old biddy will not notice-so wrong!

You are not expecting too much, if she doesn’t do those areas then ask her to next time. Maybe she missed those the first time and has gotten into a routine that does not include those areas.

I think you should draw up a schedule of all that you want done and talk to the cleaner. It may be that you are asking for too much to be done in the time slot or it maybe that she is lazy. It’s always a good idea to take up references or employ on personal recommendations from people you know.

No you are not. In three hours, I would expect much more done than you have listed.

Our cleaners do 2 hours a week, The whole of upstairs one week and the whole of downstairs the next.