07/10/2026
WE ARE HUMAN! 🩷🥹 guys i genuinely put my heart & soul into this business!! & Today was one of those days that genuinely affected me.
I attended a sale clean today & unfortunately, the condition of the property was significantly worse than anticipated. I worked incredibly hard while I was there, but I was also working against a very strict deadline the keys were being handed over at 2pm for the sale of the property, so there was no option for me to simply return the following day and finish what remained.
I could not complete the entire property within that timeframe.
Because of this, I agreed to refund a significant portion of the payment for the areas that weren’t completed.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t considered enough!!
What followed was being spoken to aggressively, having voices raised at me, being threatened with legal action and once again having the amount of time I spent at the property questioned.
And this is something I really need clients to understand:
We charge set package prices. We do not charge based on how many hours it takes me personally to complete your clean.
I have been cleaning for over a decade. I am extremely fast at what I do. Someone taking less time to complete something does not automatically mean less work was completed or that the work suddenly has less value.
But today really got to me.
I understand moving house is stressful. I understand handing over a property is stressful. I understand being disappointed when something doesn’t go exactly as planned.
But cleaners are human beings too.
You can be unhappy. You can question something. You can disagree with a resolution I’ve offered.
But I do not deserve to be yelled at or abused.
Especially when I am actively trying to find a fair resolution and refund money for work that wasn’t completed.
To the other cleaners and small business owners who have dealt with situations like this I know how much it can stuff with your mental health. You can have 100 amazing clients tell you how much they appreciate you, and one horrible interaction can completely ruin your day.
We’re expected to remain calm, professional and polite while someone on the other end is raising their voice at us, and sometimes that’s bloody hard.
This situation has also made me realise that I need to protect myself and my team better.
Moving forward, all bond cleans and sale cleans will have much stronger terms and conditions regarding property condition, additional charges, time constraints, access, completion expectations and refunds.
If a property is significantly worse than what has been described or shown to us, that changes the amount of work required. We cannot walk into an unexpectedly poor condition property with a strict handover deadline and magically create extra hours in the day.
I will always try to do the right thing by my clients.
But I also have to start doing the right thing by myself and my business.
Please remember there is a human being on the other end of the phone. Kindness and respect go both ways. ❤️
