Advice on when to move on to a new cleaning service?

[welly01]

About six months ago, we hired a lady to start cleaning our house once a month.  Its the first time we've had a cleaning service.  We like her and trust her in the house and with our dogs.  We don't have a set schedule, I just text her about once a month and schedule a day for her to come out.  Last month when I tried to schedule her visit, I didn't hear back from her.  Finally after about a week, I texted her again to make sure she'd gotten my message.  A few days later she finally replied and apologized saying she was out of town for a death in the family and then had been really sick.  Ok, no big deal, that's understandable, so we scheduled a cleaning.  I hate trying to remember to text her, so I asked her if we could get on some kind of schedule so that I don't have to invite her out.  I also asked her to start coming biweekly.  She thanked me for our business and said she would take a look at her schedule and fit us in.

This week should have been her first biweekly visit.  I didn't hear from her last week, so I texted her on Tuesday to touch base with her when her next visit would be.  I still haven't heard from her and I'm starting to get frustrated.  I understand that life happens and you get busy, but who doesn't carry their phone with them 24/7 and can't send a quick text?  Especially when its your business?  Also, I'm not 100% satisfied with her cleaning.  But I've never had a cleaning service, so I don't know if my standards are too high.  DH isn't ready to get rid of her because he trusts her.  I've found another cleaning service that is slightly more expensive, but its a team (owned by an individual).  I'm really thinking of contacting them for a cleaning so I can compare their service.

I hate "breaking up" with someone.  Do you think its time to move on or should I continue to work with our current lady?

[smalltownmoon]

I think it's time to move on. It sucks she is having issues but she is a business and either needs to tighten up her communication or take a leave of absence. I would maybe give her one more chance to respond then if she doesn't, tell her you no longer need her services.

[mustardseed2007]

Since you've already done the research and found someone else, I think you should go ahead and schedule them to come out and see if you like them. 

I think it's fine to part ways with your current person at this point. We also communicate with our cleaning lady by text and she almost always texts back within a few hours (or less), but always within 24 hours. She communicates with all her clients by text. 

I'm not always 100% happy with the cleaning work our person does, but we have kept her because (1) if we give her specific feedback she does address it (2) we trust her and (3) I'm lazy about trying to find someone else. 

I figure once you make me irritated enough (or irritate me consistently enough) to actually find a potential alternative, your work for me is done. 

[callmeKD]

time to move on. I find it much easier to have a set schedule with my cleaning lady - ie every other Tuesday. then we adjust as necessary.

[minirella]

Feb 13, 2015 10:32:32 GMT -5 welly01 said:

I understand that life happens and you get busy, but who doesn't carry their phone with them 24/7 and can't send a quick text? 

Me! I show up when I'm scheduled and when I'm off, I'm off. My phone usually sits on the charger all day unless I'm expecting a call. I also don't take calls at work unless it is one of the babysitters and concerns my kids. If it is the hubs, I'll call him if I have a break or I'm going to the bathroom. He knows that and understands.

[welly01]

Feb 13, 2015 15:21:36 GMT -5 minirella said:

Feb 13, 2015 10:32:32 GMT -5 welly01 said:

I understand that life happens and you get busy, but who doesn't carry their phone with them 24/7 and can't send a quick text? 

Me! I show up when I'm scheduled and when I'm off, I'm off. My phone usually sits on the charger all day unless I'm expecting a call. I also don't take calls at work unless it is one of the babysitters and concerns my kids. If it is the hubs, I'll call him if I have a break or I'm going to the bathroom. He knows that and understands.

minirella, do you have your own business?  Is your scheduling handled over the phone?  The only way I know how to contact her is with the phone number I have.  If you own your own business and only have this one phone number for customers to contact you, I would expect you to be able to check your phone more than once a day.  Our cleaning lady is a mom of school-aged kids who seems to (try to) clean to provide some extra income and still have a flexible schedule with her kids.  Even if she doesn't carry her phone with her 24/7, I find it extremely hard to believe that she doesn't at least look at it once a day to check for missed calls/texts.  I texted her 4 days ago...

[minirella]

I'm contract at one of my employers. My contact is by phone or email. Unless a response is needed ASAP, it waits until I get up to the office. I don't have set days there, I make my schedule based on assignment. The agency knows and accepts it.

Same with the hospital I PRN for. The scheduler has been known to send me a FB message to check my phone.

I'm just saying not everyone keeps their cellphones around all the time. Not fond of them really.

Not excusing her actions either. That ship would have sailed with me.

[Deleted]

I say move on, there are others that will be more communicative and also since you were not 100% satisfied with the product.