When I met the two proprieters of the business, Ms. Adriennette Cooper and Ms. Sola Oke, I was impressed. They seemed excited to get going, happy to have the business, and came in matching company shirts. These ladies meant business, so when I let them in and they told me, after a short look around my humble 650 square foot apartment, that the charge would be $75 an hour, I flinched internally but just figured they'd do a very thorough job. I may be tight with money sometimes, but I am perfectly willing to pay for quality work.
Upon my return from work that afternoon, I found that not only was the job done not thorough, it was barely done at all. The kitchen and bathroom looked fine, but nothing spectacular. There were still water spots on the mirror in the bathroom. The flier that I found on my windshield listed things like "Oven Cleaning" (oven was not cleaned, nor was the microwave oven), "Sweep" (though they neglected the living room completely), "Clean Refrigerator" (not completed), and "Mop Floors, " (not completed, not even close, as there was standing dirt in major traffic areas).
I'm quite certain that they didn't really even attempt to clean my home.
I wrote them an email (they never answered a phone when trying to set up the first appointment), letting them know that I was disappointed with the lack of work done on the apartment, and that I would either expect them to come back and make it right, or I would not be paying them the $75; after all, the money was to be paid for services rendered, and they rendered no service. They wrote back — oddly enough, the company name had changed from "Clean It Up Services" to "Klean It Up Services" — saying that they would like to make it right.
I had already decided that I was not going to let them in my house to work unsupervised, so I made other arrangements to have the house cleaned. When they wrote again to "make it right, " I explained again that I'd made alternate arrangements with a reputable service. I added that since they did 1/3rd of the work, I would pay them 1/3rd of what they asked, or $25. I'm not going to spend my hard-earned money, I reasoned, for a job that I could do better myself.
I heard nothing more after that.
Nothing, that is, until today. A Sheriff's Deputy showed up at my door, serving me with papers that I would be due in small claims court. Klean It Up Services was trying to get $500 from me. For a $75 job that they did not complete.
Incredible.
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