Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:23/06/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On May 27, owner *********************** of Tiffanys Maid Service came to our house and quoted us to clean our house of 4 levels for $1356 (includes tax), with a 1 day (4 people, 5-6 hours) or 2 day (3 people, 4 hours/2 days) option. She said a 2 day clean was preferred but both were possible. She indicated $1356 would be the maximum price either way. We agreed to have the house cleaned on June 13 and agreed to remove the basement to reduce the time and cost. She said it could be done. On June 13, they arrived at 10:30am. At noon, she mentioned the upper floor was taking a bit longer than expected, but did not explicitly explain that this would affect the overall price and ability to complete the job that day. We had to leave our house at 4:30pm so talked to them around 4pm. She indicated they would not have enough time to complete the job. Then we left, along with them. So they had just completed two floors of our house. On June 14, she sent the invoice, with a total of $1695.00 which far exceeds the maximum quote she provided, with two fewer floors cleaned than quoted. She said she could send 2 people back for 3 hours to complete our 3rd floor. This would bring our total over $2000, and this doesnt cover our basement.When we questioned the high price, she repeatedly responded that there was still room in the quote to finish the job. She accused us of not taking responsibility for the cleanliness of our house (our house was cleaner than when she quoted it) and blamed us for not listening to her advice that it couldnt be done in one day even though she quoted us that it could (have her agreement in an email). At first she was amenable to mutually establishing a fair price. We suggested $928 based on work done compared to quote. She said shed charge our credit card the full quote ($1356) and said were welcome to deal with the BBB and accused us of wanting free service. We asked her to not charge our card until we plan next steps, but she charged us without our consent.

  Business Response

  Date: 27/06/2024

  I have attached the conversations from before attending this job and after. I had advised the prospective client that this is a large job and requires 2 days. In our in person meeting I explained this is because we don't know how long this will take and 2 day cleaning will allow better results as well s monitor the use of time. I delivered a time frame that is the highest end of our deep cleaning scale for an average home the size of there's which was roughly 5000 sqft or more with all levels accounted for. During my initial assessment the house was a mess, clothes, piles of paper, toys and general house hold items strewn across every room, making it difficult to see the things that we would be focusing on during cleaning and give an accurate assessment. The customer questioned me about organizing and cleaning and I informed her I cannot tell you how long that would take. I advised ******* to manage as much of this as possible. I even planned to do the 2 day cleaning in order to ensure we the client would have ample time to ********** and we can update her accordingly at the end of the day. The Husband attended and spoke with ******* while I was still there and both parties agreed a 2 day cleaning was good for them. As you can see by the emails that were exchanged they had made changes to this agreement after the deposit for services was received, I gave them further advise reguarding this decision but without much feedback from either ******* or the husband. At no time during this process did either person suggest in the slightest that they wanted to stay below or on budget. During the deposit i deliver in person ******* was un-phased by the price, as well during the services agreed several times that we could use more time as I informed her the top floor took much longer than anticipated. I also mentioned we may not finish today, without reply from her. ******* and her husband were both home when the cleaning took place and had many opportunities to discuss the cost of the additional time and additional person but were again not concerned. As i also informed her that the extra person we brought would need to stay if they wanted the one day results they asked for. The home was much more tidy when we arrived with not many things to collect, we did collect some random items on the top level and used containers to hold everything for them at my request. I replied to their concerns as directly, concisely and professionally as possible. The emails I received were very unreasonable, disrespectful to everything we do here as well as personally insulting. I began to get the feeling that this was a purposeful event and perhaps even done to other cleaners before me, they just assume we are working for free. The lack or respect for our services and the people who work hard everyday to uphold the STANDARD THAT IS ACCEPTABLE FOR TIFFANYS MAID SERVICE was very upsetting to me as a worker and business owner. We received the deposit by credit card and after reading the emails I used the information i had to try to end the transaction as swiftly as possible, we have been made to feel very uncomfortable and I refuse to engage in the question period the husband was keyboarding to me. If not for the credit card payment we had on file we would have no recourse as I assume that these people would have refused to pay without a solid reason. I made the suggestion to them to contact the BBB as I don't appreciate threats from clients and ***** words, or explaining myself to this level. The First invoice shows the actual value of cleaning, I would like to receive those funds if possible. I could see by the replies that the husband wasn't even reading my emails but rather firing back his plan of attack. I did what I thought was fair and respectable to both parties. I surmised that they wanted to stay on budget, I adjusted the bill and decided I no longer feel comfortable attending their home or sending another bill. I did attempt to correct my mistake as I ***************** the initial estimate after the bill was sent. Before that I knew we had gone over but with the permission from the client we stayed longer. I preform many estimates on a daily basis as well as attend deep cleanings with my staff, I made the mistake because of the high volume of information I put out as well as the written estimate was very simple and not much information there. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/07/2024

   
  Complaint: 21891351
  

  We are rejecting their response, but we do not want to engage any further. 

  After reading the response from ******, we do not believe that an amicable agreement is possible. Even though we feel that we have been overcharged for the services we ended up receiving, we do not feel comfortable further pursuing this matter.  We have tried to keep our correspondence professional and have provided nothing but factual information in attempt to reach a fair outcome, however we now feel unsafe. They continue to make unfounded negative assumptions about our character, such as accusing us of wanting free service and accusing my husband of being aggressive. Her defamatory behavior paints a false narrative of me and my husband as we have only ever provided factual information.  We believe it is immoral (and illegal?) to nearly double the cost of an agreed quote and then charge someones credit card without their consent while we were attempting to come to a mutual agreement.
  
  We have never had any issues with any previous cleaning companies and the only reason we contacted Tiffanys Maid Service is because we thought we were contacting the previous cleaner who reached out to us to clean our house after her previous business was shut down. ****** accusations of any incidents with previous cleaners is again not based on any facts, and is rather an attempt to paint us in a negative light. Going forward, we will happily contact one of the previous cleaners we have used in the past. 
  
  Our experience with Tiffanys Maid Service has been a horrible one. We believe it is wrong how they have treated us and hope this does not happen to any potential future clients of theirs.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******

  Business Response

  Date: 08/07/2024

  We delivered the estimated price as discussed, unfortunately we were not able to finish so I compensated the client with free services to meet that price. I made one mistake when I thought we has additional time left after the cleaning as we were doing the invoices and I had not enough time to ensure the correct information was used at that moment. I explained that 2 times by email. Yes the client was looking for ***********************, failed owner of Merry maids, I quickly informed ******* we are not at all affiliated with Merry Maids and that business was closed by the franchise last year. I established the best outcome without the help of the client due to the insults that were delivered to my office by email. Yes I find it very unusual that someone can wave on service providers and in the end assume it was free. It seemed the husband was all too prepared to argue every aspects of my business to the point of total disregard for our operations. We have in fact updated our estimating system to ensure no one every makes the mistake of assuming we do not charge by the hour per person. We do not wish to continue this conversation as it is a total waste of our time when clients just don't listen or take into account their behavior can significantly effect how a transaction will go. I personally have serviced thousands of local customers without such a fall out, as we work very hard to help everyone we can with kindness, trust and transparency.