Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/11/2025

  Type:Sales and Advertising 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 April 3, 2025 I called The Maids to seek a deep cleaning for my home. I talked to ******* and mentioned how my house was not cluttered or messy but I needed help with the deep clean part of it since I don't have as much time. I explained to her the service I was looking for (deep clean house, blinds, baseboards, door knobs, oven, fridge, kitchen cabinets, behind toilets, and all the small crevices where I can't clean on the daily). ******* mentioned that is something they could do and had an opening the following day on Friday the 4th. Once the group of 5 cleaners arrived I showed them everything I needed done. When they left and I did a walk through of my home i realized that they hadn't even done the bare minimal. There were so many surfaces that had not even been touched or dusted. They didn't even do a regular clean on most of the house. I was extremely disappointed because I even made sure to do a quick clean of my house so they could focus on the deep clean. I really feel like they took advantage that my house was not messy and they just rushed it. Throughout the cleaning they kept on saying that they had to hurry up because they had already been at the house for 30 minutes then 40. By the time I did the initial and final walk through, they had only been in my house for 45 minutes but charges me for a full hour and some minutes. A week later the group leader came back to try and fix the issue since I complained and the house was still not deep cleaned (attached photos). After the second time they went to my home i told them I was not satisfied and instead of understanding they continued to charge me the full $340. I was told the boss was on vacation so I wouldn't be charged until we talked and came to an agreement but the next day on April 11, 2025, I was charged $340. It is extremely unethical to withdraw money from my account without me authorizing it after i was not content with the service they provided. This has been the most unprofessional company.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/14/2025

  Your home was not messy or cluttered, but there was some heavy build-up, especially in the kitchen and the overall dusting.  As we've explained, there are things we are unable to do - like move large appliances due to the liability of damaging the floor, the appliance, or the employee.  We have to carry the liability and pay for that damage/injury.  We also explained why we clean the blinds the way we do. 

  Based on the conversation that we had with you this afternoon (4/14), your biggest concerns are the blinds and the small space between the stove/counter that we were unable to access.  As recorded by the *** and the team's paperwork, they were in the home for just over an hour and a half.  The team did miss some things with the dusting, and the field manager returned to address that.  While she was there, she also explained why she couldn't move the oven and why we don't damp wipe the blinds.  We charged for the team's work in the home, not the field manager's time.  When we talked after the field manager's return clean, we talked about the items you were still unsatisfied with, but there was no resolution because these were not part of the services we offer. 

  Prior to the field manager's return, I told her to ask you about payment because ****** had you marked as paying in cash.  The field manager was told that you intended to pay by card and told you that I would call you first.  I told you what the charge was and there was a bit of back and forth with that, and you asked about talking to ****** on her return; however, there was no agreement about waiting to charge.  Our policy states that if you don't pay at the end of the service, the card you used for booking will be processed the day after your service.  Because we talked and you weren't happy, I waited to process until after the callback was completed.

  We were unable to come to a resolution on the phone today because you think you shouldn't have pay, but the team spent a long time in your home and we honored our guarantee.  We are disappointed that the hot points in your home are beyond our service capabilities.  The only other option we would have had was if someone there, maybe you, could have pulled the stove out so the field manager could clean the space between the stove/counter top, but we couldn't take the liability.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/24/2025

  I'm not sure what the definition of heavy build up is to your company, for your standard of cleaning does not even fulfill a regular clean; nonetheless a deep clean. First and foremost the top of my microwave, stove, and refrigerator were left completely untouched first day of service. When I expressed my concern during the final walkthrough, the worker apologized and stated that the degreaser had been forgotten, which in-turn was the reason such appliances were bypassed (for the heavy build-up could not be removed without the proper cleaning supplies). Disappointed with such service, I then followed-up with ****** where I learned your company does not even carry a degreaser; therefore, how would it even have been possible to loosen up and clean such heavy build up" had it even been present in the first place? Not only was I displeaseddirectly lied to, but now I also had to go back and clean the appliances myself. The so-called heavy build-up came off so easy with a wet cloth and a ****** **** dish soap (showing laziness/lack of effort). ****** admitted the workers dropped the ball, yet why was I still charged full price? During the second time of service I found even more things that were not properly cleaned, let alone even touched. For example, throughout my whole house I only have 3 picture frames and all 3 were left dusty (absolutely ridiculous)! I hired for deep clean services meaning baseboards, ceiling fans, blinds, door knobsservices that I dont have time to do on a regular basis, etc but instead I was taken advantage of, for my house was left the same way I left it before your alleged cleaning services. 

  Its also a coincidence that the email pertaining to what your cleaning services do and dont include (emphasis on the dont) never made it to my inbox, not even my junk/spam folder prior to services. Now I know its because services would have been searched for elsewhere. I was never even given a call to confirm the service or to see if i received the email. I guess this is to later use as an excuse of why the job wasn't done properly since supposedly its on the email that was never sent. Below you will find a list of my vast complaints, alongside a number of your companies reasoning/excuses . 

  
  

  .Top of Microwave, stove, and refrigerator untouched (you guys don't carry degreaser)

  .oven was untouched(only do this in move out cleans. Not what I was told in the start)

  .Stove k**** were not wiped (they can break easily)

  .Ceiling fans and blinds still dirty & dustyeven after second day of service (your company does not use wet rags). It is impossible to properly clean blinds with just a duster, which is one of the main reasons I hired you, for I dust every week and know from experience wet rags are needed to thoroughly clean them. 

  .Couches weren't wiped down 

  .An entire room was ignored 

  .Restrooms left dirty, especially back of toilet and toilet seat. 

  .Entertaining room left untouched and dusty. 

  .Dining Room chairs were dusty and had not even been moved. Table wasn't wiped and overall room was left untouched. 

  .Did not receive email (had the incorrect email address and did not try to follow-up to obtain correct email address). 

  
  

  At the end of the day my house was left exactly the same way I left it; as shown in the pictures. The only thing you guys actually did do was mop, which I too expressed left a musty odor and greasy finish. 

  
  

  Pertaining to payment, I was never in denial of paying; however, your website states 100% work and satisfaction guaranteed. I was nowhere near satisfied. The fact that I am being charged for services that were never performed is baffling. ****** was not even willing to negotiate a discount of some sort, nor did she respect my request to avoid being charged until I was able speak with you in regards to a possible resolution. Your cleaning standards are shameful, your advertisement is false, and your customer service is unjust. ( not to mention yoi laughing on the phone twice and telling me BBB would handle this) *********** I received was far from a deep clean and nowhere even near a proper regular clean. It is disappointing that companies like this exist. 

   

  Attached are only a few pictures (only 5 are allowed) of the things that were still missed the second time around. Which don't even satisfy a regular clean. The pictures are also timestamped to prove these pictures are after the second clean. 

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/24/2025

  To whom it may concern:

  This is in response to complaint #********

  A couple great examples of "heavy build up" are the before photos of the microwave and the dusting.  Unfortunately, I was also limited on the photos that I could attach, so I picked two instances where you could see the difference easily.  No we do not carry a degreaser, the team arrived with all of their supplies, minus what they would carry into an empty unit clean.  Both of these photos represent the overall condition of the home - not messy or cluttered, but certainly in need.  

  When you stated you weren't happy, we immediately wanted to correct the issue and offered the field manager's return, per our guarantee.  With the exception of the blinds and the space between the stove/counter, she took care of everything that you pointed out to her while she was in your home.  She asked you to walk through with her when she was done, not only to make sure the things you pointed out were better than when she arrived, but also to catch anything else you didn't point out at the beginning.

  This response is the first time you've mentioned the top of the fridge or the couches.  The field manager is on vacation this week so I am unable to verify with her whether these areas were mentioned to her when she returned and if she addressed them while she was there.  

  ****** told you that she would be sending you a confirmation email when you booked.  On our end, there was nothing to indicate that the email was kicked back (like a mailer-daemon or notice of bad email) so as far as we could tell, you'd received the email.  You knew you were supposed to receive the email, so maybe you should have called and made sure that it was sent or asked for a resend when you didn't receive it.  Some email systems are finnicky, and we've run across instances where, for example, ******* won't recognize the email the first time it's sent.  I recently had a customer call to say that it hadn't been received and asked me to resend.  He stated that it happens like that sometimes with a new sender and he has to ask for things to be resent often.  From our end it showed as sent and no problems, but he was looking for the confirmation and attachments and when he didn't receive it, he called.  Since you booked the afternoon before the service, ****** confirmed the arrival time with you before hanging up with you.

  The after photo of the microwave still shows a layer of build up, but the field manager was able to take it down to a manageable level.  I'm glad you were able to work on it more.

  The oven wasn't touched, except on the outside.  The inside of the oven is cleaned as a special request, which you would have needed to talk with ****** about when you were booking and she would have told you about an additional charge, or for a move-in/move-out clean.  This was neither, so the interior of the oven wasn't cleaned.

  Stove k**** - As we talked about on the phone, the team didn't use a heavy scrubber on them because of the type of finish.  I know you said you've done it before, and that is evident from the photo of the back of the stove.  You can clearly see the scratches you've made in using a scrub pad around the knobs.  If our teams did that to that type of finish, even on the knobs, we would be liable and have to replace the parts or whole stove and we can't do that.  It's a lot of money to replace an appliance.

  Ceiling fans and blinds - This feels like going in circles, so I'll just say that you are correct, we do not use a wet cloth on these.  Especially in the condition yours were in, the dust would just turn to mud on the surface and make things much more difficult.

  When the field manager returned, the only complaint about the bathrooms was the area behind the toilet seat and the area around the posts at the base of the bowl.  She recleaned both of those areas while she was there and took photos as well.  She also recleaned the dining chairs, shelves that needed more attention, and the framed photos you mentioned.

  For a home that is cleaned/dusted weekly, there was a lot of build up and areas that needed some TLC.  Again, not messy and cluttered, but in need of cleaning.  I'm sorry for the things that we couldn't do, but I don't doubt that the team was working diligently the whole time they were there.  You were only charged for the time the team worked in your home, not full price, which would have been $360.  We honored our guarantee and had the field manager return to reclean.  We offered to have her come back again to reclean anything that wasn't the blinds or the space between the counter/stove, but you declined.  We feel that there is nowhere to go from here as it feels like we're just repeating ourselves, going in circles, and coming to no conclusion.  

  Regarding payment - When you talked to ******, you told her that you didn't want to pay.  She asked you several times what type of resolution you were looking for and after a few rounds of asking the question, you finally stated that you didn't want to pay.  As for our conversation, you and I discussed the price and processing payment, but there was never a discussion about holding payment until after you talked with ******.  As a courtesy, we waited to process charges until after the callback was completed instead of the day after the service as our Guidelines & Procedures indicate.

  --
  

  ****** ***** Sales/Marketing Manager The Maids of Tucson ************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/06/2025

  The cleaning was set up for the day after you called.  You also requested to limit the cleaning to the lower end of the estimate, and ****** told you we cannot do that, but told you that the team would not exceed the estimate without your authorization.  During that conversation with ******, she told you the time frame for arrival for the next day (I believe she said 1-2 or 1:30-2:30)and that the team would call when on their way. We always do courtesy calls the day before the service to confirm the time frame for the teams arrival, and since she was talking to you the afternoon before your service, she went ahead and told you the time frame.  She also told you that we would follow up with you the next business day after the cleaning. 

  With the email, again, the system did not give any indication that the email was kicked back, so there was nothing to tell us that the email had not been sent/received.  I do not know about you, but if I am told someone I am going to be working with is sending me some information and I do not receive it, I reach out to them to make sure they have the correct info and let them know that I have not received anything.  Not only would it be irritating to our customers, but it would also be doubly intrusive to call everyone we email to see if they received the email.  On the other hand, if the email to you had been kicked back or marked as undeliverablewe would have called you to confirm the information you provided, but that was not the case.  As far as we can tell, you received the email.

  Since we have been through this several times already, I am going to try to limit going back over the same things again.  The field manager took photos before/after,and she corrected everything you pointed out to her while she was there including, but not limited to, the framed photos, remotes, shelves, spaces around toilet seat hinges, screws under toilets, and top of microwave.  We can see in the after photo of the microwave top that the only portion the field manager was unable to access/clean, was the space beneath the grate where the grease has built up inside the machine.  There is nothing we can do about that.  The part of the stove that I was referring to is the back of the stove (where the clock is); I was referring to the scratches you can see there from your scrubbing.  I was not talking about the knobs; I was telling you that those scratches are the reason why the team did not use anything other than a soft cloth and cleanser on that surface the risk was highly visible and we were not going to do something to damage the surface more and then have to replace part of or the whole of your stove.  Just because it is metal/stainless steel,does not mean that it will not scratch.

  After going round and round with this, I admit that my reply may have taken a tinge of sarcasm as it gets a bit frustrating going in circles.  The comments I made regarding the microwave and overall condition of the home were to illustrate that the home, while neat, had heavy build-up that took a lot of work to contend with,and there was still more that needed to be done.  The team was there for over 1.5 hours, which is equal to roughly 6 hours for an individual. The field manager was there for another 2 hours.  We honored our guarantee in sending the field manager back to your home.  When I talked with you after the field managers return, you were still on the 3 things that we told you we do not do:  wet wipe blinds,wet wipe ceiling fans, and moving the stove and the reasons we do not do them.  You said that you still were not happy; I offered the field manager to return, but you said yourself that there was no point in her returning because the things you were not happy with, we do not do.  It is not that we cant do those things; it is that we have been in business for a very long time and have traveled that road before, so we dont do those things.

  Only after your submission here do other things come up (like bathroom cabinetry) that the field manager would have taken care of on her return she states that you pointed out some of the kitchen cabinets, which she took care of while she was there.  There was no mention of any other issues in the bathrooms than the toilet hinges/screws, which she also took care of while there.

  ****** tried to talk to you about a resolution.  There was a little more back and forth as she tried to get you to state a resolution that would be acceptable, but you kept going back to the things we do not do.  After asking you several times, you told her that you thought you should not have to pay at all.  To say that she did not try to reach a resolution with you is false. 

  Again, we offered everything we could, including endless time, another return of the field manager (except for the things we do not do),and tried to talk out a resolution.  At this point, we have nothing left to offer.