Frequently Asked Questions
Service: With one call or email you can:
* Change your cleaner whenever you want to
* Get a temporary domestic cleaner to cover your regular cleaner's sickness or holiday.
* Can have the same person each visit
* Have experienced and trained consultants to help and assist you
How can I be Assured that I will be Satisfied?
1. Our clients love our cleaners, and have the comfort of knowing that we have around 500 carefully vetted domestic cleaners all over the London area, and they can interview and change their cleaner as often as they like.
2. Amy Cleaning provides a domestic cleaning service to over 2000 very satisfied households every week. This because we:
* Are the largest non franchised domestic cleaners agency in the UK.
* Have branches in Central London, Finchley, and Kingston and will be opening soon in Bristol, Guildford, Bromley and St. Albans.
* As well as households, we serve large and small companies and organisations, such as the top lifestyle Management Companies & Concierge Services, Estate Agents, Property Management Companies, Health Centre’s. We also work with local councils who use our services clean the houses of residents in care, local schools and so on.
3. Our Cleaner Vetting and Monitoring is very strict. All potential cleaners require:
* 2 written references which we carefully check
* Proof of Address
* Identification
* Permission to work in the UK
* Next of kin details
* Passed our oral, written, and practical exams, for English, cleaning and customer service.
* Our testing is very stringent, and we would be delighted to send you copies of their references, exams and vetting details.
We have on average 150 cleaners in each area, and for one off cleaning and temporary cover we can often get you a cleaner for the very same day. However the process is slightly longer for permanent placements as we need time to find the right domestic cleaner to meet your individual requirements.
We carefully go through our database to find a domestic cleaner that will match your requirements perfectly, so the more information you can give us in the initial order, the better we can serve you.
We want to ensure that many years after the cleaner started cleaning your home, you are still incredibly happy with the service and you will fully understand why it can take up to five days to find the right domestic cleaner.
Please inform us in the initial order if you would like ironing as part of your service. We can them make sure you get the right domestic cleaner with excellent ironing skills. This is all part of the service and the same hourly rate as cleaning.
We expect domestic cleaners to iron to a minimum of seven men’s working shirts per hour. We use this as a measure of a cleaner's speed, so for example:
* A t-shirt is equivalent to 1/5th of a long sleeved man's working shirt.
* A pair of standard trousers is equivalent to 3/4 of a long sleeved man's working shirt.
Our customers love our domestic cleaners to do their ironing for them, and when you look at this speed with the amount that Amy charges, this is so much cheaper than a dry cleaners or launderette, for a service that is easier and much more personal.
Because our domestic cleaners are carefully vetted and monitored we have no problems with key security.
However we recommend using the Key Security Deposit form if you do decide to give your domestic cleaner any keys. This will give you peace of mind that the keys will be well looked after and they will not fall into other people’s hands.
The form can be found on the My Amy page, which can be found in the above end tab.
We use your cleaning materials to keep your house to the standard you require. Some customers like their cleaner to leave a note saying what they need or have run out of and they simply add it to their regular supermarket shopping. We do this because:
* It is much more economic. Companies that bring their own cleaning materials have to charge twice as much, due to the running of a car and its associated costs such as parking and the time lost through taking the materials to and from your home. Also cleaners with driving licenses are in shorter supply and so they are much more demanding, this of course would mean much higher salaries which can lead to a disappointing cleaning experience at a much higher price.
* Some houses the cleaners attend to are very dirty and you would never want the cleaning materials to be used in yours, our domestic cleaners have come across such problems like fleas, mites, extreme dirt and all sorts of other horrible things.
* Customers like the comfort of buying the cleaning materials they like, so their home can smell and feel exactly how they want it to be.
What is the minimum amount of time a cleaner can come for?
Each area has a different amount of minimum hours per job.
These are according to:
-the local market rates in those areas that local domestic cleaners can get, this is whether it is through other cleaning agencies, or people finding a cleaner directly.
-the amount of local people wanting domestic cleaning work.
For example in Central London it is currently 2 hours per visit for a weekly job, or 4 hours per visit for a fortnightly job.
However in Esher in Surrey it is 4 hours for a weekly job as well as 4 hours for a fortnightly job.
Please use the online quoting tool on the website, or call the office to find the minimum amount of hours a cleaner will do a job for in your area.
We ensure we stick to these market rates so we can get great cleaners, who in turn will do a great job for you.
The cleaners will go for the best regular domestic cleaning jobs they can get, we have found that a cleaner who is willing to do a job that is less than those hours per visit, normally accepts it because they cannot get cleaning jobs that are those hours or more elsewhere. This is normally because the cleaner is not very good.
Also we find that if a job is less than these hours, a cleaner may take it on temporarily as in the short term they need work. However the cleaner is normally then constantly on the look out another job where there are more hours per visit.
So although customers may at first be pleased, later on they are annoyed by the number of times their cleaner has changed as a result of this, so it is something we prefer not to start.
Sadly a visit which is less than those hours is not economic for the cleaner, by the time they have:
* Travelled to your home, even if it is close, which is something the agency will do it's best to ensure is the case. However in some areas that cleaners literally cannot afford to live in, there will inevitably be some travel time needed, which is why they may have a higher minimum number of hours per job.
* Likewise travelled to their next customer, even if it is nearby.
* Read your requirements, taking and organising the cleaning materials and machinery from your cupboards, putting them back, and so on.
* All the other things that happen with cleaning jobs.
The Agency Fee includes insurance for damage to property.
The insurance has a £100 excess as it is designed for major damage and bleach spills are not covered.
Please kindly also inform us promptly or in advance where possible, of any changes to when you use the cleaner.
The excess:
The excess is purely because
* For claims under £100 it costs more to process the claim, than the amount of the claim itself.
* A good and thorough cleaner will break a glass every few years simply because they are human. If a glass or mug is never broken, it means they are never cleaning anything.
* Without the excess, clients were claiming for everything such as an iron that simply broke because it was old, when the cleaner had done nothing wrong with it.
The above would increase the price of insurance for all our customers.
Bleach:
Please note that the insurance does not cover bleach damage. This is because bleach whitens things but does not actually clean them, so it is better to use other cleaning solutions.
Just to be sure customers tend to not give their cleaner access to any cleaning products containing bleach.
Changes of times and days:
The insurance cover requires that it is aware of the times and days you have your cleaner.
If you change days, times or do not use a cleaner for a certain clean or cleans, please simply inform the agency in advance where possible, or within 2 working days of the clean.
This is so the insurance can be transferred onto these different hours or added to your account to use in future. If you do use these hours at a future date we need to inform the insurance in advance.
They also need the client to say the changes directly to the agency and not through the cleaner.
Getting the most from the cleaning agency
We really want you to get the very best from our service, if there is anything you are not happy with we would love it if you could please can you kindly contact us as quickly as possible so that we can try and resolve it.
* Please call the agency If ever you would like us to allocate you a new cleaner, have a temporary one to cover your regular cleaner’s sickness or holidays.
* The better the direct feedback you give us, the better we can understand and serve your needs.
* We recommend contacting the agency directly if there are things you would like us to do, rather than asking the cleaner to tell us.
We really want you to be happy and find a major part of that is making you feel comfortable to tell us so if there is anything you are ever not totally satisfied with, no matter how small.
As your cleaning agency the worst thing for us to hear is “for the last few weeks the cleaner has been mediocre, or not great on a certain aspect of their cleaning” or any other issue. We really strive for you to receive great cleaning in every way.
Clients do of course normally find out about things before we do, if we were told earlier we would have been able to sort out the problem immediately.
Also we would love to know not just for you, but for the other customers who use the same cleaner:
We find that if a customer does not contact us quickly, the customer gets more annoyed and the problem does not get better. The customer is unhappy so leaves the agency, the cleaner and the agency loose the job when it could have easily been resolved at an earlier stage.
Sometimes the customer does not want to contact the agency to be nice to the cleaner, but of course it eventually results in the customer leaving the agency which is worse :
* The cleaner looses the job and has been denied the opportunity for retraining, or whatever could have solved the problem.
* If the problem would be resolved by the current cleaner being changed, the cleaner looses the job anyway, but also another would be replacement cleaner is denied the job as the customer has left the agency, so it does not help anyone.
*The loss of the customer also means the agency gets smaller so cannot re invest in growing the business which in turn provides jobs for more cleaners.
Also, if you are ever not happy with your cleaning consultant at the office there are feedback links on every page of our website that go straight to a feedback form. This goes straight through to senior management who investigate every issue.
We really want you to be happy, so if there is anything you are ever not totally happy with, no matter how small, please let us know
As your cleaning agency the worst thing for us is if a customer tells us, "for the last few weeks the cleaner has been okay" or any other issue.
If they had told us we could have sorted the problem immediately.
We want to make you feel comfortable to tell us if there are any issues, no matter how small so that we can sort them out for you.
So if there are any issues, please do give us a call.
We would love to know not just for yourself, but for the other customers who use the same cleaner.
Also, if you are ever not happy with your cleaning consultant at the office there are feedback links on every page of our website that go straight to a feedback form. This goes straight through to senior management who investigate every issue.
I do not have the internet features in these Q&A
If you are not able to log into the site and see your cleaner, request a new cleaner, cancel your license online and so on, this is because:
-You joined before we launched our web 2.0 service in December 2008. You still have the same features you had when you joined and please do call or email the office for all your cleaning needs. We will be migrating you onto the new system as quickly as possible.
-You decided to join our offline service by joining with a paper based joining pack. We have found that customers who did this, did it because they preferred this service, but please do contact us if you would like to be moved over to the online service, the terms and prices are the same.
As you can imagine it takes a while to move over 2000 customers and 350 cleaners onto this new system and we are doing this very carefully to ensure everyone gets a seemless transition.
If I am not happy with my cleaner ?
We are ready and waiting to help you, please call the agency as soon as possible.
We really want you to be happy, so if there is anything you are ever not totally satisfied with, no matter how small please let us know so that we can speak to your cleaner, allocate a new one or whatever is needed to rectify the problem.
Having a cleaner is a very personal thing, we often liken ourselves to a dating agency, for example:
-A cleaner that one person loves for their diligence and detail, another person could find slow and annoying.
-Another cleaner that one customer loves because they are quick and have a good traditional sense of house cleaning, another person may not like because they find them a bit pushy.
Although people are normally delighted with the first cleaner we recommend. Please do feel free to try out many cleaners to make sure you have the cleaner that is best for you, we really want you to be happy and of course we need your help and feedback to do this.
As your house cleaning agency the worst thing for us is if a customer tells us “for the last few weeks the cleaner has been okay” or any other issue.
Even worse is if a customer is not happy about something, maybe even a small thing, but decides not to tell the agency to be nice to the cleaner.
Such unresolved things are comparable to untreated blisters, in the end if untreated 'the blister bursts', they get upset with the cleaner, so stop using the cleaner and the customer may even leave the agency. Of course if we were told about it in the beginning, we would have retrained your cleaner, changed them or done what was needed to sort things out so there would not have been a problem.
This is another reason why we encourage clients to tell us if there is anything they are not happy with, so we can sort things out at the beginning and there are not any problems.
If they had told us we would have sorted it out immediately.
We want to make you feel comfortable to tell us if there are any issues, no matter how small so that we can sort them out for you. We rely on quick, clear and loud feedback.
We would also love to know not just for you, but for the other customers who use the same cleaner.
So if there are any issues, please do give us a call.
Also, in the very rare situation that you ask for a completely new cleaner and we fail to do so within 4 working days, so you do not have a clean for a week, we can issue you a credit note.
Of course we need you to have been asked for a replacement cleaner or we would not have known about the issue to have been able to serve you.
There is a Credit notes questions and answer in the Payments part of this Q&A section.
Also, if you are ever not happy with your cleaning consultant at the office there are feedback links on every page of our website that go straight to a feedback form. This goes straight through to senior management who investigate every issue.
Babysitting, nannies, au pairs, carers, waitresses, personal assistants, chauffers, butlers, office cleaners etc.
Very often a customer who is using a cleaner, builds up a relationship with that person and decides they would like to use them for providing other non cleaning services.
We cannot define all the things that people have chosen to use our cleaners for, but they include babysitting, nannies, au pairs, carers, waitresses, personal assistants, chauffers, butlers, office cleaners and all kinds of other things.
You will be pleased to know that the agency charges and terms and conditions are the same no matter what kind of different role(s) you use the person for.
Also if you need more hours for these things, please do contact us directly. We need to know directly as our agreement is between yourself and us, so please do not ask the cleaner to tell us.
We specialise in supplying domestic cleaners and so would never recommend using our service for finding someone for these other roles, but it is not for us to say against it if a client decides they would like to use their existing cleaner for other duties. Cleaners are often very skilled in many other things such as cooking, babysitting and so on, as a result the customer has made a wise choice.
An example of this is a lady who cleans during the day and babysits in the evening, and other similar situations.
Please note however that the insurance you get as part of the agency fee can only cover domestic cleaning work done inside your home.
Also as we are a domestic cleaning agency service, our recruitment focuses on people that are for that requirement. So if your needs are for an different industry whose regulations require qualifications such as CRB checks etc., then that would not be part of our standard recruitment procedure, however we can do many things such as CRB checks seperately for you upon request.