“You broke my stuff!”

whimsy
If it’s irreplaceable, please let us know so we can be extra careful or perhaps recommend that you handle it personally! (via jenny downing)

Fifteen years in business, hundreds of houses cleaned thousands of times. It would be nothing short of a miracle if our staff never broke a single thing. But unfortunately, it does happen. 90 percent of our complaints—and we don’t get a lot—are about something we accidentally broke during a cleaning. So let’s talk about this, honestly:

We ‘fess up to it.

The second something breaks, our cleaning team informs our head office, and leaves a note for you. If you’re present on the premises, you’ll hear directly from our staff.

We’ll replace or pay to fix what we broke—within reason.

We never set out to destroy your things, and we hope you’ll take us at our word when we say that we take the utmost care with your home and your belongings. So, that lamp from Target, the LL Bean clock, the Ikea water goblet? We’ll buy you a new one or pay to fix it. But we do have to be reasonable, and we hope you will too. If you have an irreplaceable item, or an antique that’s past fixing, please alert us and clearly mark it off. That way we can leave it alone.

Why do we even end up breaking things that you’ve had forever?

Very simply, you may have owned your things for years, but we’re the ones who clean them – pick them up, turn them over, dust them, clean them, and put them back on a regularly scheduled cleaning service.

Are we going to fire the person who broke your things?

We don’t fire staff for breakages. And although we will pay to replace or fix your belongings, it will not come out an employee’s paycheck. As a matter of fact, we invest time and resources during our training program to produce staff who are efficient, but mindful and careful of their surroundings and your belongings. Our aim is for staff to work towards a zero breakage shift.

“Maybe you could just slow down!”

You’re right, we probably could slow down, and the staff is mindful to work as carefully as possible. However we walk a fine line between doing a great job for you and staying in business. If we spent twice the time we do at your house, we’d probably never break a thing. Unfortunately, we’d also have to charge twice as much and probably be out of business soon!