Smell Home Sweet Home Cleaning Svc.
Raleigh, NC 27603
Testimonials
I’m a single parent of two and I maintain a demanding work schedule. Needless to say, sometimes things fall through the cracks and I struggle with housekeeping. I’m amazed by what LaTonya was able to accomplish in such a short period of time.Without question, I’m a very happy client. I’m glad that I found Smell Home Sweet Home Cleaning Service.
I called Smell Home Sweet Home when I needed a move-out clean on a really short notice and LaTonya was great about getting in touch with me and coming out to my house with just a couple of days notice. My house was spotless when she was done and her price was great! I would definitely reccomend Smell Home Sweet Home to anyone.
Ms. La'Tonya is very professional, from the emails, to the reminder phone call, and up until she came by my house to conduct the move out cleaning service. My house is very clean, especially the fridge and bathrooms. The only recommendation I had was to bring more people to help clean. She cleaned my house by herself and it took 6 hours. Other than that, I highly recommend this cleaning service to anyone.
Excellent communications and a pleasure to work with! Would recommend to others.
Very good experience - completed all that we asked and worked in a professional manner. You won't go wrong with this service.
Please take the time to read this. I know that it is long but I want to provide as much information as possible. I don't give a one-star review lightly. If I could provide a lower review, I would.
I bought a Groupon for 4 hours of deep cleaning. I am looking for a company that I can have in about every 2-3 weeks to do some of the deeper cleaning I don't have time to do. Basically clean the bathrooms, a good scrub of the kitchen counters, a light dust, and mop the floors. I have a 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 3000sqft house. I only need maybe half of that in floors done (all hardwood or linoleum). I am only looking for any dusting to happen on 3 surfaces in the Master Bedroom, and 4 surfaces in the Living Room. I've bought many of these Groupon deals as an "interview" of sorts trying to find a good company. I am not unfamiliar with the process and understand what I should expect.
First of all, I contacted the company at least 3 times without a response. Then I went into the Groupon app to find that the voucher had been marked redeemed. Thankfully, Groupon Customer Service is outstanding and made my voucher available again. I don't know if this was an error, but in some digging after-the-fact I found that this has happened multiple times with this company. Once I reached out to the company again via their website email, I was asked to text for an appointment. While I understand that this is becoming an accepted way to do business and make appointments, I would have rather stayed with email. The initial email asking me to text didn't even contain a phone number. That had to be requested. Once the appointment was made I didn't hear back from them again. I had to send a text to confirm the appointment the night before. Nothing had been sent since the appointment had been made 2 weeks prior.
I bought a 4-hour session. I recognize in housecleaning, this is labor hours, and that a team (usually 2) is sent in. I was never asked how big my house was, what I was looking for, or any other questions that would have determined a larger than average team would be needed.
What I was not expecting was a team of 6! That is 40 minutes of labor per person. 40 minutes is not what I would consider sufficient time for anyone (even "professionals") to do a deep clean of an area.
The first serious issue started before they even entered my home. I have a 140lb Great Dane, a 65lb English Bulldog, and a 13lb Chihuahua. Of course they started barking as soon as someone knocked on the door. I went outside and closed the door to be able to talk to the person who knocked. That's when I found out that at least 4 of the 6 people that were there were afraid of dogs. Two of them to the point that they could not even LOOK at them. I recognize that my one boy is very large. However, their reaction was completely over the top. The dogs are kept from the front entry room by a 36" baby gate. They weren't barking, or charging the gate in any way. They asked if I could put them "away". I asked "Like where?". The response was "outside or the garage or something". No. It's August, and nearly 90 degrees outside. That heat can be deadly for an English Bulldog. If someone on their teams (obviously multiple someone) are *that* afraid of dogs, then it should be the employers’ responsibility to find out if there are dogs at the house or not. My dogs live here. You don't.
When they did come in two people "hid" either on the stairs or around the corner where they couldn't see the dogs. I directed the crew upstairs and explained that I just needed the 2 bathrooms upstairs cleaned, the floors vacuumed or swept, and mopped. The only floors that I needed done were the hallway, the Master Bedroom, and the bathrooms. The 4 other bedrooms were not to be done, and their doors were closed so there could be no confusion. I also requested the one dresser with the TV get dusted (approximately 18x24).
5 people went, and remained, upstairs. I thought perhaps a supervisor was going to give out tasks or something.
Downstairs I found the single person remaining and explained what I needed. The half bath cleaned, the floors (Front-Entry Room, Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Half Bath), and the kitchen surfaces - including the microwave -cleaned.
None of the people that went upstairs came down again before it was time to leave; less than an hour after they arrived, and not 40 minutes after they started. Once the part of the team that had been upstairs was finished they were repeatedly calling to the ONE person downstairs asking if she was done. I work from home. Usually I don't find having cleaners in to be disruptive. But when someone is calling to someone else past my office, it is very disruptive. Thankfully I was not on a conference call at that time.
When she said she was done it was a quick "ok we're done" and then they were gone. I wasn't even given the opportunity to see if I was happy with it. Which is probably why they left in that manner.
Here is a list of what was NOT done downstairs:
1. Kitchen counters
2. Kitchen sink
3. Microwave - the inner plate was washed and left on the counter.
4. Kitchen floors
5. Dining Room floors
6. Living Room floors not mopped
7. Downstairs dusting
8. Half bath trash
From what I can tell the toilet, sink and mirror were cleaned, and floors in the living room and half bath were swept. Considering there was only one person doing the work I’m not surprised by this. She was pleasant, and didn’t mind the bulldog following her around to see what she was doing.
The list of what was NOT done upstairs:
1. Dusting the ONE item that needed it.
2. Mirrors in the master bath.
3. Master bath shower door.
4. Master bath counters. Some items were moved and not returned to their original position. There was a wax mark still on the counter.
5. Main bath shower curtain was left open with askew curtain hooks.
6. Counter items were not returned to a “put away” position.
7. The dog crate was moved and swept around. However, it was left sitting in the middle of the hallway.
8. Master bathroom trash can was not put back in position.
To have such a list of extreme basics missed on what should have been a “deep clean” is extremely disappointing. I understand that having a fear of dogs is a common thing. This is not the first time I’ve run into this with cleaners (they received a negative mark for not being prepared). But this was by far the worst job I’ve ever had done. I could have done all that I was willing to pay for in two hours without a problem – I do it often. Two competent cleaners should have been able to complete what I was looking for in two hours and then some additional things as time allowed. Six incompetent cleaners spending 40 minutes is not the same.
Spending any amount of money, especially $99, to still have to spend an hour myself completing the tasks I paid for is unacceptable.