My cleaner keeps breaking stuff. What should I do?

[Huma0]

So, I spent most of my hosting years without a cleaner (really hard in London to find a good one) and finally found a lovely Brazilian couple who run their own small business (via a friend's recommendation). They are great, not the cheapest, but very fast and very thorough compared to most, so I feel it is worth it.

However, the past few months, they have assigned a very lovely lady to come clean my home. I like her a lot. She works hard. BUT, I feel like she is constantly breaking things. I am used to guests breaking/damaging things from time to time and sometimes, I cannot be 100% sure that the cleaner is the one who did it. Still, it seems uncanny that so many things get broken on a Monday afternoon (when she comes and usually no one else is around). These are small breakages, but sometimes they are something that leads to a costly repair, e.g. if you break a small piece of a mirror, the whole mirror is kind of spoilt, or if you damage a radiator valve, it doesn't just mean I have to pay for the cost of a replacement. I have to pay a lot more for a heating engineer to come out and fix it.

The first time it happened, she told me straight away. Those were some very beautiful vintage cocktail glasses I bought in Lisbon. I think she must have seen on my face how upset I was about it (I doubt I will ever be able to find/afford those same type of glasses again), so since then, she just denies breaking anything, but sometimes it is so obvious that she did it.

Maybe I am being too nice, but I don't want her to get fired or anything. 

What would you do in this situation?

[Huma0]

PS The cleaner comes once a week, and I would say there is some damage every two or three weeks, so it is really starting to add up...

[Sudsrung0]

@Huma0 

I guess you are tied between the devil and the deep blue sea, I imagine getting cleaners in London big problem,

For me it's easy here and fairly cheap, a lot of the cleaners are Burmese, 

[Huma0]

@Sudsrung0 

It's actually a nightmare. For a few years I had two great cleaners (one and then another recommended by the first). The first retrained as a book keeper and the second unfortunately had a back injury and couldn't manage my house with all the stairs anymore.

After that, I tried for years to find someone decent and reliable but was let down over and over, including by large agencies. I was so relieved to find this couple. The wife is literally the fastest and yet most thorough cleaner I have used (I think she must have a hotel background) and the husband is almost as good. They struggled at first to find a regular cleaner for me, so the husband was coming himself for quite a while, and that was brilliant. Now they have been sending the same lady for several months. She is so sweet and she works hard. I have never experienced so many breakages though. It's usually a very rare occurrence with cleaners, not a regular thing.

[Lenore22]

What if you brought up your concern with the Brazilian couple so they can start to address it (with training, etc)?

[Huma0]

@Lenore22 @Helen3 

The first time was the vintage glasses, which she came and told me about straight away and offered to pay for, but they were irreplaceable. I think she could see by my expression how upset I was and, since then, she just denies any knowledge (except for once when she broke something while I was nearby). 

I didn't mention the glasses because I thought it was a one off, but I did ask her boss about the next couple of breakages. The cleaner denied any knowledge. I haven't mentioned it again. Each time, I tell myself, if she breaks one more thing, I'm going to have to say something...

She's so nice and she works hard, so I don't want to get her into trouble, but she really does need to be more careful and it's starting to annoy me that she always says she doesn't know anything about it.

[Patti-And-Marty0]

Hi @Huma0 

Could the cleaner be under pressure to clean too fast?  I’ve found that’s when the accidents happen. I pay my cleaner by the hour and never question it, she’s good and worth every penny. In the past there were a couple incidents of breakage when we were doing back to back bookings,  which we don’t do anymore. Now it’s relax and take your time, much better. 🙂 

[Huma0]

@Patti-And-Marty0 

Yes, I think that is quite possibly the case. The couple who run the company (it's just a small family business, not a big agency) came to see the house and then told me how long it would take. They are very fast, no doubt, and the people they have sent in the past have also been fast. Perhaps this lady is finding it too much to manage though. 

I wouldn't say she's slow (by average standards) but it does take her longer than it takes her bosses, who are kind of like superhero cleaners! The other thing is that she's talking to someone on the phone almost the entire time. She's still cleaning at the same time, but I think it must be distracting. Also, she has a really weird method of dusting which involves whacking the dusting cloth on stuff really hard, which I am sure is not helping! 

[Helen3]

Ah then I think the phone is the issue then, as she will be distracted.

I use a cleaning company here and there was one cleaner they employed who was on the phone all the time and kept missing things. I explained to her that I was paying her to work, that she was missing things on the cleaning check list  and asked if she could take the calls outside of the hours she was working for me unless a school emergency etc. @Huma0 

She kept being on the phone all the time and missing things so I told the cleaning company I didn't want to use her services anymore. 

If you've asked her not to be on the phone and she still does it and is now lying about breakages, it sounds like you need to let her go.

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

I haven't actually said anything about the phone yet but I know that as much as some people can multi-task, it must be distracting. It's definitely not emergency calls or anything important. She is just chatting to someone while she is cleaning to make it less boring I guess.

[Helen3]

Hi @Huma0 

Oh dear. I've never had a cleaner break anything but would be really upset if a cleaner broke something valuable (financially or sentimentally) and didn't offer to replace (know that's not always possible).

The cleaning company you are using should have liability insurance so they can cover the costs of breakages/damages.

Personally when I lived in London I never had any problems finding cleaners and got them through word of mouth recommendations through our local Polish community.

What did the Brazilian cleaning company say ? This really is an issue for them to resolve.

[Ana2038]

@Huma0 , unless you are ready to accept more damage caused to your items, I’d say something to both parties and stress that you are not looking for a quick cleaner but a conscious cleaner who does her job efficiently without causing damage. 

Best of luck Huma

[Huma0]

Thanks @Ana2038 

Yes, I think I am just going to have to tackle this head on. I kept hoping the breakages would stop, but they haven't. 

[Lorna170]

@Huma0  My personal home cleaner was also a phone junkie while cleaning.  I asked her to stop using the phone as I found it distracting and arranged (invited) her to have a break with tea during which she can make her calls.  This tactic might help you too.

[Huma0]

Thanks @Lorna170  but I am not sure that would work as she's not just making a few short calls, she's literally on the phone almost the entire time she's here, I think to the same person. Some cleaners I've had in the past listen to music on earphones while they are cleaning to stop it being so boring I guess, but this lady chats with someone instead. Also, I'm not sure if she is allowed to take breaks whilst at clients' homes. I don't know what her bosses rules are about that.

Her being on the phone doesn't really disturb me, as it's a big house. It's just that it could be reason she's breaking things as it means she's distracted. I sense, however, that it's more to do with her rushing and her violent dusting technique! When she first started coming, she wasn't on the phone the whole time, but she still broke things...