How many "accidents" are ok with house cleaners?

[Anonymous]

My cleaners just broke a vase. This is the fourth time they've broken something in the past year or so. That's a bit beyond acceptable, no? I otherwise really like the service, it's been one of the best we've used in terms of communication, availability, flexibility, etc... but I'm getting a little frustrated with having to let these things go. What would you do?

[Anonymous]

What are the other three items?

[Anonymous]

No that is crazy. I’ve had the same cleaner for twenty years and she’s maybe broken two things ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My cleaners just broke a vase. This is the fourth time they've broken something in the past year or so. That's a bit beyond acceptable, no? I otherwise really like the service, it's been one of the best we've used in terms of communication, availability, flexibility, etc... but I'm getting a little frustrated with having to let these things go. What would you do?

When you say let these things go, do you mean you aren’t asking the service to cover the cost of the broken item? If so, I would start asking for that.

[Anonymous]

Mine broke 2 things in the span of a few months. I realized it was when she had her adult son cleaning with her. He is not very careful. The first I let go because it was cheap and I didn’t care. I did ask her to pay for a lamp they broke because I had just bought it.
She let me know both times.

They haven’t broken anything else in close to a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No that is crazy. I’ve had the same cleaner for twenty years and she’s maybe broken two things ever.

When mine broke a lamp, she offered to buy a replacement. And it was the only thing broken over many years.

[Anonymous]

No way. I would find someone else. It’s crazy you would pay someone to break things. Communication should be baseline. We finally landed on cleaners that work well for us. We don’t expect everything to be spotless, but we do expect nothing to be damaged. For example, if they can’t get a surface completely clean, that’s ok. We would rather them be gentle than to try and scrub so hard that they leave scratches on the glass, stainless steel, chrome, or wood surfaces.

[Anonymous]

Take them out back and get the switch.

[Anonymous]

That is a lot. I have had two things total broken in the course of 4 years. One was an iron and while that is fine (I think it got knocked over and cracked), I was annoyed that my 17 year old was home at the time and the cleaners did not mention it to him and just left it. So I raised that issue with them, but said I understood that accidents happen and the breakage itself was not an issue.

[Anonymous]

That really seems like a lot.

We had one big issue in 15+ years. We use a firm. Our then-regular cleaning team once pushed a heavy piece of furniture (unclear why as it was not part of the cleaning routine) and it create a deep gash in the wood floor. They did not tell us (e.g., call, leave a note) and we saw it that evening once home from work. We called and left a message after hours and heard back the next morning. Their insurance covered our choice of workers and the repair (relatively new home so builder provided his carpenter). We continued with cleaning company, though asked for a new team, as we could not trust due to lack of communication.

[Anonymous]

OP here. They've broken one very expensive item (a custom mirror); all other items have been relatively low-cost. She offered to cover the cost of the mirror, but at the time, we just decided to handle it (chalking it up to accidents happen). But this is just too far. I hate to make these ladies, who arguably don't make much money, cover the cost, but I'm definitely at the point. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of finding a new cleaner!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. They've broken one very expensive item (a custom mirror); all other items have been relatively low-cost. She offered to cover the cost of the mirror, but at the time, we just decided to handle it (chalking it up to accidents happen). But this is just too far. I hate to make these ladies, who arguably don't make much money, cover the cost, but I'm definitely at the point. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of finding a new cleaner!

If they're from a service they are likely to be bonded/insured. Probably won't be out of their pocket.

But that's an insane amount of breakage. My housekeeper hasn't broken anything in 10+ yrs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. They've broken one very expensive item (a custom mirror); all other items have been relatively low-cost. She offered to cover the cost of the mirror, but at the time, we just decided to handle it (chalking it up to accidents happen). But this is just too far. I hate to make these ladies, who arguably don't make much money, cover the cost, but I'm definitely at the point. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of finding a new cleaner!

HTH do you break a mirror?

[Anonymous]

This is the 4th time? Absolutely not in my house. Once the break 2 items they are banned.

[Anonymous]

That’s a lot. It’s happened maybe 2 or 3 times in the last seven years here. I think an accident every couple of years is understandable. Every couple of months would be too much for me.