ECOPHY - cleaning company

[samderby]

First of all, sorry if this is in the wrong place.

Anyway, I moved out of my 4 bedroom rented house last Wednesday. The Tuesday before, I had arranged for ECOPHY, a cleaning company, to conduct a full end of tenancy clean, including all carpets and the cooker. The cost for this was £350.

After the clean, I had a quick look around, said I was happy, and paid them the sum in cash.

So the day after, I meet with the landlord to do a handover inspection. It turns out that they had barely touched the kitchen. None of the cupboards were cleaned inside or out, the tiles above the oven were greasy still, the fridge hadn't been cleaned, the surfaces hadn't been cleaned and the floor was sticky (I believe they had mopped them, but with what I have no idea).

On top of this, there are still marks on the carpets in most rooms.

On that Wednesday, I phoned them up to complain and they said they would send someone out to do the kitchen again this week. I still had not had a confirmation from them, so emailed them today saying it needed doing ASAP, or I would have to do the work myself. In this case, I would expect a full or partial refund.

Shortly after, I recieved this as a reply:

 

"Dear ***** Regarding your email about the cleaning we conducted, I am sorry to hear that you are not happy. On the day you was shown around the property and you said you was very happy, then after the inspection you paid the account in full. The point you make about the cooker, we cleaned hundreds of ovens and it all depends on where you are starting from, the oven we cleaned for you was in a very state and not cared for, so in the time allowed the clean was exceptional. The same applies to other areas of the property including the kitchen, the floor had a thick film of dirt that was about 2 mm thick in parts and had stuck fast. When it comes to cleaning, there is only so much we can do in a set time and it depends on how dirty the item is when you start, and sorry to say we was starting from ground in dirt.

 

However, under the circumstance you so that you could remove some of the stains in the carpet, I do not believe this possible as some of things are ink, I am will to refund £25 as a good will gesture. I am not prepared to send a new team to the property as I believe the £350 including vat was good value for money, and this was a discounted price already. The property was fair dirtier than expected and the job conducted was over and above, we even cleaned urine of the walls and scrub the skirting in the downstairs toilet which was covered in urine.

 

Please provide you bank details for the good will gesture so we can send you the £25.

 

Regards

 

*****

 

Ecophy Cleaning Services Ltd"

I am considering a small claims case against them, but I am unsure of my legal position. Can I claim money back for a job poorly done? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[citizenB]

Hmm, the fact is that you said you were happy and paid for the clean.

 

I am not quite sure on what basis you can now say that you aren't.

[steampowered]

You would need to show either (1) they did not do what they promised and so they are in breach of contract, or (2) they did not exercise due care and skill.

 

If it was simply a matter of them failing to do the cleaning, then I guess you would have a claim. However you cannot expect more than an average reasonable cleaner could achieve in that time frame, so it depends on how dirty the house was when they started.

[samderby]

Well I have photos of all the work that was not done. In the kitchen, it wasn't just a case of work not done well, it was work not done at all. The carpets may possibly be simply too stained (young children with pens are messy...) so I may be prepared to let them off on that.

There were 2 cleaners from 9.45am until 5.30pm, they never gave any allusions to it being too much work for them. I showed them around the entire house in the morning, and they said it was all fine.

Would it be reasonable then to simply get another cleaner (we have a gardener that also has a cleaning company) to give us a quote on the work that needs re-doing and ask for that amount back from ECOPHY?

I'm not after any profit or compensation here, I just want what I pay for to be done right.

[MaxxPower]

The problem is that you said you were happy when the cleaners left. Their position will likely be that any demonstrated mess/dirt must have been created after they were finished cleaning since you said you were happy and paid in full.

You'll likely find it very hard, if not impossible, to get anything more than the £25 goodwill gesture they've already made.

[steampowered]

I guess you paid for two cleaners to be there all day. That is quite a long time, personally I would expect them to have cleaned the kitchen. However I guess this does depend on how dirty and how big your house is, so it is difficult to say either way over an internet forum without hearing both sides of the story.

 

You could get someone else in to do the job, and if they are shown to be in breach of contract they would be liable for the reasonable costs of putting things right. Realistically they are probably unlikely to pay for it without going to court.

[raydetinu]

A bit risky to take them to court? dont think you would get anywhere, and the stress!!

Can you not clean the cooker and other areas yourself if it needs it.