Answering a missed clean complaint with evidence

"The kitchen wasn't done again last night." How that email ends depends almost entirely on what you can show about last night. A cleaning business with nothing but the cleaner's word ends up re-cleaning for free and apologising, whether or not the clean was missed.

A missed clean complaint is really one of three different complaints, and each is settled by a different record.

Three complaints that look like one

• The task is not in the contract. The client expected it; the scope never included it.
• The task was done, but not to the standard the client expects.
• The task was not done, or nobody attended.

Replying before you know which one you are dealing with is how a business ends up conceding the third when it was really the first.

Scope: is the task in the contract at all?

A scope of works that says "clean kitchen" settles nothing. PerfectOne's guide to managing cleaning contractors puts it the right way: document the required tasks by area, frequency and outcome. "Kitchen: wipe benches and splashback, clean sink, empty bins, mop floor, nightly" can be checked against. "Clean kitchen" cannot.

A common version is a periodical the client expects as a daily. The fridge clean-out, the microwave interior, the carpet steam clean and the high dusting are often quarterly or monthly in the contract and weekly in the client's head. If the scope says monthly, the answer is the scope, sent politely, with an offer to quote a higher frequency.

Attendance: was anyone there, and for how long?

When a client says nobody came, the question is whether you can show otherwise from something other than your own cleaner.

The building's own records

Where each cleaner has their own alarm code, the site's alarm system can show when the premises were disarmed and armed again, and under which code. That record belongs to the client's building, not to you, which is what makes it persuasive. Ask for your codes to be issued per person rather than one shared code for the company.

Your own time records

A sign in and out time per site, per cleaner, per night. A site book at reception works if it is filled in on arrival and departure. A time record kept at the end of the week from memory does not settle anything.

Hours also answer the standard complaint. A site allocated two hours a night that the cleaner is finishing in seventy minutes is a site where corners are being cut.

Tasks: what was actually done?

An area checklist per visit, ticked at the end of each area rather than at the end of the shift. The checklist mirrors the scope, so each tick is against a task the contract actually contains.

Photos are worth taking where presentation is the argument: the kitchen, bathrooms, reception. PerfectOne's guide recommends photos where presentation standards are disputed. A photo of a clean bench at 9.40pm is a short reply to an email about a dirty bench at 8am, when the office's own staff have been in for an hour.

Supervisor inspections close the loop. Score the site against the scope, and when something falls short, record the location, date, required remedy and completion deadline, which is the corrective action format that guide sets out.

Answering the missed clean complaint

1. Reply the same day to say you are checking, and give a time you will come back with an answer.
2. Check the scope. If the task is not in it, say so, and offer a quote.
3. Check attendance and time on site for the night in question.
4. Check the checklist and any photos for that area.
5. If the task was missed, re-clean it at no charge, and say what has changed so it does not happen again.
6. If it was done, send what you have, without arguing, and offer an inspection together.

Complaints that keep coming from one site

Repeat complaints from one site usually have a cause the records will show. The same guide lists insufficient labour, poor training, unclear instructions and unrealistic schedules as the things to look at before blaming the cleaner.

If time on site is consistently short, it is supervision. If time on site is consistently at the limit and tasks are still missed, the hours sold cannot cover the scope, and the fix is a price or a scope conversation with the client, not another apology.