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 re-cleans for free and apologises, even when the clean actually happened.

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

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" gives somebody a list to check. "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 sit quarterly or monthly in the contract. They sit 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 shows the disarm and arm times, and the code behind each. That record belongs to the client's building, not to you, which is what makes it persuasive. Ask the client for a code 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 where somebody fills it 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 wherever a client disputes presentation standards. A photo of a clean bench at 9.40pm answers an email about a dirty bench at 8am. The office's own staff have been in for an hour by then.

Supervisor inspections close the loop. The site scores against the scope. Anything falling short records its location, date, required remedy and completion deadline. That is the corrective action format the guide describes.

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. The scope comes first. If the task is not in it, say so, and offer a quote.
3. Attendance and time on site for that night come next.
4. Then the checklist and any photos for that area.
5. Where somebody did miss the task, re-clean it at no charge, and say what has changed so it does not recur.
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. Where time on site sits at the limit and tasks still go missing, the hours sold cannot cover the scope. The fix is a price or scope conversation with the client, not another apology.