The Cleaning Authority - Chicago North Shore

Terrible service! Scheduled cleaning and got email confirmation of day of cleaning. On day of service, called to find out their time of arrival. Promised we would get call back. Never got a call back. Called a second time and were told they weren't coming today. Would never have bothered to tell us if we hadn't called them - TWICE. You try to get through to the local franchise and you always get routed to a national call center who usually know nothing.

They are reliable and always help out if I need to switch a day, but their cleaning is not as thorough as I would like. A lot of it has to do with the company and not necessarily the people. I think the company has rules on how they clean, and how long they have to do it. Usually 2-3 people come out and they are nice.

My cleaning people told me that they have to clean a certain way. There are certain things that they do that I think they should do more thoroughly, and they have to do it quickly. They kind of apologized that things weren't perfect, so it's not necessarily their fault, it's the company's rules that prevent them from doing their job.

There is not enough room to give all of the details but they do not clean as advertised and are in no way professional.

They have some system where they are supposed to give extra attention to certain areas each week on a rotation basis.  Well from what I experienced...this system does NOT work and essentially your house is NEVER cleaned properly.  As an example, the kitchen was the area of extra focus and I wiped a layer of dust off of the top of the refrigerator and the floors were never clean as I could go over them with a Swiffer and come up with a black pad.  Soap scum was left on bathroom fixtures, very easily cleaned by myself. 

The biggest insult to me as a consumer is that the cleaning is specified in writing and none of it was completed as stated.

Also, no one EVER checked to see if I was satisfied with the work, although this is also stated in writing and when I called to say I no longer require their services, no one bothered to call back and check with me as to why I no longer needed their services. 

Also, 2 people for 2 hours at 115.00 is too high, especially for the "false advertising" .  Frankly, highway robbery.

This is a franchise operation with the "owner/boss" providing false services and getting away with whatever he can, sorry to say.

I don't usually take the time to make a complaint and just move on but this "business" is as I stated earlier, an insult.

The cleaning was average quality, the ladies had difficulty putting things back where they found them, and there were several incidents that were just strange, e.g., putting a bar of soap from the shower into the water tank behind toilet. I arrived home once 45 to 60 minutes after their arrival but they had not begun to clean. When I reported these kinds of things it was either several days before I received a reply or I didn't hear at all. For these reasons I chose to find an alternative to TCA. $164/mo

They are great. The first two times I noticed they were skipping a thing or two, but I called Brian and the problem was taken care of immediately. I met with Brian last August (2013) to get an estimate and outline of services provided, and he told me that different people have different areas of focus, and that I should always feel free to give him a call if anything isn't satisfactory. He said he hates to lose a client because they didn't give him a chance to fix something, and he really means it. So since last September we have been thrilled with the service. I get a list of everything they're going to do the next visit, and a list of the and quot;areas of concentrationand quot; for the current visit. Each visit the cleaning crew gives our house an overall clean, then they provide a deep clean on a couple of areas. Many of my friends/coworkers roll their eyes about their cleaning service but are hesitant to give feedback or make a change. I always encourage them to call Cleaning Authority. Yeah they're a little more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

There was an illness in the family. That is the only reason I haven't used them in a while. I work and have a dog, so they made it convenient to come after I got off from work. I just called them so that I can start using them again.

We used the Cleaning Authority for about 18 months for bi-weekly cleanings. I chose them after trying out a few smaller maid services because of their consistent and quot;rotation cleaningand quot; system, and the fact that they provide their own green cleaning products.

The team that was initially assigned to our home was great. They carried a binder with notes about our home, and, in general, our specific requests -- such as not taking out the garbage because our trash day was less than 48 hours after cleaning day -- were followed consistently. However, on the occasions when a different team came to our home, it seemed that our house took some extra and quot;bumps and bruises,and quot; and our standing requests weren't always followed. For instance, our kitchen countertop was chipped, a guitar displayed on our wall was dropped, there would be a strong smell of chemical (not green) cleaning products, dirty throw rugs were left on top of my young son's bed, and our ricepaper-covered wedding album was ripped by being vacuumed and dusted. My husband and I both work full-time and have a three-year-old, and I was generally happy with our regular team's service, so I didn't complain about most of the incidents when they happened.

However, a few months ago, the company started to send different teams every time, and the quality and service we received began to deteriorate noticeably. I would occasionally leave short, polite notes, like and quot;please don't dust or vacuumand quot; on top of the delicate wedding album, if I noticed something had been amiss in the previous clean. But often, the damage was already done, and there was a different team in our home each time, so the consistency and follow-up on requests was gone. On two separate occasions during this time period, our microwave was damaged -- and ultimately broken -- because too much liquid was used in cleaning the keypad area. Both times, the microwave was working fine when I left in the morning, but not working when I returned after the cleaning service had been there. The first time, the control pad dried out after a few days and started working again; the second time, it shorted out and couldn't be repaired.

In December after the microwave broke, I got in touch with the owner of the location, Brian Chin, to inform him about the damage, and request that the team we'd previously had be reassigned to our home. He didn't return my message for a few days; when we spoke, he told me to and quot;let [him] know how muchand quot; our new microwave would cost, and said that he couldn't reassign the original team to our home -- with no explanation. A few weeks and two cleans later (during which our trash and recycling was taken out both times and placed in the wrong trash carts, despite my written request that it not be taken out, and sticky spots on our kitchen floor were left untouched), I e-mailed Brian to let him know the cost of our replacement microwave, and again request that the original team be reassigned to our home if the issues couldn't be resolved. I was surprised to receive his reply: and quot;...After careful consideration I think it best that we no longer service your account.... I think it best that we part ways.and quot;

Although I ultimately agree that Brian and his staff should not continue to clean our house (because they are clearly incapable/unwilling to provide consistent, careful service and take responsibility for damaging our home), I am shocked that he immediately chose to lose our business, rather than provide basic customer service. The last two times I contacted him were literally the only two times I had complained to the company during the whole length of our service, and I believe my concerns were fair and completely justified. We have not received any compensation for the replacement microwave.

They did fine work. They are reliable.

I had rotator cuff surgery and I could not do anything. So I started with them and they were coming ones every 2 weeks. I had to cancel just for budgetary issues. I needed to make some changes for myself. But it broke my heart to do it because they had taken such good care of me. When I can I will just pick them back. I needed to cut back on expenses. My sister had used them for the last five years and it was her recommendation. I was paying them each time they came. They were worth it. They did just the housework. I was in a townhouse so part of the association fee is already paid for the outside work. They did a great job. My house looked like brand new. It was so great to walk into your house It looked so wonderful. Each time they came they did the overall cleaning that was part of it and they would choose one area to do a really aggressive cleaning. When I started up with them they did major aggressive cleaning and they broke the house into two parts when they did that. Then after in their biweekly visits, they broke it up into four parts. They would do the over all plus the rotating part. They always left the explanation of what had been done and what is going to be done. They always left a written invoice, for the lack of a better term what the next plan is and what was done and all that. I just left the check each time. It was really great. Hopefully I will get them back.

They do an excellent job of cleaning. We've been using them for more than 2 years. They occasionally have broken or damaged something and they are very forthright and upfront about dealing with it. Accidents do happen. They are very good and do a really good job. We had used another cleaning service for a long time and we are much more satisfied with Cleaning Authority.

They do a very good job. I have not been well, and they are keeping the house cleaner than we have been able to do it. They are pleasant, and our house looks good when they are done. We have been pleased in that way. We haven’t had any sort of problem with them.