Affordable Maids

The first week we had a little disconnect on what I wanted done. After speaking with them on this, when they came the next week they did an outstanding job! Thank you!!

Now, first I have had people come in and clean my own home so I have had experience with cleaning people and know what to expect. Unfortunately, the women I  have used are now older and are no longer cleaning people's home. And, even the people I know didn't know anyone who cleaned a house just one time which is what I needed.

I thought that the price was high, BUT the company was on Angies List, and now I am 70 years old it would save me a lot of exhausting work to have it done so I agreed to the high price and I believed the house would be nice and clean when the painter arrived the next day. 

The women were there working from 9:00am to about 4:30pm. I went over several times and one of the women was working both times washing woodwork but I didn't see the second women working and the the second time I went over I saw her sitting in the car on her cell phone and she never came in while I was there (for about 15 minutes.)

The next morning when the painter arrived and started working I looked closely at the work that had been done and NOT DONE. it was very clear the house WAS NOT nice and clean! The only window, I needed washed, the big picture window, was clearly just as dirty as it was when they came.  In the 1 (small) the bathroom - the floor, tub and cabinet were NOT CLEAN well and it was obvious that the women who cleaned the wooden floors in the bedroom had used the dirty mop to clean the the bathroom floor so the bottom edge of the bathroom tile was clearly covered with dirty wash water all around the bathroom and the bottom of the board in the bathroom was still grubby and so was the area around the handles on the cabinet door.

 In the kitchen the cabinets had been washed inside and the doors were somewhat clean (but not shiny clean) on the outside AND there STILL was a sticky dirty mess around ALL the handles on the kitchen cabinets.

I was VERY UPSET but the "damage was done". I couldn't have women cleaning while the painter was working, and the wooden floors were being sanded, or the plumber, and electrician were already scheduled so there was no time for the "the women to come back and do it right' Also, my painter was very upset that it was not cleaned well and felt bad I had to do all that work myself at 70 years old .When I told some of my other workers I've used for a number of years what had happened they thought that I had been clearly "ripped off"!

So, once the dust settled 2 1/2 months latter when the house was finally ready to rent again, I called the owner of Affordable Maids and in a pleasant matter of fact tone I told her that I didn't think the cleaning had done well and that it was not worth the money the money she charged. She became VERY IRATE!  Her response was "they don't do anything wrong and everything was MY FAULT! She told me that HER GIRLS ALWAYS DO A GOOD JOB! She now obviously angry at me and irate and she talked very loud and forcefully. I responded calmly with a pleasant tone that they had not done a good job.

Then she told me I should have called her the NEXT DAY and she would have sent "her girls" back"! She said, "IF my girls don't do a good job I send them back with out paying them! THAT IS HOW I TRAIN THEM" she was now yelling over the phone and clearly very ANGRY)

Again, in a pleasant matter of fact tone, I told her that I had made it very clear that I had a painter coming in the next day when I called her about cleaning the house SO she knew there was NO WAY "her girls" "to be trained at my expense"  And, I told her (again calmly in a pleasant matter of fact tone) that "I thought she had over charged me and I wanted at least some of the money back and, her response was to scream at me saying "I WILL NOT GIVE YOU ANY MONEY BACK!!! I told her that I was planning to call Angies List and she screamed "I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANGIES LIST!!!

At this point it was clear that there was nothing let to say and she was just verbally beating me up so my response was to say in a calm voice, "you are yelling at me and clearly you are not willing to be reasonable so this conversation is done and I am hanging up" ! , and I hung up.

So, using Affordable Maids was all around a very bad experience. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMENDED AFFORDABLE MAIDS TO ANYONE! And, I've told all my friends the story, and they said that "they will never use them and will tell others not to hire them"!

 I did signed up for  Angies List but after this experience I still don't know if I'll ever have the courage to call any company on your list again. I probably will only do so if I know someone who has used that particular company and had a good experience.


Charline Oelfke

They do housecleaning for me. They are on time every week. The first week I was here to show them around. They bring everything. Two women come and they bring 2 vacuums, they bring all the equipment, they bring all the cleaning supplies. After the first time, I leave a key for them so they can work. I come home and the house is nice and clean. They are here religiously every two weeks. I leave them a note on the kitchen table if one week I want them to do something that they didn't do before, like clean the refrigerator or the oven door. I leave them a note and they leave me a note back. I have been quite satisfied. The owner emails me every time and asks me how everything is going. She emailed me the other day to make sure they can schedule around the Monday holiday. I have a cat and I never have to lock up the cat. They are friendly, she is friendly and I don't have to worry about having to locking her up.

When I took a new 50 hour plus job, my husband and I knew we needed help. I called  Affordable Maids because very few people would come to our area. 
They explained how their service worked on my first phone call. They explained the first visit is a 'deep clean' followed by a maintenance cleaning service.   The staff made it clear they would give me an accurate estimate the day of service once they had seen my house. The staff showed up on time on the agreed upon date and gave us an estimate for the work we wanted done. They were considerate, did a wonderful job, and were professional. I was happy to pay them for the work they did. I am still thrilled to come home to a clean house instead of a disaster. I will be hiring them on an ongoing basis.

Received a text from Affordable Maids after I placed this review. They said that they wish I had told them the truth and they would have adjusted the price or service. When I canceled the service I said that my hours had been cut and I could not afford the service anymore. At no time did they offer another option until I posted on Angies List. The text I received said "in life we can miss great opportunities for being afraid to ask or being afraid to be honest".  I told them I was insulted that they assumed I was being dishonest and that they had never communicated with me any further than very brief texts. I am disappointed that this is what happens when you place an honest, and I thought, pretty tame review. I praised the service but said I could not afford it. I didn't expect a philosophy lesson or insulting texts from the service.

Exceeded our expectations!  We're preparing to sell our home and our house has never been cleaner.

Situation and Cost:

We were about to go on vacation and our apartment was a mess.  We wanted someone to come in and clean the living room and the kitchen, and wanted to spend about $100.  The problem was that it was very short notice - we started calling people on craigslist at 2PM for same day service.  Only Affordable Maids would send someone out.  We ended up getting only the kitchen done, because we got a quote for $150.  This is our first experience with a maid service so this may be typical, but it seemed high to me.  With tip we paid $175, but the cleaner looked pretty surprised to be getting a tip (or maybe it was just that it was over $20, I don't know.)  

Overall:

I paid Affordable Maids $30/man hour, which seems pretty high to me.  I'm not sure how much of that is insurance and other overhead, but I would expect to pay max only $100 + tip for the amount of work done.  I spoke with whoever was answering the phones and voiced my concerns, and she politely said that the kitchen and bathroom are the most expensive and that a first time service will be more because they don't know what to expect.  I didn't want to argue, so I let it go. In the future, I'll look for something more affordable than Affordable Maids.

Affordable Maids has been a reliable service provider for housecleaning.  I am not sure how the price really compares, as this is my first housecleaner, but to give reference: i have a 1600 sq ft house with two dogs, and they charged $120 every three weeks.  I really like the service.  Only negative is the main phone number's voicemail has been full every time I tried to call and speak with them.  Phone tag was difficult to deal with. 

The service went very well. I am very satisfied with the service they provide. Any questions or concerns I had were taken care immediately. Price reflects bi-weekly charges. They clean individuals homes that have cancer; it is their way of giving back to the community. They are very good people.