MaidPro Alexandria

The following Monday morning (August 12), I emailed the following complaint to MaidPro Alexandria (a franchise), with a Cc: to the corporate office (in Boston): "This is a complaint about a maid visit shortly after 11am on Friday, August 9, in Alexandria, Virginia. "My wife had arranged for your maids to come clean our house, to prepare for a party on Saturday. When they came (I was home but she was not), the one in charge -- whom I'll call Boss -- asked me if I wanted them to wash our dishes. I said no, we have a dishwasher for that. "Shortly after that, Boss wanted to know if she should put the dirty dishes (which were in the sink) into the dishwasher. I said no. She asked again and I responded again, the same way. She then explained why she was asking and I told her that for the third time I do not want the dirty dishes put in the dishwasher. (Not that it matters, but I wanted it that way since I still had clean dishes in the dishwasher and didn't feel like changing them out at the moment.) "Boss then exploded that she was not going to put up with this and declared she and her crew (two other maids) were going to leave. I followed them to the living room and tried to point out that they had been hired to do this job and they need to do it. She then reiterated why she kept asking the above question, including her assumption that I had said earlier that I wanted them to put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. I responded that I had *not* said that, that I had only said that we *have* a dishwasher to use to wash dishes. At that point, she actually interrupted me and I needed to demand to finish what i was saying! "They left, I told my wife about the situation, she called the Alexandria franchise and they agreed to return. They came back and did the work (including putting the dirty dishes on the stove), with no further incident. "I respectfully request that you please speak to the crew chief for that job, and please instill in her the following: "(1) Stay on the job and do what you agreed to do, even if the customer says something you don't like. If I had, say, threatened or harassed the maids, or put them in danger, that would be just cause for their leaving. My asking Boss not to keep asking a question I had already answered more than once, or waste my time explaining why she asked it, does not remotely count. "(2) Listen to your customer. When s/he gives explicit instructions, unless they're somehow dangerous, illegal or grossly immoral -- and putting the dirty dishes somewhere other than the dishwasher obviously is none of these -- just follow them. Please don't keep asking, and then after s/he's already repeated the instructions keep going with explaining why you were asking. That's time-wasting, annoying and patronizing. "If the customer turns around and said you shouldn't have done X, after s/he'd already said specifically to do X, at that point you can always point out that you were acting on explicit instructions. "(3) Listen to your customer, Part II. 'We don't need you to wash dishes, that's why we have a dishwasher' is *not* 'Please put the dishes in the dishwasher.' "(4) Listen to your customer, Part III. Interrupting or talking over the customer is out of line. "If you wish to respond, please use *only* email or paper mail to do so. "Thank you very much for your time, effort and courtesy." [All emphases in original.] Within minutes, the corporate office responded: "Thank you very much for your email. I'm so sorry to hear that your service was anything less than stellar--obviously that's not our norm. We strive to make every experience with customers--from their initial contact all the way through their cleaning--enjoyable and stress free, and it really sounds like that was not the case here. And for that, we truly apologize. "All of our offices are independently owned and operated, so the relationship is really between you and the local office. I know that you have already been in touch with the local office, and I encourage that you continue to speak with them directly should you wish. We are very appreciative of your feedback and will use it as a coaching opportunity with the local owner to ensure our service is always top-notch. "Again, thank you very much for your invaluable feedback." However, I never heard back from MaidPro Alexandria itself.