Pride & Joy Cleaning Services

"Dear [removed member name], needless to say I am astounded at your review. We cleaned your home on August 18, 2014, over 2 months ago. I kept you notified of our arrival time via text messaging. I made the mistake of confusing your 4 hour clean with a 3 hour clean. Upon realizing this error I offered to give you a free 2 hour clean at your convenience giving you one hour of free cleaning to make up for my mistake. You texted me a reply, which I still have, telling me "Appreciate your offer but we are all good. Will give a good review A."?? I sent back a text telling you that we would not mind coming back on that day or whenever you could use the service. I am truly at a loss but I thank you for your thoughts."

"Dear [Removed member name] , I believe that it was your wife we met on April 17th to perform the 6 hour clean on your 3500 - 3800 square foot home. When I scheduled her, via email on this website, I let her know that she would be the last client of the day with a team of 3. She was 25 minutes from last client but we made the journey anyway to accommodate her scheduling needs. The home we entered had not been cleaned in a long, long time. It took me over one hour to clean the master bathroom alone. Besides the dirt and debris that I could write my name in there were the tan colored shower stall walls that I had to use a stainless steel brush on to bring them back to white. My girls and I cleaned that entire house including the entire bottom level of hardwood floors to include damp mopping them. When time got close to ending Mrs. [Removed member name] feared that we would not finish the entire house. She also knew that another professional clean was not in her future. She offered to pay more for us to finish it. I did tell her how much more it would cost but she could not afford it so we busted our buns, because I felt sorry for her, and cleaned everything but her kitchen counters and sink which I told her that I was leaving for her as we were already over the time that she had paid for, she was the third house of the day and my girls have children they had to get home to. On that day she thanked us profusely and today I read this review. I begin to understand why one apple spoils the cart for everybody because I doubt I will ever speed my team up to the level that I did that day plus go over the paid for time for anyone else ever again. Thank you so much for your appreciation."

"Dear [member name removed], Thank you for your response three months later! We cleaned your home on Thursday, March 13th. You are mistaken, I had three crew members there, which is why I left-to give them the hours, and they were there an hour and a half giving you a free half hour. While there I asked you to look around and see if there was anything missed. You did and told me that everything looked great. Your home was huge and you did not regularly use a professional cleaning service. As for smokers, only one of my girls smokes and she knows better than to leave cigarette butts anywhere on any property and never has. Nor does she spend time constantly taking breaks while everybody else is working to smoke. She would not have a job. You were not looking for regular professional cleaning maintenance and if I remember correctly your children help you clean your home. Thank you again for your response, Melissa Carranza"

"Dear [member name removed], I did speak with you several times regarding this. I really don't know what else to do but to fire the woman you accused. I have her word against yours. She, of course, denies this and has been cleaning homes since she was 18 years old. How do I know someone in your family did not take them and use my maid as the scapegoat? I am really at the place where it is her word against yours though I did replace her. I have never had this issue happen to me in the 14 years that I have ran this service and I have plenty of clients, especially my elderly retired ones, who take Hydrocodone regularly. I'm sorry that you are blaming the entire company for this one young woman, if it was her who took the medication. I really don't know what else I can do but replace her. You have put me in a tight space, I have no proof where these pills went. I only know that to protect myself and our company, just in case, what I can do is replace her and I have. Thank you for your thoughts, Melissa Carranza"

"Dear [Removed Member Name], You last spoke with me the morning of your scheduled clean Friday, May 16th, to cancel services for that day because you were sick. You gave me less then 3 hours notice, but you were sick so I understood. This occurred less then 2 weeks ago. I do not have your phone number. You have mine. You never called me back to reschedule a new cleaning date nor emailed me to let me know that you were ready to reschedule. If you would like to schedule a date you'll have to let me know. Again, I do not have your phone number. There is a $25 charge for cancellations given in less than 24 hours. I understand that you were sick so that is no problem. I'm just letting you know for future reference. Thanks, Melissa Carranza Direct:(804)366-2948"

"Hello, I want to thank you for your review. You are right, I cleaned both bathrooms. You told me not to clean shower in master bathroom. I did look it over though and it did look good. When I first arrived you were only interested in having the downstairs cleaned but I finished early so you asked me to add the upstairs bathroom. Your upstairs bathroom did require a lot of time due to all the cat litter, litter box, litter mat and litter dust covering entire bathroom. That all had to be removed and replaced. I came alone because the girl who was scheduled to come with me got sick and could not make it. Instead of disappointing you I came alone. I did call you and tried to reschedule due to her absence. You were scheduled to have a party and asked that I come. I did leave 15 minutes early because after I was finished with that kitty bathroom I was done up. You have to admit it hadn't been cleaned in quite awhile. I was rather proud of how it looked when I was finished. Many cleaning companies will not even deal with animal litter and feces. I cleaned it all down including the box type litter box that you had. I noted the time I arrived as I do for all cleaning dates as everything in this business revolves around time. It does take a few minutes to load and unload. I do thank you for your thoughts. You were very pleasant to deal with."

"Dear [member name removed], Thank you for your thoughts. As I recall your clean was to get your 3,500, or more, sq. ft. house on the market. When we arrived you had just had the carpet cleaned and it was still wet. I don't know what the normal condition of the house usually looked like as you had tons of boxes lined up against various walls as if getting ready to move. There were 3 cleaners and we were there for 1.5 hours giving you a free half hour for a 4 hour clean. I was the one who told you that we do not carry stainless steel cleaner. It is a costly chemical and in my experience I have found that people who have stainless steel appliances have their stainless steel cleaner of choice on hand as well. I asked you what you used to clean the front of your refrigerator, microwave and you told me that you have never cleaned them so had no SS cleaner. I was able to get your appliances cleaned up with a mild detergent and water. I do apologize if there was still soap scum in one of your bathrooms. I wish we would have seen it then because if that was truly the case one of my girls did not clean as trained and I will closely be checking her work. I do not have patience for my girls not cleaning in the way I trained them. But I also do not know what that tub looked like when she started. As for your kitchen cabinets I can only say that I am surprised. Especially since you were in the kitchen while we discussed the appliances and were sitting outside the kitchen area the entire time. The girl I put in the kitchen, Cassandra, is incredibly detailed and, I know, worked without break the entire visit. I regularly have to stop her from using toothbrushes and toothpicks to clean along some ridges and stove-tops. Quite frankly she is often TOO detailed for the time we have. I know that she cleaned your microwave inside and out, your stove top, sinks, counters, kitchen floor and spent too much time trying to get your appliance fronts cleaned. I put Cassandra in the kitchen without checking first the level of clean she was looking at. I have never received anything but praise for Cassandras kitchen cleans. One hour is really not enough time to detail clean a home that has not been cleaned deeply in awhile. Scrubbing down kitchen cabinets with years of handling prints on them takes, in itself, 30 minutes or more. Clearing up clutter is not the same as cleaning up dirt. It does give us more time to get to the dirt though. I do, again, want to thank you for your thoughts. I'm sorry that you were unhappy. I hope that all goes well with your move."

"That was so sweet of you appreciate and describe in detail! Again, thank you so much!"

"Dear [member name removed], I thank you for your thoughts. We have serviced the 23116 area code and you are correct...it is quite a distance from Midlothian UNLESS we have other houses in that area code to service at the same time. Mechanicsville goes clear up into Atlee and down to the RIC airport. I have several girls that I could send out but not for first cleans. One time cleans to Mechanicsville, especially sight unseen (we never know what we are walking into), are not really worth the travel time, fuel costs or money. You can only charge so much. Like every other business in America we are looking for customers looking for regular quality maintenance. Even so, as your message suggests, customer service is first. had we been able to connect we would have gladly accommodated your cleaning needs even if it was only for a one time clean. Again, thank you for your thoughts."

"Again, I do apologize for the lateness. We started out late due to babysitting problems and the first house took longer than anticipated. You were also a 45 minute drive from our location. I'm afraid that I had incorrectly believed that it was a 30 minute drive. Driving to strange locations is an occupational hazard in this business and every once in awhile things do not go right on schedule. I call my girls Ying and Yang because they are complete opposites. One is calm and steady and the other is hyperactive. That is what I meant when referring to them as Ying and Yang. I certainly had no intentions of pitting them against each other. I NEED them to like each other and be a Team! Your job is the first one that I did not go with them on so I was a bit nervous and took the time to speak to them both before I sent them on their way, making them even later. Quite frankly, I am very good to my girls and have their loyalty. I have spent long hours, time and money training my girls to clean as I would and I am very glad that you did appreciate the job done. That is the main thing. Lastly, you are correct I did text instead of call. I find texting works great for me and you and I had texted back and forth many other times so I did not think that you would see it as a problem. Perhaps the phone call would have been wiser than you wouldn't have misunderstood my meanings. Again, I apologize for the lateness."

"Dear [member name], thank you so much for the review. I am sorry you mistook my concern with the amount of hardwood floors that you have as a task overwhelming to me. Hardwood floors are, in todays world, everywhere. My concern was disappointing you with the reality that your entire 3,000 sq, ft. home to include a large master bathroom, second full kids bathroom, entire upstairs and downstairs which also included a another half bath, kitchen, four other rooms and dog hair. Hardwood floors require a two step process therefore double time. They must be vacuumed prior the damp mopping. A four hour clean is adequate for a 2,300 sq. ft. home - especially if it is a first clean. Uncluttering the counters, tabletops etc. helps greatly but not enough to make a 4 hour clean for 3,000 sq. ft. home perfect without moving like lightening. Also, please understand that it is not the "Company Name" that increases costs compared to a fly by night cleaner it is the costs associated with business insurance, commercial auto insurance, advertising, employee wages, licensing, unemployment insurance issued by the government, workman's compensation and so on. I also pay my girls well above minimum wage in order to keep them and make the job worth returning to. Constant employee change is a nightmare, especially once I have taken the extra time and cost to train them. Thank you again for your comments. I hope you find a cleaner that works for your needs at your cost."