Life With Design

I have to start by saying that I worked as a house cleaner and I have experienced people who ask the impossible and want you to essentially work for free, so I feel I’m pretty understanding. I would never ask anyone to do what I couldn’t do and I have cleaned my whole house the way I want it cleaned in under 3 hours. Why don’t you just do it yourself then, you might ask? Because I don’t want to — that’s why I’m willing to pay someone else to do it. That being said, my entire experience with Life with Design was a major disappointment and only got worse as it went along.
Karin came by my house to go over what I wanted and quoted me a price — not my request, but her offer. We went through every room and I showed her exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it done. Right after our meeting I emailed the cleaning list, which was an exact transcription of what we had just discussed. My assumption was that she would go over it with her cleaners and everything would be fine and that everything was to be done each time. I also left the list for the cleaners with the check, making sure I covered all bases. The first red flag was that she wanted me to pay for an additional hour the first time. I wasn’t happy about it because I feel that with a new client, a business owner might want to absord the leaning curve in the interest of customer service, but I thought that with 2 people cleaning for the extra hour it would really be clean. Not so — it was probably worth half what I paid. In Karin’s defense, she did follow up right after and I had the opportunity to tell her what I really thought (which is my fault for not doing so), but I let it slide and gave them another chance. I also try and keep the house clean between cleanings mainly because I’d rather pay for stuff I don’t like doing myself.
Not only did I list exactly what I wanted (and again, what I was quoted for), but my cleaning priorities and what I didn’t want/​need to be done. I’m convinced that no one has ever read the list (even though I’ve emailed at least 3 copies to Karin and left at least 2 printed copies for the cleaners) because I started to notice that some of the things that I didn’t want done were getting done at the expense of the things I wanted done that seemed to be ignored. I know that people think that they are doing something special but if they waste time doing things I specifically asked them not to do, it just frustrates me. Then I found out that some things were only getting done every other time, which was NOT what I was quoted for. They had ample opportunity review the list with me if there issues but no one said anything so I assumed they were following the list. The last time was HORRIBLE. The bathtub was ignored, there were cobwebs and dust everywhere, and it looked like they barely did the traffic areas of the floors. There was dust and dirt under the furniture that I could see without having to bend down to look at it. It’s a stretch to say it was barely an hour’s worth of work. But she did the dishes, which I’ve specifically said not to do. (Again with the list…)
I texted the cleaner and asked her to come over to review what was supposed to be done. She texted me back and asked me if she had missed some things. There was another lost opportunity for me to speak up, which I didn’t do (again, no one’s fault but mine in that area). I just wanted to meet in person and just go over everything. She told me that since she was only cleaning once a month vs every two weeks, that I might have to pay for more time. This was the first time I realized that she was only doing somes things every other time. I personally don’t get that logic, my house doesn’t expand during the month so there’s just more dirt — not more surface area to clean. I didn’t want to involve Karin because I thought we could just work it out ourselves. But then I didn’t hear from her for awhile, started to get more frustrated so called Karin. I kind of thought Karin would at least give the impression that she wanted to resolve it (she did SAY she did), but spent more time defending her position than trying to understand mine.
But I finally had enough of being ignored so I emailed her again and listed in detail all of the things I thought should be addressed. It was then that she decided to dismiss me as a client, which is probably for the best but I am still disappointed that I didn’t get anywhere near what I was quoted or what I paid for. I think about 98% of the problems are with Karin, and the rest with the cleaner because she really did a great job on the things she did and she was really careful not to let my cats out. It’s Karin’s responsibility as the business owner to see that the wishes of the clients get communicated and I feel she really dropped the ball, and copped a snotty attitude when called on it.

We really enjoyed working with Karin at Life With Design. Having our condo staged by their team allowed us to close the sale on our place in 19 days! It is so worth the (small in comparison) investment, and it is no joke that «first impressions» make all the difference. My husband and I, as well as our realtor, highly recommend Life With Design!