Sage Clean

I tried to give this company a chance given that they were recommended by a friend. While Sage Clean’s pricing was more or less in line with other green cleaning companies, I found that the time it took them to clean our home was at least twice that of other cleaning companies. I would encourage prospective new clients to seriously consider shopping around. I tried to work with the owner on a prioritized list of areas to clean in our home, but too frequently found our requests were not met. The owner was almost always unapologetic and defensive, which to an extent can be understandable, but after feeling dissatisfied after a few cleanings I felt the need to take my business elsewhere. After all, housecleaning is considered by many to be a luxury spend rather than a necessity, so you want to make sure that your business feels valued and appreciated. I now have a cleaner who comes more often, does a much better job, spends less time and costs me less money. A win win all around.

I hired Sage Clean to clean our house while we were gone on vacation. When we returned, the kitchen was still fairly dirty, grease marks on the stove, floor not clean, etc. etc. No problem, we thought… we just contacted them. They said they wouldn’t be able to come out till after the weekend to check on the cleaner’s services. But we needed the house clean for a party, so we did it ourselves. This is where their lack of service emerged: we asked for a small rebate from our outstanding bill (around $ 15 if I remember) to compensate us for having to clean the kitchen ourselves. They didn’t respond to our emails and telephone calls. Instead they went ahead and charged our credit card! Then they finally responded by email saying that they wouldn’t consider any rebate. We had to lodge a complaint with our credit card company who quickly credited our $ 15.
What amazes me is the lack of maturity this fairly young business displayed. Their unethical decision to charge our card even though they hadn’t responded to our requests for communication reflects a poor business model. By ignoring the maxim that ‘the customer is always right” (or at least the customer is entitled to a telephone call before charging their credit card) they’ve suffered a revenue loss greater than $ 15 by losing our business and other potential customers.