Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/12/2022

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On August 24th, 2022, my wife reached out to Pine Country Cleaning for a quote, which we were told would be around $384 for 8 hours of work. We were asked to download a contract from their website as well as cleaning checklists. On August 29th, staff arrived, but did not complete work as advertised (pictures can be provided as evidence). On September 6th, we were sent an invoice of $692.16. I sent an email back to them on September 7th siting the discrepancies between the quote, the quality of work, and the methodology sited in the contract we obtained from there website. Instead of answering our questions, they sent us an invoice on 09/28/2022 for $592.25. Again, I asked about the methodology and discrepancies. They said I didn't know what I was talking about, and claimed I had an invalid contract, despite obtaining it on there website (it has since been taken off their website, but I have a screenshot of my internet history showing it's where I obtained it). Again, when I explained that their invoice wasn't adding up against their contract language, they threatened me, sent me a new invoice for $644 on 10/05/2022. They have since claimed that I have been refusing to pay outright, that I'm a thief, that I'm defrauding them, and that they will *** me. I also do not believe their contract to be legally binding and they have refused to provide me with an itemized invoice. Additionally, in their residential contracts, they state that you can't write a bad review about them, which I don't believe to be legal. My landlord has also had to hire a second cleaning service to finish the job they left behind. Finally, I believe based on how I've been treated and on their inability to adhere to a contract, that this to be a fraudulent company, who is using their platform as a small business to threaten me and scam me out of money and who has deliberately misrepresented their services and prices.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/20/2022

  On August 24th ******************* asked for a estimate through email, I emailed   her back that we charge $48 an hour per person cleaning, I also gave her my best guess based on other homes we have cleaned in that square footage, you can read in the email that I said "it may be more or less" because we never know how long a job will take until we get there.

  This is an hourly company. 

  I told **** in email prior to cleaning that we are at $48 per man/hour and she agreed to the price.

  I am unsure how they got ahold of my old contact and cleaning list since it was updated in July 2022, the contract does read:

  We offer a walk through at the end of your clean to ensure your happiness, anything that was
  missed will be taken care of at that time. If you forfeit your walk through, please know payment
  must still be made and you may not dispute the clean, We are giving you an opportunity to fix
  anything you see, once you say it is ok or do not show up for the walk through, we will consider
  that, that we did a good job and will expect payment and no hassles.

   

  It seems very clear to me what is expected. In the email  I sent to them. One to have the checklist printed and check **** next to what they wanted done and two  the contract signed  When we arrived these items were not done. So we did what we could.

   

  They got the clean done on 8/29 and said they could not come and do a walk through, then waited until 9/7 to complain. There are a few things that were missed in the pictures I see maybe the wall with dog hair. , The  window ***** need repainted , we could not get that up, We do not cobweb the outside of the house, but did sweep the front porch. These pictures were taken  I am guessing 9 days later.  A few crumbs and a spot on the wall.  All very tiny things and asked to come back and fix we would have gladly done so.

   

  Instead they wanted to not pay the bill at all, even though they were charged hourly for the work, so they would not be paying for the items that got missed anyway, if they had been missed at all.

  I feel these pictures could have been taken at any time . I have two cleaners to justify the cleaning was done. My concern is that they did not contact us about any cleaning that was missed, until after they received the bill, then proceeded to say there landlord needed to hire another cleaning service to clean , when they had the option to call and tell us about any missed cleaning and have us rectify the situation. 

   

  In closing the email correspondence between **** and I states $48 an hour per person cleaning, it stated the clean could take longer or less time,  it also askes the ******* to have the signed contract and checklist filled out for when the cleaners arrived so they knew what the ******* wanted for cleaning. Which was not done.  

  We were willing to honor the $46 an hour and sent a bill for that, but they would not pay, so we we sent another at the agreed $48 AND THEY STILL DON'T WANT TO PAY.  They want an itemized statement  , we sent them an itemized invoice of our hours as that is the way we bill.  We are structured as an hourly company. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/24/2022

   
  Complaint: 18179770
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  The response from the business does not satisfactorily address my claim. They continue to insist I pay significantly more than the estimated cost for an incomplete job.  All pictures provided can be verified with timestamps and with witness accounts, including the landlord of the home, a separate cleaning company who was hired to complete the work, and a local realtor. The job is considered incomplete due to not completing all of the cleaning tasks listed on the businesss Move In/Out Deep Clean Checklist listed on their website.
  I do not agree with their claim that the quote was clear; a margin of error double the quoted amount is nothing shy of misleading. They state in their response We were willing to honor the $46 an hour and sent a bill for that, but they would not pay, so we sent another at the agreed $48. There is no basis nor disclosure for this change in amount, validating my claim that I was misled.
  
  They falsely claim they are unsure how [we] got ahold of my old contract and cleaning list since it was updated in July 2022 This was obtained from their public website, as my screenshot of browsing history shows. Additionally, in their first email back to me they acknowledge that the contract was on their website: Good to know about the website not updating tho, as we dis update the change in price, it must not have been saved but we will honor that.
  
  They falsely claim Instead they wanted to not pay the bill at all You can clearly see from the email exchange that while I did challenge the bill amount and requested an itemized list of the work completed, I never refused to pay at all.
  
  They claim these picture could have been taken at any time and that these picutes were taken I am guessing 9 days later. I can provide timestamps for each photo as well as credible witness accounts from landlords, a second cleaning company, and a local realtor. They continue, My concern is that they did not contact us about any cleaning that was missed, until after they received the bill, then proceeded to say there landlord needed to hire another cleaning service to clean , when they had the option to call and tell us about any missed cleaning and have us rectify the situation. 1) We were not aware of the incomplete work until notified by the landlord and their realtor on September 3, 2022. Once we were made aware, we decided to review the final invoice to see if they compensated for the discrepancies in work in that invoice.  *********** took eight days to invoice us (September 6, 2022), so that is when they were notified of the incomplete work.  Additionally, we were sent an invoice with no further validation of work completed for double the expected amount. We then decided to challenge the bill, as is our right. 2) When our landlord witnessed the level of incomplete work, they decided that they would rather hire a cleaning company through their realtor, as they were wanting to put the house on the market quickly, and did not want to wait to see what the companys policy was around incomplete work.  We did not ask the company to come out and rectify the mistake, costing them more time and man power, but instead are requesting that they compensate for the incomplete work in their invoice.
  
  They state In closing the email correspondence between **** and I states $48 an hour per person cleaning, it stated the clean could take longer or less time The email also clearly states that work should cost $384 for 8 hours of work. This corresponds with the contract I obtained from their website, stating Divide the total number of hours by the number of cleaners. Furthermore, the invoices do not list number of workers, only hours of 12:05-6:30, the second of which claims 14 hours of work.
  
  It is my opinion that the burden of proof and liability should fall upon the business to prove my home required such an extensive cleaning to validate charging me double their original quote. As they say, they have no signed contract and, as such, I do not agree to accept any liability nor do I waive any rights. My wife agreed to a job costing ~$384 for 8 hours of work, anything beyond we did not agree to. Additionally, the business continues to claim I am refusing to pay, when I have stated multiple times that I am not willing to pay what they are asking due to incomplete work and due to not receiving an itemized list of work completed.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Business Response

  Date: 11/04/2022

  We are done here. our bill is for 14 hours of service at the rate of $46 an hour for a total of $644, I can reduce the bill by ********************************************************************** if I were to send the ******* to collections which I intend to do if the invoice is not paid within 7 days. The total amount I will accept from the ******* is $451. That is $193 off. I expect to have the payment no later than 7 days of them receiving this notice. I expect this to be the end of this conversation where they will talk no more about Pine Country Cleaning and I will not talk of them or their businesses. I think the ******* had a lot going on the day of the clean since it was the day after a huge shooting in our community where there were casualties.

   

  We honored the old contract price, we offered the walk though that they forfeited , anything we may have missed would have been addressed at that time of the forfeited walk through. . We are an hourly company so they would have paid more time if we would have fixed those things hence they did not pay for a job not finished, they paid for the job that was done and a walk though that was forfeited .They neither completed their checklist, contract , walk through or communicated with us when we called to check in.  this clean could not have been successful because they did not do their part, if they had any questions at any point or needed anything  we were a phone call away.

  I think the clean was great, I think the owner of the house came many days after the clean was done and picked things apart, made a bigger deal than what needed to be made, a simple call to have us come back and fix things even tho they forfeited the walk through would have been the thing to do and would have solved all of  these problems. 

  We have easy to read and understand contracts in place, we have lists that are in pdf file format to download, but they must be filled out so we know what each client wants done, our pricing is on our website. Everything is very clear and explained well, we have a walk though at the end of the clean in place to make sure the client is happy.

   

  Waiting weeks later until the bill comes and  not liking the price and THEN saying the job was not done correctly and you don't want to pay full price even when everything is set in place ( walkthrough etc) ,( if you would have followed though with what was asked of you ) seems a little sneaky. 

  As stated we are done with this and our offer is above, or I will send this to collections.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/10/2022

   
  Complaint: 18179770
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The business continues to insist it is my responsibly they did not finish the job, and continues to fail to provide any debt verification.  They are being arbitrary with how much we owe and when we owe it, and seem to adjust the amount/deadline depending on their mood.  Additionally, the business has made inaccurate claims about what has been communicated, has threatened me in previous messages, and they inappropriately called me today to threaten additional action.

  
  The fact remains that the job they performed was incomplete,we were never asked for nor provided a signed contract, and the business is attempting to charge us significantly more than the amount we were quoted at.  As such, I am willing to pay the original quoted amount ($384) minus the cost to hire a second cleaning company to finish their work ($330). This is a total of $54.  I will attach the invoice received for the other cleaning company that was hired and paid to complete this business work.

  Sincerely,
  
  *********************