Help Solving a Business Problem

I agree with PP--you can't get rid of a helper over something so vague. Weird. I'd love to have anyone clean my house--even if she had 6 noses.

I think you have to back your staff. You don't want to lose your helpers' trust or respect. You will probably lose your customers respect if you do this, as well. From your description of her, I wouldn't trust her at all. I would make it a point to NEVER be there alone and make sure everything is done by the book and on paper. She seems a bit "eccentric." That's the kind of trouble a small business doesn't need. You should stand your ground, but offer a compromise. Make a checklist and let her check it off after you've been there. That gets rid of the ambiguity. Let her know that you value her as a customer, but as a matter of professional ethics, you stand behind your work and those that work for you. I know you don't want to lose her as a customer, but if you compromise yourself to keep her, you open yourself up to her bullying you again in the future, alienating your staff, and potential frivolous lawsuits form this odd duck.

Tell her you value her business but in order to justify a change you need more information and be able to give your help the chance to correct anything that may be a problem.

Your customer has not given you any good reasons to change your procedures or your staff. In the long run, I think you are better off dropping her. What will she think of next since her first complaints are unsubstantiated and her comments shockingly rude?

Dear L.,

I know I'm late in responding, but I want to say two things. First of all, you sound like a very responsible, ethical business owner and employer. I wish you lived closer to where we'll be moving this fall -- I'd have you clean for us in a heartbeat! Second, I think the most ethical thing for you to do would be to respectfully drop this weird, bigoted client and keep your helper. You can try to do this very gracefully, for instance by giving her a referral to another cleaning company, but this person is so bigoted and unethical, the moral high ground would really be for you not to support her bigotry in any way.

Good luck, whatever you do!

M.

Is this the first time the lady has seen your helper? How long have you cleaned this lady's house? I would politely tell the lady that you have had this lady for x amount of time and this is the first time you have had a complaint. Tell her that you want to make sure that there are not problems with other houses that you clean and you would like her to be specific. This approach allows you to back your employee as well as making this lady feel like she is helping you by being more specific. If she cannot be more specific then I agree with the other person and either do the house yourself or if you have another helper that can help you do that. It is sad to hear someone call another person "ugly".

I think you should definitely stick with your helper and get rid of that customer. That is not someone I would want to continue cleaning for. Your helper is not the "ugly" one. Your client is. I truly believe in ridding low energy from one's life. Good luck!

Hi L., I think it's better for you to drop this strange client...yes, she's prejudiced against an older person cleaning. She may have had some prior experience with a particular older person's "cleanliness" habits and now she's afraid it's going to affect this helper's ability to do a great job. You won't be able to change her feelings. Also, I'm afraid she won't be recommending you...she might tell someone "yeah, I use so-and-so cleaning service, but I never feel the house is really clean when they're done". Then she's asked for the name of the company (you), and forget it, your reputation starts to go down, and you didn't do anything wrong! Drop her fast, but kindly.

The money is not worth the ignorance on the part of the customer.

I wouldn't want to lose the helper or the customer. Could you just clean her house by yourself with no helper? That might satisfy the customer and your helper doesn't have to know the reason behind the lady and her 'ugly' people comment. I wouldn't want to alienate the customer as it could possible lead to more jobs, i.e. referrals.

My gut feeling is something weird is going on here. If you keep her on you will eventually have some other weird issue. Unless she can tell you a specific reason, I would ask her to get someone else to clean her house then. It sound like she may damage your reputation at some point if you keep working for her.

That's tough, because if the customer trusts your work, she should not question who works for you. Also, the worker could take offense to her not wanting to see her when you choose to clean alone and that could cause friction and your worker possibly quitting. I think whatever biases your customer have, you have to see which is more important for you - losing one customer who may or may not have the potential to send more your way, or losing a good worker with the potential to lose customers from doing it alone or hiring another worker doing inefficient work. You have to decide what is more important for your business. To me, I would discuss the bias this particular customer has with your coworker and let her understand that on this one, you would do it alone. But I would tell the worker.

YIkes--she sounds like such a jerk! Like a few others said, I would offer her a choice--she can have you clean alone, or you can clean with your helper and she'll know that you'll check the helper's work closely. But I would tell her that, as you're a small company, you only have one helper, and can't afford to hire another person just to help clean that 1 house. Is she home when you guys finish cleaning? That way, she can walk around and "inspect" while you're still there, in case she isn't happy? Maybe that would help? Although I know you can't control if/when clients are there. Good luck.

Hi L.,

I haven't read your other answers yet, but I'll bet they say that customer has no business telling you how to run yours. If you are sure your helper is doing a good job, that's all that matters. Tell your customer you're not changing your helper and that if she doesn't like it, she can get another cleaning company.

Good luck!
"Grams"
from the Pocono Mts. of PA

you may have to lose a client if she is so prejudice that only "good looking" people can clean her house. 1 client is not worth losing a good worker!

If she doesn't have specifics only a "feeling" keep your good worker and if she says something again drop her as a client!

You can't please everyone. If this woman is unahappy than let her go get someone else. However, she seems to want you back so maybe she just likes to be in control. You can either appease her by saying what you already have or drop her. There are too many nasty people in the world who like to treat others poorly to make themselves feel good and she's clearly one of them. You should worry about your helper if other customers are complaining as well. By the way, where is your cleaning service?

customer is always right but if she cant be specific i would say you just dont have any one else right now. If she want to loss you she will maybe she is using it as an excuse to end your services with her.

I have a girl who cleans ok but i wouldnt socilize or anything with her but she gets the job done who care .

I have a cleaning lady, she's wonderful. But i dont like it when she brings someone else with her with out informing me first, I trust her, not someone she has hired. Could it be she wants you to clean, not an employee of yours. With that said, the woman sounds like she is a superficial self involved jerk... what could it matter what the person looks like who cleans her toilet. But, if you want to keep this customer and not get a new 'younger pretty helper' you will just have to clean her house alone and at the end/beginning of the day,so as not to hurt the helpers feelings. Charge her more for the additional time it will take you. Be direct with her about the effect her request will have on her services.
good luck.

This woman sounds like a total B@#CH who has no respect for anyone. Personally if it were me, I'd respectfully DROP this customer. Its your business and while you want to please everyone, YOU HAVE ethical standards obviously and owe it to yourself and to your employees to "have eachother back" and not let snooty, rude, customers walk all over anyone. Offer her YOUR options to fix the matter and if she chooses to not take you up on them then part ways...you can't please everyone and I think it wouldn't hurt your business if ONE person doesn't have glowing reviews...and anyone with a brain can make sense of the issue...sounds like this woman expects everyone to jump through hoops for her and as if she doesn't have one ounce of deceny in her...you are working for her but you are not her slave, she can not be rude and disrespectful to you or anyone else. You are the BUSINESS OWNER...

Get rid of the customer and keep a watchful eye on your co-worker.