Universal Maid

I hired Universal Maids about a year ago. The Auburndale location, and the woman who answers the phone, were formerly affiliated with Molly Maids. I don’t know why the affiliation ended — but I can guess.
The first time they cleaned the apartment was the only time I was completely satisfied with their service. Not coincidentally, that was the only time I was present while they cleaned. All of the other times they came during the day while I was at work. The service was adequate at best and several times it was inadequate.
The 2^nd or 3^rd time they came they completely neglected to clean the tub. I don’t mean that they failed to make it shine like a diamond. I mean there was no visible evidence that they had made any attempt whatsoever to clean it. There was visible black mildew in the bottom of the tub — exactly as I had left it that morning. I called to complain and they were very apologetic. They offered to send the ladies back the next day to finish the job but I declined. I told them to just be sure it didn’t happen again.
But, of course, it did happen again. This time I insisted that they return to finish the job. When I came home the next day there was no evidence that they had been there. The tub was just as dirty as they had left it the day before. I called to complain that, not only hadn’t they returned when they said they would, but they hadn’t even bothered to let me know that they hadn’t come. No courtesy. The woman in the office insisted that the ladies had shown up to clean but were unable to remove the mildew. I took her word for it. But I don’t know which is worse — that professional cleaners can’t tell the difference between black mildew and permanent, rust-​colored water stains, or the possibility that they never returned at all and were lying to me.
The clincher came in their final cleaning session last week. I left my apartment at 11:45 and returned at 1:15. I was surprised to see the Universal Maids car outside my building since it was a week before my next scheduled cleaning. I was a little peeved that I would not be able to shower or do much of anything until they finished cleaning, which might be another hour or more. But, to my surprise, they were leaving when I reached my apartment. That’s right: I caught them in the act of leaving early. I pay for a two hour session each month and, this time, they provided, at best, an hour and a half. And it was almost certainly less than that. After they left I checked the tub and found — you got it — plenty of mildew!
I collected the keys from the ladies before they left and told them I was suspending the service. Did I get a call from the office to find out why? Of course not.
Two days later I left a message explaining why I no longer required their services. Did I get a call back? Of course not.
Universal Maids is inferior to Molly Maids in almost every way. Molly Maids left the place smelling clean and fresh every time. And I could see the difference the moment I entered the apartment. Not Universal Maids. I always had to look around just to confirm that they had been there at all. Molly Maids always called the day before to remind me of the next day’s service. Universal never called. Not once. Molly Maids, as evidenced by their performance, stayed the full two hours. Universal Maids, as evidenced by their performance, probably never did.
One thing they did have in common. Molly Maids always cashed my check the same day. So did Universal Maids. The difference is that Molly Maids actually earned it.

Cleaners are ok.
Really terrible management and operations.
I sent an email inquiry regarding rates and availability, outlining in detail exactly what the work is that I need done. Ben, the manager or owner, called me back and we spoke and made a verbal agreement regarding how many hours they’ll work and what the fee is. Great, I thought. That was simple. Not so fast…
They sent 2 women. It turned out, they didn’t know what they were supposed to do. Even though I had emailed them a detailed list of tasks, I had to then take time and tell them everything. There was also confusion around how many hours they were supposed to work. I requested 5. They thought it was 2.
I called Ben, and told him that he’s a terrible manager. For one, professional cleaning companies, always have a contract, or an invoice, or receipt that outlines what the deal is: how many hours and what the fee is, at least. Ben did not provide any such paperwork. All we had was a verbal agreement, and lots of confusion as a result. I told him he should’ve emailed me regarding the agreement, instead of talking on the phone with me. He started to apologize and said, its fine if they work for 5 hr, at the same rate as for 2 hrs. I said, I don’t want that, because its not fair to the cleaners. I told him I’ll pay the cleaners $ 15 per hour per person. That’s what I can afford, and its a reasonable rate; it was significantly more than what the original agreement was. But I wanted to be fair to the cleaners. He said its fine. Then his wife came online and started arguing with me regarding rates. I told her I’m done talking about this. I will never hire them again. I seriously started to wonder if this man is drunk or crazy, because his management skills were just horrible.
After the cleaning ladies did about 3 or 4 hrs of work, they started to stress out and get nervous, because of the confusion about hours and payment. They wren’t willing to do all the work that I asked them to do, because they were afraid they weren’t going to get paid for it. I told them that’s a bad attitude.
When they found out what Ben said, they got very upset, and were arguing with me about how much they should be paid. They wanted $ 20 per hour per person. I told them, that that was not the agreement I made with Ben. And if they have a problem with this agreement, to talk to their boss.
They left upset. At this point, I was upset, because I’m really tired of dealing with unprofessional cleaners, and all the drama. I’ve dealt with a few already, and very few were really good.
I just wanted to find good people, skilled at what they do, who’ll come regularly, be professional, clean whatever is needed, and charge reasonably. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
I’m giving them 2.5 starts. And its only because the cleaners actually did a good job cleaning; just the cleaning alone is 4. The attitude towards work gets 2 stars. and management gets 1 star.

My husband and I decided to give them a try.
This was an endless regret! Universal maid send 2 people to your place. In my case, they sent a very nice lady and another one that was HUMONGOUS! I have absolutely nothing against obese people (many of my aunts are), but you really have to be reasonable and down to earth and think: how can someone like that be fast and agile to do efficient housework? Anyhow, we went forward and asked them to THOROUGHLY clean our 2 bedroom apt. It was EMPTY! It is a brand new place! So anybody who understands a tad bit of cleaning knows that NO FURNITURE=LESS HASSLE to clean. All they had to do was vacuum the floor, mop the floor, disinfect cabinets and focus on the BATHROOM. I told them the instructions very clearly, and the nice lady said «you will have a brand new apartment after we are done». I had prepaid 2 hours of service (there was NO FURNITURE only dust from painting!) and thought that was going to be enough given theres not really much to do. BOY WAS I WRONG!
They called to say they were done. The obese one was in a tremendous rush. As I went through the place I saw a MEDIOCRE service, nothing CLOSE to very good or excellent.
*The glass on the windows were smudged — they were probably cleaned with dirty cloth.
*The bathroom was poorly cleaned — there was still dirt around the faucets
*They left 3 drawers and 1 full cabinet in the kitchen DIRTY — they could not remove a rug that was leaning against the cabinet door to clean inside!!!
*They forgot to clean 1 window in the living room
You would think that their boss would praise and value customer service and offer to rectify the problem. NO way! I called them — Rina — and all she said was «I can send them again for another hour but you will have to pay for it!» Also «if there was still stuff dirty it means that the amount of time (3 hours) was not enough for them to do everything» — are you kidding me? the apt was empty!!!
Bear in mind I had to pay another extra hour = 75 $ besides the 2 hours I had pre-​purchased.
75 $ for mediocre to very bad service? Still cannot forgive myself… on top of it all I gave 5 $ tip to each of them out of compassion… just wish had not hired them and had tried someone else instead.
If you hire them, REMEMBER:
THEY ARE NOT CUT FOR EXCELLENT THOROUGH JOB!!! They clean just where people can see it… if you are perfectionist, or praise a VERY WELL CLEAN place, these are not the people you should hire. They do bring all their equipment and supplies with them but now I am fearing that they used the same cloth to clean both bathroom and kitchen…
Had 2 friends interested in using their service … too bad, I would never recommend them. Big Disappointment.