Seattle Natural Cleaning

Several aspects make Green Cleaning Seattle positively stand out from run of the mill cleaning companies and even from green cleaning companies:
1. The Staff: Green Cleaning Seattle’s staff is EDUCATED! What I mean here, is that many of the cleaners are grad students, who work as cleaners not only to supplement their incomes but also because they care about the environment.
2. Email friendly: This company has embraced technology and can arrange their services though email. Not everyone can set aside 5 – 10 minutes during the workday to call and arrange house cleaning.
3. Website: I can quickly look up their info online, including the bios of the cleaners. As a customer I appreciate a company that has a web presence, rather than leave slips in my home mailbox or doorstep.
4. Environmentally Conscious: This is particularly important for allergy suffers and pet owners. The less irritants the better, especially if you own a dog that likes to lick the floor from time to time.
5. Licensed, Bonded, and Insured: A homeowner would have to be brain-​dead to allow a company with no insurance, license, or bond into their home. Being bonded means that a bonding company has secured money that is available to the customer in the event they file a claim against the company. The secured money is in the control of the state, a bond, and not under the control of the company, this means that the claims process is impartially decided and not a back and forth b/​t you and the company. Licensed means that at least some level of competency is followed by the company in order to be allowed by the state to conduct business. Insured, someone injures themselves accidentally, rather than sue you, they are insured and taken care of by their insurance company.
6. Pricing: Below what other Green Cleaning companies charge, without having to compromise on quality.
For the above reasons, I would definitely recommend Green Cleaning Seattle to any of my friends.

I originally started up with Seattle Natural Cleaning /​Green Cleaning Seattle because I have a need to avoid harsh chemicals in my environment and their advertising of green product use made me think it was a no-​brainer. I’ve now mixed feelings. I’ll break the review into two categories: the actual in-​home cleaners, and management.
For the most part, I’ve been happy with the in-​home cleaners. I cycled thru a good half-​dozen and, with the exception of one which seemingly could not have hated his job more, I’ve been happy with all of them. Granted, it hasn’t always been a consistent end-​result even from the same cleaner, but I have a fairly simple home I keep clean on my own so the end clean was fine. I was always very pleased that the cleaners would comply with special requests in product use (or non use), as well as directive of where to focus and where to ignore.
What I didn’t like, and always found myself groaning any time there
was contact with, was management. 99% of the time it was always the same person and other reviews name that person so I’ll skip name inclusion here. To start with, responses to my emails were always curt and sometime bordered on rude and argumentative. Heaven forbid you had any last minute need to cancel as their «8 business hours before start of service» rule even applied for 8am Monday visits, meaning that if you didn’t know by Thursday afternoon that you needed to reschedule or cancel, you would be subject to fines and lectures. Then there was the move to 2 hour flexible start times, meaning that if you only had a morning window available to you, 8 am service might not start until 10am, pushing a 3 or 4 hour visit way into the afternoon. Don’t like it? Too bad. I’ll skip kvetching about spam emails, one telling you to tip your cleaner. All in all, when you’re paying for a somewhat luxury service, although I don’t expect my ass to be kissed, I do expect to not be treated like trash. Just not worth the effort.
Another reviewer had a great tip: they found a «standard» service with a great reputation for management and cleaners, then just supplied the green products they wanted used. A truly brilliant idea.

I’d give Seattle Natural Cleaning a 2.5 if it was an option.
Pros
— Nice job cleaning, not outstanding but reasonably OK
— Friendly cleaners
— Gea, the manager, is cordial and responds promptly
— Hourly price was reduced for setting up recurring service
Cons
— Business hours are the same as mine, so scheduling was challenging. Cleaners are available M-​F only, something like 9:30 to 4:00 are the regular hours I believe. We tried having our service start a little earlier at 8:00 — 8:30 and it led to problems.
— Cleaners do not bring vacuums. My vacuum stinks so I prefer it if my cleaners show up with a nice Dyson or something.
— Attention to detail is so-​so. After one of our cleanings none of the trash was taken out, this even though the cleaner apparently spent 30 minutes over the planned cleaning time.
The reason I have to give a low rating is that two of our three regularly scheduled services were no-​shows. The first time, two of the company’s cars broke down on the same morning. I received a call promptly from Gea so this was reasonable. We rescheduled and the service went as expected. The second time, apparently our cleaner was ill. Unfortunately we did not receive notice from anyone and my husband was sitting at home waiting for our cleaner to arrive. Gea and I exchanged a few emails and it was explained that the reason we weren’t notified was because our service is before the start of their normal business hours. However I received an email later in the day from someone named Michael that was really passive-​aggressive and unnecessarily rude. I’m not sure who Michael is or why he got involved, but it was a big turn off for me.
Customer service is one of the key things I look for in a cleaning service, and the combination of office hours that directly conflict with my work schedule and being treated rudely by someone was enough for me to cancel my service. Two out of three appointments messed up is not a great track record either — not sure if they need more cleaners or more office help or what, but I need a service I can rely on (which I have now found from GreenGlove Cleaning).

Our initial experience with Seattle Natural Cleaning was good — prompt response, etc. Gea (the manager) and Jeremy came to our place to start with a deep cleaning, and they did a pretty good job. Gea did spill a bucket of water on our carpet (it took two days to dry!), but we got a $ 5 discount for a future cleaning.
After that, only Jeremy would come for our bi-​weekly cleanings. We had a newborn and it’s hard to keep clean, so I was super happy! Jeremy was very understanding about me not always being able to pick up all the toys before he got there, so I’d quickly be cleaning a bit around him. We talked about the Red Sox, and when my son’s separation anxiety started, he even cried when Jeremy left the room — so cute! My son was hospitalized with RSV, and Jeremy always asked how he was doing from then on. Very friendly.
One issue was that I noticed that Jeremy was finishing sooner than the 3 hours. After a few times, I commented on it, and he told me to write Gea. Well, as a new mom, it took me some time to get back to her, but they reduced my rate by a bit which was fine. No refund for past times, but we didn’t really care.
When we were going to travel, I would write Gea well in advance and say we’d be out of town. However, a couple of times, I just told Jeremy. I thought that was fine — he didn’t say anything, and Gea never wrote me to say that it wasn’t cool. WELL, when we were moving this summer and going to be between homes for a month, I told Jeremy. After that, I got a terse and borderline rude response from Gea that Jeremy told her and that I was basically totally out of line. (Sorry lady — my son had been hospitalized again for breathing issues AND I for some reason have better things to do than to read your fine print). Couldn’t she have just written me and said something like — it works better for our scheduling, etc. for you to just tell me about schedule changes? No, that would have been too polite.
Well, after that e-​mail, I almost didn’t go back. I even had a backup plan, but I thought about how nice Jeremy was and I was happy with him. SO, I called and scheduled to have him come back. A misunderstanding happened. I gave her all the info needed but forgot to get back to Gea on the square footage. I thought he was a no show and she said it was my fault for not responding with square footage, despite previous e-​mails saying that we wanted the one slot that Jeremy had open and her confirming that we got it.
Anyway, I told her I didn’t appreciate her tone of voice when she called back, and then I brought up her previous rude e-​mail too. WELL, she totally started getting even angrier and was raising her voice! Hello, Lady! Chill out! That’s what I’m trying to tell you — there are far more appropriate ways to communicate. Anyway, she kept raising her voice, and so I raised mine until I realized — wait a minute… I don’t have to deal with this (esp. when Jeremy wouldn’t be available for two more weeks!). I told her I don’t want your services any more, she said that would be for the best and she said «good luck» and I hung up.
She then sent me an e-​mail with their policies! Hello! Get over it! I wrote her back and said thanks — sorry, but I had to edit my former (positive) review on Unilocal.Then she sent me an e-​mail saying they reserved the right to reject people if cleaners were «uncomfortable» with someone. What? Where in the world did that come from? I told her to stop making stuff up and to never write me ever again.
She then went to my Unilocal review and wrote the same outrageous comment. I mean really — get a life! The only reason I’m taking the time to do write all this now is because I feel it’s HIGHLY abusive of the Unilocal community to write such a false statement. She totally did not reject us — I rejected them! I even wrote Unilocal,but they said they can’t check the veracity of comments (I offered to send them our e-​mail discourse). Oh well… I guess it would be too time consuming for them.
Anyway, sorry for the long review, but here’s the summary:
— Jeremy is great.
— Gea does not understand the meaning of customer service. She’s fine until one day she snaps and becomes somewhat abusive with her tone of voice. I think this was perhaps worsened by the Groupon they recently offered — woohoo! we’re overwhelmed with people, so we no longer have to bother with customer service. yay!
The good news — got a new cleaner who came this afternoon and they were fabulous! Better cleaning job (sorry, Jeremy!) AND they were cheaper. It actually works out better for us — yay! We’ll miss Jeremy, but I don’t know how long he’ll keep working for Ms. Attitude anyhow.

I have really enjoyed the service I have received from this company. Not only do they use all natural products, but I have also had the pleasure of being home while the cleaner (Jeremy) has been at work. He is extremely thorough, always asking me if there is anything in particular I would like done. To top it off, he is a really nice guy and is able to clean around my two cats and toddler when we are in the house. I am a lifelong fan. Great management too!