1 Definitions
“The Company ” – means Maid In Blyth and/or any sub-contractors.
“Cleaner” – means the person or firm carrying out cleaning services on behalf of the Company.
“Client” – means the person, firm or corporate body together with any subsidiary or associated company as defined by the Companies Act 1985 to whom the cleaning services are supplied by the Company.
“Service” – means the cleaning services carried out on behalf of the Company.
“Cleaning Visit” – means the visit to the Client’s service address by the Cleaner in order to carry out the Service.
2 Contract
2.1. These Terms and Conditions represent a contract between The Company and The Client.
2.2. The Client agrees that any use of The Company ’s services, including placing an order for services by telephone, email or website forms shall constitute the Client’s acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
2.3. Unless otherwise agreed in writing these Terms and Conditions shall prevail over any other terms of business or purchase conditions put forward by The Client.
2.4. No variation or alteration of these Terms and Conditions shall be valid unless approved in writing by The Company.
2.5. The Company operates a minimum charge of 1 hour per cleaning visit.
3 Payment & Pricing
3.1. All work carried out by The Company at your request, whether experimental or otherwise will be charged accordingly. Any work undertaken by The Company on behalf of The Client is carried out on the basis that The Client has fully approved such work whether or not we have received an official order providing there is evidence of written or verbal confirmation to proceed, including letter, or email or text message correspondence between the parties.
3.2. All new business must pay all monies due in advance of any work being carried out. Additional payment terms including invoicing are only available to existing customers and only when agreed in advance by The Company.
3.3 The Company pricing operates on the basis of an ‘Initial rate’ followed by a discounted ‘additional rate’. The initial rate applies to the first hour of every Cleaning Visit or other activity as required. Any split sessions attract the Initial Rate at the beginning of each and every session.
3.4 Interest may be applied to any overdue accounts at a rate of 8.5%. Where payment has not been received, we reserve the right to withhold services, documents and information, and have the right to cease to work on your account, and to terminate the engagement if payments are unduly delayed.
3.5 Consistent late payment will incur a 50% pre-payment for all future work.
3.6 Unless otherwise expressly stated, all prices shall be in Pounds Sterling
3.7 We are not VAT registered so VAT does not apply to any transactions.
3.8 We shall invoice monthly or at the end of a project dependent on the agreed terms.
3.9 All quotations offered by us are deemed valid for a period of 30 (Thirty) days, after which time we reserve the right to revise the said quotation.
3.10 We provide services on a one-off and retainer basis.
3.11 Any additional work requested that isn’t covered in the original brief will be quoted separately and added to the original invoice.
3.12 All Cleaning service prices are reviewed periodically and adjusted in line with inflation, minimum wage increases or any other reasonable circumstances.
3.13 Payment Terms are as follows:
a) Bank Transfers must be received by 6pm on the day before the clean is due to take place
b) Cash payments can be made on the day of the clean and the cash must be paid at the start of the clean.
c) Payments of any fees rendered by invoice are due upon receipt of the invoice.
4. Equipment
4.1. Cleaning materials are provided by the Company. If you require us to use your solutions or equipment they must be safe to use/operate, in full working order and must not require any special skills to be used for the purpose of cleaning.
4.2. If the Client has equipment that is complicated to operate, the Client must provide clear and detailed instructions to the Cleaner.
4.3. If the Client requires the Cleaner to use their own materials and equipment including vacuum cleaner the Company cannot accept any liability should anything go wrong with either the equipment or the outcome of using it.
5. Refunds
5.1. No refund claims will be given once the cleaning service has been carried out. If for any reason the Client is dissatisfied with any aspect, they must notify the Company within 24 hours and this will be rectified.
5.2. Refund will be issued only if the Client has cancelled a cleaning visit within 24 hours or more prior to the start of the cleaning session and a payment has been already received by the Company.
5.3. Refund will be issued if a Cleaner does not attend a cleaning visit, payment for which has been already received by the Company.
6. Cancellation & Termination
6.1. The Client agrees to pay the full price of the cleaning visit, if:
a) The Client cancels or changes the date/time less than 24 hours prior to the scheduled appointment.
b) The Client fails to provide access to the service premises thus preventing the Company to carry out the booked work.
c) There is a problem with the Client’s keys and the Cleaner cannot let themselves in. If keys are provided, they must open all locks without any special efforts or skills.
6.2. If the Client needs to change a cleaning day or time the Company will do its best to accommodate them. A minimum of 24 hours’ notice is required. Please note that the Company cannot guarantee that the same Cleaner will be available on the new day and at the time the Client requires. Any changes in the cleaning schedule are subject to availability.
6.3. The Company ’s cleaners work on any day of the week including Bank Holidays. If the Client’s cleaning visit is due on a Bank Holiday and they client has not called or e-mailed the Company to cancel the visit 24 hours prior to the start of the cleaning session, the Client agrees to and understands that the cleaner will attend as normal and the regular amount due for that cleaning visit will be charged regardless of whether the cleaner has cleaned the Client’s property or not.
7. Claims
7.1. The Company’s public liability insurance will cover damages caused by a cleaning operative working on behalf of the Company up to £1,000,000.00. All claims are subject to an excess of £100.00 payable by the client.
7.2. The Client agrees that due to the nature of the service the Company guarantees only to correct any problems reported within 24 hours. If a problem occurs on a Weekend or Bank Holiday, it must be reported by 12:00 on the next working day to be accepted as a valid claim. Failure to do so will entitle the Client to nothing. The Company may require entry to the location of the claim within 24 hours to correct the problem. Any refunds or adjustments must be requested to the Company directly and are subject to approval by the Company.
7.3. While the Cleaners make every effort not to break items, accidents do happen. Identical replacement is always attempted but not guaranteed. For this specific reason, the Company requests all irreplaceable items (whether monetarily or sentimentally valuable) be stored away and /or not cleaned by the cleaning operatives.
7.4. In case of damage, The Company will repair the item at its cost. If the item cannot be repaired the Company will rectify the problem by crediting the customer with the item’s present actual cash value toward a like replacement from a Company’s source upon payment of cleaning services rendered.
7.5. The Company shall not be responsible for damage due to faulty and/or improper installation of any item. All surfaces (i.e., marble, granite, etc.) are assumed sealed and ready to clean without causing harm.
7.6. Any attempt to commit insurance fraud or any use of false information to commit any type of fraud will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law together by the Company and the Insurance Provider(s). Monetary compensation as well as legal fees may incur.
7.7. Key replacement/locksmith fees are paid only if keys are lost by our operatives. There is a £30 per location liability limit.
7.8. The company operated a policy of “non -identification” on clients keys, this means that any keys held by the company will not bear any marks identifying The Client, The Clients Property or The Company. Any keys handed over which bear such marks will have those marks removed where possible.
8. Complaints
8.1. All complaints are taken seriously. If you are not happy with any aspect of our service, please call us as soon as possible and give us the chance to rectify it.
8.2. If the Client is dissatisfied with a currently occurring service, The Company asks that The Client notifies us as soon as they notice anything that might be to their dislike by calling us. Please do not wait until the service is ending.
9. Liability
9.1. The Company shall not be liable under any circumstances for any loss, expense, damage, delay, costs or compensation (whether direct, indirect or consequential) which may be suffered or incurred by the Client arising from or in any way connected with a late arrival of Company Cleaners at the service address. The Company endeavours to be on time on any visit but sometimes due to transport related and other problems which are beyond the Company ’s control, the Company operative’s may arrive with a delay or the cleaning visit may be re-scheduled.
9.2. The Company shall not be liable under any circumstances for any loss, expense, damage, delay, costs or compensation (whether direct, indirect or consequential) which may be suffered or incurred by the Client arising from or in any way connected with:
a) A cleaning job not complete due to the lack of hot water or electricity
b) Third party entering or present at the Client’s premises during the cleaning process
c) Any existing damage to Clients property in the form of old stains/burns/spillages etc. which cannot be cleaned/removed completely by the cleaning operative
d) Any damages worth £100.00 or less
10. Supplementary Terms
10.1. If the Client requests keys to be collected and/or returned by the Company or its Cleaners from a third party address then the time taken to collect and/or return the keys will be charged at the initial rate, this collection and return will count as separate session to the clean itself.
10.2. The Company reserves the right to re-evaluate rates at any time should the Client’s initial list of tasks changes.
10.3. The Company reserves the right to amend the initial quotation, should the Client’s original requirements change.
10.4. If any estimates of how long it will take the cleaning operatives to complete the job are being provided those are only estimates based on the average time it takes to clean a home or an office of similar size to the Client’s, it being difficult to calculate precisely how long such tasks may take and that a degree of flexibility may be required. Please note that one off cleans may take longer to complete due to longer intervals between cleaning sessions, number and type of cleaning tasks required, when compared to regular maintenance cleaning of the same property.
10.5. The Client understands that the price they have been quoted may vary according to condition of property and room sizes etc.
10.6. The Company shall endeavour to arrange a replacement cleaner if your regular cleaner cannot attend a scheduled visit and will inform the Client prior to the visit.
10.7. Deep Cleans, End of Tenancy or badly neglected homes may take up to three times longer than a well-maintained home requiring general cleaning. Therefore the Company advises the Client to ask for our specialist cleaning services in these cases.
10.8. Ironing services are undertaken entirely at the risk of the client, using only the clients equipment and can only be provided if agreed with the company at least 24 hours in advance of any clean. The client is responsible for checking the suitability of any items to be ironed and clearly identifying these items to the cleaner.
10.9. We operate a zero-tolerance policy towards verbal, physical and sexual abuse of staff and customers. This includes intimidation, bullying, harassment, and discrimination in any form. We will prosecute or seek the maximum penalty under the law in the event of such abuse. Additionally, we may make a report to the police, and seek compensation where we see fit.
10.10. The Company reserves the right to make reasonable changes to these Terms and Conditions at any time when required by The Company.
11. Our Guarantee
11.1. The Company has built its business and reputation by providing its clients with the best possible cleaning service available. Still, the Company realises, that because its operatives are human beings, they sometimes make mistakes. For this reason, the Company offers a Guarantee. If the Client is not satisfied with any areas that have been cleaned, the Company’s operative will come back to the Client’s premises and re-clean those areas free of charge.
Please note that this guarantee will not apply if the condition of the premises has deteriorated since the original cleaning was undertaken.