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How To Spot Red Flags In Your Cleaning Service Provider: A Guide To Avoid Getting Scammed
- Alexander Richardson
- Feb 7
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 20
Not all cleaning services operate with the customer’s best interest in mind. Some will skip steps to save time and money, charge more for what their service is worth, lie about their credentials, or outright scam their customers. They do this because they know they can get away with it. The average customer knows nothing about the commercial cleaning industry so bad services will use that to their advantage, but there are always red flags when a service tries to get one over you. In this blog, you’ll discover how to spot red flags in a cleaning service, learn what to do if you spot these red flags, and learn how to avoid red flags and hire trusted professionals!
Be On The Lookout For Scams
The biggest thing you need to watch out for is scams. Scammers like to prey on customers who are desperate or on a budget and will do their best to trick them into giving them money. Fortunately, there are always red flags when a scammer is trying to get you.
Pay Up Front Scam - This is when fake services demand you pay their fee before any actual work is done. Do not pay anything until the service has completed cleaning. These scammers will take your money and cut all contact with you.
Fake Mold Inspection - Miami’s moist climate makes many establishments prone to mold growth. Some services will falsely claim they found mold in your establishment and charge you money for them to remove it. This scam is most common with ductwork cleaning.
Before You Hire A Cleaning Service
If you hire a service, you need to research the company so you’re sure they’re the best fit for your establishment.
Know Your Establishment - You need to know what your establishment needs and what service would be best suited to clean it. You can’t hire any random cleaning service and expect them to know your business as much as you do.
Research The Service - If you find a service you like, don’t call them immediately. Search for reviews for that company and see what others say about them. Search for reviews on accredited review sites. Don’t rely on reviews you see on the service’s website. In some cases, those reviews are fabricated to make the company look good.
Power Of Referrals - If you know anyone who’s hired a service before, ask about it! Asking someone you trust is a great way to find trustworthy service providers.
How Poor Communication Will Hurt Your Bottom Line
The first sign of a bad service is poor communication. This is one of the easiest red flags to spot and can save you a lot of headaches if you react to it quickly.
Procedures Are Unclear - If you ask for specific details about the cleaning process and they’re reluctant to answer, fail to explain things properly, or get defensive, you need to search for a new service. Communication should be simple. It’s the best way to ensure your establishment gets a pristine clean.
Poor Response Time - It shouldn’t take days or weeks for a service to confirm basic information with you. If they fail to respond back promptly then you’re better off looking for a new cleaner. Poor response times can be a sign of disorganization, poor management, or bad admins in the company.
Service Fails To Listen- If your establishment has specific needs, then poor communication could lead to mistakes that will come out of your pocket. Specific parts of your establishment that are sensitive will be cleaned improperly because the service failed to listen to your instructions. Always make sure the service understands the job before they start working.
Manipulative Business Strategies
Some services will do shady things to cut corners. These practices only benefit the services and can leave you spending more money than you should.
Uninsured Services - Some services won’t have insurance because they want to cut costs any way they can. If the cleaners accidentally break something in your establishment, you’ll have to pay for it out of pocket. Confirm that the service has insurance to avoid any possible fees.
Suspiciously Low Prices - Sometimes a service will make the initial fee a low price to lure customers in, but will hit them with hidden fees later in the process. Watch for prices that are too good to be true. If you plan to contact these services, ask if there will be any more fees in the process. Low prices could also mean they don’t have good deep cleaning equipment, so we don’t recommend that you contact them if you feel something is off.
Unregistered Services - Some services will operate as an unregistered business to evade taxes. Unregistered businesses are dangerous because you can’t file a complaint if something goes wrong. To ensure that the business is legit, check for a physical address on the business’s website. This way, there’s a physical location for you to go to if something goes wrong during cleaning. Services that operate solely online are difficult to track and might be posing separate subcontractors as their own employees.
Commercial Janitorial Services
There are different red flags for every service that you request. Always watch out for red flags according to the service you’re hiring.
No Written Contract - For whatever type of work you want done, there needs to be a written agreement for it. If something goes wrong and it needs to go to court to get resolved, the lack of a contract will make it difficult to get anything done. It will also make it unclear what the janitor’s responsibilities are.
Improperly Trained Employees - Even if you’re not a janitor, you can tell when a janitor isn’t doing their job. If they aren’t trained properly, areas won’t be cleaned right, specific tasks won’t be done well, and they won’t use the right cleaning tools for the job. Some janitors might even mix dangerous chemicals because they were instructed to do so by their managers. If you notice anything off about your janitor, contact the service immediately and get the issue resolved.
Poor Customer Service - You might have an issue with your janitor or want to ask a question about the service. If the customer service is rude and combative, find a new service immediately. Difficult customer service will make it hard for you to get necessities from them.
Emergency Cleaning Services
These services respond quickly to spills or damages that can be hazardous to humans. These include biohazard spills, water damage, fire damage, mold removal, and many more.
Ask For Credentials - Before confirming any appointment, you need to know that the service is the real deal. Don’t hesitate to ask for certificates to know what the service is trained in. If the company hesitates to give this information, then you need to find a new service. There’s no good reason why they’d be hesitant to show their credentials.
Appearance - The service should have a clean truck with a clean uniform on. You don’t want to see anything dirty because that’s a sign of the service’s lack of attention and care. The service should also show up with a separate truck to dispose of the hazardous waste. It increases their cleanliness and prevents hazardous waste from dirtying their deep cleaning equipment.
Professional Mold Removal Services
Miami’s humidity makes mold a large issue in many establishments. Consistent cleaning isn’t enough to keep mold away, so services are needed to help prevent mold growth. These services need to do their job properly or the mold will return.
Not Setting Up Containment - When a mold colony is disturbed, it releases a bunch of spores into the air. Setting up containment prevents mold spores from getting into other areas of your business. Before hiring a service, ask what their containment procedures are. If they don’t have containment procedures, then find a service that does.
Doesn’t Cover Items In Plastic - On top of setting up proper containment, the service needs to cover surrounding items in plastic. If the spores spread to another moist area, more mold can grow. Using plastic is a basic procedure that a professional mold removal service will use.
Proper Equipment - A cheap service will use the wrong gear to remove mold from your establishment. They’ll use a regular vacuum instead of a HEPA vacuum so they can cut costs. Do your research and familiarize yourself with the proper equipment that should be used during mold removal.
Concrete Cleaning Services
Concrete is difficult to deep clean so some services use strong chemicals to get the job done, but some of these chemicals can harm your concrete.
Beware Of Acid Etching - Acid Etching is when a strong acid is sprayed onto concrete to clean it and is washed away with water. This acid is known for damaging concrete, being harmful to humans, and decreasing the lifespan of the concrete.
Skipping Steps - Typically, concrete sealer is applied as the final step of the concrete cleaning process, but some services will skip ahead to this step. All the dust and dirt needs to be cleaned off the concrete before the sealer is applied. If it isn’t, the dust and dirt will be sealed under the concrete, decreasing its lifespan.
What To Do If You Spot Red Flags After You Hired A Service?
What do you do if you spot red flags after you already hired a service? Thankfully, you can still do a lot to save yourself from wasting time and money.
Contact The Manager - The moment you notice something wrong, call the manager and make a formal complaint. Go into full detail about what you had an issue with and provide evidence if applicable. Don’t let it go unreported. If you see something that wasn’t cleaned properly, damaged, or not cleaned at all, say something. You can only be compensated for the service’s mistakes if you promptly inform the service about their mistakes.
Find A New Service - If contacting the manager doesn’t change anything, then find a new service immediately. If the service is comfortable with unsatisfactory results, then things will only get worse from there.
Act Fast - If your service is unsatisfactory, act quickly. Waiting will only increase the risk of your establishment being damaged or cleaned improperly.
Hire Crews Cleaning Services
This point was already made before, but we’ll make it again. Do the proper research on services and make sure you’re hiring a good company for your service. This applies to our services at Hire Crews as well, but we can guarantee our track record of reliable service to businesses in Miami Florida.
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