TERMS AND CONDITIONS
DOMESTIC CLEANING
1. Definitions
1.1. In these Terms of Business the following definitions apply:
“The Company”, “We”, “Us” – means the Haus Maids office you have instructed to act for you.
“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.
1.2. Unless the context requires otherwise, reference to the singular include the plural and references to the masculine include the feminine and vice versa.
1.3. The Headings contained in these Terms are for convenience only and do not affect their interpretation.
2. Contract
2.1 These Terms and Conditions represent a contract between Your chosen Haus Maids Office and the Client.
2.2 The Client agrees that any use of the Company’s services, including placing an order or allowing work to be carried out for services by telephone, fax, email, website forms shall constitute the Client’s acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
2.3 Unless otherwise agreed in writing by a director of the Company, 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 a director of the Company.
3. Cost
3.1. The cost of our service will be as agreed in the first instance in writing or verbally.
4. VAT
4.1. All costs will be + VAT at 20%.
5. Equipment
5.1. Cleaning materials (detergents, solutions, towels, cloths, gloves) and equipment (vacuum cleaner, mop, brush and broom etc.) will be provided by the company. All equipment, any equipment or product supplied by the client must be in full working order and must not require any special skills to be used for the purpose of cleaning. Please note we will take no responsibility for damage to any items damaged using products or equipment provided to our staff via the client.
5.2. If the Client has equipment or products that you would like our staff to use during our visits you must get written permission from our Managing Director prior to use.
5.3. Any special cleaning specifications (cleaning tasks) required by the client should be provided to us prior to us carrying out our service. If only verbal description of the tasks has been provided, the Company shall not be responsible for any tasks not carried out.
6. Payment
6.1 Payment is due within 7 days of the service in the form of a bank transfer/standing order, cash, cheque or major credit/debit card (UK only & only available where your chosen office accepts card payments) payment. We reserve the right to cancel services without notice due to declined credit card.
6.2 One off cleaning service & your initial clean requires full payment payable to the Company by debit/credit card (subject to office), bank transfer or cash in advance of the cleaning day. If no payment has been received on the day of the cleaning service the booking will be cancelled and you agree to pay a 50% cancelation fee within 7 days of the cancelled service.
6.3 Paying the outstanding balance by debit/credit card will incur no processing charge.
6.4 The Client understands that tipping is not required and is not expected by our staff.
6.5 The Company reserves the right to charge interest on invoiced amounts unpaid for more than 30 days at the rate of 8% per annum above the Bank of England base rate from the due date until the date of actual payment.
6.6 If the Company is forced to refer the Client’s account for collection to a third party then extra costs may be added to the outstanding amount by the debt collecting company.
6.7 Any bank charges incurred due to a Client’s cheque being returned unpaid will be passed to the Client at a flat rate of £30.00 per cheque.
6.8 The Company reserves the right to cancel any contract and back charge additional for past services to reflect the balance of the standard rate(s) if any misleading or false information was used to obtain discounted services.
6.9 The Client agrees to and authorises the Company to charge his debit/credit card with any outstanding amounts owed to the Company.
7. Refunds
7.1. No refund claims will be entertained once the cleaning service has been carried out.
7.2. Refund will be issued only if the Client has cancelled a cleaning visit within the allowed time (24 hours) prior to the start of the cleaning session and a payment has been already taken by the Company.
7.3. Refund will be issued if our team does not attend a cleaning visit, payment for which has been already collected by the Company.
8. Cancellation
8.1. There is a £30.00 late cancellation/lock-out fee for cancelling or rescheduling a visit with less than 48 hour notice but over 24 hours for Clients.
8.2. The contracted 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 cleaning operatives cannot let themselves in. If keys are provided they must open all locks without any special efforts or skills.
8.3. If the Client needs to change a cleaning day or time the Company will do its best to accommodate him. A minimum 48 hours notice is required. Please note that the Company cannot guarantee that the same operative will be available on the new day and at the time the Client requires. Any changes in the cleaning schedule are subject to availability.
8.4. The Company’s cleaning operatives work on any day of the week Monday to Friday. Excluding Bank Holidays.
9. Termination of Contract
9.1. The Client may terminate the cleaning contract by giving prior notice. Notice is required at least 7 days prior to your next scheduled visit.
9.2. The Client agrees to pay a cancellation fee of £30.00 if: 1) No notice is given; 2) The Client provides a termination notice and requires less than 7 days notice of the next cleaning visit.
10. Employment Referral Fee
10.1. The Client is liable for an employment referral fee of £500.00 per person, should they directly employ (either legally or on a cash basis) anyone currently employed by the Company, or employed by the Company within the 1 year period prior to such employment. The Client agrees to pay this fee whether he notifies the Company of his action or the Company discovers this employment independently at any time after it occurs. The Client further agrees to reimburse the Company for any and all collection or legal fees the Company incurs in collecting this fee.
11. Claims
11.1. The Company’s public liability insurance will cover damages caused by a cleaning operative working on behalf of the Company. All claims are subject to an excess of £50.00.
Please be aware that public liability insurance does not work on a new for old basis, as such, our insurer will need to take into account the age of any items being claimed for and it might be the case our insurer will make a deduction based on the age of the item, this shortfall would not be covered by your chosen Haus Maids Office.
11.2. 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 Friday it must be reported by Monday 12:00 in order 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 subject to approval by the Company.
11.3. The Client waives his right to stop payment on his cheque or protest a credit/debit card charge unless the Company fails to make good on the guarantee shown in part 15.
11.4. While the Company operatives 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.
11.5. 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.
11.6. 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.
11.7. No claims shall be entertained if the Client has an outstanding balance aged more than 30 days.
11.8. 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.
11.9. Key replacement/locksmith fees are paid only if keys are lost by our operatives.
12. Complaints
12.1. All complaints must be received in writing by email.
12.2. If the Client is unpleased with a currently occurring service, the Company asks that the Client notifies it as soon as he notices anything that might be to his dislike by calling the local Haus Maids Office. Please do not wait until the service is ending. All complaints regarding cleaning need to be reported to your chosen Haus Maids office no longer than 24 hours after the clean. If later than this the company reserves the right to not honour our 100% guarantee.
13. Liability
13.1. 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 operatives at the service address. The Company endeavours to be right 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.
13.2. 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 : 1. A cleaning job not complete due to the lack of, lack of hot water or electricity,; 2. Third party entering or present at the Client’s premises during the cleaning process; 3. An existing damage to Clients property in the form of old stains/burns/spillages etc. which cannot be cleaned/removed completely by the cleaning operative using our cleaning equipment and materials and in accordance with the industry standard cleaning methods; 4. Any damages caused by faulty/not in full working order equipment or materials supplied by the Client; 5. Any damages worth £50.00 or less.
13.3. 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 the Company carrying out services for the Client if the Client has an outstanding amount aged 30 days or more from the date the payment was due.
13.4. We record all details of phone conversations on client’s records.
14. Supplementary Terms
14.1. If the Client requests keys to be collected by the Company’s operatives from a third party’s address outside the postal code of the serviced address then a £10.00 charge will apply. The charge will cover only the pickup of keys. If said keys need to be returned back to the third party’s address or any other address another charge of £10.00 will apply.
14.2. The Company, reserves the right to revaluate rates at any time should the Client’s initial list of tasks changes.
14.3. The Company reserves the right to amend the initial quotation, should the Client’s original requirements change. Differences will be discussed with the Client prior to the start of the work.
14.4. 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 the regular maintenance cleaning of the same property.
14.5. The Client understands that the price he has been quoted is not for a “package deal” and does not include anything apart from cleaning labour.
14.6. Post Construction Cleaning (Builders Cleaning), Event Cleaning 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: Builders Cleaning or Event Cleaning.
14.8. The cleaning operatives are not allowed to wash any items of clothing belonging to the Client without prior consent.
14.9. All fragile and highly breakable items must be secured or removed.
14.10. The cleaning operatives are not allowed to use and work with bleach or bleach containing products. The Company advises the Client to avoid supplying such products to the cleaning operatives. The Company shall not be liable under any circumstances for any damages to Client’s property caused by bleach/bleach containing products.
14.11. The Company reserves the right to make any changes to any part of these Terms and Conditions without giving any prior notice. The Company may add to or alter these Terms and Conditions from time to time and any alterations or additions will apply to new business but not to existing contracts. Please refer to your copy of these Terms and Conditions.
15. Our Guarantee
15.1 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 you a guarantee. If the Client is not satisfied with the cleaning standard of certain areas after the cleaning, the Company’s operatives will come back to the Client’s home and re-clean those areas free of charge.
16. Law
16.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England, and Wales.