This was one of our smaller projects in terms of scope. It was a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom flat in Loughton, IG10 with a monthly rent of £1775. The security deposit was £2660, so on the lower end of the service.
Case Study Loughton: How We Defended Our Client's Interests in Loughton, IG10
End of Tenancy Cleaning is a guaranteed service. If the job is not done up to standard, most cleaning companies offer a re-clean of the property or problematic areas, thereby ensuring the client will get their deposit back.
However, due to the transitory nature of the service, a time limit is in place to prevent abuse of the guarantee terms. In most cases, no agency would bother to do a re-clean after those 72 hours are up. But in this case, we made an exception to defend our client’s interests.
Overview
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The Problem - Case Study Loughton
The client decided to hire us based on recommendations from a friend. We charged them £219, or a little over 8% of the security deposit.
We assumed everything had gone well because we didn’t hear from the client or the letting agent during our standard 72-hour guarantee.
Naturally, this wouldn’t be a very good case study if this was the end of the story. More than 10 days after the service was done, we got an email from the property manager that there were a few areas that needed additional attention. If we did not comply within a reasonable time frame, the email said, our client would be fined.
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The Solution - Case Study Loughton
It was a tough situation. On one hand, we didn’t want our client to lose a part of their security deposit after they’d hired us. We had to defend their interests on the matter.
On the other hand, asking for a re-clean over 10 days after the initial service and making vague financial threats also didn’t stand well with us. After all, it was unreasonable for us as a professional cleaning company to comply with such audacious demands.
Yet we couldn’t leave our client hanging dry. We continued communicating with the property manager. They blamed the delay on the inventory clerk. We asked them to provide a list of problem areas, to which they refused.
Upon further investigation, we discovered the check-in and check-out inventory reports stated the same level of cleanliness. Therefore, we had left the property in the same condition our client found it.
After a few more emails, we finally managed to get through to them and our client let us know they were backing off.
The Result - Case Study Loughton
In the end, our client got their full deposit back. It was unfortunate they had to experience this stress because the property manager had decided time frames were irrelevant. However, we still managed to defend our client’s interests while also keeping up with our own business policies.