One client emailed me and asked, “What happened to your Yelp rating?” He was aware that prior to running the coupons, my rating consistently hovered between a 4.5 and a perfect 5. That’s the type of company we run over here. When we discover that an employee is not up to par, we replace him or her. The goal is to have the world’s best house cleaning company—-or at least the DC metro area’s best.
As of 3/1/2011, our rating has dropped to a 3.0. And I predict that by July, 2011 (when the coupon expires) we will be all the way down to a 1 star or less.
GO HERE to see a vast array of positive comments from happy clients and customers—-including those from coupons.
What’s going on?
If you look at where the low ratings are coming from, you will see a pattern: Groupon and Living social coupon buyers. And when you look at why they are giving us the low ratings, the reasons follow:
a. They have forfeited their coupon for any variety of reasons and do not like that we won’t allow them to reschedule after the forfeit
b. In several cases, employees have driven to their homes to discover that they have moved or simply decided not to be there (in spite of receiving reminder notices or even personal calls from me)
c. In some cases these individuals are angry because we did not give them a freebie/extra such as bed making or dish washing or blind washing…..or the washing of all the hundreds of windows in their homes! Some are angry that we did not pick up their rodent or cat or dog droppings…
d. Some have homes that—-quite frankly, have never been cleaned so you can imagine that one coupon will not solve the issues present in such residences
e. Some have purchased a 90 minute cleaning ($49) and for some odd reason, expect that in that short period of time the cleaning techs will have completed their entire 2,500+ square foot home—in spite of the fact that I alert them that in 1.5 hours the tech will only finish 3 – 4 rooms (and less if the rooms they choose to have cleaned are very dirty or greasy).
By the way, check the reviews of other cleaning services also. You will find the exact pattern with coupon purchasers complaining and purposely trying to destroy ratings of small companies.
I am happy that the ratings are NOT coming from my clients. The people who purchased coupons are not my clients. In fact, I don’t know them at all. I’ve never seen any of them, never interacted with them. Never got the opportunity to see their homes prior to my employees going to clean. And therein lies the rub. It is never a good idea to allow a third party [such as a coupon company] to find clients for a company. It’s too cold and impersonal. You don’t know who these people are and they don’t know you. It’s simply a bad idea.
Impact on Employees
At first we lost one employee. She simply walked away from the stress and never looked back. Then we lost two more really good employees. Then another quit. Several months later two “master cleaning techs” quit. When the dust had settled, we had lost SIX employees since the onset of the coupons. We are so sorry that they were so affected by all this; however, we fully understand why they left and do not blame them.
Issues:
Employees have reported being talked to in a rude and demeaning manner
Reports of being followed from room to room and having people stand over them while they were trying to clean
Unreasonable commands/demands and expectations
Some of the homes had not been cleaned in years [literally] and employees were oftentimes expected to perform miracles
Some of the homes were a health/safety risk with animal droppings all over the place, unbelievable odors….and some employees actually got ill
And so on and so forth…
Impact on the company
Less than 1% of the coupon purchasers were in a position to hire a cleaning company on an ongoing basis
Cleaning coupons do not typically attract loyal customers. They attract people who are looking for a dirt cheap bargain—and they buy coupons from any cleaning company offering such a bargain
Constant last minute cancellations….resulting in loss of income, as we did not have time to fill the spots
Loss of employees who could no longer deal with going from a very, very pleasant working environment (pre-coupon) to an unbearable working environment (post coupon)
We have paid out hundreds of dollars in parking tickets in DC. We were quite surprised by the number of people who purchased coupons knowing that they are living in areas heavily monitored by meter maids….or worse, areas where parking does not even exist. They could not have cared less that these employees would have to carry heavy equipment and products for blocks (in some cases).
We’ve had to deal with more than a few sociopaths—people who have attempted to put themselves on schedule multiple times knowing that they only purchased one coupon OR knowing that they already received a refund. And they had no conscience in attempting to literally steal from our company. We encountered several of them who purchased a $49, 1 bedroom coupon but they lived in a 4 or 5 bedroom house! And they thought that they would cheat us. And the sociopaths would actually run to Yelp to complain and lie once we caught them.
It would take a full article just to describe the various scenarios of some of the characters we encountered.
Our company has been stood up more times than we can count. One woman in particular decided to punish us for not allowing her to reschedule after she stood us up.
My employee had sat outside of her home for 45 minutes waiting for her and calling her. My husband also called her and left a message. In short, she forfeited her coupon. I was flabbergasted when she filed a BBB complaint against us after she forfeited on us. They ruled on our behalf and closed the case but it is this type of thing that caused us to pause and question human nature. I could share a million unpleasant stories—like the self-described “attorney” who threatened to sue me because SHE chose to forfeit her coupon. Fortunately I kept great documentation.
As you may have guessed, I would not wish a coupon experience on my worst enemy and would strongly urge any cleaning company reading this to take heed. Do not run a coupon under any circumstances. You will lose money. You will (for the most part) not attract the type of potential business you are in search of. And you will risk losing some wonderful employees.
I liken this experience to being on a haunted roller coaster—-knowing that you are out of control and that it won’t end until it stops….and you cannot control when it stops. Fortunately our coaster ride ends in late July. Never again!
The good news!
The good news is that some of the coupon purchasers did in fact become loyal and wonderful clients.
The good news is that we are picking up real clients from other sources. Those clients are keeping us above board. Also, our regular clients are holding firm!
The good news is that this coupon expires in July, 2011 (I check my calendar and mark off on a daily basis…)
The good news is that we learned a lesson—and we hope that other cleaning companies will listen carefully and never run a coupon. Overall, it’s a no win situation.
The good news is…..we have and will survive this.
99% of our clients come from sources other than Yelp, actually.
By fall, 2011 we will have at least started the process of rebuilding because the coupons will be nothing more than an unpleasant memory by then…
My precious pooch….a reminder of what really matters in life! Oh, and forgive me for going off topic but is he not the most handsome dog you’ve ever seen in your life? Be honest. LOL! Yes, my dog is cuter than your dog!
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UPDATE: July 27, 2011 – I wrote the first draft of the article above on March 1, 2011. At the time, my company was suffering financially due to the failed coupon offering and employees were leaving us left and right. I cannot express what torment we endured. We are proud to report that the company is still standing. Also, although I had predicted that our rating would be a “1” by now, it’s a “3”, though at any given moment that could change.
Today is the day that the coupon expired. All I can say is, thank GOD it’s over and never again!
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UPDATE December 16, 2011 – Our Yelp rating has climbed back to a 3.5 and our hope is to see it at least at a “4”. We survived the coupons. Did I say “never again”? Never again! LOL!
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NOTE: This article somehow has caused an influx of calls and emails from owners/representatives of coupon companies who want me to advertise with them to prove that they are different. No, thanks. Please do not contact my company, as we will not speak with you. With very few exceptions, the type of people attracted to coupons are the opposite of the clients we are attempting to service. They are buying coupons because they cannot afford full priced, ongoing service—-and that’s fine, but that’s not what we are in search of. So don’t contact us. We will never run another coupon. Period.