Most Frequently Asked Questions are answered below, click on your question to go to your answer.
Is there any way I can find out what exactly I am going to pay?
Why is it that you give online, over-the-phone, or in-home maid service quotes yet other companies prefer to give me an in-home quote only?
I am not sure if getting a maid is best for me?
What do you mean by mopping floors on your knees?
I am leaving on vacation, what do I have to do to temporarily cancel services?
I don't want regular cleaning services, but I DO want to use your cleaning services once in a while, can I do that?
Are you pet friendly?
What if something breaks or something comes up missing?
How experienced are you all and how long have you all been in service, I have never seen "Zena's Detailed Maids" advertised anywhere?
Does no Contract, really mean NO Contract, so there is nothing that I need to sign?
Do you clean businesses/commercial offices?
What sets you apart from other cleaning services?
I want to use my credit card to pay for my cleaning service, but I'm a little cautious about how you handle this confidential information, so how can I trust my information will not get out?
What about my house key, I want to give you all a copy so I don't have to leave my key out or having to remember to leave it out, and I don't want to risk leaving my door open or my key out since I fear someone may break in, BUT I'm worried something may happen to my key or even worse get ROBBED by your employee! So how can I trust you all on this?
Who are your employees?
So what kind of maid service software do you use that you claim to keep everything safe?
Why do you only take credit cards for first time clients and seem to need a first time client to either be there, leave a key, or give you a key? I do not know if I am prepared to be this trusting so soon.
Is there any way I can find out what exactly I am going to pay?
Everyone that requests a cleaning service price over the phone or online will receive a home cleaning quote, most likely that will be your final price, however, if once we arrive the home is different than what we expected we will surely let you know. If you need a price quote now we recommend you give us a call or fill out our Cleaning Quote Form. If you rather have an exact price we recommend an in-home visit, we give you a chance to go over everything you need exactly (like doing a walk through) and in turn we determine an exact cleaning service price from there. Please note quotes online or over the phone are as accurate as possible, as with any service-to-home it is impossible to determine the exact price until we see what we are working with.
Why is it that you flexibly offer online, over-the-phone, or in-home maid service prices (quotes) yet other companies prefer to give me an in-home price only?
TRUTH ABOUT IN-HOME MAID SERVICE PRICE VISITS aka in-home interviews, aka walk throughs. Many companies/franchises DO NOT do online quotes or phone quotes, much less place their prices online as a way to do in-home maid service pricing that is "more accurate" or "tailored specifically to you" while in-home pricing is indeed more accurate this is used as a way to get into your home and therefore make you less likely to say "no", they will also use this visit to see if they can get away with any "standard up-charges" basically trying to see how much they think you would be willing to pay. The TRUTH is many honest maid service companies have the base pricing and add or subtract accordingly depending on what you want or what your tailored needs will be. We have no problem letting you know over the phone/online what you may expect to pay and you decide if you want to accept or not. We do in-home cleaning service pricing solely based on your decision. Zena's Detailed Maids will NEVER pressure you into an in-home visit as a way of getting a client, we let our cleanings speak for themselves and that is how we keep 'em coming back for more!
update: March '09, we wanted to add this because we just could not believe what one of our newest cleaning service clients told us, we felt compelled to spread the word. She comes to us from Virginia, there she found out maid service companies that will not price you unless you agree to an in-home cleaning service quote is also due to once they get your information and address, they then go and research were you live, they research you, like what you do for a living, and such, and that is what they use to price you, basically they want to price you based on the highest amount they can get you to agree to, someone in the working or middle class will probably not be charged as much as someone in the upper richer class. WOW! Are you appalled? We sure were! Following a Price Chart is the honest thing to do, not to mention it is so easy to price people quickly with a price chart next to you rather than having to pay to do all that research!
I am not sure if getting a maid is best for me?
No worries, take your time and make the best decision possible for yourself.
Educate yourself, read all about it, ask the opinion of your friends or family, search the net, you will be surprised how much information there is out there whether a maid is convenient for you or not. Research the potential maid service companies you will be inquiring with and see what they are doing, are they active in the cleaning industry (shows they are open to suggestions, like to stay ahead), are they awarded (shows they know what they are doing), things like this will help in your decision making process.
What do you mean by mopping floors on your knees?
Exactly that! We use knee pads to keep our knees comfortable. This technique is great to get ultra clean floors. Basically, we will get on our knees and mop your floors with our hands.
I am leaving on vacation, what do I have to do to temporarily cancel services?
Just let us know, at least 48 hours in advance when your last cleaning service will be and when you want to resume again. Please be aware that once you come back you may be charged a higher than normal fee since you have not had a maintenance cleaning in a while and there will be more dust and such to clean up. Also, your appointment date/time may be changed if you go over a month without a cleaning service, since it would be impossible for us to hold your space for that long period of time.
I don't want regular cleaning services, but I DO want to use your cleaning services once in a while, can I do that?
Absolutely! We have long time clients that only call us when they want cleaning services. Of course, your fee may stay the same as your first time cleaning since your cleaning service will not be as often.
Are you pet friendly?
Of course! Our pet owner clients have been entrusting us more with their non-human babies since we started. We like animals and know what to do and what not to do to make them feel ok with us around. We are the kind to make sure the spray bottle liquid doesn't get into the pet bowls, if they are used to roaming around we are ok with that as well. We DO NOT require you to seclude them, in a way it makes our job funner when we have a friend that enjoys us coming over. Usually all our in-door pets are taught well by our clients and are pretty friendly after the 1st or 2nd cleaning.
What if something breaks or something comes up missing?
To date we have never had anything happen to us were something went terribly wrong, but for our mutual peace of mind we are fully Bonded and Insured as well as Registered with the State of Texas. Our certificate is readily available for viewing if it is requested.
How experienced are you all and how long have you all been in service, I have never seen "Zena's Detailed Maids" advertised anywhere?
The reason for us not advertising is because we attain most of our clients from online and referrals. Zenaida, has been cleaning homes for about 20 years (wow, time does fly!), she was always turning down prospective home cleaning clients due to her only helpers being her sisters. So it wasn't until 2007 that she decided to get really serious about it. Instead of turning down work, why not train someone to clean the way Zena does?! Forward to now, we are proud to tell our prospective clients, "We look forward to serving you." You may also come into contact with Adriana, she has been here from the beginning as well and specializes in helping new clients to become accommodated as well as she stays in close contact with the wide variety of needs from recurrent clients.
Does no Contract, really mean NO Contract, so there is nothing that I need to sign?
You are right! We do not require any signature for a length of time contract whatsoever. Therefore, this gives people the peace of mind to know that they are not in a bind of any kind with us. However, we do have an agreement form we go over with all new, recurrent clients, were it explains any possible issues that may come up, this helps us clear any questions or concerns.
Do you clean businesses/commercial offices?
Yes, we are happy to announce we also provide office cleaning so far we currently have experience in medical offices, boutique style gyms, and general administrative offices for various companies. We have been working diligently to place information on our website specially tailored for this type of work, check it out...
What sets you apart from other cleaning services?
No contract needed. We clean accurately, and pride ourselves on working honestly. We have open lines of communication with all our clients, we even have a customer web access so all our clients can fiddle with their accounts as they see fit, clients also love to email us and we are NOT the kind to wait days to respond. We offer many additional services, to include, chimney sweeping, hand mop floors, launder clothes and more! We keep our prices competative and affordable, hence our new cleaning systems being Maintenance, and Deluxe. We can almost always schedule the same week. We are very dependable, you can count on us! Some of our clients had previous cleaning services, the actual services were not bad at all, it was the dependabilty that was lacking, what good is any maid or maid service if they may or may not make it, specialy right before that big party you have been planning. Best of all, we like to pride ourselves in many of our clients come from referrals!
I want to use my credit card to pay for my cleaning service, but I'm a little cautious about how you handle this confidential information, so how can I trust my information will not get out?
We completely understand this situation and that is why after the first time cleaning we also accept checks and cash, which we can email receipts for, some people also consider their checks as receipts since it leaves a paper trail as its being processed. Please rest assured that ALL credit card information is immediately placed into our software, only the administrator has the right to see the credit card information. Everyone else only knows you pay with a credit card but blocks the numbers from being viewed. As for the credit card form you fill out, it is placed in our filing system inside our safe that requires Zena's combination to open, our safe is a heavy duty one embedded into the main structure frame, so your document is fully protected. In basic terms, it is kept completely confidential.
What about my house key, I want to give you all a copy so I don't have to leave my key out or having to remember to leave it out, and I don't want to risk leaving my door open or my key out since I fear someone may break in, BUT I'm worried something may happen to my key or even worse get ROBBED by your employee! So how can I trust you all on this?
We understand your feelings on this, that is why we are NOT forceful about you giving us your key. Some clients give us their key from the get go (mostly referrals), some give us their key after they have gained our trust, and some never give us their key, they instead leave it under the mat or leave the front/back door unlocked for us, or give us a garage code. Its ultimately your decision. The upside for us having your key copy is that you don't have to remember to leave it out, and no risk of break in, plus if you forget and we have no access there is a fee we charge for that since we used our resources to get there. To shed a little light on what happens to your key once its with us, we keep it in a key box which also goes into our safe, its marked as a number that is referenced to your name, our software tells us which key is which and only the administrator has access to that. Once we are done for the day we place the key box inside our safe and it always stays there when not in use. Basically, all keys are crossed referenced for our mutual peace of mind.
Who are your employees?
We know all of our employees on a personal level, they are sisters, family and friends. Above all we take the extra step of background checking our prospective employees. This is done for ours and your peace of mind.
Update: August '10 - On a recent interview we were asked about "legal employees", we are placing this on here to give others who wonder about the same thing some peace of mind. We pay taxes for our employees, all of our employees have to be legal to work with us. We have I-9's that are verified with every employee, they also fill out W-2's, their paychecks have taxes taken out just like the rest of us. We pay employment taxes to the TWC (Texas Worforce Commission) and all those other taxes to the State Comptroller, Federal Government and IRS.
So what kind of maid service software do you use that you claim to keep everything safe?
Its an awesome state-of-the-art system called ServiceCEO by Insight Direct. Its designed for these types of businesses. By the way, if you are interested or own a business that is in need of software, check them out, it may be your answer, www.insightdirect.com. Tell them Zena's Detailed Maids sent yah!
Why do you only take a credit card for first time clients and seem to need a first time client to either be there, leave a key, or give you a key? I do not know if I am prepared to be this trusting so soon.
Completely understandable and if it is too hard for you to place trust in us then we would like to explain why we have placed this new rule in effect. As with all businesses that serve their clientele in their home, payment is expected at time of service, credit card will NOT be processed until the day of service. Of course, once you are an established client we are more than happy to take your checks as well as cash. Plus we find more and more people are just paying with their credit cards, it makes it easier on them.
As for the whole requiring a key or you to be there, well it is also considered a normal part of business when performing services inside the client's home. However, if you live in a place we can retrieve a key from the office or use a door/gate/garage code to gain access then that is just as good! (retrieving keys from 3rd parties may be considered an additional fee)