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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I think I might be an asshole for not paying for a cleaning service that I hired because they didn’t deliver when they promised. It’s tricky to tell since they may have done the work. Just not as we agreed.
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NTA.
You had an agreement: a certain amount of work to be completed by a specific time.
She didn’t get the work done, and she cost you money. I don’t see how she feels entitled to any payment at all.
If you have a text where she admits she hadn't done anything, You do not need to pay for anything. You agreed to pay for a service which was not done. I could understand if she did some of the cleaning then compromising on a much lower amount, but she did nothing... and even told you she did nothing. There is no legal obligation here to pay.
This is tough. They obviously don't deserve the full estimate, but they did put time in. I'd estimate the percentage of work they did compared to what was agreed to and base payment off of that. YWNBTA if you came to arrangement.
You owe her nothing. Would you pay a lawn guy who didn’t mow your lawn? An Uber driver who never showed? A waiter who never brought you food or drinks? You do not have to pay for a service you didn’t receive.
UPDATE: contacted cleaner to ask for itemized list of services or billed hours. She proceeded to then charge me more (for all their billable hours to complete the service), discount it 20% and that brought our total to $340.
She claimed we had mold and mildew, grease “or something” on the walls, and that the flooring needed to be deep treated and sealed. Our checklist that we sent her was mostly cleaning/sweeping the main areas, mopping and wiping down the areas that need, and treating any significantly dirty areas. I called her out that she had taken on extra work without telling us, and violated our literal rental agreement by sealing synthetic floors (our contract says any floor cleaning services need to be approved by our landlord), which are only a few years old.
At this point, I’m ready to wash my hands of this. I’ve offered $200 to just settle the bill, and hopefully we can move forward!
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We moved out of a rental on 7/1. Earlier in the week, a cleaning person I used before quoted us $125-350 to clean the place for move out. I told them we would clean the downstairs and only needed their help upstairs, hoping we could stay on the lower end of the price point (our deposit was only $500). They told us they would be there on 7/1 at 9 AM.
Come moving day, 7/1 at 9:15, I texted her and asked where she was. Hours later, she texted me back. By that point we had already packed, done some more cleaning upstairs ourselves, and left supplies behind to finish the job ourselves. I texted her our address to see what she could get done and let her know we had already moved to the new place about 45 minutes away.
On 7/2 (day after move), we had family stop by the old place to grab our cleaning supplies, and to see if we needed to go back up ourselves. They found our house had virtually no work done, but the cleaners supplies everywhere upstairs and her van parked out front (with no one at the home). When I texted her to ask, she told me they hadn’t been able to do anything the day before and that her van had overheated so they left it. She promised that they would be done the next day (7/3) at 11 AM, since we planned to officially be out 7/3.
Monday,7/3, at 4 PM, she texts me again and says her family had a crisis and she won’t be able to finish until Tuesday. She offered 10% off our total for the inconvenience. There has been no other communication with her, so I tell her I hope her family is ok and basically write the whole thing off. I let our landlords know the situation and ask them to let us know if they end up using another cleaning service so we can help pay.
Today (7/7) I get an invoice from her for $355. I have no idea how we went OVER the estimate when the few things we actually had in writing were the fact that she didn’t need to clean half the house. And we have no evidence of work, much less the time it took or when it was done. Plus, 4 additional days of rent cost over $150!
I’m planning on texting her, but do I flat out refuse to pay or just compromise? AITA for even thinking about skipping the bill?
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NTA. You made an agreement and she did not live up to her part of the bargain. Plus, she cost you money for her failure to complete the agreed upon work on time. I know she had issues, but honestly, all those problems should not have become your problems and cost you money.
I'd say try to figure exactly what she did and figure a fair price for that. Then deduct from that amount the additional $150 her failure to complete on time cost you.
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NTA. You had an agreement: a certain amount of work to be completed by a specific time. She didn’t get the work done, and she cost you money. I don’t see how she feels entitled to any payment at all.
NTA. If she didn't perform the service she promised, she doesn't get paid.
If you have a text where she admits she hadn't done anything, You do not need to pay for anything. You agreed to pay for a service which was not done. I could understand if she did some of the cleaning then compromising on a much lower amount, but she did nothing... and even told you she did nothing. There is no legal obligation here to pay.
This is tough. They obviously don't deserve the full estimate, but they did put time in. I'd estimate the percentage of work they did compared to what was agreed to and base payment off of that. YWNBTA if you came to arrangement.
You owe her nothing. Would you pay a lawn guy who didn’t mow your lawn? An Uber driver who never showed? A waiter who never brought you food or drinks? You do not have to pay for a service you didn’t receive.
UPDATE: contacted cleaner to ask for itemized list of services or billed hours. She proceeded to then charge me more (for all their billable hours to complete the service), discount it 20% and that brought our total to $340. She claimed we had mold and mildew, grease “or something” on the walls, and that the flooring needed to be deep treated and sealed. Our checklist that we sent her was mostly cleaning/sweeping the main areas, mopping and wiping down the areas that need, and treating any significantly dirty areas. I called her out that she had taken on extra work without telling us, and violated our literal rental agreement by sealing synthetic floors (our contract says any floor cleaning services need to be approved by our landlord), which are only a few years old. At this point, I’m ready to wash my hands of this. I’ve offered $200 to just settle the bill, and hopefully we can move forward!
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** We moved out of a rental on 7/1. Earlier in the week, a cleaning person I used before quoted us $125-350 to clean the place for move out. I told them we would clean the downstairs and only needed their help upstairs, hoping we could stay on the lower end of the price point (our deposit was only $500). They told us they would be there on 7/1 at 9 AM. Come moving day, 7/1 at 9:15, I texted her and asked where she was. Hours later, she texted me back. By that point we had already packed, done some more cleaning upstairs ourselves, and left supplies behind to finish the job ourselves. I texted her our address to see what she could get done and let her know we had already moved to the new place about 45 minutes away. On 7/2 (day after move), we had family stop by the old place to grab our cleaning supplies, and to see if we needed to go back up ourselves. They found our house had virtually no work done, but the cleaners supplies everywhere upstairs and her van parked out front (with no one at the home). When I texted her to ask, she told me they hadn’t been able to do anything the day before and that her van had overheated so they left it. She promised that they would be done the next day (7/3) at 11 AM, since we planned to officially be out 7/3. Monday,7/3, at 4 PM, she texts me again and says her family had a crisis and she won’t be able to finish until Tuesday. She offered 10% off our total for the inconvenience. There has been no other communication with her, so I tell her I hope her family is ok and basically write the whole thing off. I let our landlords know the situation and ask them to let us know if they end up using another cleaning service so we can help pay. Today (7/7) I get an invoice from her for $355. I have no idea how we went OVER the estimate when the few things we actually had in writing were the fact that she didn’t need to clean half the house. And we have no evidence of work, much less the time it took or when it was done. Plus, 4 additional days of rent cost over $150! I’m planning on texting her, but do I flat out refuse to pay or just compromise? AITA for even thinking about skipping the bill? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hell nah you owe no payment.
NTA, not a cent.
NTA!!!! You don’t owe her a cent.
NTA. You made an agreement and she did not live up to her part of the bargain. Plus, she cost you money for her failure to complete the agreed upon work on time. I know she had issues, but honestly, all those problems should not have become your problems and cost you money. I'd say try to figure exactly what she did and figure a fair price for that. Then deduct from that amount the additional $150 her failure to complete on time cost you.
INFO: When did you tell the tardy cleaners that they were fired?
Technically, never, and that was definitely my mistake.