New Century Maids

Summary: NCM did an initial deep clean of our apartment. The cleaners did an excellent job and I am 100% satisfied with how clean it is now. It cost more than double the estimate. I was disappointed when they shamed me about the state of the apartment in the course of explaining the cost overrun.

My roommate and I engaged NCM to deep clean our apartment (a large 2-bedroom unit with 1.5 bathrooms). We have lived there for 7 years and never had it deep cleaned, so it was time. NCM was very responsive when I contacted them for an estimate, and offer to send a 2-person cleaning team, at $30/hour/person, quoting $150-165+HST for the initial clean -- much cheaper than I was willing to pay.

When we agreed to proceed, NCM quickly booked us an appointment that week. The date they picked didn't work so they promptly rescheduled it to a convenient date. I filled out a questionnaire about what work was required, and NCM revised its estimate to $237 (presumably because I asked that the oven and fridge be cleaned too).

The cleaners were scheduled to arrive at 12:30pm but got there late for reasons that were probably out of their control. Luckily the superintendent was able to let them in. They stayed until 5 but advised that they were only able to clean the bathrooms, bedrooms and start the kitchen, but unable to get to the living room or fridge. For the 3.5 hours (x2 people), it was $237.

I got home, checked out the work, and was generally happy, so I asked them to return to complete it when they were available; however, I pointed out a couple areas that they missed and I was assured that they would be fixed when the crew came back. NCM estimated that it would cost another $120-150 to complete, and said this was because the apartment was "cluttered", and parts of the bathrooms "needed a lot of scrubbing", etc. (They previously said that they spent time removing the garbage from each room, but this was an error because I removed the garbage ahead of time.) I would have been happier if they simply said that there was more work than anticipated, as I felt that the explanation shamed me. I get that it's unclean; if it weren't, I wouldn't be paying for a deep clean!

The next morning, NCM called me to advise that they would be able to have the crew attend that afternoon, which was sooner than expected. To save costs, I asked them to ignore the fridge. At the reattendance, they thoroughly cleaned the kitchen and living room and fixed the couple spots that they missed the first time. It cost $203, and I'm not sure (notwithstanding the website's satisfaction guarantee) whether or not I was charged for time spent on the parts I expressed dissatisfaction with.

The apartment is now spotless, and I am very happy with how great it looks!

I note, however, that it cost well over double the estimate. I have reviewed other reviews of NCM and I see that whenever someone posts something negative, NCM describes how gross their living space was (in one review, shockingly, pointing out that the customer didn't tip!). I hate this. No one is paying for a cleaning service to shame them about mess.

I get that my apartment was a bigger job than they anticipated from the webform I filled out, but I filled it out honestly, describing the size of the unit, the number of rooms, and the last time it was cleaned. Maybe the form needs more options.

I think that NCM could do a better job giving estimates, e.g., giving a bigger range and not underestimating time so that the ultimate cost is less surprising. I hope this review is not met with a response that shames me about the mess of my apartment. Again, I get it; but I never downplayed the mess.