Hi everyone, I could do with some advice on a relatively trivial matter that is really bugging me.
TLDR – cleaners turned up 30mins before our usual time slot and I didn’t answer the door. They left and now want paying for the missed clean. Should I pay them?
Long version –
We have a group of three cleaners who come once every two weeks on a Tuesday morning to clean our house for an hour. They’ve been cleaning for us for the last year and a half and our agreed upon start time is 9:45am. They also clean for our next door neighbours, starting at 8:45 with them, then coming straight over to ours. Our neighbours have recently moved so the cleaners are no longer going there beforehand.
Two weeks ago before our last clean, the main cleaner (whose cleaning company it is) messaged to say they’d be a bit earlier that day. I was home and it was all fine.
Cut to today. I was waiting for them to arrive at our usual time slot but it got to 10am and they still weren’t here, so I checked my emails and there was one sent at 9:20 to say they’d knocked and rung the doorbell but no answer so they left. At 9:20 I was upstairs with my 7 month old feeding her and putting her down for a nap. I had her white noise machine on and didn’t hear the doorbell at all. She hadn’t messaged to say they’d be early so I had assumed they were coming at their normal time of 9:45 which I was downstairs and ready for.
She’s now saying that since they turned up and there was no answer, I have to pay for the missed clean (£54). My argument is that they didn’t actually turn up to our agreed time slot and the fact that they were here half an hour earlier is irrelevant. She’s saying that since they don’t clean next door anymore they’re coming to us earlier, but at no point has she communicated that or asked if it’s convenient. The only message I’ve had on that subject was the message from two weeks ago to say they’d be earlier on that day, but didn’t say that was going to be a regular thing.
I hate confrontation and I’m finding this all so awkward. Should I just suck it up and pay for the missed clean to keep the peace, or should I stand my ground and refuse but risk souring the relationship?