How do I tell my cleaner she's doing a rubbish job?

When I was working I had a series of cleaners through an agency, some very good, some pretty useless. The first one was the best, so she set up high expectations.
I had them for two hours a week and made sure the place was tidy first. Bathroom and kitchen to be done every week, then upstairs one week, downstairs the next. I used to add the word Thoroughly, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. Many of them cut corners, literally. Oh and I didn’t put the teenagers’ bedrooms on the list!
Some did extra things I didn’t expect, but didn’t do basics. One was a real skiver, arrived late and left early.
I mostly negotiated by notes, or via the agency if it was really bad.
Nowadays I do my own cleaning, as little as I can get away with, but kitchen and bathroom are my priorities. Windows are done rarely! The trouble is we have so much stuff, it means so many things to pick up when I do the dusting.

It's not what you say it's how you say it. So have a chat and explain politely what you noticed without being rude or patronising, then she shouldn't be offended. If she is that's too bad!

Maybe she doesn't have time for everything? Ask her! Look up zone cleaning..perhaps you could draw up lists and rotate them out each time. Really, look up cleaning schedules. She may not be organized and going on autopilot and runs out of time.

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Your last comment made me smile GabriellaG54.

My sister in law employed a cleaner when she worked full time. She used to run around tidying and wiping down before the cleaner arrived because she didn’t want the cleaner to think she kept a dirty house! And then she ran around after the cleaner had been as it hadn’t been done properly!

I've always 'employed' a cleaner and she has never failed to live up to my expectations. No chat. No tea-breaks. White glove standard 100% of the time.
It is, of course, me. ?

When one of my sons and girlfriend moved out of a rented flat in our neck of the woods to buy their first house, as set out in the terms of their rental agreement, it required a "professional" clean when tenants left the property. It wasn't dirty once they had moved all their stuff out, but the kitchen and bathrooms needed a buffing up. As they were both tied up with work, and the flat was near us, they asked if we could sort a cleaner out and they would reimburse us. We asked the estate agents if we could use our cleaner, but they said "only if she can produce an invoice for work done" being an individual, working for herself, with fairly broken English she didn't think that was possible So we contacted a fairly large firm of cleaners in the area and they sent two women in, to clean a vacant 2 bedroomed flat, fairly easy work I'd have thought. The standard of cleaning was pretty poor, they didn't rinse the white cleaning product marks of baths and showers. We should have challenged their charges because, the management company withheld £60 from son and girlfriend's deposit, but to be quite honest they were relieved they got the rest of their monies back, nearly £2,000 so they couldn't be bothered haggling with the cleaning company. The annoying thing was our cleaner would have done a wonderful job, but alas she wouldn't have been able to produce the all important invoice I won't name the company who did the work they are prolific in this area but their standard wasn't at all good.

My dislike of dirty windows is greater than my dislike of cleaning them so easiest option is weekly wipe!

Pantglas1
We're on the same page as far as windows are concerned. I can't stand dirty windows.

inishowen
If I was only 80% happy with the completed work I would only be paying 80% of the wages.

I’m the same with windows GabriellaG54 - if you do them once a week, it’s a wipe but once a month or more, it’s a scrub and a chore.

All rooms are cleaned in the same manner working back from windows furthest away from door and everything I use is in a small basket and cloths pre-sprayed with glass cleaner. Vac is cordless so not heavy.
It takes maybe 10 minutes per room because I don't let it accumulate.

I cannot imagine anyone leaving a bedside table to be thick with dust let alone a home being so dusty that it settles noticeably.
Every 3rd day, when I Hoover my bedroom, I also use the soft furnishings tool on the cotton lampshades on bedside tables, wipe bulbs with dry cloth then pull out plastic under bed storage boxes and wipe with a damp j-cloth before vacuuming under bed, the carpet and rugs, cleaning mirrors x 2 (one full length) with glass cleaner on cloth and wiping down tallboy and chest of drawers as I move towards door.
Inside windows get done once a week at same time.

I have been a cleaner in between jobs and it’s very difficult to mind read I had one lady who wanted everything moving and a man who wanted nothing moving
For it to be successful you need to be very clear what you expect and I would have much preferred a list or at least a talk to tell me what wanted doing I usually had two hours some wanted the whole house doing some said don’t do bedrooms kitchen etc etc you need to be very clear which rooms and which jobs you want completing

I once worked for a truly horrible woman in Hatfield.
On my first day she asked me to put the laundry into the machine and start it.

I had no idea that the pipes at the back had to be unwound and attached to outlets, so when the machine spun, soapy water cascaded all over the floor.

The only thing I could do was grab some handy old newspapers (no idea where she kept towels) to soak up what was rapidly covering the sitting room floor's pristine white carpet.

I lay the papers down, pressing them in and praying that by some miracle I would be translated up to a higher realm and out of the nightmare.

By the time She Who Pays the Wages came home, her shag pile was well imprinted with The Times Literary Supplement and it cost me a lot of money to have that professionally cleaned.

It seems from your post that you are not there when she's cleaning.
So maybe you don't know her very well and she doesn't feel loyal to you and skips things she may do if you were present. Just a guess.

It might be a good idea to arrange to be home at least once, then make a nice morning tea for you both and say, 'I think I'm going to do a list, it'll make it easier for us both that way because there are one or two things I'd like you to tackle.'

Then you'll both be on a firm footing, both know what's required and she'll feel you've treated her with respect.

That last is quite rare, something I learned as a cleaner of many years.
I was generally regarded as beneath my employers who would often ask me to do things way out of my job description.

I have tried cleaners over the years but found they were not instinctive in that they would wash the kitchen floor (always missed the corners!) whether it needed washing or not - but not see the obvious that needed cleaning - like hoovering the stairs. Perhaps they should have had a list of things to cover each time but I simply was so rushed with work I didn’t have a moment before the cleaner came - and of course what needed doing varied depending on what my family had been doing. I do it myself now and am dreading the day when I can’t manage it and have to get cleaners in again. I found them just so frustrating even if they were lovely people.

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Bluecat well said. My friend cleans a holiday apartments and welcomes the guests. Her employer treats her very unfairly which is incredible as she really manages the apartments apart from the bookings and has wonderful comments on Trip Adviser. I persuaded her to have a talk with her employer which she did after a long time and things have improved.

Communication helps. Also remembering many working people would have a very poor quality of life without their cleaner.

Like TerriBull I have a cleaner once a week and we do everything we can to help her and her family and she in return is very loyal, caring and does an excellent job. And she is a much better cleaner than me.

My cleaner is Polish, most who put fliers through the door around my neck of the woods are. She is the only cleaner I have ever had so I don't have anyone else to compare her with, except my mum's cleaner who she had towards the end of her life when she suffered from osteoporosis. She is wonderful, she only speaks broken English, but I think she really likes us a lot, my husband always gives her a big tip at Christmas and she makes us lovely Polish cakes in return

I have a friend who is a cleaner..she is great for gossip! She used to clean Ringo Stars's house when he lived locally.

She does make me laugh with the doormat, she puts it the wrong way round so that you get a "Welcome" when you leave!

My cleaner has been brilliant this week. It's like organised chaos, more so than usual with my dad dying so photos everywhere etc. I just said for her to leave alone the table and windowsill and to concentrate on doing bins and hoovering and chatting to me and making me feel better, which she is especially good at. She has become a good friend.

Kate, married to Gary, is not the brightest, but she's kind, helpful, and mainly honest. ( she will not admit to breaking things ) fortunately this is very rare and all valuables are not accessible

'She's been' - crikey