I have been employed with Merry Maids for 6 months. And I can tell you that most of these reviews are probably 100% true. Yes the teams are trained properly. But as soon as training is complete, the focus turns to speed instead of thoroughness. While your being charged for example $100.00 for this service, each team mate is lucky to see 10-15% of that. We work on a commision base, which means the more houses we can get cleaned, the more money we will make. Sub-standard service for too-high prices becomes the normal in this company. And the employees seem to be the last ones they are concerned about. I got hurt on the job and because I went to the doctors, I was penialized for the injury and told that if I hadnt gone to the doctors, I wouldnt have been. Anyone with any sense or morals wouldnt hire this company. Im leaving in a few months myself and taking a good part of my regular customers with me. They enjoy my services.

I live in the Baltimore area now and am a breast cancer survivor... twice in 9 years. I should also note that I cleaned houses as an independent contractor for many years. I can no longer do normal house cleaning due to the residuals of chemotherapy after radical mastectomy and lymph nodes removal. My surgeon's staff select recipients and then they contract Merry Maids for (6) 1-hour cleanings as a service to people in my condition. I was grateful to be on the receiving end of a service that I once did. The "maids" who came were nice enough but they will not lift a hand to move one item (no matter how lightweight) to thoroughly clean a room. They just quickly dust and push a mop around things. Never asked them to move heavy furniture, but they wouldn't even move a tray table to clean under it or shoes at the edge of a bed. I ran a mop on the kitchen floor after they left and it was filthy. I would have been fired from every job I did on the first day if I "cleaned" like Merry Maids. Perhaps, the company provides no training and just hire anybody that can tolerate menial labor. We will go back to small independents for satisfactory cleaning. I just feel badly that donations are raised to provide a service for the physically challenged and these funds are wasted on Merry Maids.

Before I moved into my new home I hired Merry Maids to clean it for me. On Nov 13th, 2008 Merry Maids came to my home with a four-person team to clean my 3bdrm tri-level home. However, the quality of the cleaning was a disappointment. I thought I paid for hand washed floors, cleaning of the ceiling fans, refrigerator, base boards and bathroom floors. Unfortunately, thats not what I got. The floors did not appear to have been hand washed; there were dead flies left in the corners. There was still dust on the ceiling fans. The refrigerator (freezer included) was only wiped down, not cleaned/washed. The base boards and bathroom floors were still dirty. Also, I was assured that I did not need to supply any cleaning supplies but to my astonishment the cleaners had used my Lysol cleanser.

Later that day I called George at 4:30pm to tell him about the floors. He offered to come back the following month. Upon further inspection of the house I called back to report the condition of the everything else I had found. After two more conversations and an inability to settle on a new appointment time I requested a full refund. George then said he'd call back. I missed his return call and when I called him back that day I spoke with his wife. Unfortunately, her customer service skills were lacking. She was condescending and argumentative.

The next day I called back very eager to settle this situation. I offered to accept a refund of $100.00 only; allowing Merry Maid to keep $40.00 for transportation fees and George refused. He counter-offered me only a $75.00 refund by mail. Exasperated at this point, I reluctantly agreed. As of today I still have not received a refund.

They never showed up for their appointment. The appointment was supposed be from 10-12. At 12:30 I called and spoke to Manta to inquire. She said she didn't get around to calling me to tell me they would be late. She said she would call me back to reschedule. 15 minutes later she called and told me she could not accomodate me. I cancelled my service. I called back to speak with someone else. Cathy answered and claimed Manta left me a voicemail. Which is kind of strange because Manta admitted to me she hadn't gotten around to calling me. I told her that I called them and she argued that she has on her notes that Manta called me. I explained the chronological events of who called who and she. I asked her to confirm my phone number to make sure she had the correct contact info and she read the number incredibly slow as to imply I am an idiot. so let me get this straight.. I am PAYING you for a service and you treat me like an idiot. They were rude, unprofessional and just plain mean.