Thank you all so much - I'm going to speak with her tomorrow and see if we can sort things out although it will take a lot to regain my confidence in her. However in the meantime I have tried one of the ironing services recommended on NVN - Gail at SW London Ironing - 07598079784 /swironingservice@hotmail.co.uk - and what an amazing service - £20 for big bag of ironing, picked up then returned within 48 hours all beautifully ironed and hung up - I would highly recommend Gail.
Thanks again
Julia

We had a similar problem with a previous cleaner of ours and we ended up letting her go as it became impossible to rely on when she would show up, which isn't helpful, particularly when you have children.

Before letting her go, we did tell her of our frustrations, so gave her the chance to sort things out and get back to her previous levels of efficiency, but that never happened.

We now have a fabulous cleaner, who is always punctual, does a great job and in fact does more than we ask of her. As there are so many great cleaners out there I would say don't suffer in silence. If she's not doing the job you pay her for, maybe it is time to move on.

4 hours is plenty for your house, never mind a smaller rental flat. It does sound as though she is rushing your job as she has others.

I would remind her of what she needs to do every week, inc replacing plug covers & that she is paid for 4 hours so needs to do 4 hours & then review it again after a couple of weeks.

If there is no improvement, then I would say to her that you are considering letting her go & getting someone else & see what she says.

If you need a new cleaner, try Top Clean, I have used them for 10 years

I am a cleaner myself, personally and from my experience I would suggest 4 hours is more than sufficient especially as it appears u r asking relatively straightforward work. I would suggest without looking at your place 4 hours would easily be enough to do a very thorough clean. I am often asked to clean ovens, wash windows and iron. I would suggest you make clear your children's safety is not to be compromised, and walk her round explaining exactly what you expect. It could be that she has stretched herself too far taking on more jobs than she can handle. Just remember it is your house and you are paying her for her service. Good Luck!!

We have five bedrooms and two bathrooms and our cleaner needs 4.5 hours to do our house. Previously I have had cleaners do it in 4 hours (at their suggestion). However, I always felt they rushed a bit and hence either the cleaning suffered or the house suffered when they were more careless as they rushed around. As you have 4 bedrooms and 1 bathroom (in your usual house) 4 hours would seem realistic. If you are in smaller accommodation at the moment then there should be a bit more time for ironing unless the accommodation is somehow more fiddly to clean. If she's leaving early with things not done then it doesn't sound like time is the problem. I wonder if she's taken on extra work and is rushing to squeeze your job in between others?

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Hi - our current cleaner, who we've had for over a year is becoming really unreliable, turning up at different times, leaving before the 4 hours we pay her for is over, missing bits, constantly leaving the child safety plug covers off despite me reminding her weekly etc. We are currently in a smaller rental flat whilst we have building work done so rather than reduce her hours I've asked her to do some ironing - previously her ironing was fine - not perfect but more than adequate - now it is appalling - I've had to redo most of it this week. I'm not good at complaining as I do (well did) like her but I feel that we are getting to a point where I need to give her one last chance before I ask her to leave. But am I being unreasonable - am I asking too much of her and she actually just doesn't like working for us? Normally we live in a smallish Victorian terraced house - 4 bedrooms, one bathroom, one shower room. We have an almost four year old and an 8 month old who is at the weaning stage so I appreciate creates a little more mess but I don't think excessively. We don't ask her to do any washing up or empty the dishwasher - just clean. We are relatively tidy and don't have many things out on surfaces. We pay her substantially more per hour than she was getting from her previous agency. I think my main question is how much cleaning would you expect in 4 hours?
Any advice, tips welcomed
Thank you
Julia