If I hire a company to clean my kitchen, and leave a generous tip, I expect to come home to a clean kitchen. The McDonalds of housecleaning. If you need to easily schedule an appointment, this is a good call. If you want a hotel-like cleaning, go to Care.com I called Merry Maids bc I just needed to get my place together. I have a 1bd/bth Visit 1: Cost: $296 (Tip left: $50) The Cleaners did not tend to the floorboards, sweep under furniture, or clean appliances. I was not pleased, the cleaning was average, and I paid for a deep clean. But, I gave the benefit of a doubt, because it was easy. Visit 2 Cost: $144 (Tip left $15) This visit went very well. I was a bit irked the team had the gall to toss my salt, but I let it go. Visit 3 Cost: $144 (Tip left $40) Terrible. I came home to dishes in the sink, clothes on the floor, and my cushions awry. We're the surfaces polished? Yes, and I'm not paying for that. I'm paying for cleaning. If I hire a company to clean my kitchen, and leave a generous tip, I expect to come home to a clean kitchen. Fair enough? Again, go to Care.com I found an amazing house cleaner last year. When I couldn't contact her early this year I was lazy and went with Merry Maids. read more

I should have read these other reviews before booking this company. And I agree that they do not even deserve the 1 star. I had some bad experiences with housecleaners so I wanted a company that was well known, thinking I'd get better service. Reasons I wanted to use this company include: 1) bi-weekly set schedule (my cleaner before would always change days and/or times with me and I didn't like that); 2) insured for damages (my cleaner before had ruined a few pieces of furniture and then tried to hide the damages, thus, she was fired); 3) auto-billing (not having to get cash or write a check). Nancy who came to the house to give me a quote sold me on their services. Said if I signed a contract with them, she'd waive the "first-time" fee, but if I cancel then I'd have to pay it back. What I didn't realize was that the "first-time" fee was $301 and the regular visit fee was $150, so TOTAL the first-time cleaning would have been $450! BUT she NEVER said the total is $450. ***This is a VERY deceptive practice.*** She made it sound like the total was $301 for the first-time cleaning. Well, technically it is. What they don't tell you is that they charge you for a "first-time" cleaning as well as a regular cleaning on the first visit. We have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, about 1400 square feet. Yes, you saw that correctly, folks, $450 to "deep clean" this size house. Now, having had a very thorough house cleaner previously, I know that it takes one person about 4 hours to clean our house or for a 2-person team, it takes about 2 hours. That includes, the blinds, the baseboards, hand-mopping all the floors, wiping down cabinet fronts and doors. For a deep clean, I'd expect AT LEAST that much, but they didn't do this at all. In fact, their first clean service was a VERY MEDIOCRE regular clean. And I didn't even have them clean our guest room because we had it filled with stuff as we were "Marie Kondo-ing" our house. Same with the second visit. Very mediocre. And I still didn't have them clean our guest room. Third visit. I was told that my day and time scheduled was every other Tuesday around 1:30-2:00. They didn't show up, no phone call or text, until 3:00. I had them finally clean our guest room. From all the rains, we had some ants in that room. When the cleaners were done and left (at 4:15 - not the 2 hours that a thorough clean would require), I went to check the guest room. Dead bugs still on the floor (see the photo, which is what I e-mailed to Nancy). This is infuriating that I was paying $150 for cleaners, and I STILL had to clean the floors after they left. We have tile floors and the floors under the beds and nightstands (which have legs so you can see the floor under them), had not been touched. The kitchen and bathroom counters were wiped down only up until the point of an object. For instance, if a soap dispenser is sitting on the counter, they literally only wiped around the soap dispenser and didn't bother to move it or wipe that down from dust. I could tell because the counter behind it was still dusty! Again, I was cleaning up the bathroom counter from my husband's facial shavings and dust directly after the cleaners had left. I e-mailed Nancy that day, sending her the picture of the dead bugs on the floor. I got no response, so two days later I sent another e-mail canceling my contract for extremely poor service. Again I received no response. Fearing that they would show up to clean on the scheduled day, I e-mailed a third time telling Nancy that I need her to acknowledge she received my e-mail canceling our contract and to send our key back. No response. Well, they showed up to clean, while we were out. We got home and they were there cleaning. I talked to one of the cleaners who said they got there around 4:00 (again, not the 1:30-2:00 that I was originally told) and she said they never got my cancellation notice because Nancy had left with no notice to the company. Now they are trying to charge me that extra $301 for "first-time" cleaning because I want to cancel the contract. Why would I continue with a contract when I'm completely dissatisfied with their service and they have not made any attempts to rectify that dissatisfaction? Telling me that I could call them for a re-do but it has to be THAT DAY. Well, honey, I did. But your girl left and no one responded. I never got a call from the new manager even just introducing herself, so I didn't even know the manager I had been dealing with was gone. For two weeks, no response from anyone. And from years of CYA in the business world, I do my correspondence in e-mail, TYVM. Bottom line: DO NOT USE THEM! Horrible cleaning, horrible customer service, deceptive pricing tactics. read more

Merry Maids - Dead bugs on the floor left by cleaners - Home Cleaning Near Me - Watsonville, California

I would not hire this company to clean dog poop off of my shoes. I just finished a remodel of may house and this is what a $645 deep cleaning gets you. read more

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This is the second bad experience that I have endured and the last time that I will hire this maid service. Firstly, I scheduled a 9am cleaning. I did this for specific reasons pertaining to my schedule and that of my husband. I cleared my morning and awoke early to prepare the house for a deep clean. (Yes, I'm one of those people that cleans before the maids arrive.) When 10am came and passed, I called into the office. I asked if the team was running late and I was told: "No, we're right on schedule today. Your cleaning is scheduled at 2pm." I explained that there was an error on their part as I specifically scheduled the 9am slot. I asked if they could get here any sooner then 2pm. The manager told me that she would take a look and call me back within a matter of minutes. I never got a call back. Next, 2pm comes and goes. I call in again, this time I'm told that it was a window of 2-4pm and I should be patient. I assure you, the reader, that I have been practicing patients for a better part of the day. At 4pm, when the maids have still not arrived and I have not had a call from the office, I decided to call in again. I called the 831 area code phone number, assuming that I was calling a local business. I got the voicemail, twice, wherein the prompt announces "Thank you for calling Merry Maids, San Fransisco..." It is nearly 5pm, no cleaning, no phone call, and my patients is wearing thin. I suppose they are having difficulties managing a team from so far away. I'll update if I ever receive a cleaning. read more

We would've liked to have given MM more -- or any -- stars, but the fact of the matter is they simply didn't show up as promised. They botched booking this gig from the start. Original arrival time at our home was to be between 11 am - 12 PM. When 12 pm rolled around and no MM, my wife called to ask what was going on. "We don't even have you on our schedule," she was told. "We'll be there by 1 pm." 1 pm came & went, still no MM. Wife calls again, is told, "Looks like it's not going to be today, would you like to reschedule?" Talk about abject cluelessness. read more

This is a revision to my review of six days ago. After posting my review I was contacted . I repeated my reasons for the poor review and was given a partial refund. read more

I wouldn't refer merry maids to my worst enemy. I have a 780 sq.ft. home with a total of 5 windows. They quoted my $260.00 for a "DEEP CLEAN". They sent in 3 ladies. They were here maybe a little over an hour. Nothing was "deep cleaned". Barely cleaned superficially! No door jams, walls, inside windows not touched. They dusted around things, and not good at that. Now trying to get a refund is like pulling teeth. No returned phone calls. The owners were to come and see all there girls didn't do, but their flaking. Looking more and more like I'm going to have to take them to small claims court, (: My worst mistake was paying with a check. I should have paid credit card so at least I could of disputed it. I tried a stop payment but they cashed it before it went into effect. read more

My bathroom is like new. The communication was above average (I called them 3 or 4 times.) Two nice workers showed up to my house with all the necessary cleaning supplies. I really appreciate the work but I do have some complaints. I called in about my oven. It needs cleaning!!! And the bathroom was also looking bad around the edges. So I schedule an appointment. The day of, I call for confirmation. They say someone will be here at 2:30-3:30. Two nice ladies show up at 4. They work for an hour and when I ask about the oven they say I only scheduled for the bathroom and we call the office. The office backs them up (I like this because bosses should be on their employees side) and then says they need to get back because it's closing time. I'm too agreeable and not pushy enough! They changed me $100 for one hour and suggested that I schedule another appointment to finish the job when they were late. I'm guessing that the company over books and take a big commission. I like that they're bonded and insured but I would not hire again unless I had lots of extra money and an open schedule. I've contacted 4 other cleaning agencies and I'm reaching out to my friends. Hopefully I'll find something better and more affordable. read more

After yet again entering my perfectly cleaned and wonderfully smelling house yesterday I felt compelled to write a review for Merry Maids. I have used the service for about a year and couldn't be happier. I am one picky B**&)ch when it comes to cleaning my house and have fired more housekeepers than I can tell you. I have never had one complaint about this service. That is going some. Their service is always perfect. They are always on time on the appointed day as well. I also always have the same housekeeper who is excellent, polite, and I trust in my home. I am allergic to fragrance, so they clean my house "green" and it still is perfect without the use of stinky, harsh chemicals. As the previous reviewer indicated, they are a bit pricey, but they do an excellent job and are in and out of your house efficiently and quickly and I never have to go back and do anything over. I write my check with a smile on my face every time. read more

Super bad experience that I have endured and the last time that I will ever hire this maid service. Please stay away from this rip off company They have many one stars. My 95 year old grandmother in a nursing home could work faster and better .My home had a maid clean weekly and I hired them to do some touch up when I moved $500 dollars later, (YES ) They worked so slow, don't do windows. and can't reach the top cupboards in kitchen .Absolutely the worst . Please please stay away , don't waste your money .Watsonville Ca. read more

One too many stars for sure. You have been warned... DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE IN WATSONVILLE! Other Merry Maids I can't vouch for - but these people in Watsonville are AWFUL. They cleaned two houses within a week of each other. They were supposed to have been deep clean jobs - just moved out - house was empty. The first one at best it was a mediocre job. For the second one, we told them what got missed in the first one. They ASSURED us it would not be missed in the second job. The second house wasn't even a mediocre job. I could have had two 8 year old boys clean it better. Shelves were dusty, stairs were not vacuumed, drawers full of See for yourself... This is ridiculous for the amount of money paid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUOyOG3Os_g and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVVyTZFd6yk Edit: My husband did say they actually did a good job on the oven and frig. Guess they actually earned the 1 star - barely. read more

The only good thing I have to say about using merry maids is that the two woman who came to clean our house were very pleasant. The quality of cleaning was very poor. I don't even know where to begin they didn't even do the things that were on their list and the areas that they did clean were not cleaned very well. They charged us an extra 50.00 to clean our refrigerators and when I checked the shelves they were not cleaned. We are very angry. We did call and complain and they did adjust our bill down to 295.00. Rip off. Do not use merry maids. If I could score zero stars I would So now the search continues for Really good house cleaners. Oh I forgot on more thing. We booked for a Tuesday morning at 9 and it was a no show. The lady said the appointment vanished off their screen. So we booked for another day. That should have been our warning read more

They will first clean you up and then clean you out. I have been using Merry Maids for the last 4 years and I have been every happy with their work in my home. About 12 months ago I discovered some of my father's jewelry was missing. I assumed it was misplaced but I could not find it. Every so often, another piece of his jewelry was again missing. This continued for months. There were about 10 boxes I had retrieved from my storage unit that were placed in my garage. Several months ago it looked like the area where I kept these boxes along with some old furniture looked slightly rearranged. Now all but one box is still there but the rest were gone. All my yearbooks, photo albums etc. are no longer in my possession. Finally I had my coin collection hidden in my closet behind clothes and you needed to step over several boxes to get to hit. Lots of my precious silver and gold coins were missing. I spoke with the manager several times and he offered a couple of weeks of free cleaning........what is he nut's? He would not allow me to speak to the owner. I do have a police report of the crime, but as they said, if they don't admit to it they cannot do anything about it. The ladies are still employed and the manager is still working there. They say they are bonded but they are not. I would look somewhere else for a house cleaner! read more

I wish there was a way to put a negative amount of stars!!! Save yourself the pain. Don't use this company. It is so unorganized and unprofessional! I booked a appointment with this company for a move out cleaning. 2 people were suppose to come for 4 hours. Only 1 person (a 90 year old woman... who could barely do the cleaning... SERIOUSLY!!) showed (LATE) had no cleaning supplies, no paper towels, no clothes towels... used all my supplies and left early before the job was complete. I had to call in friends on a favor to help get the house finished before the final move out inspection the next day. I would NEVER use this company and I highly recommend going somewhere else. :( read more

I had placed an order for house cleaning online for service last week and had waited for them to show up based on the online appointment only to find out that their actual schedule does not match at all the online appointment. I then met the cleaning crew today at the correct time based on the phone appointment. The 2 women started doing a nice job of cleaning for half an hour and then up and left without saying anything. I am certain that other franchises are good but learn from my atrocious experience and do not waste your time with the Watsonville franchise. read more

We've used Merry Maids for about five years. They are fantastic. Sure, they're a bit expensive, but you get what you pay for. Believe me, we've tried other cleaning services and when we can actually get someone on the phone, it's very difficult to pin them down on pricing. We've had the same two cleaners, with a few exceptions, like for vacation, or if one's ill, clean our house for the entire time. They have always asked if we're pleased with the job. Big plus for us is that they accept all major credit cards, so we're able to add reward points for the expense. read more

I hired merry maids to help me get my place clean upon returning home from a stay at the hospital. When I called to schedule the service it was a very easy and simple process. I scheduled the service for an hour and a half with two workers. The main area I wanted help with was the kitchen. I needed dishes washed (there were quite a few dirty dishes, I needed bathroom touched up, light cleaning in living room, plus vacuuming and mopping. The two women that merry maids sent were both very hard workers and very pleasant people to have in my home. They arrived about half an hour early, ready to work with all the appropriate tools and cleaners with them. They worked for the full hour and a half and was finished with everything I had wanted them to do by the end of the shift. Over all I am very very happy, and grateful for the work that they did to help get my house nice and clean so I could relax and recover from a surgery. The only reason that I gave them a 4 star instead of a 5 star review is because there were some dishes that could of been cleaned a little more thoroughly, but that is partly not there fault since the dirty dishes had been stacked up in the sink for almost a week causing the food debris to need a much more heavy scrub than in a normal situation where dishes only sitting dirty for one or two days at the most. I usually clean everything in my house myself, but if I am ever in the need of a cleaning service again I will definitely use Merry Maids in the future! I am not sure whats up with all the low rated reviews? I thought that they did a really great job! Of coarse no one is gonna clean my stuff and my house the exact way I would be doing it...but they sure came close! Cost is a bit high, but you get a lot for what you pay for! They bring all the tools and chemicals needed, they have two workers working, so they get a lot done in a much shorter time than one worker would, and they are a professional business ie: they have insurance to cover your property if an accident occurs, they also cover workers comp insurance so if a worker is injured on the job you wont have to cover medical bills, or get sued over it, plus they have a screening process in place when hiring employees that includes back ground checks ect...much safer than having a total stranger come into your home! Thank you Merry Maids for getting my messy place cleaned up for me so I could relax and recover from a surgery! read more

I called at the beginning of last week and spoke with Norma. I booked an appointment for an assessment on Friday. They were due to arrive at 10 am. At 9:30 I received a call that they needed to cancel because they had an "office event". She stated that she would be back in the office by 3:00 pm and she would call and reschedule for Monday. I think the event must have been TGIF.....no return phone call that afternoon or ever. Guess they don't need the business. Would give them zero stars if I could. read more

I too wish there were negative stars as another reviewer put it. I have used Merry Maids in the recent past, so note the other review's dates. Idiots, inept, muddled around wasting time and my $300.00 fee. There is truly not one thing I can note as a good cleaning job. They would ask what do I want cleaned. I kept saying everything like start in the kitchen, then continue towards the bathes and bedrooms. They would ask for cleaning supplies because they had none. I was so frustrated that I finally told them to leave even though I missed the $300.00 I paid. Think twice, no a hundred times, before wasting your time and money on these losers! read more

We have had home cleaning services from this office for at least 10 years. Sondra was our go to person during that time, and service was always prompt and excellent. When Sondra left it all went downhill. I'm guessing that was within the last 6 months to a year--not sure. Now it is sketchy, sometimes with no-one showing up. We had a cleaning scheduled this morning and no one came. We called and cancelled all future service. We are looking again. read more