If someone feels unwell after a clean
If anyone has swallowed a cleaning product, or feels unwell after breathing in fumes, ring the National Poisons Centre on 0800 764 766, or 111 in an emergency. Open the windows, and don't mix or pour together any products left behind.
When the clean isn't right
Walk through it and take photos
Check the place against what you agreed, room by room, and take dated photos of anything missed or damaged. Keep the quote, the invoice, your receipt and any texts or emails about the job.
Tell the business, then put it in writing
Consumer Protection suggests raising a problem as soon as you find it. If a chat doesn't fix it, send a formal complaint in writing: under a page, factual, saying what's wrong, what you'd like done and when you'd like a reply. Send copies of your evidence, never the originals.
Ask for the re-clean you agreed
If your written terms cover a return visit for anything missed, ask for that first, inside whatever time the terms allow.
Know what consumer law gives you
New Zealand consumer law says a service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. If a fault can be fixed, you can require the business to fix it within a reasonable time. If it refuses or doesn't, you can have it fixed elsewhere and recover the cost from the business, and if the failure is serious or can't be fixed, you can cancel and ask for a refund.
Take it to the Disputes Tribunal
If you still can't agree, the Disputes Tribunal can decide whether work was done properly, what was charged for it, and damage to property. It's less formal than a court: a referee runs each hearing, there are no judges, and a lawyer can't represent you.
If something was damaged
Tell the business in writing, with photos of the damage, and ask whether it holds liability insurance it can claim on. Business.govt.nz describes that cover as protection when someone sues a business for damaging their property, and names cleaners among the people it suits.
When the dispute is about your bond
A disagreement with your landlord about cleaning at the end of a tenancy is a tenancy matter, separate from any complaint about the cleaning business.
Tenancy Services says to accept a bond refund through Bond Hub only if you agree with the amount. Bond disputes can go to the Tenancy Tribunal, where the application fee is $29. Our bond rules page goes through moving out step by step.
Where Consumer Protection fits
Consumer Protection sets out how to complain, from knowing your rights and contacting the business through to dispute resolution and a claim at the Disputes Tribunal. Its guides are worth reading before you write to the business.
A complaint about Cleaner Scout
If it's about how your personal details were handled, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner takes privacy complaints. Our privacy policy explains what the form collects and who sees it.
Cleaner Scout takes no part in the clean itself, so it can't refund what you paid a business, send the business back or rule on who's right. Those steps sit with you, the business and the Disputes Tribunal.