Dolly Char Cleaning Agency Problems & Complaint

by Colin McNulty on 1 October 2013

We recently engaged the Dolly Char cleaning agency to supply a cleaner once a fortnight for a few hours to help round the house, specifically with Marie from the Warrington franchise.

Sadly the whole experience has been poor, resulting in 2 different cleaners in 3 months, cleaners not turning up and calling in sick the morning of the clean, changing the cleaning dates as the couldn’t make the agreed dates, arriving late, leaving early, and finally damaging to our stainless steel cooker hob and hood due to using a scouring sponge!

This last incident of damage is the last straw as Dolly Char’s response was to wash their hands of the whole affair and palm the issue off to an insurance company, a Graham Edwards of the Green Insurance Group. Who immediately said that they weren’t going to pay out as it could not be “proved” that the cleaner caused the damage, and besides, there’s a £100 excess on the policy anyway. The claims they made that their cleaners are “fully insured” then is rather a stretch.

We’ve subsequently discovered that the Dolly Char supplied cleaner who caused the damage, a blond pony tailed scouser called Louise, had previously been sacked by one of our friends on the estate for causing damage in her property too.

A careful read of the Dolly Char terms and conditions reveals that Dolly Char absolve themselves of any liability for the cleaners they supply, in fact claiming that you are engaging the cleaner on a direct contract basis and they are merely introducers, so you bear all the responsibility.

In summary I will never use Dolly Char again and would not recommend them either.

{ 8 comments… add one }

stuart 30 March 2015, 9:01 am

We have been clients of Dolly Char for about 4 or 5 years now and find them extremely professional and helpful. We have had 2 cleaners from them as the first one retired. We are in a very rural location, most companies could not help us but the beuty of Dolly Char being an introduction recruitment agency is that they sourced and vetted somebody else for us. I believe you may have misinterpreted the concept of a cleaning ‘agency’. An agency suits us a lot better than a regular cleaning company with half a dozen cleaners.
George Bish 30 May 2015, 6:42 pm

I totally agree with Colin. I have found exactly the same issues on reliability. They do not take responsibility for ANY cleaner they ’employ’. As Colin states they hide behind their AGENCY CONTRACT. You the Client are fully responsible. As for vetting, which they claim they do for every cleaner it is nothing short of a joke. This their response to me when I complained of theft from my Mother’s premises ‘We vet them just the same if not, more thoroughly then other agancies as we even visit the cleaners in their homes. Not even the police force or NHS do this with their staff in which they are entrusted with people’s lives in some cases.’

The spelling mistake is theirs not mine!! I, like Colin, WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU STAY WELL CLEAR!!
Sylvia Hyam 4 June 2015, 11:53 am

Running a Cleaning Agency myself, I can only say that there are good cleaners and there are
great cleaners. Recruiting the great ones is the secret to the success of any business.
Clients also have different expectations of how they want their cleaning done . Some expect far too much in the time allocated. It`s no good expecting the cleaner to clean a four bedroom,
two bathroom house in two hours, and expect them to do a good job, when they could quite easily spend one hour in the kitchen! There is no magic wand , if the client wants a first class professional clean, then the cleaner must be given enough time to do just that.
steve 22 July 2015, 10:03 pm

Thank-you for your reviews.

I cannot comment on Colin’s review as it is regarding a different franchise.

Please pardon my typo in the word ‘Agencies’, I possibly typed the email between my dinner and bath after a long tiring day’s work as feel it is important to respond to customers asap.

Sorry, Mr Bish, that you feel this way, but you have not explained that I advised you to contact the police if you suspect a cleaner of theft and we will aid them in their investigation but you decided not to as there was no proof. We then switched the cleaner for somebody else at your request.

I was also trying to explain that we are very meticulous in our vetting and selection process and was expressing my personal opinion with the comparison. If there is anyway in which you think our vetting process can be improved, please feel free to email me through the Dolly Char Lincoln website.

Thank-you, Stuart and Sylvia for your kind words and support. Feel free to check out our website for some lovely testemonials from other past/present customers.
steve 23 July 2015, 1:19 pm

*testimonials
Hazel 21 February 2017, 2:55 pm

I agree with all the first comments, except that I had an excellent cleaner for a short time until she left.
Pauline demanded a £75 cheque before arranging a cleaner and did my first clean herself. This was a disaster as she did not want to have my requirements explained, and she overfilled both my light weight hoovers. I was left with 30mins clearing up.
Contact is very difficult as the phone was rarely answered and emails/messages often ignored.
When I gave the required month’s notice, I was left with no help.
simone 31 July 2017, 7:28 pm

I worked for dolly chars i found them to be inexsperinced in bussines could never get hold of boss she wouldnt let me know if the client had cancelled so would travle miles only to find no one home time wasters also they owe me wages from two months ago and her response is they havnt paid so were not paying you i did the work so should be paid absoulte disgrace would not use them at all
Sa lma 15 May 2018, 10:16 am

Had very bad experience with dolly char. The cleaner took 300_400£ from my bag. I tbough could rely on them coz they are being hierd from the company. Very disappointed. U cant prove any thing.