Frequently Asked Questions
If you have questions that are not answered below, do not
hesitate to contact us.
1) Who are we?
2)
How do I book A Cinderellas helper?
3) How do I pay the helper?
4) How does Cinderellas
recruit helpers?
5) Do Cinderellas staff
wear uniforms?
6) Why are Spot Checks done?
7) Does Cinderellas have Insurance?
8) Can I change the
time that my helper works?
9) What happens on Bank Holidays?
10) What happens if the
worker is ill?
11) What
arrangements are possible for the house keys
12) How
are we different from other cleaning companies?
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Cinderellas is a small, friendly
agency owned and managed by Mrs Carolyn Draper. As a retired professional
herself, Carolyn understands the need for responsible, honest home helps with
a high level of excellence.
Cinderellas
therefore aims to provide a reliable, trustworthy and professional service at
all times. The team of carefully vetted helpers are well trained and are all
understanding and kind in their attitude to their clients and work. The
Cinderellas team have also been chosen for their excellent ability to clean,
cook, iron and perform a myriad of small tasks that may need doing around the
home. Many are able to drive and will run errands, buy groceries or simply take
clients for a drive.
Charges for
Cinderellas are kept to a minimum and are made simple by a pay by the hour
scheme with no added costs being hidden in the fine print.
The company offers
full insurance on damage and personal injury. (As with all agencies minor
damages must be paid for directly by the helper responsible).
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Booking a home help is very simple.
- Call 0208 241 6489. One of
our 3 helpful office staff will answer the call and discuss
your needs with you.
- A suitable date and time
will be made for you to meet your home help and to discuss your
requirements, you will be booked with the same helper for each occasion that
you need assistance.
- If you need a regular worker this
will be entered into our weekly schedule, your helper will arrive promptly
at the given time each week.
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Cinderellas hourly charges for all services are set at competitive rates that
include V.A.T, insurance and agency costs.
Our workers are well paid and are rewarded for their hardwork, consistency
and reliability by an excellent incentive scheme.
Full details of rates will be given when booking.
Payment can be made to your worker by cash, direct debit or cheque.
Your helper will leave a worksheet
at the completion of their work with all tasks ticked off that they have
finished. This sheet can be then used by you to highlight what jobs you would
particularly like done the next week.
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Cinderellas main concern is for happy satisfied clients and therefore excellent, top quality staff. We may not be the cheapest home help agency around but then we pay more to our cleaners than other cleaning agencies. We believe that if we pay our cleaners well we will attract a higher standard of cleaner and will keep them longer than companies who pay less.
A great deal of time and effort is taken to recruit our staff. We are constantly on the look out for top-notch helpers which are difficult to find. Many come to us by personal recommendation of
neighbours, friends and colleagues. Others we recruit through advertising. This is a lengthy process as only 5% of the people we interview eventually work for us. (We are extremely
particular!)
All new recruits must have two work references of the highest order. These are checked thoroughly along with personal references. We also carefully check passports, proof of residence,
I.D, etc. If they pass this initial stage and show an honest, reliable nature we then interview again for suitability for the job. Our helpers must have good communication skills, be presentable at all times, be professional in their attitude to the job, must have an excellent level of experience and show commitment to their work. They must also display a pleasant, easy to get on with temperament and personality.
Training is undertaken by all new Cinderellas staff members, this involves a lengthy discussion on our high expectations and standards. Work techniques for each room of the house
is studied as is cleaning product guidelines, ironing / laundry techniques, and helper/ client relations.
A practical test is taken by each applicant. This involves ironing and
cleaning. The prospective employees must also pass a full written test. Cleaners
must get 90% or greater to be accepted.
If an applicant passes through each one of these stages successfully and displays true skills in each area covered, we then give them one job to see how they perform for a client. After careful liaison with the client an applicant is deemed suitable or unsuitable to work for
Cinderellas.
At Cinderellas the interview/ training procedure is continually in process as most workers do not make a career out of this type of work. With a good working relationship between agency and client however, a worker is more likely to stay for a number of years.
We try to encourage our helpers as much as possible with a variety of incentive schemes including a “ worker of the month
award and most importantly regular pay increased.
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Cinderellas staff will wear a smart
“pink” polo shirt or T-shirt with our logo printed on it. They are expected
to look neat and tidy at all times (long hair tied back) and to wear minimum
jewellery. Staff will also produce an identification badge on first
arriving at your home.
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Cinderellas
offers a special spot check service where we regularly do spot checks on our
workers. This is to ensure that the helper is well presented at all times, that
they are professional in their work and that the client is receiving the
services that they are paying for.
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Cinderellas’
agency fee includes insurance cover for public and employer’s liability for
any major damage the helper may cause during her work time in your home.
The insurance is
not intended to cover minor accidents and low value breakage, but rather to
cover major damages and disasters which may occur. Minor damages / small
breakages must be paid for by the person/ helper responsible. Should an incident
occur that may have affected the worker and/or your property, please contact us
immediately.
Should you like to
see a copy of our insurance policy we will happily send you one.
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Should you need to
change the date or time your helper is to work, please contact Cinderellas to
make the necessary changes. Please DO NOT call the worker direct as this just
confuses our schedules.
We
would also be most grateful if you would call the agency and notify us if you
are going away on holiday or are unexpectantly going to be absent at the time of
an arranged appointment. Please remember the helper’s time is valuable and
much time and money is spent on travel to and from a client’s house.
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Should
your designated day fall on a public holiday please make arrangements with your
helper for another convenient time, (many of our workers are happy to work on
public holidays)
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Should your
worker be ill we will notify you at the earliest possible time to either arrange
a different helper to take her place or if you are happy to wait for her to
recover a new day/ time.
In the
event that your helper leaves permanently we will replace her with another
suitable person. The new person will accompany your regular helper on their last
day to meet you and to be shown ‘the ropes’
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At Cinderellas we
are very concerned about security. While we trust our workers implicitly we have
taken the extra precaution of implementing a “key policy”.
Please contact us
for further details of the various options.
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12)
How are we different from other cleaning companies?
At
Cinderellas we have undertaken vast amounts of Market research to see how other
cleaning companies operate. As our aim is to offer the best
possible service to our clients we have taken the good points from our
competitors and tried to improve on the rest!
The
bottom line with all home help agencies is to have fantastic workers. Added
frills just add to the cost of having your home cleaned.
We
therefore, DO NOT add the cost of having labelled cars driving around.
We
do not send expensive representatives to your home to carry out an evaluation.
We feel this is unnessary in most situations and a waste of money.
WE
carry out spot checks on our cleaners to make sure a high standard is always
maintained.
AS
we are a small company the phone is ALWAYS answered by one of our capable office
staff.
WE
know all our workers well and we also get to know our clients well. Our service
is very personable.
We
do not have lock in periods / contracts etc. We hope our service is good enough
to keep clients without any pressure.
We
are friendly, capable and energetic!!
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