I think the agency I have assigns a cleaner for you and that’s it. One time I needed a cleaning in an emergency and mine did show after not wanting to.
Also no promise of two cleaners. If I find an agency that has teams of two it would be better for me.
I have complained about lateness and got some result. But cancellation is probably an upshot of that.
So if I attach to a service I should expect to get a cleaner even if a regular one is sick?
~40 years ago my mother asked her neighbor (who cleaned houses) if she could also do ours, she agreed and like a whirlwind out of Fantasia our house got cleaned. Then my mother noticed her silver spoons and some other stuff was not there anymore. Hmmm. So the next day she came to pick me up. (she had kids roughly my age) She came in and found our neighbor sitting at her kitchen table with her own silver and ours busily cleaning it: “I was going to do mine and I noticed yours were pretty black”
She kept cleaning my parents’ house until she was ~75.
Sounds like we are really lucky. The woman who cleans for us is a friend, actually my gf’s second cousin, I think. She has cleaned our home every other week for 15 years.
The only interruption was a month when she’d broken her ankle. We actually stopped to visit and offered to clean her house, but it was spotless. During the worst of COVID, we made sure we weren’t home while she cleaned, and she wore a mask the entire time she was in our home!
Years ago I had a cleaner, private (landlord recommended) who would flake at the last second, call and say “Can I clean tomorrow” when that was not OK for me as I can’t work at home with the vacuum running.
I thought about it, and realized that I’m paying for a service that includes having the cleaning happen when I want it to, on time, whether or not I feel like doing the cleaning myself. The timeliness is part of the professional service. So someone who’s late, flaky, can’t manage their time, is not a good fit for me as a client.
Now I have a different cleaner who comes on time and both of us are very careful to keep our respective ends of the bargain. I pay promptly the fee she asks without complaining, refer her to other clients. It’s her own business, not an agency, but she does bring family members. She is also very respectful of my things, including various art objects and wiccan altars. She’s not scared of those. She has a business license which is printed on her card.
I wouldn’t feel that comfortable with the anonymity of an agency but maybe it depends. I consider this a “professional service” not a “personal servant”. I’m a “client” not a “mistress”.
With my current housekeeper, she’s supporting 4 generations in her family. But she came and ASKED for the job. I’ve actually given her a raise that she didn’t ask for when I realized inflation was creeping up, and recently I told her I’d pay for gas too – she turned that one down because she already has other clients in my building.
IMO no reason to endure unprofessional behavior because you feel sorry for someone or they’re a “person”. If they’re a person they can take responsibility, or find other clients who are a better match for their laissez faire work style.
That’s MUCH better said that the wall’o’words I wrote. Two thumbs up!!
Why the scare quotes? Are you only willing to postulate their personhood for the sake of argument so you can move on to why your conclusion holds regardless?
I very explicitly and deliberately said the OP was within their rights to fire the cleaner, i.e. they do not have to “endure” anything. Only a willful misreading of my post could lead you to interpret it otherwise. My point was that there’s no need, nor justification, to make the house cleaner’s failures into something more than they are. I suspect most people aren’t really at peace with the idea of themselves as someone who can’t accommodate having a house cleaner who comes late and asks to reschedule, and feel more comfortable framing it as a slight against them for which they have ample justification for anger. She’s not just being late; she’s being late at you; she’s disrespecting you, being unprofessional toward you, ignoring you and treating you badly, acting entitled toward you, etc. Her actions are in the same category as if she helped herself to the contents of your fridge, called you names, rolled her eyes and walked away when you asked her a question. It’s not that you can’t be flexible about when your house gets cleaned, it’s that you can’t let people think it’s OK to treat you like that! Hmmmph!
Is it OK to be a person who says, I will pay this person to come clean my home, but only if they can be punctual and rarely or never need to reschedule? I think it is, but it doesn’t really matter what I think. It matters what you think, because if you are that person but you don’t think it’s OK to be, you’ll twist yourself in knots to transform your firing of a house cleaner into some valiant act of standing up for yourself against a world gone mad. And if you do it in front of me, I’ll feel compelled to call shenanigans.
Oh lighten up.
When someone is late a lot and reschedules a lot it’s a problem, their F’in problem. If I let it go it becomes mine. I have no access to the full context in terms of her other clients but why should I be the weak link and always get screwed. If she’s doing it all over town to everyone it means the problems are even worse. Either way it does involve standing up for oneself. So what?
I’m the customer. It is a service I’m paying for. Since this is my first house cleaner I wanted to know exactly how late how often and exactly how many reschedules are reasonable. Some on here don’t care when they show up. I don’t get that but whatever. I’m just trying to get a feel for what’s reasonable.
I’ve had two cleaners who regularly gave my (now deceased) dog treats – the first was an animal lover and brought them with her (she asked if it was okay the first time she cleaned here). The second (who’s still my regular “maid”) had access to the treats in the kitchen. My dog loved the attention – she eagerly let these women, and their teammates, pet her.
We have a truly wonderful couple who come and clean once a week. They occasionally do have to postpone or cancel. But they are almost more friends than employees. I think they come more because they feel we need them than for the money. For a year during the pandemic, they didn’t come. I offered some money but they turned it down. The husband is a home handyman of real ability. We can only hope they don’t age out.
I have been lucky in that way. I have simply never had a reason. I honestly don’t look all that close at things but what I can see has always looked fine. Price increases I felt were always fair as well.
My housecleaner didn’t come this afternoon. She texted. She had car troubles.
I’m more annoyed at my husband for not looking at his phone and seeing that she wouldn’t make it than at her. 
The replacement date was today at noon. She texted this morning that she would be there between 12-1. I texted her at 11:30 to ask which was closer. She texted back that her sons school called her and she can’t do it. It will be Monday.
I emailed the agency that there were too many cancellations and did she have anyone else. They seem to be a family operation though.
There is also a problem when someone is not fully fluent in English. They don’t explain stuff well or at all. And you are self conscious about the interaction. At least I am. She can’t speak english well enough to have an argument or discuss stuff. That makes it even more important to be on time and do their part to make it work.
The owner emailed me back but just asked me if I would give the cleaner another chance. (Its the second time I have had to complain.) But the trust has been broken so many times. If they had any way to give me another person they would. They probably just don’t have the people.
A question I have is do people tip for cleaners? Some agencies mention it.
This is where telling them I’ve had them pull this crap 30, 40, whatever number of times. This isn’t their second chance, it’s their 41st.
That is why IMO it’s wise to build the record with the management from the first screw-up, not trying to belatedly and retroactively start at the umpteenth screw-up.
And yes, good bet they have zero other workers.
Being solicited to tip by the agency is essentially proof they’re taking more of a vig than they deserve and want you to make up the difference. I’m not playing that game; I just don’t use “agencies” that are nothing but one-time matchmaking services in exchange for an ongoing slice of the payment stream.
This becomes awkward for us. Our cleaning is done by a friend/relative. We pay a bit more than average for this area, both because we can and because she can use it.
We give her something nice for xmas, and we are always happy to help when they need an extra set of hands for household projects.
But she occasionally doesn’t take her money, leaving a note that we pay her too much.
At Christmas time we give them a double payment and a cleaning off (normally biweekly, but we don’t get it between mid December and the second week of January). We’d characterize it as a bonus rather than a tip. We are assured that the extra payment is distributed to the employees. The cleaning is done by 2-3 people who have been the same for some years, but we are rarely home when they come.
I also hire directly, not through an agency, and don’t tip. But we pay her the week we are away for summer vacation when she doesn’t clean, and we also give her a double payment in early December. Maybe that’s a tip, maybe it’s a Christmas bonus. 
Our cleaning lady also doesn’t speak much English, but she has relatives who do. So we communicate by handing her a written note, or texting her, or leaving a voice mail. (if we reach her, she’ll ask us to call back and leave a message, then hang up on us so we can.)
I agree that it would be really hard to say, “I’m fed up with your not coming on time” through any of those. But it’s not hard to say, “what you just requested doesn’t work, maybe next week”. Which is another reason it’s good to address problems immediately, before you are fed up.
If you canceled and weren’t there how did they get into your house to clean? Did you accidentally leave the door unlocked?
I’m not the person you asked, but here’s how I solve that conundrum.
My front door has a combination lock. With several different combinations possible. Once I’ve established their apparent trustworthiness through a few supervised visits they get a combo they can use to get in when they need to. If I need to change cleaners for whatever reason, their combo is invalidated and a new one is set for the new crew’s use.
I personally have no concerns about cleaners in the house while I’m gone. Once we’ve established my expectations for results and their trustworthiness I’d much rather be gone. My new wife is a bit more squeamish about them being here unsupervised. It’s not out of the question for her, but it’s an emergency procedure, not something she wants happening routinely. Yes, Dear.