MAY 8TH, 2017 NOTE: I'm updating this after everything has been settled by my insurance company and A La Carte's Insurance Company
First let me say that I was a client of A La Carte Cleaning for over 3 years. I had great service during that time. You can tell a lot about a company when something goes wrong. I had put 1 star during the event but decided to move to three because I did have three years of great service.
This is a general comment about all cleaning services (not just A La Carte). If you are thinking of using a cleaning service they will all tell you they are bonded and have insurance. IMPORTANT: THEIR INSURANCE IS LIABILITY AND ACTUAL CASH VALUE INSURANCE. This means if their is damage to your house you will have to put a claim under your personal insurance if you want replacement cost and/or don't want to front the expenses yourself. So for my $40,000+ flood damage I had no choice but to put it under my own insurance which is now being counted against me - in turn my premiums are going up. I had a $1500 deductible that I had to pay out of pocket. A La Carte Cleaning didn't even offer to help with it. About 9 months post incident I received my deductible back after my insurance company recovered some money from A La Carte's Insurance Company.
So what happened - I was away on business for a few days. The cleaner wasn't feeling well and asked if she could send her daughter. I did not know that her daughter didn't work for the company as several times over the three years a different cleaner would be sent if someone was sick or unavailable. They proceeded to blow an electrical outlet - accidents happen. Then they were cleaning the kitchen and ran the water in the kitchen sink with the plugs in. They left the room for quite a long time - as such the water ran over and flooded the kitchen, dining area and part of the family room as well as the basement. Over $40,000 in damages. They tried to clean the mess up themselves. Instead of calling me and telling me what happened they left it to fester for 3 days while I was in Montreal. When I got home the wood had already warped and many things were ruined. In the end they had to replace all of the hardwood floor on the main level of the house, almost the entire kitchen, electronics as well as many other small items.
Although not the fault of A La Carte - It blows my mind that someone wouldn't tell the home owner after doing something like this. It took about 6 months to repair the house. Did I get anything from A La Carte Cleaning? Nope - I paid the $1500 out of pocket and waited 9 months to get it back, some things were not covered by insurance and the time lost is crazy including living in a hotel for over a week. So think twice before hiring a cleaning company - no one cares about your home as much as you do.