The Cleaning Authority

I’ll be the first to admit that I have run through several local cleaners. They all do «okay». They clean, but they don’t go above and beyond the call of duty. When I saw the famous TCA cleaning list, I was hopeful. I signed up for a bi-​weekly service and have used them for several months. The problem with the list is it’s a list. They blow through it and check the boxes without going above and beyond. And when they blow through it, they can be a little destructive (broken vase, spilled water on the floor, knocking the shower door off the tracks, knocking a security camera off of a ledge, etc.)
For me the final straw was when I found myself cleaning after my cleaning. I swept out a closet that was missed, picked Christmas paper scraps up off the floor, found several things sitting right under the bottom edge of the couch, and wiped up a spill left on the front of the dishwasher. Also, they don’t tidy knick-​knacks. I had a table that looks admittedly sloppy after throwing stuff on it for a couple weeks. Other services will dust under knick-​knacks and rearrange them to look neater, TCA will not move items and they leave things looking just as they found them — even if that look is sloppy. This includes leaving pillows haphazardly sitting on your couch aka no fluffing.
In general, I would rather go with another okay place that is cautious and will make things look neater by fluffing pillows, smoothing out my bed quilt, replacing trash bags, and tidying up knick-​knacks. I’m starting lose hope in Nashville cleaning services. Maybe my standards are too high?

We were customers of The Cleaning Authority-​Smyrna for nearly four years. During that time, we had only a few problems, including a broken mirror, mop water left on our hardwood floors under rugs which caused the floors to buckle, and only a few lackluster cleanings. In spite of these issues, we stuck with them and even recommended them to friends and family. However, the quality of the cleanings began to deteriorate during the fall of 2014. Our most recent cleaning was the final straw. Upon arriving home that afternoon, it was evident that they had done very little to actually clean. So, we replayed our surveillance footage from inside our home. Two TCA employees spent less than an hour «cleaning» our 2,500 sq. ft. home. It looked like they were in slow motion and spent more time roaming through the house, looking at their cell phones, etc. They even commented «it’s good enough» and «don’t really care» upon their departure. We were so displeased, we contacted the TCA office who sent the same two employees back to re-​clean the following day. My wife left a note specifying tasks that were not completed. Their belittling attitudes and snide remarks (also recorded on the video) were so offensive that it shattered all confidence in The Cleaning Authority. [And, if you would like to watch either of the episodes, just let me know and I’ll gladly share the link to the YouTube videos.] When my wife went to the TCA office to cancel our service and to pick up our house key, it was obvious that the attitude toward customers we saw in our house was consistent from top to bottom. The franchise owner handed our key over and arrogantly proclaimed, «My business will survive.» With such a detestable work ethic and attitude, this company LOST ALL AUTHORITY to clean our home.