So Completely Unbelievable (That It Is Almost Funny)

So. Our floor. Y'all remember all of the headache we went through with the builder and flooring subcontractor to finally get it replaced? It took almost sixteen months of going back and forth, haggling, etc., etc., etc. Then, we had to endure the actual replacement itself; move everything out of the living room/dining room (which meant completely unpacking the china hutch, buffet, curio cabinet and then setting them back up again once the floor was done). Not fun. But, we finally had a beautiful floor.

Note the use of the past tense?

Long story made short (not!)

After I started doing consulting work, we agreed that I shouldn't spend my down time cleaning the house. So, we arranged to have Merry Maids come and give us an estimate. I'd used Merry Maids in the past and had been pleased with them from both the perspective of the cleaning job and the ease of working with the management staff if something went wrong.

So, Cynthia from Merry Maids comes to the house. She admires it and says it's really clean. So clean, in fact, that she told me she'd waive the normal first time cleaning charge of $52 (which they charge in addition to the normal bi-weekly fee). Great!

We went through the house so she could ask questions about what I did and did not want done. When it came to the wood floor, I said, "Dry mop ONLY!" I explained to her that we'd just had the floor replaced and were ADAMANT about the dry mop thing. She wrote it down on the estimate.

Anyway, fast forward to the first cleaning day. They did a fantastic job!

Fast forward even more to two weeks later. I came home from my consulting job and went upstairs to change. When I came downstairs (bare footed), I thought the hardwood floor seemed "sticky" or "tacky". I think I just shoved that thought out of my mind, though.

The next day the sun was out in full force. I went to open the blinds in the living room; again, noticing that the floor seemed sticky. As I reached the family room, I turned back to look at the floor. And that's when I saw it. Those damn swirls were on the floor AGAIN! On top of it, I could also see every single one of my footsteps.

I immediately called Merry Maids and spoke to Cynthia. She said they would send the ladies out again to re-do the floor. I said, "What do you mean "re-do it? They were not supposed to do anything to it in the first place!" "Oh, yes, you're right". She said. I advised her that the floor was sticky and that whoever came over better get it taken care of. She wisely agreed that she'd come along with the cleaning ladies.

They showed up. The cleaning ladies did not speak English but one of them had been there the day before. The other one had not but had been there the first time. Cynthia told me the moment she walked in the door, "I don't know why but their supervisor (who was not there) told them they had to put Murphy's Oil Soap on the floor, even though the instructions said not to".

Oh. My. God.

The absolute WORST thing to put on a delicate hardwood floor. Not only that, they used it on the tile floor, too; so, the crap was getting tracked all over the damn place.

I really thought I was going to throw up when she told me that. My heart just sank; all I could think of was our beautiful NEWLY replaced floor was now ruined.

We got the manager to come over two days later. Mr. B stayed home to deal with him. Actually, he didn't argue overly much with Mr. B; not at all, in fact. He told him that their parent company, Service Master, would take care of it.

"Take care of what?" said Mr. B. "Paying you to replace your floor" replied the manager.

Hmmm....I was skeptical about THAT!

A week or so later, the manager came back to meet with our pals at JJ Nelson (who had come to give an estimate of how much it would cost to replace the floor; something they should obviously have had near to hand but our friend Demetrius was no longer with the company (no surprise, that) so they had to send some new dude out).

Fast forward.

Today, we got a check for the full replacement cost of the floor. It took about six weeks from the time of the incident to get it. Not bad, considering it took sixteen months to get the first floor taken care of. I had to admit, I was sort of shocked. But, I suppose Merry Maids knew they were screwed since right off the bat they admitted they'd put Murphy's Oil Soap on the floor, contrary to WRITTEN instructions.

Now, we just have to decided what to do. Mr. B says he'll try to clean it with the solution JJ Nelson gave us for the first ruined floor. No harm, no foul. If it comes clean, great. If not, well, we will likely replace the floor with some other wood floor that is a hell of a lot less delicate but hopefully will look just as nice.

In the meantime, I've got to find new maids.

Mrs. B