Credit Card company letter

[beth_leonard]

I'm asking my credit card company for 50% of my money back from the unsatisfactory cleaning we got from Merry Maids. I'm aware that one of my weaknesses is business writing, so I'm posting it behind the cut in case anyone has any suggestions for getting my money back.

I've never tried to get money back out of a credit card company before so I don't know how easy it is. I know from a Merchant's perspective the company always believes the consumer first, and you have to work pretty hard to clear yourself (not that one of my customers has ever disputed me). It also costs you about $30 in "chargeback fees" so even if my CC company doesn't give me my money back, it's still going to cost Merry Maids an extra $30 or so.


The form on the back of my bill says:

...
9. Although I did engage in the above transaction, I have contacted the merchant for credit. The services provided on [07/03/07] were not received or were unsatisfactory. Attach a letter describing the services expected, your attempts to resolve with the merchant and a copy of your contract.

To whom it may concern:

Summary:  We feel as though the Merry Maids cleaners stole
from us when they cleaned our house and they didn't do a
good job cleaning it.  When we contacted them to take
them up on their satisfaction guarantee, they were unwilling
to refund a sufficient portion of our money to make us
satisfied.

-------

I contracted with Merry Maids to clean our home regularly.  They
sent an estimator to look at the state of our home and tell us
how much it would cost to clean.  They said that the initial
cleaning is a deep cleaning and the subsequent monthly cleanings
would cover the same areas but not as throughly.

Because of a coupon I had, the initial cleaning was to be $348
and the subsequent whole-house monthly cleanings were $179 for
the next 4 months, to jump to $189/month after that.

During the cleaning my husband stayed home and worked while I
took our two children (1 month old and a 2 1/2 year old) out
of the house due to the chemical smell.  Two cleaners worked
for about 4 hours in our home.

When I returned I found my husband amidst piles of trash on
our kitchen floor, livid at the results of the cleaning.  The
cleaners threw away many items from our house, including: a
piece of our bathroom scale that had come loose, many water
bottles (I refill and re-use them, if they are to be discarded
they should be placed in the recycle bin instead of the trash),
and many items from my husband's keepsake shelf such as the
balloon all of his friends signed for his 30th birthday party,
a crane I had given him shortly after we started dating, and
our newborn daughter's belly button cord stump.  I expect that
cleaners should not throw away any items from the house
without permission.  These were thrown away and taken to the
outside trash.  

In all, over 20 items that should not have been thrown away
were recovered from the trash (we never found the belly button
cord stump) and emotional tensions in the home were extremely
high.

Additionally, they did not do a very good job actually cleaning
the house.  I had specifically asked for the mildew on the
ceiling of the bathroom to be removed, and they didn't touch
it.  I tested it myself on a small section, and it came off
easily, it is not as though the mildew was too tough to come
off.  It came off after extremely minimal scrubbing.  Other
areas of the house such as the window sills behind the curtains
were also completely missed.

I called Merry Maids immediately to let them know I was
dissatisfied and that I wished to cancel the future services
from their company.  The woman on the other end of the phone
was a good listener, and when I was finished only said, "They
shouldn't have done that.  I'm sorry you feel that way."  I
thought that perhaps a manager would call me back, but as
5 o'clock approached no one called me again.  I called
back and told them that I would like to take them up on
their satisfaction guarantee.  I assumed that I would be
able to get my money back, or at least some of it.

To my surprise, she said she was only able to offer that
the cleaners could come back later in the week and clean
the house again.

My husband, who was furious and felt as though we'd been stolen from
because our items were missing, did not want to let them back
in the house again.  I asked for 50% of my money back, because
they said that they'd do a deep cleaning and they didn't.  They
did do some cleaning, so I am willing to pay them the amount of
a "regular" monthly cleaning. Because they made my family feel
uncomfortable having them home (missing items) I will not be
satisfied by having them come back and clean again.  In my
many conversations with the managers, they never offered to
ensure that their cleaners were well trained.

The contract doesn't explicitly say "Satisfaction Guaranteed or
your money back" it only has a heading entitled "Satisfaction
Guarantee" but it does not say how they will guarantee my satisfaction.
I am unsatisfied with only an offer to re-clean my house.

After several phone calls spanning several weeks due to managers
being out of town for vacation and not returning my calls, they
offered me 15% back and as of today 20% back.  I told them that
I was unsatisfied with anything less than 50% back, but that
they could refund the 20% and I would take up the remaining 30%
dispute with my credit card company.

I do not yet know if they've posted the 20% ($69.60), but due to
the large amount of stalling and foot dragging I have received
from them I am sending this letter now.
Claudia and Lida are the two people that I have spoken with most
over the last few weeks regarding this issue.  I hate to have to
take it to this point (settling the dispute through my credit
card company), but I feel Merry Maids misrepresented their
services.

Sincerely,

--Elizabeth Leonard

Do you think I should go into more detail about when phone calls were made? I didn't keep extremely detailed records until this week when it was becoming clear I wasn't going to get my money back from the merchants.

--Beth