A client says the cleaning wasn't done. What to send back

The email usually arrives in the morning and it usually threatens the invoice. The work was probably done. That is not the problem. The problem is that you have an evening’s work ahead of you to show it, and the argument is already about tone.

Here is the order to do things in, and two replies you can adapt: one for when you have photographs, one for when you do not.

Before you reply: 15 minutes, in this order

1. Fix the times first. Who was scheduled, when did they arrive, when did they leave. If you have nothing else, you have this.
2. Ask the crew before you ask the client anything. One question, no blame: “What happened on the third floor on Thursday.” If you ask it as an accusation you will get a defensive answer and lose the truth.
3. Collect the photos into one place, in time order, with the time each was taken. Phone photo details show this.
4. Ask for their evidence. A property manager passing on a tenant complaint often has a photo. It may be of a different floor, or from before your visit, or of something that is genuinely yours. All three outcomes are useful.
5. Decide what you actually believe before you write. If you think it was missed, the reply is different and shorter.

If you have photographs

Lead with times and specifics, name your own gaps before they do, and finish with what changes next visit. Naming the gap is what makes the rest of the message believable.

Subject: Re: third floor restrooms - 12 Feb

Hello Dana,

Thank you for telling me rather than leaving it. Here is
what I have for the night of 12 Feb 2026.

The crew was on site from 22:05 to 23:14. Floors 1 to 3
restrooms were cleaned and restocked. I have 4 photos of
the third floor restroom taken at 23:04, attached.

Two items were not completed that night and I am not
going to pretend otherwise: the stairwell and the
exterior entry. Marta ran out of time and noted it.

If your tenant is seeing a specific problem, I would
rather see it than argue about it. Send me their photo
and I will tell you honestly whether that is ours.

From next visit I will add a dated photo of each third
floor restroom to the record, so this is answerable in
one link rather than an email thread.

Maria
Marlow Facility Services

If you do not have photographs

This is the harder email and most contractors get it wrong by arguing. You cannot win an evidence argument with no evidence. You can, however, be the contractor who responded well, and that is worth more over a contract than one month’s billing.

Subject: Re: third floor restrooms - 12 Feb

Hello Dana,

Thank you for telling me directly.

I have spoken to the crew who worked 12 Feb. They say
the third floor restrooms were serviced. I do not have
photographs from that night, so I cannot show you that,
and I am not going to ask you to take my word for it.

What I can do:

1. I will re-service the third floor restrooms tonight at
   no charge, with photographs.
2. From tonight, every visit to this building gets a
   dated record with photographs of the restrooms.
3. On this month's invoice, tell me what you consider
   fair for the third floor and I will accept it.

I would rather fix how this is documented than win an
argument about one night.

Maria
Marlow Facility Services

Offering to accept their number on the third floor sounds expensive. In practice it is usually a smaller figure than the month they were threatening to withhold, and it moves the conversation from blame to arithmetic.

Four things not to write

• “My crew has worked for me for nine years.” Loyalty is not evidence, and it puts the client in the position of calling someone a liar.
• Anything about your contract in the first reply. Quoting clauses at a property manager on day one reads as a threat and ends the relationship even if you win.
• “This has never happened before.” It is unprovable, and it is often not true.
• A blanket denial. If any part of the complaint turns out to be right, a blanket denial destroys the rest of your account of the night.

What to change so it does not happen again

Most contractors respond to this by telling the crew to take more photos. That lasts about two weeks, because the photos land in someone’s camera roll and nobody can find them later.

Three changes that actually hold:

• Photos of the same few things every visit, from the same angles. Same angles are what make two dates comparable.
• A completion time recorded per visit, per site. Times are the cheapest evidence there is and almost nobody keeps them.
• Send a record with every invoice, not only after a complaint. A record that always arrives is routine; one that arrives after a query looks like a defence.

There is a fourth, and it is the one that pays. Ask the property manager which two or three areas they want photographed. Now the record is answering their question, and they have told you what “done” means to them.