Extortionate admin Fee (Cleaner)

Ratita_Presumida

This morning I enquired about having a cleaner from this company
2 hours every week @£15 an hour for light dusting and hoover 

Then quite sneakily I had to tick a box that hadn’t been mentioned in the web site or small print

i understand there will be 26% admin fee added to your bill each month 

This is day light robbery surely ! Shouldn’t it be at 10% 

I’m being contacted tomorrow by one of there reps, so before I talk with him I’d like to be at prepared before I start interviewing him ha ha 

Emmia

Ratita_Presumida said:

This morning I enquired about having a cleaner from this company
2 hours every week @£15 an hour for light dusting and hoover 

Then quite sneakily I had to tick a box that hadn’t been mentioned in the web site or small print

i understand there will be 26% admin fee added to your bill each month 

This is day light robbery surely ! Shouldn’t it be at 10% 

I’m being contacted tomorrow by one of there reps, so before I talk with him I’d like to be at prepared before I start interviewing him ha ha 

If you think the total cost (hourly fee + admin fee) per month is extortionate why are you even bothering to talk to the company representative?

born_again

Vote with your feet & go elsewhere.

In effect admin fee is a crafty way of having cheaper hourly rate. Best guess others are in the £20 a hour rate, but no admin fee...

Aylesbury_Duck

Ratita_Presumida said:

This morning I enquired about having a cleaner from this company
2 hours every week @£15 an hour for light dusting and hoover 

Then quite sneakily I had to tick a box that hadn’t been mentioned in the web site or small print

i understand there will be 26% admin fee added to your bill each month 

This is day light robbery surely ! Shouldn’t it be at 10% 

I’m being contacted tomorrow by one of there reps, so before I talk with him I’d like to be at prepared before I start interviewing him ha ha 

Why do you say that?  I'm not aware of any upper limit on this.

When the rep calls, simply say thank you but you're taking your business elsewhere.  Have you got other options that work out to better value?  If you haven't, then perhaps that admin fee isn't as extortionate as you think it is.

Tucosalamanca

No matter how you look at it, it's going to cost more than £15ph and almost certainly more than £16.50ph that you're proposing.

Minimum wage is £12.21ph, add in holiday, sickness, pension, employer's NI, insurance, admin, other overheads and heaven forbid, a profit, a business can't legitimately operate at this level. The sums don't add up.

The business has proposed £15 x 2hrs, £30 plus 26% admin fee, making a total of £37.80.
Equivalent to £18.90 per hour, so less than the going rate of £20ph.
They're running on wafter-thin margins.

Extortionate / daylight robbery hardly seems fitting, perhaps they could have worded it better but the overall cost is very reasonable.
Please bare in mind when you try and scalp a few pence off them.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I believe this is prohibited under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, or if permitted should be clear from the outset rather than a "surprise" during the purchasing process. 

It's a new piece of legislation so I'm not sure on the specifics but as above vote with your feet. If you've already used some of there services I would knock off the admin fee. If you are tied to a service in the future maybe speak to CAB, or see if anyone else here knows, how the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 protects you.

The above assumes you took the contract out after the 5th of April this year. 

UnsureAboutthis

Ratita_Presumida said:

This morning I enquired about having a cleaner from this company
2 hours every week @£15 an hour for light dusting and hoover 

Then quite sneakily I had to tick a box that hadn’t been mentioned in the web site or small print

i understand there will be 26% admin fee added to your bill each month 

This is day light robbery surely ! Shouldn’t it be at 10% 

I’m being contacted tomorrow by one of there reps, so before I talk with him I’d like to be at prepared before I start interviewing him ha ha 

I hear you. It is disgusting, and as you said,  iit is "sneaky."

I feel not one has understood what you have said bat one poster. You are just asking and 
feel like you posted and I agree with you.

I'd look around other places and then compare the hourly rate, plus their admin fee. As you know, the more hours you require, the more the total charges will be with the admin fee.

So look around, interview, investigate companies that offer these services and as important as the aforementioned, check out their reviews. I'd read the negative (3 star etc reviews) reviews first to see if there's a pattern and how, if at all, the company responded.

Voyager2002

The total price (hourly rate plus admin fee) is reasonable. 

However, the total price should have been displayed on any advertising they presented, and prominently displayed on the agreement that was offered for your agreement.

flaneurs_lobster

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

I believe this is prohibited under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, or if permitted should be clear from the outset rather than a "surprise" during the purchasing process. 

It's a new piece of legislation so I'm not sure on the specifics but as above vote with your feet. If you've already used some of there services I would knock off the admin fee. If you are tied to a service in the future maybe speak to CAB, or see if anyone else here knows, how the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 protects you.

The above assumes you took the contract out after the 5th of April this year. 

All very well but it's not going to get the OP's knick-knacks dusted is it?

Either OP is happy to pay £18.90 an hour (have they mentioned adding VAT?) - or not.

Either OP is happy to employ a company with less than up-front pricing - or not.

Grumpy_chap

It seems obvious that the OP does not trust this cleaning company.  It will never end well, so the best thing the OP can do is end this now before it even starts and not waste their own time or the company's time even having the discussion tomorrow.

Time to look to the Yellow Pages.

UnsureAboutthis

Voyager2002 said:

The total price (hourly rate plus admin fee) is reasonable. 

However, the total price should have been displayed on any advertising they presented, and prominently displayed on the agreement that was offered for your agreement.

That was the whole point of the OP's post, so thank you for understanding as IMO this helps the OP

Sadly, it is the markets we live in today, ie the more upfront/reality pricing at a glance may be looked over by many, just like in this example, as the price talked about in reality is not the price the OP will be paying but a staggering 20% admin fee. It's a marketing ply that should be outlawed.

If the admin fee was a one-off, eg, 10/20 quid for the contract and renewal of contract that would have been a bit more fair but it's a big 20% on top.  I would walk away unless they had a really good, proven track history - take my money somewhere else as this kind of thing leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.