General Terms And Conditions
Here you can read through ALL General Terms And Conditions.
Please read thoroughly as you will be accepting and agreeing to them when you place an appointment.
1. Definitions
“The Company ” – means Stella’s Sparkles Ltd.
“Cleaner / Cleaning Operative/s” – means the person/s or firm carrying out cleaning services on behalf of the company.
“Client” – means the person, firm or corporate body together with any subsidiary or associated company as defined by the Companies Act 1985 to whom the cleaning services are supplied to by the company.
“Service” – means the cleaning services carried out on behalf of the company.
“Cleaning Visit” – means the visit to the client’s service address by the cleaning operative/s in order to carry out the Service.
2. Contract
2.1. These Terms & Conditions represent a contract between Stella’s Sparkle Ltd and the client.
2.2. The client agrees that any use of the service of the company, including placing an order for services by telephone, email or website forms shall constitute the client’s acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
2.3. Unless otherwise agreed in writing these Terms and Conditions shall prevail over any other terms of business or purchase conditions put forward by the client.
2.4. No variation or alteration of these Terms and Conditions shall be valid unless approved in writing by a director of the company.
2.5. The company operates a minimum charge of 2 hours per cleaning visit.
3. Payment
3.1. All work carried out by the company at your request, whether experimental or otherwise will be charged accordingly.
Any work we do for you is based on your full approval, even if we haven’t received an official order.
We just need written or verbal confirmation to go ahead, like a letter, fax, or email between us.
3.2. Payments of fees rendered by invoice are due within the dates stated on the invoice via GoCardless, our appointed Bank.
3.3. Late Payment Admin Fee will be applied to any overdue accounts at a rate of £50 for the first 7 (Seven) days and £50 per 7 (Seven) calendar days thereafter, where payment has not been received within the stated timescale on the clients live invoice, we reserve the right to withhold services, documents & information, we have the right to cease to work on your account and to terminate the engagement if payments are unduly delayed, after 4 (FOUR) late payment fee’s have been applied, if the balance is still outstanding then it WILL be passed to our collections team incurring an additional cost of £300 (Three Hundred Pound)
3.4. Any expenses incurred whilst working on your behalf will be charged and appropriate records will be kept and will be available for inspection, such expenses may include the use of meeting rooms and other facilities, internal printing, courier charges, and international but not national telephone calls.
3.5. Consistent late payment will incur a 50% prepayment for all future work.
3.6. We have a statutory right to interest and compensation for debt recovery costs under the late payment legislation if not paid according to agreed credit terms, the Late Payment of Commercial Debt (Interest) Act (1988) states that for debts of less than £1000, the penalty is £40, rising to £70 for debts up to £9,999.99 and £100 above that. Interest is payable at the above rate in section 4.4. the penalties and interest now apply to all businesses regardless of size.
3.7. Unless otherwise expressly stated, all prices shall be in Pounds Sterling and shall be exclusive of VAT and other duties.
3.8. We shall invoice monthly on the last working day of the month or at the end of a project dependent on the agreed terms.
3.9. All prices are Net and no settlement discount is allowed, all accounts are payable no later than 7 (Seven) calendar days from date or invoice unless otherwise agreed by the company in writing. (Note that the payment terms are required whether you have signed off on the copy or not).
3.10. After the 7 day payment period has passed all further work for the client will cease until any outstanding payment is received in full along with any late payment fees that may have been applied.
3.11. All quotations offered by us are deemed valid for a period of 30 (Thirty) days, after which time we reserve the right to revise the said quotation.
3.12. We provide services on a one-off and retainer basis.
3.13. Any additional work requested that isn’t covered in the original brief will be quoted separately and added to the original invoice, 60 (Sixty) calendar days notice in writing (email not accepted) and sent by recorded delivery to our head office address is required to discontinue the service.
3.14. All Cleaning service prices are reviewed each year and adjusted inline with inflation, minimum wage increases or any reasonable circumstances.
4. Equipment
4.1. Cleaning materials are provided by the company.
If you require us to use your solutions or equipment they must be safe to use/operate, in full working order and must not require any special skills to be used for the purpose of cleaning.
4.2. If the client has equipment that is complicated to operate, the client must provide clear and detailed instructions to the cleaning operative/s.
4.3. If the client requires the cleaning operative/s to use their own materials and equipment including vacuum cleaner the company cannot accept any liability should anything go wrong with either the equipment or the outcome of using it.
5. Checklists
5.1. We shall provide the client a checklist on request or ask all clients to leave a list of priorities for the cleaning operative/s, this means that the cleaning operative/s can tick off top to bottom what they are able to do within the allotted time.
6. Refunds
6.1. No refund claims will be given once the cleaning service has been carried out.
If for any reason the client is dissatisfied with any aspect they must notify the company within 24 hours in writing and the company will arrange for this to be rectified as soon as possible.
6.2. Refund will be issued only at the managements discretion.
6.3. Refund will be issued if the cleaning operative/s do not attend a cleaning visit, payment for which has been already received by the company.
7. Cancellation
7.1. The client agrees to pay the full price of the cleaning visit, if:
a) The client cancels or changes the date/time less than 48 hours prior to the scheduled appointment;
b) The client fails to provide access to the service premises thus preventing the company to carry out the booked work;
c) There is a problem with the client’s keys and the cleaning operative/s cannot let themselves in, if keys are provided they must open all locks without any special efforts or skills.
7.2. If the client needs to change a cleaning day or time the company will do its best to accommodate them.
A minimum of 48 hours notice is required.
Please note that the company cannot guarantee that the same cleaning operative/s will be available on the new day and at the time the client requires, any changes in the cleaning schedule are subject to availability.
7.3. The company’s cleaning operatives work on any day of the week including Bank Holidays (These Days Are Charges As Double Standard Hourly Rate), if the client’s cleaning visit is due on a Bank Holiday and she/he hasn’t called or e-mailed the company to cancel the visit 72 hours prior to the start of the cleaning session, the client agrees to and understands that the regular amount due for that cleaning visit will be charged regardless of whether the cleaning operative/s has cleaned the client’s property or not.
8. Termination
8.1. The client may terminate this contract by giving 30 days prior notice in writing by recorded delivery to our head office address (email, text message or phone call is not accepted as termination notice) once the initial contracted term (3 months) has ended.
8.2. If The client wishes to terminate the contract within the initial contracted term (3 months), the client must pay the outstanding balance for the remainder of cleaning services that would have taken place during the initial contracted period regardless of services being carried out or not.
8.3. The client agrees to pay a cancellation fee equivalent to 30 days service if:
1) No notice is given;
2) The client provides a termination of notice less than 30 days
8.4. Prior to termination of the contract, the client is obliged to provide details of any incoming contractor for the purposes of compliance with the Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006
9. Claims
9.1. The company’s public liability insurance will cover damages caused by a cleaning operative/s working on behalf of the company up to £1,000,000.00.
In order to keep our prices competitive all claims are subject to an excess of £500.00 payable by the client.
9.2. The client agrees that due to the nature of the service the company guarantees only to correct any problems reported within 24 hours.
If a problem occurs on a Saturday it must be reported by Monday 10:00 Hrs in order to be accepted as a valid claim, failure to do so will entitle the client to nothing.
The company may require entry to the location of the claim within 24 hours to correct the problem, any refunds or adjustments must be requested to the company directly and subject to approval by the company.
9.3. The client waives his/her right to stop payment on his cheque unless the company fails to make good on the guarantee shown in part 13.
9.4. While the cleaning operative/s make every effort not to break items, accidents do happen.
Identical replacement is always attempted but not guaranteed, for this specific reason, the company requests all irreplaceable items (whether monetarily or sentimentally valuable) be stored away and /or not cleaned by the cleaning operative/s.
9.5. In case of damage, the company will repair the item at its cost.
If the item cannot be repaired the company will rectify the problem by crediting the customer with the item’s present actual cash value towards a like replacement from a company’s source upon payment of cleaning services rendered.
9.6. The company shall not be responsible for damage due to faulty and/or improper installation of any item, all surfaces (i.e., marble, granite, etc.) are assumed sealed and ready to clean without causing harm.
9.7. Any attempt to commit insurance fraud or any use of false information to commit any type of fraud will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law together by the company and the insurance provider(s), monetary compensation as well as legal fees may incur.
9.8. Key replacement/locksmith fees are paid only if keys are lost by our operatives.
There is a £30 per location liability limit.
10. Complaints
10.1. All complaints are taken seriously, if you are not happy with any aspect of our service please contact us by letter sent by recorded delivery to our head office address (email, text message or phone call is not accepted as notice) as soon as possible & give us the chance to rectify it, your custom is very important to us & we want you to be happy.
10.2. If the client is dissatisfied with a currently occurring service, the company asks that the client notifies us as soon as they notice anything that might be to their dislike by calling 01444 459130 (Option 2), please do not wait until the service is ending.
11. Liability
11.1. The company shall not be liable under any circumstances for any loss, expense, damage, delay , costs or compensation (whether direct, indirect or consequential) which may be suffered or incurred by the client arising from or in any way connected with a late arrival of cleaning operative/s at the service address, the company endeavors to be on time on any visit but sometimes due to transport related and other problems which are beyond the company’s control, the cleaning operative/s may arrive with a delay or the cleaning visit may be re-scheduled.
11.2. The company shall not be liable under any circumstances for any loss, expense, damage, delay , costs or compensation (whether direct, indirect or consequential) which may be suffered or incurred by the client arising from or in any way connected with
1 -: A cleaning job not complete due to the lack of hot water or electricity
2-: Third party entering or present at the client’s premises during the cleaning process;
11.3. Any existing damage to clients property in the form of old stains/burns/spillages etc. which cannot be cleaned/removed completely by the cleaning operative, any damages worth £500.00 or less.
12. Supplementary Terms
12.1. If the client requests keys to be collected by the cleaning operative/s from a third party address then a £50.00 charge will apply, the charge will cover only the pick up of keys, if said keys need to be returned back to the third party address or any other address additional charge of £50.00 will apply.
12.2. The company reserves the right to re-evaluate rates at any time should the client’s initial list of tasks changes.
12.3. The company reserves the right to amend the initial quotation, should the client’s original requirements change.
12.4. If any estimates of how long it will take the cleaning operative/s to complete the job are being provided those are only estimates based on the average time it takes to clean a residential or an commercial premises of similar size to the client’s, it being difficult to calculate precisely how long such tasks may take and that a degree of flexibility may be required, please note that one off cleans may take longer to complete due to longer intervals between cleaning sessions, number and type of cleaning tasks required, when compared to the regular maintenance cleaning of the same property
12.5. The client understands that the price he/she has been quoted may vary according to condition of property and room sizes etc.
12.6. The company shall endeavor to arrange a replacement cleaner if your regular cleaner cannot attend a scheduled visit although this is not always possible the company will inform the client prior to the visit.
12.7. Post Construction Cleaning (Builders Cleaning), Event Cleaning or badly neglected homes may take up to three times longer than a well maintained home requiring general cleaning, therefore the company advises the client to ask for our specialist cleaning services: Builders Cleaning or Event Cleaning.
12.8. The cleaning operative/s are not allowed to hand wash any items of clothing belonging to the client, the company advises that our cleaning operative/s can only use a washing machine for such tasks (additional charges apply).
12.9. All fragile and highly breakable items must be secured or removed.
12.10. The company reserves the right to make reasonable changes to the Terms and Conditions in agreement with the other party.
13. Our Guarantee
13.1. The company has built its business and reputation by providing its clients with the best possible cleaning service available, still, the company realises that because its operatives are human beings they sometimes make mistakes, for this reason the company offers a guarantee, if the client is not satisfied with any areas that have been cleaned, the cleaning operative/s will be happy to return to the client’s premises and re-clean those areas free of charge.
Please note that this guarantee will not apply if the condition of the premises has deteriorated since the original cleaning was undertaken.
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE CONFIRMING THAT YOU AGREE TO AND ACCEPT AS WELL AS UNDERSTAND ALL THE ABOVE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AT THE TIME OF BOOKING AND CONFIRMING THE START OF ANY OF OUR CLEANING SERVICES.
