Kelsey Howell (inset) has resolved a dispute over an invoice with UltraShine Commercial Cleaning.
Consumer NZ has issued a reminder to companies about best quoting practices after a Hawke’s Bay woman skipped over a key detail at the bottom of a house-clean quote that said “will cost x2”.
Napier’s Kelsey Howell booked her first deep clean for her house with UltraShine Commercial Cleaning in September.
UltraShine, which has since allowed Howell to pay the price its regular customers pay, says its initial quote was clear about the price being double for first-time customers.
But it also says it has updated its quoting process since the complaint.
Howell said although she kept a clean house, the harder-to-clean jobs were starting to stack up when she ordered a recurring monthly home clean.
She sent UltraShine a booking request through its website and received a response the next day with a quote that said $150 + GST.
She also requested an oven clean and window clean, which were quoted to her at the same time as $90 + GST each.
She declined to go ahead with those due to the additional cost.
At the bottom of the quote were terms stating “any recurring residential clean is subject to an initial deep clean to get the house clean, tidy and remove any build-up of dust and grime”.
“Initial deep clean will cost x2 base price and is just for the first clean,” the terms read.
Howell said she skipped over that line in the quote because it was right at the bottom, and she claimed the terms were not discussed with her further during her email correspondence with UltraShine.
“They never explicitly said in any of the email comms that it would be more expensive.
“They just said there would be two cleaners and that they were doing a deep clean on the first visit that might take longer. But they don’t charge hourly, they charge per visit,” she said.
“They didn’t say, ‘Oh, by the way, since you’re a first-time customer, it’s going to be double the price’.”
The cleaners cleaned Howell’s house on October 7 and on October 13, Howell received an invoice from UltraShine for $300 + GST.
After back-and-forth emails between Howell and Ultrashine, the company eventually agreed to charge Howell the original amount quoted, which Howell paid earlier this month.
UltraShine managing director Rebecca Hoskisson said from the company’s experience, the first clean of a home often required additional time and resources to meet its high standards for ongoing maintenance cleans.
Hoskisson said before undertaking Howell’s job, the company provided a quote outlining the cost of the initial deep clean, “which was accepted by the client”.
“The quote included clear terms stating that any recurring residential clean is subject to an initial deep clean at twice the base price.
“However, we acknowledge that this information could have been made more prominent and have since updated our quoting process to ensure expectations are fully understood by both parties.”
Hawke’s Bay Today sent the quote and subsequent invoice to Consumer NZ, the country’s non-profit consumer advocacy organisation, for its view on the situation.
A Consumer NZ spokesperson said a quote was an exact price for a job.
Once it had been accepted, it was binding on both parties.
“Fine print cannot be used in a quote to hide important information which would be critical to a consumer’s decision to purchase goods or services,” the spokesperson said.
“If the overall impression given by the quote is misleading, it is likely to breach the Fair Trading Act regardless of what is stated in the fine print.”
The spokesperson recommended disputing such invoices or paying the amount that was clearly disclosed.
Customers could also lodge a complaint with the Commerce Commission, the spokesperson said.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.