A cleaning visit ends, you walk through the house, and something is not right: the bathroom floor behind the toilet, a shelf you expected to be wiped, or the inside of the oven if that task was included in your Booking Confirmation. Most people then wonder the same three things. How long do I have, what do I send, and what will you actually do about it? This guide answers them from the written text, Section 5 of our Terms of Service, and sets out what the guarantee does not cover, so you can read both sides before you book or before you write in.
The short answer
- Tell us “within 48 hours” of when the service was completed. The clock runs from the end of the visit, not from when you got home.
- Say what is wrong and, in the Terms’ words, “if possible, include photos of the specific area(s) of concern.”
- Hometress management decides the resolution. The Terms say it will generally be either a free re-clean of the specific areas or a partial or full credit or refund.
- Some things are not generally covered: work outside your Booking Confirmation, reports after 48 hours, pre-existing damage and a few others. They are listed below.
Start with the clock
Section 5.1 of the Terms puts it in one sentence: “If you’re not happy with any aspect of your cleaning, please tell us within 48 hours of when the service was completed.” Section 5.4 repeats it from the other side: the guarantee generally does not cover a case where “You report the concern after the 48-hour window has passed.” When you report is the part of the process most directly within your control, so check the work and contact us promptly. If you were out during the visit, walk through that evening instead of waiting for the weekend.
What to send
Section 5.2 says to contact Hometress Customer Service by phone or email, and gives three things to cover: how, when and what. Email care@hometress.com or call (215) 607-7361; the same details are on our contact page. For the “what,” the Terms ask you to “Briefly explain the issue and, if possible, include photos of the specific area(s) of concern.” Photos are not required by the Terms for a quality report. They can help us understand which area needs attention. Include them if possible, but do not delay your report to take them. A short checklist, which is our suggestion and not a Terms requirement:
- Where it is: the room and the specific spot, for example “the floor behind the toilet in the upstairs bathroom.”
- What you expected: the line in your Booking Confirmation that covers it. This matters because the Terms compare your concern with “the agreed-upon scope of work in your Booking Confirmation.”
- If possible, one wide photo and one close photo of the same spot before anything is moved or touched up. Use good light if available, but report the concern within 48 hours even if you cannot take photos.
- When the visit finished, so the 48 hours are easy to check.
Put together, a good report is short. Adapt this example to the tasks actually listed in your Booking Confirmation: “The visit finished around 2 p.m. Tuesday. The floor behind the upstairs toilet and the inside of the oven were not cleaned. Both are on my Booking Confirmation. Photos attached.” Only mention the oven if oven cleaning was included in your booking, and omit the photo sentence if you are not attaching any.
What happens after you report
Section 5.2 says Hometress “will promptly review your concern reported within the 48-hour window,” which “typically involves discussing the details with the independent Cleaner involved and reviewing available evidence (like photos).” Section 5.3 describes Hometress as an intermediary between you and the independent cleaner and lists the steps. In plain words:
- We review your concern against the scope in your Booking Confirmation.
- We may ask the independent cleaner for details and evidence, such as before and after photos (Section 5.6 says cleaners typically take them).
- Where it helps, we facilitate communication to see if a direct understanding can be reached.
- Hometress management makes the determination: the Terms say it “may involve arranging a free re-clean of the specific areas in question or issuing a partial or full credit/refund.”
Two things the Terms do not say, so this guide does not guess. They set no timeline for a return visit, and beyond “Hometress management will determine the appropriate resolution” they do not say how the choice between a re-clean and a refund is made. They also describe the decision as about the remedy under the guarantee, “not a legal judgment on the cleaner’s overall performance standard.”
What the guarantee does not generally cover
Section 5.4 is titled “Limits to the Guarantee (The Fine Print)” and opens: “Our guarantee aims to be fair but has reasonable limits. It generally doesn’t cover situations where:”
| The Terms say | In plain words |
|---|---|
| “The issue relates to tasks outside the agreed-upon scope in your Booking Confirmation.” | Issues outside the agreed scope in your Booking Confirmation are generally not covered. Check the confirmation and contact us if you are unsure. Our guide to what house cleaners won’t do in Philadelphia covers the usual edges. |
| “You report the concern after the 48-hour window has passed.” | Late reports are generally not covered. When you report is the part most directly within your control, so contact us promptly. |
| “The Cleaner’s work was hindered by issues outlined in Sections 3 & 4 (like lack of access, excessive clutter, unsafe conditions, unsecured pets).” | If access or other conditions hindered the cleaner’s work, that may affect coverage. Explain what happened so we can review the concern. |
| “The problem involves pre-existing damage, heavy wear-and-tear, or ingrained stains not removable by standard cleaning methods.” | Cleaning removes dirt. It does not repair a worn finish or lift a set-in stain that standard methods cannot move. |
| “The original service was affected by a short-notice reschedule or cancellation initiated by you (less than 48 hours notice).” | If you changed or cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice, the Terms treat any effect that had on the visit as a limit. |
| “We believe the guarantee is being misused (e.g., repeatedly claiming issues solely to get discounts).” | The guarantee is for real misses. The Terms give repeated claims made solely to get discounts as their example of misuse. |
If a product or scent instruction included in your Booking Confirmation was not followed, describe that in your report. A preference outside the agreed scope is different from a missed agreed instruction; Hometress reviews the concern against what you booked.
The section closes with one sentence: “Hometress management has the final discretion regarding guarantee resolutions.” We would rather you read that now than discover it later.
Lateness and breakage are separate questions
Quality concerns and damage claims use different review steps. Arrival time has its own explainer, our guide to arrival windows when a cleaner is late. If you believe an item, surface or finish was damaged during the clean, follow the damage process in Section 5.5 of the Terms, including its conditions and limits. The reporting steps are in our guide to what happens if a house cleaner breaks something. The 48-hour window appears in both.
If you are still choosing a service
A written process is worth more than a slogan, so compare it. Ask any company you are considering where its guarantee is written, how long you have to report, who decides, and what is excluded. Ours is the text above and the guarantee page. If it fits what you want from a Philadelphia house cleaner, you can book a cleaning online.
Policy checked: November 3, 2026. Source: Terms of Service, updated October 5, 2026. Article by The Hometress Team.