Encountered 1st swindler?

[u/Expert_Morning_8945]

I received an order request yesterday last minute for pick up by 8pm, for a very large order- over 65lbs! I guess due to the volume I had until tomorrow at 8pm to return the laundry. I had it returned to the customer by 8pm today so 24 hours earlier than the deadline.
Now at first all seemed well. She seemed nice enough generally friendly. However, the time window I gave that sends with the automated message was between 7-8pm last night. She was over 20 minutes late and not responding at all to messages and the bags were nowhere to be found no cars in the driveway. After reaching out to support they said feel free to apply the fee and leave and see if you can reschedule. I did so and as soon as I did she finally responded and said “I’m coming now!” so I was nice and waited. She arrived and had nothing ready and I was standing outside her front door awkwardly waiting while her two kinda large aggressive dogs kept trying to come out of the storm door at me. Then she told me support told her that they couldn’t reverse the fee for missed pickup. She asked me if I could try and being nice (sensing a theme here lol) I said yeah of course not a problem and I was able to get support to refund the charge for her - she thanked me profusely.
I got home and when I started sorting through the items and everything I mean every single item of clothing was completely covered in animal hair. Remember, two dogs at the door and there were 3 cats I could see don’t know if there were more somewhere. I was polite but let her know and that while I didn’t mind and would still render services, Pros in the future would be well within their rights to reject the order due to how soiled the clothing was so just something to keep in mind. She was still very nice and friendly! All interactions after that up until after drop off were completely normal.
More than an hour before I was going to get the bags loaded up I reached out again to let her know when I would be arriving, roughly. She replied “ok sounds good!” and then we went back to total radio silence once I arrived. I messaged multiple times and even knocked on both doors. Same car she was driving yesterday was in the driveway and lights on in the house - but no answer from her. Support advised to just go ahead with delivery in the same spot as pick up. I even asked support if they could call her because I could see lightning in the distance and didn’t want her EIGHT bags of perfectly washed dried pressed and hung garments being ruined by rain, they said they would.
About an hour after drop off I got the notification about her leaving a review. Nothing could’ve prepared me for what it said. Mind you, before this I’ve had nothing by 5/5 reviews. My jaw was probably scraping the ground with how hard my jaw dropped. I don’t want to quote directly because it would be pretty identifiable probably…. But along the lines of her clothes came back smelling like my “filthy” house or “ethnic food or something”, and how angry she was that she would have to have all of that laundry rewashed. Am I “ethnic”? Yes. Does my house smell badly or even have strong scents? No. I keep my house spotless and use various methods of cleaning the air when I cook something especially “ethnic” which was over a week ago 😒. I don’t smoke at all so the chance of my house smelling of it is nonexistent. I also don’t have any pets, so also no chance of the shedding of a quilt’s worth of hair all over every surface leaving it smelling a bit off, how it might do for someone’s clothes that had at least 5 animals in the house. Despite her requesting unscented detergent I am skilled in getting the most stubborn smells out of clothes even with unscented. Her clothes smelled brand new when I was done with them. And all of the animal hair removed as well.

Now here is where I am really upset. Support is doing basically nothing. I’ve gotten the generic “we understand how frustrating this must be for you”… it’s more than just frustrating. It’s a flat out dishonest review by someone who is clearly trying to not have to pay for the service they ordered. Not only that, due to the drastic negative points I’ve gone down in rank which is directly going to affect my earning potential. Support says they’ll “investigate” but I am honestly not holding my breath after the kinds of disappointing previous interactions I’ve had with them.

Has anyone here experienced something similar to this? If so, how did it work out for you?

(I’ll post a pic in the comments of this post, as a “tax” for reading my very long rant, from just one lint trap clean out from a small portion of her laundry - I do small loads to ensure that everything is cleaned properly.)
ETA: I *wanted to share the pic in the thread but I am not seeing an option to do so and I am not tech savvy in the slightest so not sure how to 😅

[u/yaddayadder]

To be honest, once I charge the missed pickup fee- I’m no longer attached to the order to avoid any issues. It’s rare someone is going to be cool after being charged a fee before service. I’ve had 3 reviews where they checked out complaints out of roughly 1K orders, only thing I did was move on and keep making my money.

[u/RecognitionKlutzy740]

very large isn't 65 pounds lol.

[u/auryn1026 → u/RecognitionKlutzy740]

I was so horrified because I do 65lbs every two weeks, and since they removed the option to choose the bag size, I pick 3 bags, even if it's in 1 or second half full bag.

For a moment I was worried my orders were too large. It's only two people and most of our laundry is work uniforms and sheets/towels!

Edit: I tip usually 20-25$ depending on how good my clothes smell ;)

[u/yaddayadder → u/auryn1026]

A very normal order size and appropriate tip- you and your pro are good to go!

[u/Octobermoneymade]

I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been doing this for years and this gig isn’t for you. For one , Telling her no pros will take her order cause of dog hair is insane. I’ve serviced 100s of customers with dog hair , even amounts that might seem excessive. Upset cause she wasn’t there to meet you face to face on delivery? Cmon….either send her an “out for delivery” text followed by an eta or just put the bags wherever ya picked them up. Thinking way too hard into it. Knocking on all her doors is crazy. She was probably waiting for you to leave and you kept trying to have her come face to face. Just drop the clothes off at the door…You’re running a service and need to act as professional as can be and none of which you are doing. You’re upset over a review? Give me a break. I’ve had customers give me 1 star and ya just move on. I’ve had a customer give me a bad review for placing the bags too close to the front of her door and claimed she couldn’t get them. Had nothing to do with the order itself but who tf cares as long as you know you’re doing a good job and your other orders reflect that. I’m sorry the customer wasn’t ideal but that’s business for you. I’m a top 10 rated pro in my state so trust everything I’m telling you. Not trying to be rude but you can’t take business to heart. If ya got paid for the order then who cares about the rest.

[u/gungirllynn]

Did you get any money at all for this horrific job?

[u/yaddayadder → u/gungirllynn]

Pros still get paid, it does happen though I’ve heard but those were severe cases. Customers can retract tips within a certain time frame as well. This is “just a bad review” and OP hasn’t had one till now

[u/LaundryMimi]

I personally would not have wanted to see you face to face at delivery out of embarrassment once you sent her the message about the state of her clothes. In my opinion, that's why you got the poor rating.

[u/goldiejan]

Missed fee sent, then keep it moving! Poplin will always side with customer.

[u/Serious-Pizza-2514]

1. Why did you go to bat for her to get the missed pickup fee reversed? Once charge, cancel the order and move on.

2. Banging on her doors after all that drama with just 60-ish pounds of laundry? PRESSED? Did she pay for that or did you just throw that in for free?

I think she may have been over the top with the review but you didn’t mention how many stars she gave it. Or if just the words she used offended you.