Customers, workers say shuttered B.C. cleaning company owes them hundreds of dollars

When Kathryn Gamble could no longer scrub her own floors due to her arthritis, she was relieved to find a cleaning service she thought was well-priced and reliable.

Scrubbi, based in Surrey, B.C., offered the 66-year-old pensioner 40 per cent off a year of monthly cleanings at her Kelowna apartment and she prepaid them just over $1,000 for the year in April, she said.

"Once a month is all I could afford."

However, no one showed up for the scheduled cleaning on Thursday and having heard reports that the company has gone out of business, Gamble said she's now out $657. 

"The day before my appointment, I got my usual email," Gamble told CBC's Daybreak South on Monday. "But nobody showed up."

She said no one at Scrubbi answered her calls or emails inquiring about her appointment, and she has been locked out of her client account.

Gamble is one of dozens of customers and cleaners who claim they are owed hundreds — and in some reported cases thousands — of dollars in undone services and unpaid wages from Surrey-based Scrubbi.

A spokesperson for B.C.'s Better Business Bureau (BBB) said in a Monday statement the company is unaccredited and "believed to be out of business," though its owners haven't filed for bankruptcy.

Scrubbi has an "F" rating on the BBB's site after 56 closed complaints since 2020, 37 of them closed within the last year, BBB spokesperson Aaron Guillen wrote.

The company, which has previously made headlines for delayed paycheques, did not reply to requests for comment from CBC News.

In April, CTV News reported that founder and CEO Daniel Deckert apologized for payment delays, which he attributed to issues with the company's payroll software.

Employees left in lurch

Some employees said they are also locked out of their company accounts and haven't been paid for more than a month.

Kyra Johnston began working for Scrubbi last spring to make ends meet during some health challenges. The 22-year-old said she was paid $24 per hour and had to buy her own cleaning supplies and gas to drive across the Central Okanagan to each client.

But her last bi-weekly paycheque came in late August, and she said Scrubbi still hasn't paid her the approximately $500 for the work she did before she gave her two weeks' notice on Sept. 16.

"That $500 really, really screwed me over. It's been pretty hard," said Johnston. "But I know some people … kept working despite not being paid. So they're all out about $3,000. Some of them are being evicted, some of them can't pay for their family."

Johnston has organized a Facebook group of more than 90 former employees who claim Scrubbi owes them wages for work rendered, she said.

Scrubbi has offices in Victoria and Ottawa, according to its website, but contracted employees for cleaning services across B.C. as well as in several cities across Canada including Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto.

As of Monday, it was still possible to book and pay for a cleaning appointment through the company's website. Several jobs at Scrubbi were also posted to online job boards.

Do your homework, advises BBB

The BBB said customers should try to cancel charges by a shuttered company as soon as possible.

"If you paid by credit card, you should contact your credit card provider to see if the charges can be reversed, with proof that the business is now closed," said Guillen. "If you paid with debit or cash, you may have trouble getting that money back."

Researching the cleaning company to ensure it is accredited, and asking for references and all agreements in writing can also help people avoid unreliable businesses in the first place, he added.

Gamble said she isn't optimistic she'll get her money back, but she hopes that the cleaners get the wages they say they are owed.

"I just feel so bad for the workers … most of them were young people, college students," she said.

"I know how hard it is to do all that work, and it's not easy cleaning or to not get paid."