Neatness by Vanessa

Hello Ms. Karen, I want to start off by apologizing for stopping communication with you. I want to be clear and honest that what you have chosen to do is what I expected you would do if I chose to end communication with you. Firstly, I have never received $828 from you for services rendered. You have paid me a total of $680 for four separate sessions. Secondly, I did a whole lot more than a closet and a duffel bag. I threw out old food in the kitchen and washed dishes (which is not a service of home organizing, but I did it anyway) at your request upon arriving the first day. I organized your closet, all clothes (removing unwanted sizes and then going through each item piece by piece with you), shoes, multiple boxes, cedar chest, totes, bathroom cabinets, folded towels, went through totes on bedroom floor, all drawers on both dressers, folded and put up clothes and merged with clothes from duffel bag, went through drawers on nightstands, I swept, boxed up unwanted items and separated what was going to donation and what was going to your daughter/niece. I threw out numerous bags and boxes of trash, took all items to donation (taking multiple trips), checked your mail and even picked up medications for you on my day off as a favor. I arrived every session, before our start time and left after our end time, working longer hours than I was paid for but never asking for compensation, taking into consideration your medical issues. What I had explained before working with you is this would be an hourly paid project and we would prioritize your tasks in order that you wanted them done to get through what we could withing the span of four sessions due to your financial situation. I did as much as possible on my own since you were wanting to declutter. It requires teamwork, since I can't decide what you want to keep or get rid of, but you were talking on the phone and texting majority of the time, which contributed to projects taking longer than expected. I allowed you to complain about the rate I charged, which is much less than most organizers in the area. I explained to you that I was new in the organizing industry which explains the reason that I charge much less. You were never misled about who I was. My picture may be outdated, but the photo is still me. I used a photo of myself that looked professional which is what most people do when using a photo for business purposes. Also, I never asked for money upfront before services rendered. You offered to pay me in advance since you cancelled and rescheduled on me three times prior to the second session, once the night before and once the morning of. Given your medical condition, I have to be understandable for last minute cancellations, but that is not ideal or acceptable to have someone continuously cancelling last minute because it hurts business. I understood you offering to pay me in advance because of the numerous cancellations. And yes, I have background in roofing, but I also have background in a lot of other things. I have background in office administration, filing, customer service, construction, and sales. My background is pretty extensive. Lastly, according to Thumbtack's definition of a "service professional", it means that I am a user who uses, or is registered to use, the platform to offer, provide, receive payment for, or facilitate the provision of Pro services. Service Professionals are often referred to as "pros" on the platform. I meet the criteria. There is no LLC required to run and operate a home organizing or cleaning business in the state of Texas, nor in Harris County for the level of services that I am providing. I am not required to possess any special licenses, credentials, or college degrees to clean houses or do simple home organizing. I have broken no laws and I have been paid for my time rightfully so working for you. I chose to cut off communication because we had agreed to working four sessions, which we did. Since the fourth session, you weren't initiating any new sessions, but the communication continued as normal. Our business relationship had changed from business to personal and I felt like you were expecting me to be at your beck and call for personal matters. You were wanting to talk and debate politics and talk about personal family matters for hours on the phone. I felt like I had done a lot for you in consideration of your medical issues and you have chosen to try and break me down and threaten legal action over personal feelings. Your last text to me was at 5:33am asking if I could pick up medications for you. I blocked your number after waking up and seeing your text, and before 11am, you were calling my phone from a different phone number trying to determine if I had indeed blocked you. I treat all my clients with respect, but I simply cannot accept someone lying about the facts in the situation when I am just trying to earn an honest living. I hope that you can find it within yourself to be truthful and understanding that I was there to provide a service that you sought out and I did what I had agreed to. The fact that everything hasn't been completed that you were wanting has nothing to do with incompetency, but a lack of time management and understanding on your end that the more time that was not utilized for sorting through items was going to end up in projects taking longer than they had to.