NOT VALUE FOR MONEY

I am left with no choice but to leave this negative review for Careen and her team from Lemon Professional organisers. https://squeezetheday.co.za/ It saddens me because I really liked Careen and mostly did not mind having her team work inside my house. She was a very friendly lady, but I am very unhappy and dissatisfied with the services that I paid for. The expectation and reality (and price for the reality) is VASTLY different from each other. This was unfortunately a case of overcharged and underperformed for me.

I did contact Careen via email and whatsapp regarding my concerns and disagreements about the services she's provided for me, but she seems to be unwilling and not forthcoming with any solutions to deliver better customer service, or to rectify the situation. Directly after I contacted her, she turned off "reviews" on her Facebook page as well.

Originally, I contacted Lemon Professional Organisers (SqueezeTheDay) regarding my need to have my playroom and garage professionally organised. The brief was very clear. I need things sorted in a way so that I can keep them sorted afterwards and I need systems in place to keep them organised afterward. She came to the house and did an estimate for the work to which I agreed. She seemed to completely understand what I was saying. The original estimate was 5 days and although it seemed a bit expensive, I was willing to pay it to have a neat/sorted garage and playroom with nice labels and systems in place. Also, I'm completely willing to pay for professional services if someone can provide a solution for a problem that I have and do it better than I can do it myself. On day five she told me they were not done yet, (to which I was surprised because it was her and two ladies sorting one playroom and one garage). After day 7 when she left, I felt a bit agitated by some issues (especially the labels and the mess left behind the house), but I left it as I was just happy that most of the things were sorted. (Or so I thought)

However, when I received the final invoice, it was almost double what she originally charged. I paid the amount, too embarrassed to say anything, but once I started working in the garage and the playroom myself, I realised I had completely overpaid. It was an astronomical amount compared to the actual work done on site. And to be honest, for the price I had been charged I could have done the exact same job MUCH MUCH MUCH better had I known what her services would entail.

When you employ and pay someone to do something for you, you expect it to be better than you could have done it yourself. Unfortunately, in my opinion, and after having done calculations of what it would have cost me, I was COMPLETELY overcharged for something that I could have done myself EXACTLY THE same if not better. What I paid for and what I got does not align at all. For the price I paid for her organising services I could have bought boxes and crates etc from Home Edit, printed Vinyl labels and had picture pretty Playroom and Garage.

The reality is however (and I have photos of everything) I have puzzle boxes with only two pieces in them......??? And other puzzles simply sorted into Ziploc bags (also not even complete). (And she charged the Ziploc bags separately on her invoice) I have a plastic baggie called “extra pieces” and then found another ToysRus bag with MORE extra puzzle pieces. I have crates with some cars, some dinosaurs and some nerfguns in them. I have various carboard boxes falling apart full of unsorted crayons, kokhis and arts and crafts. I have some of my Children’s memorabilia in the garage in a plastic box and others upstairs in another carboard box, again unsorted. I have books, next to the bookcase just dumped there. I have a whole box full of car remotes, some broken, untested, just random… but at least they’re in a box together? I have bath toys sorted with animals and big remote-control cars sorted with small cars. Some crates are labelled some are not. I basically have my own stuff sorted into mostly my old crates (here and there she did bring crates in), boxes that are falling apart and definitely no functional system. (Again, I have photos of all of this as well)

I am repacking the garage currenlty as it is completely illogical. Fore example: Plumbing packed with Cupboard edging??? And the plumbing items are overflowing from the drawers.

I packed back my own playroom as I was scared that Careen would charge me ANOTHER day 's labour and travel to come and complete work that was actually part of the initial brief and quote!

Careen kept on asking me: So, what are we going to do with this? How do you want this to work? She kept on coming to fetch me out of the office to look at stuff. I found this odd because this kind of defies the point of asking someone to do it for you does it not? I realise there are personal things that I needed to decide about (perhaps in a set time every day) , but the amount of times I was fetched and asked and interrupted was too much. I didn't have the time to organise my playroom and garage in the first place due to work etc and needed PROFESSIONAL help, but she kept on asking me questions about how I want it organised, and come look at this or that…. I lost A LOT Of time with my work. I don’t understand how it took 3 ladies 7 days to pack two rooms… and on the last day she even bought a male worker, and they still almost didn’t finish on time. I

I feel that when one employs a professional organiser they need to come up with innovative ideas as to how to sort the toys/tools/whatever etc in a way that you would never have thought of! Because they have all that experience, and this is what they do for a living! This is literally their jobs and they should be coming with ideas and solutions not more problems. I felt like I had to give her a few of the ideas such as how we should organise the NERF guns etc., She didn't have these ideas in my opinion because she kept on asking me for ideas and how I wanted things sorted etc. And then sometimes I’d give her ideas and then she’d go look for them on Pinterest. (This I can ALSO do myself). I feel like Lemon Organisers should have been the one's to come to me and say okay this is the plan, this is how we're going to organise your things, this is how we're going to make it more functional and practical for you. I am unsure, but at times it felt like I was dealing with someone who hadn’t been in the “professional organising” industry a very long time. Sometimes it felt too me personally like she might be a novice.

In her contract she also says she can remove the things we don't want. Anything that is unwanted can be removed. Some things she did remove to donate or throw away, other stuff she merely dumped either in the office (for me to deal with) or behind the house by the garage or upstairs (by the playroom, again for me to deal with) and I had to get a rubble removal team to come and take it away (more expenses.)

She uses a "Brother label maker" to do her labels. Small, very cheap looking unprofessional labels that anybody can make. So, if you are expecting properly, professionally labelled boxes with pretty Vinyl lables, don't!!!! Her VERY EXPENSIVE price per day does NOT include labels, black bags and Ziploc bags. She charges those separately.

So finally, no I would NOT recommend Lemon Organisers. /Squeeze the Day. https://squeezetheday.co.za/ if you're looking for someone who is going to take charge of your mess and turn it into something manageable and pretty.

I feel from my own experience with them that they are overpriced for the end result and it’s not value for money. I feel very disappointed with my experience with what I am left to deal with after what I have paid, and I keep on thinking what I could have done with the same amount of money. I feel that (after making calculations and looking up prices) I can for the same price take a week off work, buy the crates, look for my own ideas on Pinterest, hire a cleaning team, pack the things myself and AND print ACTUAL VINYL labels and still have some money left and it would be the same result if not better. I feel unfortunately that this was a waste of my time and money and did not give me the end results that I feel that I paid for.