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Homejoy says goodbye

blog.homejoy.com

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Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#21

Post by pdabbadabba »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #8

I really loved the idea, and maybe I'm just being cheap, but no way I was going to pay $250+ a month to have my 1296 sq ft house cleaned. That's a $150/month value at market rates in my area. $100/month for a bit of convenience was not worth it at all to me.

I had the same experience. I signed up but, when it came time to actually make a reservation I did some comparison shopping and found many cheaper alternatives. I think Homejoy's main challenge is simply the vast pool of available labor out there, much of which is also bonded and insured, like Homejoy, and that is already quite accessible to customers. The added layer of technological ease that Homejoy brought to the table was welcome, but ultimately not worth too much monetarily. For me, the real barrier to hiring a home cleaning service is the awkwardness and trust problems of having a stranger cleaning my house. And the technological mediation that Homejoy and similar services provide actually heighten this feeling of alienation, if anything.

To make matters worse, I then got an almost comically confrontational phone call from a Homejoy rep demanding to know why I hadn't completed my booking. This is probably an isolated case (maybe the rep was just having a bad day?), but it certainly didn't make me feel like I was missing out on much--all the more so since this experience was so at odds with the rest of the Homejoy brand.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#23

Post by fweespeech »

sholanozie wrote: post #18
fraXis wrote: post #7

I used Homejoy and I liked it's ease of use. But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. I always wondered how this business model was going to work if Homejoy's contractors could just give out their phone # at the end of their first service and the customer could just contact them directly for any future…

I feel this way about AirBnB as well.

The difference with AirBnB is its usually a one-off situation rather than an ongoing relationship.

If you use AirBnB to visit NYC once every 3-4 years, its a very different situation than someone coming to clean every 2 weeks.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#25

Post by ivankirigin »

tptacek wrote: post #16

I get the sense that many of the people involved in Homejoy are well-intentioned and hardworking. But I can't say that I think it's a bad thing that tech startups are finding it difficult to monetize unskilled labor. The technology that most companies like these offer (with the possible exception of Uber) is a commodity. The real asset they have is the network effect. Which makes the balance of power between the tech…

Getting them more customers is incredibly valuable!

I've heard this as a need from literally every service provider I've ever used. They relish referrals.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#27

Post by jimjamjim »

As a former customer (have not used in years), I actually felt uncomfortable with the cleaners. Not because of anything they did, but because you could just tell they were low income and being paid very little by Homejoy (I think less than $15/hr). It didn't feel right, and I stopped using them in part because of that.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#28

Post by stevejohnson »

For a house with 4 roommates, this service worked great as a solution to the "tragedy of the common [space]" problem. We've been using them for a year or more now and I'll be sad to see them go. I hope they follow through on putting people in touch with the actual cleaners.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#30

Post by tspike »

sholanozie wrote: post #18
fraXis wrote: post #7

I used Homejoy and I liked it's ease of use. But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. I always wondered how this business model was going to work if Homejoy's contractors could just give out their phone # at the end of their first service and the customer could just contact them directly for any future…

I feel this way about AirBnB as well.

I'd wager that most AirBnB stays are one-offs on vacation. Home cleaning is recurring, making it more vulnerable to the "here's my phone number" weakness.
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