“My observation reading the OP was that it reads as though the sitter were being constantly watched”
Really OP had reason to start watching the sitter. Once trust is broken, it’s broken.
If you didn’t mean it then ok but exterior cameras are everywhere and they alert at weird times then HO will frankly be on alert. That doesn’t make them stalkers and frankly too many sitters make this comment.
If you don’t want to be ‘watched’, don’t do sits with external cameras, but as it’s noted they are fewer and farther between now. Or just show up on time, don’t leave in the middle of the night with no warning when what was discussed with HO is opposite of that. They were “’constantly watched” because of their actions.
Well how the comment ‘read’ was another swipe at a HO using an external camera to prove the sitter was behaving badly. So think about rewording your comment to start with this sitter was wrong, but if the review focuses on camera stuff that may be a turn off when there is such a wealth of other complaints to be made against this sitter (the smoking would make me do hard pass).
You know sometimes it feels like a ring camera captured a sitter murdering someone outside the front door. It was reported to police and sitter was jailed but the comments here would say why was the HO watching the camera….
Hardly ubiquitous, at least just now. I guessed maybe 1 in 5 households having them, and thought that might even be high. A follow-up Google search confirms it’s somewhere in that range.
That said, I agree no one can count on having privacy outside their own door these days. But I do maintain that a desire for privacy & trust doesn’t necessarily equate to having something to hide.
I don’t think the macro numbers tell the story. Where homes are on denser areas are where the rings are. Where they are not are rural / sparsely populated areas, or lower income urban areas. No offense but sitters aren’t normally lining up for these sits so these are areas where most sitters DON’T want to sit. Sitters are lining up for NYC, DC, Miami or Vegas sits, of which more than 1 in 5 will have Ring cameras. Exactly the areas most sitters DO want to sit.
The US is a big country and the macro numbers don’t tell the tale of Rings that Sitters will encounter. Every house in my approx 70 unit development has at LEAST one exterior Ring. And I know because I’m President of the HOA and we had to approve them all ( which as they are common now we do on an expedited basis).
I caught what @Marion was putting down, exactly as she says she meant it. She was suggesting the sitter focus on the tangible concerns that don’t rely on the camera (of which there were several) to prevent future sitters from focusing on the camera/tracking part instead of the actual issues.
The many comments on this thread and in response to her, seem to prove out her point: cameras & tracking sitters is a sensitive issue that would simply complicate what should be a straight-forward review.
This just feels like it’s really getting into the weeds at this point. It’s definitely no longer about helping this HO write a review about an unsatisfactory sitter.
Great, she should have said that. I repeat what I read front and center was the HO watching cameras. In this case, any HO would have watched the cameras due to the sitters poor behavior.
Lead with that.
Frankly I wouldn’t mind seeing HO just review with ‘saw this on cameras’ if it was justified. The sitters who ‘want privacy’ for reasons that are not on the up and up - will steer clear. I don’t want those sitters anyway.
Maybe true but telling a HO to be hush hush about cameras in their review, kinda is about the review.
Yes it’s about more than that but I think there is a difference between how some sitters view external cameras (oh sushi about them, don’t admit you look at them) vs reality (we live there, we know false alerts vs concerning alerts and of course we will look at concerning alerts - which are generally caused by poor sitters, which do actually exist in the world - which many sitters on this forum don’t seem to accept at all, though a narrative of a poor homeowner spying on a helpless sitter is easily accepted).
Comments would be easier to accept if sitters would first and upfront acknowledge that this sitter (and others) do fall short of expectations).
It sounds irresponsible to arrive hours later than informed time without a phone call to you. That alone would make me nervous to have this person stay with my pets as other irresponsible things can go wrong as they did. Was he or it sounds like they home all day and just went out at night? Did they spend any time playing and loving on the kittens? Do they really even enjoy cats or just there for a free place to stay. I would give him 3 stars if they were also gone during the day. If they were there all day and only left at night then nothing wrong with that. You can ask for daily pictures and even videos. I send both. In the future you can say in your profile we would like our sitter home by 11pm every night to make sure the kitties are safe and have someone at home. Your house, your rules.
They do. I’m a sitter and I did. In fact I had to edit my harsh rating wrt to the sitter in this scenario. It upset me greatly to think of those kittens all alone, potentially unfed.
I just dislike the extensive generalizations (“sitters who don’t like cameras are suspicious & untrustworthy”; “all HO’s who use Ring cameras outside are creepy;” “everybody has ring cameras now”), and I think this topic has gotten way off track.
My big NY resolutions?
Treat people as individuals
Try to be more tolerant/understand where people are coming from
Yes I do see your point of view and get that we overly generalize (me included).
HO are a minority on this forum and I do get tired of hearing over and over again that sitters (even ones that clearly do wrong) should not be monitored. Actually if their behavior is terrible, they should be monitored.
Sitters who don’t want to be monitored should do as they say and say as they do. Then no one will monitor them as they reinforce trust instead of breaking it.
Your resolutions are great. I will be honest in that I am pretty sure I couldn’t keep all of those but they would be aspirational goals.
Best of luck and sorry if generalizing lumped everyone into inappropriate buckets. I do wish more (majority) sitters just acknowledged there are bad sitters out there that HO need to protect themselves from (just as there are bad HO that sitters need to protect themselves from). Of course HO have the added burden of protecting defenseless pets as well, sitters can leave and go to a motel.
I understand this HO concern for two young kittens. One sitter (who has commented before about why sitters can’t leave pets overnight because they sleep regardless of whether they are there are not) even commented about why it should matter to the kittens.
(Post edited by the Forum team to comply with the Community Rules).
Does it matter that a sitter accepts a sit with certain responsibilities and then doesn’t live up to them?
Or should sitters be free to leave overnight without HO permission to see shows/clubs because the pets sleep regardless of whether you are there or not? Hm, where did I read that comment before?
I’m not sure why you think HO want overnight sitters, if they aren’t actually there overnight. But I’m sure you make it crystal clear on your profile that you leave pets alone overnight (dubious whether you actually get HO consent for this - required under T&C’s - because they sleep anyway whether you are there or not?
I mentioned this a different thread and I was told you were shouted down by the sitter community. Hm, let’s see what happens here.
It does not matter to them when a sitter arrives a few hours later in the afternoon. Yes, it matters of course to the HO, they may get anxious about the sitter showing up at all, so it might be a good idea to let them know that there is a bit of a delay. On the other hand, an anxious HO might only get more anxious.
So you remembered an old post of mine of having been out, returning at daybreak? Thank you for reminding me of that! It was a great party, outdoors next to the Dordogne river, walking over the bridge with a neighbour in the village. The cat really could not have cared.
Did you specify required frequency and timing of updates? Tell the sitter you’d like pics and videos, or simply a message? We always ask pet parents how often they’d like updates. It’s important to discuss this during the video chat and prudent to reiterate in your welcome guide, so you’re both on the same page.
So the sitter did message you daily, just not at your preferred time?
Why only request this after 5 nights? Best to make it clear prior to confirming a sit, or at least immediately afterwards, especially if you have particular concerns regarding the kitten’s eating schedule.
It’s certainly odd behaviour, but not against the T&Cs.
Again, did you specify no smoking in your listing and in your Welcome Guide? We’d know instantly if we’d entered a smoking household (and that’s a dealbreaker for us - we definitely will not sit in any home where people smoke, inside).
Clearly this sitter wasn’t too particular on the cleanliness front, though you say the home was left reasonably tidy, overall? Going forwards, it’s work checking reviews and looking for those which mention cleanliness as a sitter’s attribute.
Was the gate unlocked, or actually open? Did you specify in your Welcome Guide that this gate must be kept locked at all times?
How do you know they ‘nearly forgot one time’? Did you monitor via the camera?
It depends on what was specified and agreed upon, and what was simply assumed. If you made it very clear in your video chat and reiterated in your Welcome Guide that you required daily updates with pics of the kitts eating at breakfast times, that the gates must be not just closed but locked at all times, and that there must be no smoking inside your property then yes, you can include in your review that your instructions were not followed. This sitter’s nocturnal outings sound unusual (you refer to the sitter as ‘he’ but then later use ‘them’, did both sitters leave the property until the middle of the night?) but you can only assume that he subsequently didn’t feed the kittens their breakfast.
Can i just ask, did your kittens appear well nourished and happy, upon your return? Whilst not defending this sitter, it does sound very much as if his nocturnal outings have not only caused you some concern but have primed you to look for - and expect - more negative issues, and perhaps have prompted you to check for things more frequently on your external cameras. As @Marion has said, many sitters wouldn’t appreciate a HO using cameras to track their every movement (and this doesn’t mean sitters are up to something dubious, but rather because it implies a severe lack of trust), so mentioning them in a review as the source of all your concerns probably won’t do you any favours.
It upset me greatly to think of those kittens all alone, potentially unfed. 