I am fairly new to this as I have only had one set of sitters previously earlier this year. I’m a 76-year old widow and this year had two chances to go abroad so needed someone to look after my dog, as I cannot afford to pay a sitter or boarder on my pension. The first time was fine.
I found what I thought were a lovely young couple from overseas and spoke to them via Zoom. They arrived two days ago for a 17-day sit and seemed so nice. I left later in the day to stay with the friend with whom I was travelling the next day, feeling confident and happy that my dog would be well cared for.
The next morning, as I was preparing to leave for the airport, I had a voice message from them saying that the sit was unsuitable for them. The wife said she had severe arachnophobia and my house had spiders. It’s an older property in a country village and I do get lots of spiders. I’d been round earlier in the week to try to clear them but quite possibly missed some. She also said she had a dust allergy and my house was too dusty. I have a wood-burner and a pet so I do have dust but, again, I’d tried to dust before they arrived. She sent a photo, which I couldn’t initially identify, but then realised they had pulled a sofa out from the wall and it was indeed terribly dusty behind, especially as it was the one my dog uses. It’s too heavy for me to move so I do only dust there now and then.
In their profile there was no mention of arachnophobia or a dust allergy. I would not have booked them if they had mentioned it at all.
Nevertheless, I felt mortified that the house wasn’t as clean as they wished, so I offered to pay to get a cleaner in to rectify it. It would only take an hour or so as it’s a very small house. However, they said they wanted to go to a hotel.
My daughter lives nearby. I had explained to them that she works full time and has cats so couldn’t look after my dog. She is also due to go to the Netherlands for two days on work this week, so it wouldn’t be possible for her to take my dog for the period I am away. However, I arranged for her to pick him up while I tried to make alternative arrangements. The sitters said they would stay in the house until I arranged something else, and specifically until that evening when she could collect him.
I couldn’t do anything while I was travelling to the airport but when I arrived there, a couple of hours later, my daughter phoned me to tell me the sitters had called her to say they had left my house. She said that they were supposed to be there until the evening so she could pick up my dog. They responded by saying there had been a family emergency and they had to leave to get to the airport to fly to another country. They had not mentioned anything like this to me and it was a completely different story. She says she thought they wanted to leave for another reason and the spiders and dust were just a way to blame me. Her view is that someone who offers to petsit should be prepared to remove the odd spider and roll up her sleeves and dust a bit if necessary. I don’t necessarily agree but I did offer to rectify the situation and they completely ignored this. I now think neither reason was true and think something else was going on. It has left me in a terrible position. I can’t believe so called ‘trusted’ pet sitters would walk out of a house and leave a dog alone like that!
I have been able to book my dog into a farmhouse costing me £700 and my daughter will take him there tonight before she flies out for her work. As a pensioner this is a terrible blow but the other alternative was to cancel my holiday at the last minute. Unfortunately, I decided I couldn’t afford the updated membership that would have covered replacement pet care so it will cost me the whole £700. I actually feel as if I have been mugged. They appeared so nice and had good reviews but they have obviously lied to me, as what they told me and my daughter was different. My gut feeling is that neither story is true.
I couldn’t sleep for the past two nights worrying about it and it has completely ruined the start of my holiday.
They asked me to cancel the sit on THS but I don’t want to do that, as they ended it, not me. I don’t know what to do in this situation so would value advice. I feel I cannot trust any sitters again.
from the Help section.