Again, uninvited guests

So here’s my scenario. What kind of review should I leave when the time comes?

  • I allowed pet sitters family to have Christmas dinner at my house due to an emergency at family members house
  • Said my house is not kid friendly and assured it was only adults (Ring doorbell showed otherwise).
  • The last guest to leave kept driving on my lawn after several attempts to back out of a straight driveway (even almost driving into our landscaped ditch).
  • Told the pet sitter to have said family member park on the street if they’re going to continue coming over, which she has not. (Pet sitter said she looked and everything looks fine).
  • Saw on exterior camera that pet sitters had overnight guests that are still there.

Now they seem to be taking good care of the pets and picking up after the dogs. Communication is good. Their overnight guests seem to be nice people (not party-type people). Not sure what the house looks like as we are still away. My issue is having overnight guests without asking first. (I would’ve agreed and warned her to change sheets in other spare room as they have been slept in). They socialized around the fire pit in the backyard which is fine. I want them to enjoy themselves while at my house.

I rarely view the camera because I don’t want to seem like spying, but when there’s a Christmas dinner being held in my house, I tend to look more than usual.

Providing everything looks good when I return home, and my pets seem to be happy, do I mention the guest driving on my lawn and landscaping? The uninvited guests?

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This situation seems wrong on so many levels: The sitters asked permission for visitors during the Christmas period and you agreed. However, they abused your hospitality and you abused their privacy, by repeatedly checking their activities via your exterior cameras. Neither one of you is demonstrating commendable behaviour, IMHO.

Why, oh why, did you you agree to something but then feel the need to monitor everything so closely? You were totally within your rights to decline their request, and it seems you should have done so.

You could potentially message your sitters and say you’ve noticed they’ve had overnight guests staying and, since this wasn’t agreed, you’d appreciate some explanation. I’d suggest you assess your lawn on your return home, as you’ll then know for sure if any real damage has been done. I’d also suggest that you never again agree to something which makes you so uncomfortable that you feel the need to subsequently launch an extensive covert surveillance operation!

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In my opinion, as a sitter, I would ask in advance and I would not have overstepped what we agreed on. if others would like to meet up, I would have met them other place (a cafe or similar) and told them to get a hotel room as I couldn’t have them at the sit.

So the other way of seeing it - isn’t it unfair to the sitters that respect boundaries that they who don’t get just as good a review?

I sure would dock a star and say why.

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It might just be push-notifications. Not active «surveillance». If one get a notification from a security system - wouldn’t you check what it is?

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@Garfield I think that if someone has given permission for sitters to have guests over the Christmas period, then it’s fair to say that camera notifications will be relating to those guests. If one decides to then check extensively - which, given the number of observations quoted, seems fair to assume - then it demonstrates a clear lack of trust.

I think this is perhaps a bit early to make a decision. I would check the lawn first and assess possible damage. I would also make 100% sure that guests did stay overnight. I don’t know if you can be sure just by the camera.

If you’re 100% sure and/or the lawn is damaged, you may consider mentioning it in your review. This would be helpful for other HOs as I think most people don’t like to have uninvited guests. You may also consider the impact that review can have on prospective sitters as many will not appreciate your use of external cameras.

I am a sitter and, although I do not like being watched, if I am informed of outdoor cameras, I expect some level of control. I would never have uninvited guests or do anything different from what have been agreed with the owners regardless of cameras.

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You’re on holiday… why are you watching your guests while they are in your home. It’s outrageous to me. It is spying. Not sugar coating it.

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At Christmas people usually consume alcohol. Maybe someone had a bit more to drink than intended and they decided it was best not to drive? Maybe the sitter misunderstood your permission to have guests as they could stay overnight and it’s a case of crossed wires?

It’s understandable it can be daunting to allow people into your home, but checking the cameras to this degree feels invasive. I’d feel really uncomfortable if a HO was checking up on me this much. If you notice damage upon your return or signs the pets haven’t been cared for then you’d have reason to check over camera footage, but surveilling them when they sound like normal responsible people seems intrusive and not in the spirit of THS.

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I did think long and hard about allowing the holiday dinner at my house. I thought, “If they’re all local, have it at someone else’s home”. Then I found out that they’re all staying in hotels and the house they were supposed to meet at, had a pipe burst. I was trying to be ‘in the Christmas spirit’. I am notified on my security cameras but don’t always check. I did check the driveway because not everyone knows how to back out of a long straight driveway (you’d be surprised). Yes, I did tell the sitter I’d look when I returned to asses if there are any damages. (I also showed her the video). After this, when this guest came over again, the pet sitter would guide this guest out of the driveway every time they came over.

I don’t normally inspect the security footage, but when I saw young kids at the house on the doorbell camera (and was told only adults would be there, and the driving on my lawn and landscaping), I felt a little deceived which is why I started looking more frequently. If I would viewed the footage, saw that they had guests, no problem. No need to view any more. I don’t even care that they had guests (it’s the holidays), but when I saw them with their luggage, that’s where became concerned. I just wish they would’ve asked beforehand because I would’ve said yes. And all the foot traffic was done through the back door.

Do I need to mention the overnight guests in my review? I mean….they sent updated photos, cleaned up after dogs in the yard. I’ll know more when I get home.

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So I should only check the footage once I return home?

The guests that spent the night were not part of the Christmas dinner. Another set of people.

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Please post all this in your review for them. You can certainly state that overall they did a good job etc. But as another home owner I want to know these things about a guest.

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I certainly can understand that if one get to know something that was not agreed on, that one would be more likely to check again than if everything was at par the first time.

As a sitter, I think it is fair to mention it. Fair to other sitters that do follow agreements and to other hosts. Mentions that are just factual and unemotional is just that, and then the sitter get feedback with possibility to take it onboard (or not) and other hosts can decide for themselves how they regard it.

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I think that your entire message above is completely reasonable!

You seem to be a generous and responsible host/Owner.

Of course, you might look at your camera feed occasionally. It is YOUR HOME, after all.

The Sitter sounds like they are pretty good, but they fell down on a few items, as you have noted.

I would NEVER have children inside the house, if the Owner specifically asked me not to have children. I would NEVER have people sleeping over, without permission. Both of those are completely ridiculous!

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From an other HO: yes please, do mention it.

Bringing kids when told only adult guests are ok, and having someone staying overnight without telling about it would make me skip a sitter, no matter how good they were otherwise.

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As a sitter, I agree. I feel we should only do things we’ve been given specific permission to do. e.g Adult Visitors Only for One Meal means just that, not Any Visitor You Like, Any Time.
It sounds to me as if the HO gave an inch and the sitters took a mile.

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Sounds like your sitters took advantage and abused your trust. I’d suggest rating them accordingly. And I say this as a sitter.

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My first thought was that if you didn’t have the camera and everything seemed okay when you returned home then there wouldn’t be a problem. You would never have known. So really you’re just stressed because you have security cameras, like someone who was perfectly happy with a restaurant until they happened to look in the kitchen.

But on the other hand, that’s like saying you got drunk last night and drove home, but you didn’t have any accidents so it’s fine. It’s not fine is it? You wilfully created a situation where it was more likely something could go wrong.

Kids are more likely to break things, especially in homes that are not set up for children. Kids fall over and hurt themselves more often than (sober) adults.

And while most people will take responsibility for their own / their kids’ actions, you do have a legal liability if somebody gets hurt in your home. If you don’t know these people, how do you know they aren’t going to make a claim against you? Unlikely, but more likely than it would be if they weren’t there.

It’s the same with driving badly and carving up your lawn. You can hope alcohol wasn’t involved, but you don’t know what went on. Is this person just not competent? Are they going to reverse over a child as they leave because they’re not really in control of the vehicle? Again, you don’t know.

I generally only sit for hosts that are very relaxed and permissive, and I think they generally accept me because I present as a level-headed, responsible, and self-sufficient person. I am low maintenance, and prefer a quiet life. So I don’t want to deal with people who have lots of rules and requirements, or who worry about every little thing that can go wrong and what the worst possible outcome could be. But I understand where you’re coming from.

The sitters have taken liberties, and they probably never stopped to think about the deeper implications of that. It could be down to inexperience, confidence in their own abilities to deal with anything that might go wrong, or contempt. Or some combination of those factors.

They created a higher level of risk for you, against your explicit instructions. It seems like no harm was done, and I imagine that in most cases no harm will ever be done. But if thousands of sitters routinely bring extra guests into other people’s homes without permission - or when specifically told not to - eventually somebody is going to create a mess that the homeowner didn’t sign up for. Whether it’s red wine on the carpets, broken ornaments, a five-year-old sharing chocolates with a dog, or a poorly-driven car smacking into something, it’s over and above what you agreed to.

I think if I was in your situation, I would try to gauge what the sitters’ thought processes are. If they’re just irresponsible and contemptuous then a bad review is definitely in order. Without consequences, there is no reason for them to modify their behavior and other homeowners need to be warned.

But if they hadn’t really thought about it, you might be doing them a favor by opening their eyes. After all, they’re the responsible party if their guests do any damage to your property or hurt themselves.

I have found that explaining things to people in terms of best practices is usually more effective than telling them they’ve done something wrong. “Sooner or later these things will happen to someone and so we have rules to make sure they don’t happen to us.”

Hope that helps, and no harm is done! It’s New Year’s Eve, are they having a party?! :rofl:

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I actually met the relative that drove on my lawn. She came by the day before the sit to get instructions because bad weather was predicted which could delay the arrival of pet sitters. She was nice, pleasant, and we spoke for two hours. I had NO REASON to check the camera footage of her leaving. It wasn’t until I saw her drive on my lawn/landscaping on the night of the holiday dinner that I decided to look at the footage of that ‘meet and greet’. Let’s just say that she’s not a very good driver in the daylight, how much more in the evening. Add possible alcohol and make your conclusion.

I had a previous sitter that had a female overnight guest. I nicely confronted him and it was his girlfriend that lives locally (he flew in from Colorado). Again, I told him that all he had to do was ask. I would’ve said yes. He was fairly new to THS so I somewhat gave him a break and didn’t mention his uninvited guest in the review (I saw that sometimes he’ll put her in the listing as pet sitting too).

These people seem nice. They seemed to enjoy their time around the fire with their overnight guests. I was happy to see that. I want people to come and enjoy themselves - kick back, have some adult beverages, and just chill. I just wanted them to give me a heads up. I will choose my words carefully before leaving the review. I don’t want to come off as a spying b$&@%.

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I am sorry that you are receiving so much flak for your post. You are being far more gentle and generous than I would be. :cowboy_hat_face:

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