I recently dud a sit on a large property which I thoroughly enjoyed. There were 3 issues that could have been faiy serious problems if I had not decided to meet the challange.
- I was asked to arrive the previous afternoon around 16:30 to start the sit as the HO had an early start. They invited me for dinner and a glass of wine.
- I was contacted the day before and asked if I could arrive a few hours earlier without a reason being given. After I arrived I was asked what I would be doing for dinner - a taxi arrived to collect the HO two hours after my arrival. No dinner happened.
- The HO offered to leave a car for my use as there is no public transport and they are far from any shops or places to buy food. One reason I applied was because a car was offered in the HO profile.
I was told after my arrival that no car would be available. This left me stranded for the entire sit and I had to get a family member to drive 50 kilometers each way to bring groceries for me to make meals.
- At no time before I arrived was I informed there were birds, cows and sheep to be fed and plants to be watered.
I did not mind feeding the farm animals, birds, watering plants etc, but would have preferred to have known this beforehand.
I’m curious as to how you rated the sit on the feedback. 
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Hi @trustSitCommunity. I’m sorry to hear there were unnecessary challenges on your last sit, but so glad you enjoyed it anyway. I’m going to ask Membership Services to touch base with you via DM, as these sound like fairly major changes to your original agreement. Good for you for making the best of the situation.
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@trustSitCommunity you handled this uncomfortable situation well. I’m glad you were able to turn lemons into lemonade as they say. 
I generally agree to sits weeks if not months in advance. I take good notes during the video chat, but sometimes things change for either the owner or the sitter, so I like to verify prior to arrival that the original details still work for everyone.
I use a multi-pronged approach to do that. First I follow up the video chat with a note about my looking forward to the sit and a quick summary of the arrival details we agreed to. Then, 2-4 weeks ahead of the sit start date, when I request the Welcome Guide, I include a note to verify that the arrival details still work for the owner. “Does it still work for us to have dinner together, or should I eat before coming?” I also thank them again for making the car available, and stress that was a key factor in our agreeing to the sit (since it’s not near to shops and pubs, say). That way, if something’s changed, or I wrote something down wrong, there’s time for owner and sitter to come to a new agreement or for the owner to find a sitter for whom not having a car is fine.
That said, I wouldn’t have thought to verify that the dog(s)/cat(s) mentioned in the listing were the only animals to be cared for, so I would have been caught by surprise by that too. I may add that question to my list of “odd questions I’ve learned to ask”, at least for rural sits.
You handled this situation well, and I’m sure the pets were well cared for, whether they were originally mentioned or not. Kudos to you. Life sometimes throws us curveballs, and you did a great job adjusting and making the best of it.
Here’s to making lemonade.
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I value your ability to see this experience as a glass-half-full kind of sit. Those are big changes! It must have been so frustrating, nerve-wracking, hard, and maybe overwhelming at times going through a sit that was so different than what you expected. You are more resilient than me, I think!
This might be a great example of a sit that calls for a detailed, honest review—even if you endured the changes with a positive outlook. In my opinion, the homeowner was wrong, unfair, and disrespectful for putting you through that—and was also very lucky that you are a superstar with grit.
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Admin notice - this post has been referred to Membership Services for assistance.
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