First, my fur baby is adorbs and NOT dangerous. The HO has been fine with my daily pic updates.
I’ve been here almost a week and a few things popped up by Day 3. Nothing bad but I’d probably not reapply at this point.
The espresso machine water line from which HO fixed me a coffee (and I’d used for 3 days) had mold… OMG. ok, maybe HO doesn’t know better. No more coffee for me.
My fur baby is a little more spicy than anticipated. I work from home (in my profile) and on the 3rd & 4th night, I had to work super late (2am). My fur baby was LIVID. He sleeps with me (love it) but apparently, he requires I go to bed before midnight or he will bark very loudly & nonstop. This is not an exaggeration. For HOURS! I decided to work from bed to get my work done tho I missed a deadline the first night this happened. I was not told this could be an issue and I never thought to consider to ask.
HO room where I slept was smelly - think old laundry. It was strong, but opening the window helped. I also fell asleep on the couch working so that helped too.
My biggest challenge. HO has a roach infestation. I didn’t notice the first few days because they only come out at night. OMG! I saw 2 big ones near my suitcase. I’ve killed over a dozen one night and couldn’t catch the others. I cannot sleep. I’m exhausted at this point.
I’ve got time left but I’m not leaving. The HO cannot get here in time and I’d never leave my fur baby alone. I am slowly removing my things and leaving them (after a thorough check) with a friend in the city.
First question… How should I approach the roach concern?
Also, I’d like to leave a fair and honest review without HO retaliation. I don’t believe the previous sitter left an honest review… And I’ve already dealt with a vindictive HO once. I’m a lot more discerning in choosing my sits, but I was blindsided by this one.
What type of review would you leave to help other sitters? Thanks in advance.
Welcome to the forum @RoamingSolo - sorry that it’s a bad experience that has brought you here
Whilst you don’t want to leave this sit - there is something you can do .
Contact HO asap with photos of roaches ( dead or alive ) and request that they immediately arrange for pest controller to come and deal with the issue ( or other appropriate action) to resolve the situation and make the home sanitary for the remainder of your stay. The HO can only take action if notified of the situation asap
THS do have a definition of “unliveable” which maybe useful to quote
“Unliveable” this means a pet parents premise that fails to meet the requirements outlined in Our Terms of Service. These requirements include but are not limited to, a clean and hygienic living space no third parties present, and no dangerous pets.
After completion of the sit you will be able to rate the categories of pet behaviour, cleanliness , owners communication and listing accuracy in your review .
Yikes. That’s a disaster. You haven’t said whether you’ve notified the HO of all this. Definitely discuss if you haven’t! Good advice above. As far as getting pest control in, then you have to live in a fumigated space? or remove yourself and the dog while they do it? Don’t know if that would work and you may have to stick it out till the end of the sit. Leave all the lights on?? Or keep your stuff in a lighted room? I hope you don’t have much time left there. Make sure you decontaminate all your stuff before you reintroduce it to your home – thorough washing/vacuuming etc.
Reviews are ‘blind’ until both leave one, or a couple of weeks (??) have passed. Just leave an honest one – state the good and bad details without emotional comment (like “it was horrible”). You’ll be saving future applicants similar experiences. And if the HO said something negative about you, future HOs would probably go look at THEIR reviews too. Or you can, I think, reply to the review. Good luck!
Hi,
I messaged asking if they had something to counter the bugs, they said no. I advised they could have an infestation & that I know it’s a sensitive topic but assured them I wasn’t leaving and the pet was doing great. I suggested pest control. They said it’s never been bad before and they’ve got pest control scheduled.
That’s the best I can hope for. Like I said, I adore the pet and just working around what makes the pet most comfortable and doing work from bed.
I’m going to trust what they are saying except for never been bad. Or, maybe they just didn’t know? sigh
I now just want to be able to leave an honest review or none at all. There’s no way the previous person was honest. But they have a 5 review and probably didn’t want to risk it. And maybe they are having the home professionally treated and it won’t be bad for the next person. I keep thinking that’s a probability.
Also, I contacted THS first and the suggestion was to contact the HO and work it out with them but don’t leave the pet (the latter was not an option for me). THS did send an email so I could reply to with pics which I did. I’m also taking pics every time I catch them now. I left a couple lights on but dimmed a little. I’m washing all my things of course, and slowly moving my things out after making sure I’m bringing nothing extra with me. Thank you for the reply.
Leave an honest review. (Future sitters will thank you!) The host will only see your review after they too have written theirs. Therefore, because of the new blind review system, their review cannot be influenced by yours (retaliation was always the fear before) But ofcourse they can respond to your review (if they wish to) once both of your reviews are published. Future readers will draw their own conclusions.
If you decide NOT to leave a review they might still write you one and it may not be as you hoped (after this roach drama) so its very important you share your side of the story while you have the chance!
And I’m sorry you had to experience all this!!
Agree with @Lokstar – don’t “not” leave a review.
Nobody’s going to admit, “yeah, we knew we had a lot of roaches”. You can just say in your review that they told you they “scheduled pest control”. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t, but future sitters can decide whether they want to take a chance that they did. Just state the facts, what happened and what they told you, whether the communication was good despite it being a bad situation… and I hope your next sit is much better.
Can you not use bug spray?
We’d start by spraying and then take the dog out for a good hour or two and open windows.
Also, I get what you mean - I don’t go to bed before midnight and some dogs are just really cranky if they are early sleepers. So well done for trying to work from bed…
For me, the worst is afternoons from 3-6pm, when dogs are getting hungry and really annoying sometimes and I have to get through work!!! They’re pacing, up and down, whining, pacing, sighing…so worried you might forget to feed them I don’t blame them, but it’s just part of housesitting that sometimes stresses me out.
I thought about getting bug spray, but I don’t want any issues with using a chemical in someone else’s house. Just in case. And I don’t know how the fur baby will respond. and if anything happens, I’ll be blamed. Gonna tough it out and take the suggestions of being honest.
OMG! This fur baby is crazy loud. Sounds like they’re being hurt and it’s nonstop! LOL. I just gave up the 2nd time and I only work in the bed by 11:45! As long as the fur baby can get under the covers, all is good! LOL I legit wondered if they could hurt themselves barking that long and that aggressively.
@RoamingSolo Please leave the facts about the barking/whining, the bugs or other pests, and if the pet sleeps under the covers, etc. For the sake of future sitters, so they know the facts about this sit and can make an informed decision about whether to apply.
This is the first true challenge I’ve had with a fur baby. I’m realizing how much I would have not mentioned because of how adorbs and overall loving they are. Thank you for all the feedback. I’m going to work on really crafting a review that is honest and fair. This is not a bad sit. Once the roaches are taken care of, this would be a good sit for a very specific type sitter.
I’d avoid a host like this, even if they took care of the bugs. Why: They hide or misrepresent conditions. That means they’re perfectly capable of doing that again, whether with existing issues or new ones.
Bigger picture, some hosts and sitters don’t belong on THS, because they’re not trustworthy and/or don’t understand the concept of a fair exchange or don’t care, as long as they get what they want.
Someone who goes to bed early ? and doesn’t mind sleeping with a dog in the bed …
We did have a sit where the elderly female dog retired to her bed early every evening around 7pm and was very loud and vocal about insisting that the younger dog came with her … he always gave in to her ( albeit reluctantly) for a quiet life … they slept in a study downstairs .
Fortunately she didn’t insist that we also went to bed that early !!!
review and probably didn’t want to risk it. And maybe they are having the home professionally treated and it won’t be bad for the next person. I keep thinking that’s a probability.
Thank you for the reply.
I don’t blame them, but it’s just part of housesitting that sometimes stresses me out.
and doesn’t mind sleeping with a dog in the bed …