Can a sitter end a sit and start a new one same day?

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Is it ok to leave a sit and start a new one on the same day?

2

Yes, it’s totally fine. We often leave a sit at 9 - 10am, and start another at 5pm.

We often sit in places that are within an hour of each other, so it’s normal for us to do. We sometimes pick up keys beforehand, to let ourselves into the next place if it’s closer by.

It’s your timings that matter. Whatever time you both agreed the sitter would arrive or leave, is the important thing. So, have you both agreed upon a time? If not, do it now.

For us, we always work things around the sit that was already booked in. So when applying for a sit, I’m totally upfront and something along the lines of “on your first day, we wouldn’t be able to arrive until ?time? , does that work for you?” “maybe you have a family member or friend that could help out on that day” bla bla bla. It either suits them or it doesn’t. On these occasions our time is crystal clear, black and white, it either works for the owner or they need to find someone else, because we have a prior obligation.

Sometimes we just need to post the keys through the letterbox as we leave, or some are where the owners returned in the middle of the night, so they are already home.

If we need to wait until owners return, we just make sure we have a couple of extra hours extra spare for delayed flights, to make sure so that we don’t get ourselves stuck in a weird position, not that that would be our responsibility anyway, but just to be nice, and also it’s to avoid any stress for ourselves.

It’s also okay with those sitting as a couple to split up on the last day or 2 as long as both owners are totally aware of it, to cover both houses… but we don’t do that, we prefer to stay together.

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3

Thank you. My sitter assured me she would be there upon my arrival home and left to take another sit the same day leaving my pets unattended and caused me a lot of stress.

4

Hi Carol

I am sorry to hear your sitter did not abide by the original plan. When booking sits back to back like that, I always discuss arrival and departure times with hosts. When I already know what time I would need to leave a sit for which I am applying, I let hosts know upfront in my application message.

If I don’t have anything booked after theirs yet, I always ask them if they would like us to stay until any particular time, and take that into account if applying for sits that start the day that one ends. I always stay until at least the agreed upon time.

If she explicitly said she would stay until at least a certain time, and left your pets unattended for longer than you stated they could be left for, you are free to raise a member dispute against her– must use those words specifically I believe to make it ‘official.’

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