I’m still in shock after coming home yesterday from a five week trip. This has been our first bad experience with a sitter, I’m angry, disappointed and upset. I realise I have to write this carefully to avoid identifying the sitter but a) need to vent and b) really want to warn THS about this person. We arrived home to an empty house and a scrawled note that they left because they were sick. We have no idea how long our dog had been left but she was desperate to get out to relieve herself. As soon as I looked at our cat I could see that something was wrong with his face. In our absence he has developed what I think is a huge rodent ulcer. He’s booked in for the vet this morning. While we were away we had a leak in our boiler cupboard which the sitter informed us of. We arranged for our builder to come the same day and he did a repair to the roof above the cupboard so no more leaks. However, the sitter took nothing out of the storage area below and we found a mess of damaged boxes, papers and small electrical items sitting in pools of water in the cupboard and covered in mould. The carpet had also been flooded (unknown to us) and the whole house now smells and is damp. All this would have been dealt with by our friends and neighbours whose telephone numbers we gave to the sitter in case of need. Where do I go from here?
@KaitK sorry to hear of your experience
You need to contact THS member services immediately by e-mail ( write URGENT in the title) A sitter who abandons pets without first informing the owner will be banned from THS.
Support@trustedhousesitters.com
Provide photos of the note the sitter wrote saying they had left and photos of the damage caused by the flood.
I hope your pets recover quickly
**5. 3.7. not leave any Sit early under any circumstances, especially where this results in any pet(s) being left unattended, without first informing the Pet Parent and giving them reasonable time to arrange alternative pet care. If you do, you will instantly receive a lifetime ban from the Platform with no refund of membership fees paid;
It sounds a bit like that there was very little communication about the water leak?
There is just far too many of these horror stories lately and I dare not give my opinion as to why cough five cough cough five cough. 
Something has to give, these stories are going just too far 
I feel your anger @KaitK and unless these things are constantly reported, nothing is going to change, though it probably won’t anyway. Again, this is gross negligence and unacceptable and your poor cat! 
Your dog was obviously stressed also. TH really needs to start doing something about the behaviour of these types of sitter (and HO as case may be) regardless of loss to them. They will end up losing more than they gain from bad press and losing membership.
Water damage can be fixed but your pets not always. This is what is important and I know you agree.
@Silversitters post came through as I was posting at same time and I agree with her 100%.
@KaitK , I’m just writing to express my support and empathize with you. I second what @Silversitters says. Contact membership services. I hope your pets are ok and your home and possessions are salvageable.
Hi @KaitK
This is shocking and totally unacceptable. I’m so sorry your ‘sitter’ acted like this. Firstly I hope all your pets are ok? Secondly I do hope there’s no permanent damage to your home or goods.
As others have said please contact THS so hopefully this person gets removed from sitting again as they aren’t responsible enough to be on this platform.
I do hope you’ll get one of the hundreds of wonderful caring sitters next time.
Thank you for this information. I really don’t think the sitter is fit to look after pets, or homes.
Thank you for this advice. I’ll email straight away.
Such an irresponsible person shouldn’t sit anyone’s pets or home. Sorry that you have to deal with this aftermath.
This is why honest, factual reviews matter in both directions. You made some great points! I’d be upset about the house, but absolutely livid about the pets.
I’m so sorry to here this @KaitK. As mentioned already, contact membership services immediately.
@KaitK: Gosh, that sounds … ugh. Just ugh. It sounds like you may have contacted membership services by now, which is great. I just want to address your point about needing to vent. I think that’s perfectly healthy, but I’m not sure the forums are set up for pure venting. Some forums have “vent channels” where you can write anything, and it’s all deleted after a week or so. You can try venting on other petsitting websites (e.g., FB), but you may get pushback. If you find a sympathetic ear on the TH forums, you can send a private message (aka DM/PM) to them and ask to vent more. I’m happy to read/listen/Zoom. It sounds like your friends and neighbors may also make good “venting boards” (yes, I just made that term up). I’ve also thought about writing something on paper (or typing-printing) then burning it with a candle (and appropriate waste container). Cathartic.
I pray your cat recovers fully!
Hi Geoff and thank you for such a thoughtful response. I think we’re over the worst of the shock now. Our dog is back to her usual happy self and our cat is getting treatment. As far as the house is concerned, we’ve had all the windows open and a dehumidifier working flat out so things are improving on that front. I’m actually pretty impressed with THS. I sent an email as @Silversitters advised, and they phoned and I had a long conversation yesterday from them. The sitter has been temporarily suspended while they investigate further. Thanks again for your kind words.
Sort of related … I certainly hopes that THS makes contact with any HOs who could be impacted by this sitter’s suspension (ie upcoming confirmed sits)
I recall a thread where a HO was having no success contacting her confirmed sitter and it ended up because the sitter was suspended. I wouldn’t have much confidence that the sitter would do this.
@MaggieUU Contacting others might be delicate. THS cannot know what really happened based on the HO’s report only. (For example, one could wonder whether that builder could have done more.)
@pietkuip with respect, the sitter abandoned the pets without notice so not sure how that would ever be justified.
Of course I cannot locate the previous post that I am referring to (and TBH I won’t be investing a lot of time to do so) but subsequent owners may be severely impacted. If the sitter isn’t going to be coming, how to advise them?
@MaggieUU THS cannot know. To me, it seems that the sitter stayed until the last day. They left before the HO arrived because they (wrote a note that they) were sick. It may have been difficult for the sitter to reach the HO while they were on their way.
I am so much more focused on upcoming sits. @pietkuip . What do you suggest for those that might not have a sitter coming because they have been suspended?
@MaggieUU Maybe the problem is that THS suspended communications? Anyway, it is yet another reason for HOs to establish an alternative channel of communication with sitters that they have booked.
I feel I must say that KaitK was obviously distressed coming home and finding what she did but playing the devils advocate here; isn’t it possible that the water damage in the ‘store underneath’ happened because the sitter never ventured to look, not that he ignored it? He did inform the HO of the problem but when you have a sitter do you expect them to look everywhere in your home i.e be intrusive? I tell any sitter that nothing is out of bounds but I bet most HO do not want sitters looking here, there and everywhere. Perhaps many sitters alsofeel they shouldn’t ‘pry’ anyway!
Perhaps the sitter was sick and had to leave. The dog needed to relieve itself but obviously it hadn’t as the HO let it out to do its ‘business’ when she arrived home! The time lapse therefore couldn’t be as long as is being suggested? The abscess on the cat, if true , is inexcusable and should have been treated.
Emotions run high in such circumstances, a complaint has been made and the sitter ‘suspended’. THS are investigating but I do feel that once the complaint has been distilled down to its component parts its not as cataclysmic as it first appears. I hope we get to find the result of the ‘enquiry’ but I bet we don’t!