@violet123
THIS IS PERFECT:
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Yes, they were supposed to wait until I got home .
If they wanted to leave earlier, they would have been fine . Itâs the fact that they only sent me a message after they had already left and never let me know sooner that they had a change of plan
Donât put it in a review! Please contact them and tell them that you were disappointed that they left before contacting you, but what they did (left as late as possible to be able to get to a free hotel room that was gifted to them) was perfectly reasonable. Would you have spotted them a free local hotel room to stay the extra few hours into the evening, or would you expect them to pass on the free room to accommodate your catâs feeding time? What would your solution to their problem be, had they contacted you? Assume that a poor review will end the sitterâs ability to get the best gigs. Once you review, it is set in stone , as is any reply they make, so be prepared for any feedback they want future sitters to know. The review system is very flawed, and is hurting a lot of sitters and homeowners who run into a crazy person, or someone with unreasonable (or unspoken) expectations. Sitters are not paid, so donât write a YELP review, write as if you were reviewing a friend or a friend who did you a big favor. Sitters should write as though they were reviewing a friend of a friend who hosted them in exchange for taking care of the family pet. If pets are OK, home is OK, problems are not worth warning others about safety, communicate privately.
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@PetSitter exactly this 
you explained it perfectly this is exactly how it should work
Hi
No I am reasonable . It is a communication issue . They only sent message after they left. I would have preferred to have been told about their change of plan as soon as possible
I simply want to trust that sitters keep to their word . Plans change , thatâs life , but they knew about their hotel gift Christmas Day but never mentioned it until days later . This is what I have an issue with . Communication
I have multiple 5 star reviews . In a few of cases sitters , needed to change their plan . Leaving a few hours earlier , but all of them communicated this as soon as possible . I am fine with this .
I am not ok with sitters knowing that they need to leave earlier than agreed and unilaterally just leaving without telling me until after they have left
I prefer more transparent communication.
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I think you have already decided what you want to write in your review @violet123 by your responses to membersâ comments so itâs time to do it! Overall, those sitters did look after your home and cat well which are the main priority. They also allowed you to go away and enjoy Christmas. Yes, mention you would have preferred them communicating their intention to leave a few hours earlier before they actually left as this is what is of most concern to you. But also appreciate that they were travelling by public transport which was greatly limited for the date your sit finished.
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So, it sounds like it was a communication issue. I agree, they should have let you know and/or asked if you were ok with them leaving earlier before they left. However, if that was the only issue with the sit, you might want to just provide private feedback regarding this rather than in a public review. They may have thought leaving earlier wasnât a problem since there wasnât an issue with the cats being alone for a few hours.
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As a pet sitter I would never in a million years do that. We agreed upon a time and if for whatever reason I needed to leave early, I would certainly ASK if that would be ok with you and not just do it and tell you later, its called respect. End of story. If someone did that to me , I would likely not invite them back and put it on their review. Lack of respect and a disregard for the agreed upon timeline.
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IMO you should privately thank them for watching your cats and home over the holidays and let them know communication before leaving is important and something they should practice moving forward. If you dock stars or mention it in the review I would consider it petty. I think a good portion of sitters that cross-checked your reviews would hesitate sitting for you if you appeared nit picky. Itâs important that both petsitters and HOâs give each other a little flexibility and grace with this kind of service.
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This is happening a lot in my experience. My last sitter did this and when we arrived home there was a terrible mess. I gave a fair mixed review and he left me review which was spiteful and untrue. Liz
So they fed the cats their midday meal, which was what you were expecting them to do, and then left. You were expecting them to be there for a few hours more but to do what exactly? Sit with the cats and watch the clock then leave?
The cats havenât been denied a meal, Theyâre cats so can be alone for most of the day and donât need to be walked, nothing that needed to be done in those few hours was not done other than the sitters just being in the house for the sake of being there because you expected it.
I canât help thinking, from reading what you wrote, that it is more the fact that you werenât asked for your permission to do this rather than what happened that is the issue. They donât really need your permission to leave a few hours earlier than what they originally planned if it doesnât affect the cats care.
If they had to travel 5 hours drive distance but by public transport on the weekend of New Year then leaving after midday seem like they made a conscious choice to delay as much as possible for the benefit of the cats as they probably got to their destination closer to midnight.
Iâve said this before, and not everyone agrees with my opinion, but if you want this level of control over the movements and actions of the sitters then you need to pay for it.
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In my opinion, you should take it up with them privately. Let them know you are a little disappointed with them in these two areas( 
The early leaving and the turkey feeding ) . In the world of sitting there is sooo MUCH WORSE that could happen. I have SEEN it and LIVED it . They respected your home, took care of your pets -to the best of their ability- mentioning little things that you could have just talked to them about seems nitpicky -as if you were expecting them to be Professional , paid sitters ⌠which we are not . Personally when I go through reviews from home- owners and I see this behaviour , I avoid their sits . We are all human and imperfect. I donât think this deserves public display. They can still adjust their behaviour even if you speak to them privately.
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You are absolutely spot on in everything you say
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Why did you have to have them wait until you were home? In over 50 visits for all sorts of animals Iâve only waited for people to return in less than 5. Especially with cats there wouldnât need to be reason to stay. Had you offered them to stay that night as itâs unfair to expect people to stay late afternoon or evening before travelling home.
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@cawosey and @Stmarys , I think youâre missing the point here. The sitter had already agreed to leave at certain time (at the arrival of the HO) before accepting the sit. Then, they just left earlier without informing the HO beforehand. Thatâs the problem here.
If something has been agreed on, the sitter (or the HO!) canât just change their mind and ignore the agreement without discussing it first with the other party. So yes @cawosey , I think sitters do absolutely need the HOâs âpermission to leave a few hours earlierâ , if a specific time had been discussed and agreed on earlier.
I do agree with you, that there shouldnât be any unfair expectations towards sitters or HOs. These things about arrival times and when the sitter can leave from the sit etc., should all be discussed and agreed on before confirming the sit.
On our next sit we (HO) will be coming back late afternoon, and we have asked the sitters to wait until weâre home/when our plane lands. We just had an experience of domestic flight being late for more than 4 hours, and donât want to risk that. The sitters are welcome to stay till the next day, and they were aware of our arrival time before confirming the sit.
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@CatsAndDog Totally agree with what you have said here . @Stmarys and @cawosey I believe you have missed the crux of the issue . @violet123 has mentioned several times in their posts in this topic that their issue was the poor communication .
The issue was that the sitters had agreed to the sit logistics , arrival and departure times at multiple junctions. It seems that @violet123 reiterated departure time at application stage , sit confirmation , in person handover and the night before the sit ended .
The sitter had ample opportunity to let HO know about their change of plan as presumably they got the Christmas gift on Christmas Day . They didnât let HO know that they wanted to leave earlier until after they left .
A sitter shouldnât decide to leave when they feel like it without it being a mutual decision with the HO . That is the point
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I find it strange that some folks think itâs OK to agree to something and then just disregard it. To me, if you say youâre going to do X, your word should be worth something. And yes, circumstances might change, because thatâs life, but why would it be OK for someone to flake without discussion?
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@Maggie8K I agree . It seems like a lot of people are missing the point . @violet123 what did you do ?
Thanks everybody for your insight . I did message privately before my review
They pretty much said sorry we couldnât wait but we had to leave earlier due to new travel plans . They were relying on public transport. They didnât get my point at all which was that I would have preferred that they asked as soon as they knew . We hadnât agreed on this new plan .
Plus they left earlier without telling me until after they had left . I reiterated that I am flexible with change on plans as long as itâs communicated to me . The issue was they didnât tell me at all . They didnât get it at all.
I suspect that they will continue to do this on future sits as they saw nothing wrong with leaving when they felt like it , without discussing it
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So @violet123 did you state this in your review?