Hello: I had an unusual experience and I wanted to get some feedback. I had a confirmed sit about 3 weeks before the start. Two days before the start I reached out to the HO to confirm the time she was leaving so I knew when I could arrive. She said she would leave 9:30 AM and I could come anytime after that. Then 1 day before the sit she said instead of 9:30 AM would 1:00 PM be OK? (Unfortunately, I was working that day and forgot my cell phone and did not see the message. As a result, I did not reply). Then the sit start day arrived. A message was sent by HO at 6:18 PM saying that the sit was cancelled. (I was driving to her home at the time). I arrived there at 6:30 PM. She was annoyed to see me. She announced her trip was cancelled and was angry that I did not see her messages. (The last one was 10 minutes before I arrived). It was AWKWARD having the conversation on her porch as I was holding my grocery bags. She did not apologize to me for wasting the time I had spent visiting her home previously and the time I spent packing and preparing for the sit. (Fortunately I was local and no further travel costs were incurred). Even though I thought the details were set 2 days before the sit, I learned to keep an eye out for last minute communications and changes. All the HO was concerned about was that I not give her a bad review to discourage future sitters. It was an unfortunate experience. Any feedback? What about a review? Should sit be cancelled on her end?
Thanks for any words of wisdom.
Trashy actions from the HO. I would report the interaction to THS. Yes the HO should cancel (with plenty of time ) from her end and unfortunately no you won’t be able to review a cancelled sit. Sorry for your experience.
She sounds horrible and I’d be pleased, at least, not to be under her thumb as a sitter. That’s someone who treats sitters as servants, and doesn’t respect your life and your time, and that you work for a living. I know some people might say that you should have made it clear to her that you’d be busy (from the 2 days out) and would be hard to reach, but I find with people like her that it doesn’t matter. They’re looking for a fight/someone to treat badly.
Sounds like a thoughtless HO who doesn’t appreciate the concept of mutual exchange. Report them as those were not exceptional circumstances as the reason for the cancellation. Email support@trustedhousesitters.com Probably dodged a bullet TBH. #nicetobeappreciated
It does not seem that the sit had been cancelled on the system, so a review will be possible.
Be factual in the review. It is enough to deduct one star for your review to get read.
I would deduct more stars for the lack of apologies, for not inviting me to come inside, for not bothering with voice call to cancel, etc.
I am sure the HO would have acted differently if they had hired a sitter though a commercial agency.
I was under the impression that the HO cannot amend the sit dates once the sit has started so I was surprised that the HO could cancel (which is a form of amendment surely) on the start date. Regardless, make a complaint. If you can leave a review, do so. She deserves to be worried about getting future sitters.
Good point
So did this text not get answered by you?
Just curious…
Something similar happened to me recently. Homeowner cancelled on me the day before. What’s odd is I met them a week early and I’m not from there. When they cancelled they were apologetic and said I could stay with them for a few days. I took them up on the offer and they seemed so annoyed after a day so I left due to how uncomfortable I felt. Awful experience and if they felt that annoyed they should have just gotten me a hotel. Obviously host don’t have to do anything but if it was me I would have just gotten the sitter a hotel.
Quick question, what happened between 9am and 6:30pm? Were you 9 hours late? Did you try reaching out to the pet parent? Are you sure they didn’t cancel thinking you were not going to show up?
I’m not sure why everyone is so angry at the HO in this situation. Put yourself in their shoes. Their confirmed sitter stopped replying one day before the sit was scheduled to start. At that point, the HO was probably panicking thinking their sitter wasn’t going to show and they cancelled their trip.
This likely would have ended much differently if the sitter had simply replied after they got home from work and were reunited with their phone. OP even admits that she learned a lesson to keep an eye out for last-minute communication and changes. I’m not sure how the HO did anything wrong here and why people seem to think they deserve a terrible review and a reporting to TH.
Yes, I am curious also, as she had mentioned arriving by 1pm but you didn’t turn up until 6.30PM, which is quite some time later.
Did you reply to her at any point during this window, or did she just get dead air from you till you arrived?
The HO appears to have cancelled the sit more than 5 hours AFTER she was already supposed to have vacated the home. That is the reason I am more disappointed with the HO than the sitter.
But if she didn’t think the sitter was coming because she hadn’t got a reply to her messages for over 24 hours she would be waiting to see if the sitter was going to turn up before leaving her pets ?
Correct. It was a bad day to forget my phone.
Original post says HO cancelled the sit because her trip got cancelled, not that she thought sitter was going to be a no-show. It was seemingly always going to be a blind handover. The sitter was local and had already made an orientation visit.
Perhaps OP can clarify
I read it as HO cancelled the trip at 6:18pm
on the day the sit started because she hadn’t had a reply to her message sent to the sitter the previous day and the sitter hadn’t turned up at the expected/ arranged time( 1pm ).
If HO was planning to cancel the trip all along she would surely have done it before 1pm when she was expecting the sitter to arrive .
Better comms by OP - a simple reply to the HOs question (even if a late one ) “sorry for late reply - I am on my way will arrive at 6:30 “- potentially could have prevented this cancellation . This would have been a better outcome for sitter and host .
We read it differently then. Original HO departure time was 930 and sitter was to arrive AFTER that so I thought the same would hold when HO delayed her departure time. Both should have done better at comms.
I also interpreted this as the HO cancelled her trip because the OP had not responded to her messages.
Otherwise, why would the HO be angry?
The day of the sit, the sitter still had not responded.
Even if this was a blind handover, why didn’t the OP respond to the HO’s messages on the day of the sit?
By her not responding, the HO probably felt like she was being ignored or the sitter changed her mind about arriving for the sit.
And hence, the HO cancelled her trip.