The mutual exchange is I take care of your pets and home so I can do sightseeing on my free time. Why would I be a sitter to stay at the house and not sightsee. Yes, it is a vacation just a work exchange vacation.
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Of course. But ‘work exchange vacation’s still implies responsibilities, not going off on joyrides because a nice hike is 50 miles away. Than that is just a vacation, which is fine but can be paid for if you’d prefer the joyride over the ‘exchange’ responsibilities.
Again, it can’t be both ways. You can’t be ‘workers’ only, and you can’t be ‘vactioners’ only. It’s an exchange where both sides agree on the middle somewhere - and then both sides honor the agreement.
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Yes, both parties should honor the agreement. If you just said you can use the car and didn’t stipulate how many miles then she is not at fault. If you said don’t drive over so many miles for the week then she is in the wrong and the review should reflect she did not honor your verbal agreement.
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@KallyMayzy State the facts in your review, not how it made you feel. The mileage, the fact that you have to pay her tolls, etc.
It’s important for future homeowners to be informed about such things before deciding to invite this sitters to be in their home.
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Er… Many of us DON’T use THS for vacations. Many of us use THS because we enjoy spending time around animals which, for whatever reason, we aren’t able to do at our own homes. If we can do this in a location which suits us for other reasons - great. But that’s not why we’re here.
If I want a vacation, I’ll book a hotel or BnB or AirBnB or whatever. But the way I roll is that taking on a sit is a responsibility. It’s a very enjoyable one (or of course I wouldn’t do it), but it is NOT a vacation.
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Definitely agree, great advice.
Thank you, this is how I feel as well. It should be enjoyable for sitters of course, but the pets and their feeding/caring are part of the deal.
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And this sounds alright to you:
“On Wednesday, I was charged for the toll roads she was on. She didn’t get home until almost 8pm. My pets need to be fed at lunch and dinner time. She never told me or offered to pay the tolls”
Obviously OP wasn’t aware she would do this otherwise she would not be surprised by tolls she now has to pay.
This is OK?
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There are all kinds of sitters. I have a pet at home. I like to have a pet on vacation, also. 
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I would be honest about the miles and the fact that given the miles and the tolls it appears unlikely she made all the feedings and your cat is on a special diet. This alone would dissaude me from using the sitter. Also it sounds like she showed up a day early. That would be a no for me. as well.
The reviw isn’t about your feelings. It’s about what happened.
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This must so disheartening and I’m sorry that you had such a disrespectful and selfish sitter.
Please do post the full objective details of your experience in her review. Given the fact that you noted descriptions of similar erratic behaviour in her previous reviews, future HO’s need warning about this person. Noting the fact that your cats were off of their normal eating routine is an important factor in addition to describing the mileage, toll times and abrupt arrival one day early.
I hope that your future sitters are more respectful and responsible.
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I did not address tolls or responsibility of pet care. I was addressing mileage of car only.
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You agreed to their use of your new vehicle without limits on miles even though the sitter offered to rent a vehicle. Unless you are stiffed on the tolls, the sitter did not take advantage of anything more than your very generous (though maybe unintentional) offer. Maybe don’t begrudge your generosity.
Tampa Bay/Florida has a confusing network of road tolls so the sitter may well not be aware that they’ve run up charges. You owe yourself and the sitter the courtesy of asking them to cover the tolls before you tee off on them over “too many miles”.
As a host, we let sitters use our well maintained but somewhat beat up vehicle. Sitters don’t typically run up 700 miles per week but we’ve definitely had a couple of sitters who surpassed that threshold by quite a bit.
As cat lovers ourselves, I cannot imagine healthy cats needing to be fed lunch and dinner. Breakfast and dinner are more than enough. I saw nothing in your profile to indicate the cats cannot be left alone all day or that they need to be fed mid- and late-day. We too have a cat who wants attention 24/7 (between naps, of course) but we’ve left both our cats alone for more than 24 hours without issue.
I think there are lessons here about your comfort zones but I don’t think anything is on the sitter. Make adjustments going forward and give yourself a break.
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That’s one view but it’s odd to address mileage and put blinders on regarding the consequences of it (tolls and missed pet feeding).
Regardless, it should be reflected in a review. I would not choose a sitter who left me with unpaid tolls and unfed animals while they were out on a joyride so I do hope HO reflects this in a review.
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For what it’s worth, we just had this exchange with the homeowner for an upcoming sit:
US -
Hello
Just touching base about airport plans — all set for us to take you as discussed. Just confirming we’ll use your car for the drop-off, as ours is still fairly full after a few weeks away on house sits. It’ll also make it easy to take (pet/s name) to the beach and out on little adventures while you’re away. 
HO -
Hello Robi & Stu,
Yes you can use our car, but best not to use it for any long drives.
US -
Thanks so much — that’s perfect. We’ll only use it for the airport drop-off as confirmed, and a few short outings as previously agreed — Really appreciate it.
And whenever we do have the use of a homeowners’ vehicle we take a photo of the odometer reading at the beginning and the end of the sit, just so there can be no misunderstandings.
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I agree with the tolls. The first time I was in Florida I had no idea there was something racking up toll charges till I got a bill. Coming from California we have FREEways. OP, give her the courtesy of NICELY asking her for payment.
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@KallyMayzy, sorry to hear of your disappointment at car usage.
I see plenty great responses. We’ve had use of perhaps 20 vehicles of Pet Parents and the vehicles, PP expectations, and HS usage varied considerably. A couple of PP have placed restrictions on car usage but most PP, in our experience, do not care. Some PP even actively encourage us to use their car to explore their area.
Point here is that there is no right answer. Perhaps akin to communication frequency during housesit (PP views vary enormously). So generic advice is that if a topic is important to PP then it should be clearly stated in listing and mentioned in video call, so that there are no significant surprises after sit confirmation. It is our perception that many issues arise not from an action - in this case HS car usage - but from a disconnect between expectations and action.
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I’m so sorry you were taken advantage of. I’m a new sitter, and if a homeowner allowed me to use their new car, I might use it to pick up groceries, and if I even considered going sightseeing, I would make sure it was okay with the homeowner and wouldn’t even consider driving hundreds of miles away. It blows me away that she would look at the odometer, see that your car has low miles, and proceed to put another 760 miles on it. That’s not only bizarre, it’s rude. Arriving early is also inconsiderate. Something is off with this sitter. Please review her honestly. I would not offer your car to future sitters.
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760 miles in a week is 108 miles per day, the beach is maybe 60 miles away?
As I’m not familiar with the area I don’t know what else there is to see and do and where the market is located that could result in your sitter racking up another 300 miles or 40 miles per day but it’s not out of the park.
I suggest asking her where she went to put that sort of mileage on the car, in a nonconfrontational way, while at the same time asking her if she wants you to email the total she needs to reimburse you for the tolls.
The response will tell you everything you need to know even if she hangs up on you.
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She was not on vacation; she was house-sitting.
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