Last Minute Cancelation of the Homeowner even though flights are booked

[Silversitters]

@strawberryjen

Alternatively, if you do not want to proceed with that sit (which would be completely understandable), member services will be able to assist and make arrangements for you.

What do you think MS will do ?

[Cuttlefish]

Or some local FB house sitting and/or expat groups might be worth a try too @Orcca #neversaynever

[strawberryjen]

I’ve no idea in this particular situation, but I’ve been stuck before and they were able to assist and provide support, so hopefully the same will apply here.

[LauraT]

@Orcca

We told her that we can maybe make it on the 9th but never confirmed… Our current HO asked us if we could stay until the evening of the 9th because an emergency happened. We thought its better to dont leave the cats here alone and just go with the starting date of the listing on the 10th and booked flights…

I’m finding it bit hard to follow what’s happened but this is what I understood… The HO asked you to arrive a day early, on the 9th, and you told her that you might be able to. Then the HO of your current sit had an emergency and asked you to stay later. Instead of saying ‘no, I’m sorry, we have to leave for another sit’, you agreed to stay, meaning you can’t arrive early at the other sit. You don’t tell the other HO this but just go ahead book flights on the 10th.

So my questions are:

1. When did she ask you to arrive a day early? Was it before or after the sit was confirmed?

2. Why was it a ‘maybe’ to coming a day earlier? At that point you hadn’t booked flights and you didn’t know about the current HO’s emergency so why were you unsure?

3. Why didn’t you tell the current HO that you can’t stay later? What time had you agreed to leave before the energency came up?

4. Why didn’t you tell the next HO that you couldn’t arrive on the 9th before you went ahead and bought flights for the 10th? It seems to me that she would have been waiting for your answer about arriving on the 9th?

5. Related to the above, if you didn’t tell her before buying the flights, when did you tell her? Immediately after buying them or some time after?

I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic and it’s a terrible situation for you, with a cancelled sit and flights you can’t use, but I really can’t understand why you didn’t get back to her about the dates before you bought the tickets.

[Shafofo]

@LauraT Given the info we have, I think your questions are irrelevant. This sitter never confirmed for the 9th, the confirmed sit does not include the 9th. HO can ask whatever she wants, but I think she is completely at fault and out of line for cancelling. To boot, HO is now reviewing new sitters (after suddenly cancelling this one) and still has a posted start date of Sep 10 so how important can it be that the sitter arrive on the 9th? Maybe she’s planning to spring this surprise on the next sitter too, just to see if they’re willing to jump through hoops. Call me crazy but I can’t think of any way in which the sitter is at fault here.

[Happypets]

@LauraT

I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic and it’s a terrible situation for you, with a cancelled sit and flights you can’t use, but I really can’t understand why you didn’t get back to her about the dates before you bought the tickets.

Sounds as if it’s a case of poor communications. The OP extended their current sit to accommodate an emergency situation, without considering potential impact on the following sit where they’d been asked to arrive a day early.

@Orcca When the pet parent in Madeira asked you to arrive on 9th, you definitely should have got back to her to confirm arrangements (one way or another) and then got the sit dates amended on THS to make it a firm agreement. Confirming arrival and departure times and dates is something we ask in our initial application, since if we can’t make those work, we cannot agree the sit.

Have you contacted the pet parent today to see whether there’s some kind of workaround, on which you can all agree?

I cannot see the listing so am guessing it’s maybe been paused? Am keeping my fingers crossed that you can redeem this awful situation.

[Happypets]

@Shafofo

@LauraT Given the info we have, I think your questions are irrelevant. This sitter never confirmed for the 9th, the confirmed sit does not include the 9th.

That surely depends on whether, when and for how long the sitter kept the pet parent hanging.

[Happypets]

@Shafofo

To boot, HO is now reviewing new sitters (after suddenly cancelling this one) and still has a posted start date of Sep 10 so how important can it be that the sitter arrive on the 9th?

That does sound a little odd. You’d expect newly-posted dates would commence on 9th if that’s the sole reason the pet parent cancelled.

Any updates, @Orcca?

[Huronbase]

Is it that the sit is suppose to start on the 9th or very early on the 10th, hence impeding travel on the 10th – hence request of the 9th? Because if you fly in the 10th, doubt you can be there early on the 10th. Details are unclear. But it reflects my other post about time of arrival and departure. Trying to be very clear on these points now before confirmation.