lets us know how you get on after talking with them
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not what I am saying at all. And there are a number of sitters who think a 7 am walk could mean 8:30. They wrote that. Or complained about not eating or drinking on a white couch. So you haven’t read much on this forum, if you have missed all these types of messages.
We have done 50 plus sits and have only ever pulled out of one, a brilliant and exciting Xmas sit , host was in a rush when I applied promising a video call in the week ,3 months later still no time for video call , my messages weren’t being read for days , it was all too uncertain, I contacted her and said we weren’t a good fit and asked her to cancel me , sitter can’t cancel , it has to be homeowner. So I would say to you if it’s causing you concern pull out. I’m glad I did
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There should be an option for sitters to unconfirm if the welcome guide is different from posted responsibilities.
@Huronbase completely agree on that. I’ve posted more than once that sitters should be able to see the welcome guide before accepting. We basically have to agree to following everything in guide before we even see it. To me confirming a sit should go like this: HO clicks confirm, welcome guide becomes available for sitter to review, then sitter accepts or declines.
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I agree 100%. What I’d add to this is its a two step process, the WG with all the information on managing the household is shared prior to accepting and after accepting the street address, phone numbers and emails are shared. That way personal information is not handed out to people potentially not accepting the sit.
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Hi @Avamyst11, What happened? Did you talk to the owner? Are you still going ahead with the sit?
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Agree. There isn’t a set knowledge base for homeowners or sitters. People do things different ways. There is nothing wrong with leaving explicit instructions. As a sitter, I prefer it. As a homeowner I want to make sure sitters know what the CAN do – keep the cats out of the bedroom at night if they want, move the folding table from the terrace to the bedroom to use for storage, for instance AND what they can’t do please leave shoes on the shoe rack for example.
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Sorry for my delay in replying! So I sent her a very straightforward message saying that I noticed there was a completed housesit after she and I had spoken regarding our future dates, and that no reviews were left on either side. I mentioned that I knew it was her first housesit, and wondered if things didn’t go exactly as planned, and wanted to see if we could discuss it to avoid any problems for when I am scheduled to be there.
She was VERY cordial, answered me right away, and actually said it was so thoughtful of me to reach out to her. She was honest with me, she explained that the sitter was just a little bit of an “odd duck”, and that she didn’t want to leave a review one way or the other.
She said that her dog was luckily fine and nothing bad happened, but her experience with the sitter was “odd”.
She did say she was happy to talk about it if I wanted, and then added “…but I swear I’m not picky as long as (dogs name) is well cared for”!
That last statement right there put me at ease–the fact that she felt it important to stress that she is not picky as long as her dog was safe said a lot to me. And also, whatever happened with that first sitter, she didn’t react impulsively and leave a bad review, but chose to be silent, tells me she is a reasonable person. Also, the sitter she used did have one prior not so nice review, out of only a handful of other reviews, which tells me a lot, since most people tend to be overly complimentary with reviews.
I consider myself very easy going as a pet sitter, and luckily am able to adapt to most personality types (even the picky ones), so her response was enough to reassure me that I’ll be fine. We humans are complicated, and I know that sometimes the match with owner/sitter just isn’t ideal, but in this case I do feel that I can handle it. 
I really appreciated everyones feedback on my post, it’s so helpful to get different viewpoints! Also, the housesit we’re discussing is a multi-million dollar home in an exclusive area, with ocean views. I only mention this to give some context to why the homeowner might have her guard up. I mean obviously I was concerned enough to make this post, but after reaching out to her I feel confidant that she is just being cautious in screening out grifters from her very special home.
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Thanks for following up.
It’s true we are all different and I find sometimes there’s a big difference between the style of the welcome guide and personal communication. That’s the case of my last sit.
Good luck with the sit and enjoy the house and views.
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