I just returned home to an odd situation. The sitter started ripping the door seal off of my front load washing machine. She got the idea that she needed to clean out or check for dog hair. She did not tell me the seal was pulled out, she just told me she couldn’t use the machine because of dog hair or something (she was vague) and that was why she couldn’t wash the pile of towels, beach towels and sheets she left. So after she left, I found that my washer was, indeed, unusable because of the seal pulled away. Luckily, my husband (used UTube videos!) and was able to replace it. I don’t know what I would have done if that had not been the case. I can ignore the rearranging most of my kitchen, but I cannot wrap my head around ripping at an appliance (and leaving it unusable). I don’t want to write a negative review, so I feel like saying nothing. I’m sad because I thought she would be a good repeat sitter - good with the dogs - but now and am seriously rethinking my Fall trip (no sitter yet).
I’m so sorry to hear about this @Mytravels - I’ve opened this as a new discussion to make it easier for people to see your query.
How very weird, what a strange thing to do. I would leave an honest review, saying that she was a good sitter, but that she damaged your washing machine.
A person is coming into your home to look after the house and dogs and rearranges the kitchen and destroys the laundry beyond standard use.
Put yourself in another home owners shoes. If the previous home owner knew about this kind of behavior and didn’t mention a destroyed washing machine seal, and you invited the house sitter into your home to have her do the same, you would be disappointed and frustrated with the previous home owner.
Be honest, the more honest you are, the better the community. If you aren’t honest, we will continually have to read about these issues on the forums and nothing gets fixed.
You should certainly write a review to help other people. Start with the positive things and then say you were were disappointed to discover etc. Give stars accordingly.
If I did that I pay for it without asking!
The sitter did not offer to pay? Tell them the cost if they refuse DEFINITELY take away stars and say why.
Sounds like someone who has never owned a washing machine and thought this would be doable. Rearranging the kitchen is fine to meet her needs but always put it back exactly as you found it.
Please leave an honest review. I would not want to choose this sitter and saying nothing gives no consequence to this terrible sitter.
Front-loading washers are known for collecting water in their rubber seals and then developing mold, so some people remove them for cleaning. Maybe the sitter smelled mold and was trying to clean. But washers differ, so removal isn’t the same for all.
If the sitter broke yours, they should have told you and offered to pay. Just leaving it broken and not saying anything was a jerk move. I suggest that you mention it factually in your review.
And I say the above as a sitter.
I would leave a good review and briefly mention that she broke the washing machine.
This happens often. People break stuff while trying to do something good. It’s definitely annoying, but sort of part of society now.
Lately whenever I hire a repairman or cleaning person, he or she always breaks something else while doing the job.
Yikes, where are you finding folks to repair things? One thing I do whenever I move somewhere new/buy a new home: Find the top selling agents and ask them for referrals to the vendors they use repeatedly.
Why: No. 1, they do good work or the real estate agent wouldn’t use them repeatedly. No. 2, the vendor is motivated to keep their relationship and reputation with the real estate agent for ongoing business and referrals.
Rearranging my kitchen and pantry is one of my pet peeves. I even tell my new housesitters to take pictures of the cabinets and shelves so that they have some idea of where things go at the end of the sit. Doesn’t seem to help much. I know that every time I return from being gone, that the first couple of days will be spend finding stuff and moving it back to where it belongs.
No one should rearrange things in cabinets be it plates, spices, etc. For me rearranging is taking the toaster in the bottom cabinet and moving it to the counter top till my sit is over Taking the decorative things on kitchen counters that look fragile and moving somewhere safe and to make room for the kitchen things I bring. That is what I call rearranging. Every thing goes back where it was on last day of sit..If I wasn’t given refrigerator space, I will move things to give myself one shelf.
Rearrange something? Put it back before you leave. Simple.
[quote=“naalehuretiree, post:12, topic:79241, full:true”] I even tell my new housesitters to take pictures of the cabinets and shelves so that they have some idea of where things go at the end of the sit. …I know that every time I return from being gone, that the first couple of days will be spend finding stuff and moving it back to where it belongs.
[/quote]
Pictures of everything sounds a bit time consuming. Like, even stuff in all the drawers? I think it’s not hard to forget where you got something from in an unfamiliar kitchen, but maybe instead of having sitters comb through a lot of pictures, you could suggest they leave things on the counter or a table if they’re not certain where they came from?
Yuk. This is exactly why I will never have one of those. I had a sit where the thing absolutely reeked. I had to wipe the entire gasket with bleach before I could bring myself to put anything in it. Just, NO. I’ll stick with my lil old top-loader.
Maybe the sitter thought they could get at it to clean it and wouldn’t have known how to properly remove it (like me) or that they had damged it. (I didn’t know you could remove them!) But yes, if they knew they had, they definitely should have said something.
(am I the only one who has trouble making the quote thing work after deleting some of the text…? 
)
I don’t delete any of the text. I just highlight the relevant part. No problem quoting text that way. I use the website, not the app.
As for front-loaders, I avoid them. We only buy commercial top loaders — fewer features, because we don’t use them. Plus, more reliable and easier to fix. On the recommendation of people who fix appliances for a living.
Yep, I’m on the website too. Wouldn’t even try to do this forum on a wee phone screen. I just don’t like quoting a whole long post if I’m only replying to a bit of it – feels like taking up too much space 
I’ve found that if you delete up to the bracket, the quote stops working. If you delete something in the middle of the paragraph and then carefully backspace, it’s more likely to work. Bizarre.
Yes, fewer features to crap out and not be fixable. The ONLY thing I like about those ginormous electronic front-loaders is the cute little tune some play when they’re done 
@ABGM I haven’t worked out how to do replies the way most others manage to either… but I think someone may have given the answer. I’ll read on!!
@Maggie8K are you using a laptop/tablet or a phone? I use my phone, and the website not the app but I can’t work out how to create replies to sections of a comment the way others do.
Tablets mostly. Phones occasionally. Never a laptop, because I use those for work, since they’re issued by employers. (I never want my personal stuff on work gear, because companies can access them at any time.)
All you do is, go to the comment or post you want to copy from and start highlighting whatever text you want. If you do that, then you’ll get the choice of QUOTE or COPY QUOTE, like so:
QUOTE = Start a reply with the highlighted text quoted.
or
COPY QUOTE: Store the highlighted text on your clipboard, so you can manually start a comment and paste in what you’ve just stored on your clipboard. (Works like typical copy and paste.)