I’m so bummed and not sure what to do. Got home to find a frightened cat, makeup on my linens, stickiness and damage to antique wooden furniture, blood on my quilt (this last thing Sitter did own up to and offered, via text, to pay to clean after I returned).
I left her money in case cleaning needs or other expenses came up, and though she took the cash, she didn’t even try to clean the blanket she bled on, leaving the stains to set.
She hasn’t responded to texts asking if anything happened with Cat,. She didn’t reply to text saying I no need to pay for quilt cleaning (it’s annoying, but it happens, and I can fix it myself). Fine.
Not fine: getting something sticky on wooden furniture and damaging it. How do I approach requesting she help pay to repair it?
Anything particular I should do, given she’s ignoring texts?
Unfortunately, the window of opportunity to recoup any costs probably closed when you let her off the hook for the one thing she admitted to. I’d definitely raise the member dispute and ESPECIALLY would leave a review reflecting the condition of your pet, your home, and her lack of response.
I leave cash for emergency expenses and have NEVER had a sitter take it, even when I’ve specifically told them to (a pre-paid card I left for local transit didn’t work; turned out it was my error, which I was really embarrassed about). I’m sure she thought of it as a tip or some kind of payment. Cheeky!
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It doesn’t quality under The Home & Contents Plan. ?
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TBH -do you think you will get any money? Because I would think not. You could somehow make small claims court or similar, but that would take tremendous effort and money with probably little result. She might not have anything to actually claim, even if you did it.
So the best thing for YOU would probably be to let it go. Yes, it is annoying that a side-effect wuold be that she doesn’t get the consequence she probably deserve. But look at it in another way: Her life is probably already a mess as this happened. Your life is not. So consider it a gift to yourself that you are in a position to just move forward and forget about it.
What would probably be much more helpful - for YOU - would be to be really, really nice to her and ask her what the spill is. This will help you a whole lot in effort and money to clean the furniture. To know what you need to clean will help you get the right remedies and it will be gone really quickly and effortlessly in many cases. I say this as having had different issues with antique furniture. To get her to share that info, or not block you, will require that you are really nice and forthcoming and signal she will not get in trouble telling you.
My philosophy is that the problems you can solve by throwing money at it are the least problems in your life - given you have the money to throw. The real serious sh.. can’t be fixed with money.
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts! Wow, I never would have thought that being forgiving in one area (the damage I can fix myself) would mean THS wouldn’t support me on another area. Dang. Good to know!
That makes sense. I guess I was trying to avoid going through THS, since I’ve heard that process can be cumbersome and that THS is sometimes unhelpful, which I would’ve found even more stressful :-/
But you’re right, that’s the most straight-forward approach and leaving an appropriate review for the sitter, noting all this is important.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I think all of your assessments are spot-on.
After seeing your advice, I reached out to her again, and was very nice and understanding in my message. She responded immediately, offering to talk. It took a few days and reschedules, but we talked this morning and she agreed to help pay for the damage to the furniture, and talked to me about possible reasons my cat was so scared. It’s all stuff I would have preferred she raised at the time, but now I know to ask future sitters - if anything happens, with Cat or home, please reach out.
Even if she doesn’t follow through with the reimbursement, I feel better having had the conversation, and a week later Cat is completely fine. If it comes to it, like you said, letting it go will probably be the best thing I can do for my peace of mind.
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This is a good one for everyone in this community: straight 3% Hydrogen Peroxide will take blood out of washable items. Color test it on an inconspicuous place first. Set in blood: soak in peroxide for 10 min. Then gently scrub sides against each other, re-wet with peroxide frequently until stain is gone. Be patient, esp with dried blood, it takes time. Do not get water on it before stain is gone.
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