It’s true that some costs could be mountainous given an accident or illness that is serious enough. Our vet and most vets will save a pet owners credit card on file if they choose for emergency reasons like this if the owner is out of town. All that would be needed to charge the card would be verbal or written approval from the owners - We would choose to Facetime the Vet to give approval. We discuss this with our sitters in the video interview so that they know if something serious were to happen to our pet we would be willing to pay nearly any fee and we also have pet insurance as we wouldn’t want to burden the sitters with such issues if they arise. Also, many MANY vets will not require upfront payment for “Emergency Services” and will send out the bill in the mail or email and offer payment options, they may just require a $20-$50 copay for being seen.
We have been in the terrible situation where we have had to take a pet to an Emergency Vet after being unable to contact the owners and speaking with the 24/7 emergency Vet through THS. This was in Australia and they did not require any payment from us as they knew we were not the owners and had all the owners information on file.
I didn’t know it was in the t&c’s, but we willingly paid a vets bill but that was our choice as the vet needed the bill to be paid at the time of the treatment and I wasn’t going to create any hassle for the owners to ring up from overseas to sort it or to transfer money. It was our first time sitting for these particular HO’s but we had a great connection so I had complete faith they would reimburse me the costs. Although the bill wasn’t too high anyway.
So glad to hear that! And now you know to discuss such matters with the next sit so that IF the situation ever were to arise everyone is on the same page. Personally, even if we were over seas I would want to know if our pet was being treated even if it were to be a 3am call/text…but again every owner is different.
Oh no, don’t get me wrong, the HOs were totally aware of needing to go to the vets, I just used my initiative to sort the bill out & let them know that they could sort out paying me after they’d got settled back, that’s the bit that happened after they were back, not the keeping-them-up-to-date bit. They were kept totally up to date about the health of their gorgeous pup xx
We had to take a UK cat to the vet 3 times this year. Thankfully the owners who were overseas could be contacted each time. Initially, they said they would pay the fet bills on their return. The vet wanted payment up front each time. We weren’t in a position to pay that (and weren’t prepared to anyway). The total was over GBP1200! The owners sent us a photo of their credit card and we used that 3 times and sent them a photo of each receipt. They trusted us not to misuse their credit card and of course we didn’t! This is what the “trust” in TrustedHouseSitters is all about. We do always ask about the vet arrangements in our video call and definitely would not accept a sit if we were expected to pay and be reimbursed later,
I didn’t realise that & it’s outrageous! A lot of home owners have an account set up but many don’t. Often they say to let them know & they’ll pay on return. I for one won’t be paying vet fees
This is a great topic. Thanks everyone for chiming in.
Even though we do have offsetting language of the pet parent’s responsibilities in the T&C’s as @Angela_L pointed out, I have passed your feedback to our product team.
@Silversitters , I’m glad you brought this up. I also noted that sentence in the T&C stating a sitter is expected to lay out money for vet care if the owner can’t be reached and have never been comfortable with it. This should definitely be changed, it should not be a requirement.
During the video call, I ask the owners if they have an account set up with their vet and if the vet has their credit card info on file. Some US owners do. Evidently, vets in the UK do not retain credit card info and I’m told they need to see the actual card to process payment, a slip of paper with the credit card info will not do. So if the pet needs to be treated and the owner cannot be reached, you are out of luck!
And the scenario described by @123ForumUser – needing to be reimbursed in a different currency, could get very messy. I waited months for reimbursement by one of the UK rail lines as they could not do a direct transfer to my US bank account and would not send a refund to my credit card. I had to open an account on Paypal in order to receive the money and was then charged a service fee that reduced the amount of my refund.
I send my owners an absent owner treatment consent form giving me permission to have the pet treated. It also specifies the maximum amount the owner is willing to pay. There’s a place on the form for credit card info and if the owners would rather not fill it out, I ask them to put this info in a sealed envelope to be opened only in the event it’s needed for vet care (in the US). So far, I’ve been lucky but it’s a worry!
I didn’t realize the terms and conditions stated such. I wouldn’t have a problem doing this if it was necessary, but I do take issue with being told I would be required to do so.
My husband and I have done over 70 sits and have had to take an animal to the vet only twice.
The first time was in NYC and there was an account set up.
The second time was a smaller town in Panama and as far as I know, they didn’t do things like accounts with stored payment info. The dog had been quilled by a porcupine it ran up to on the beach where we walked them every morning. She definitely required treatment right away. It was only 40 USD and the homeowner reimbursed us immediately.
I definitely think this is a topic that needs to be covered in the T and C, but the onus should definitely fall on the HO…it is their pet. The terms should be more along the lines of making sure you have an account set up or you leave the sitter with a means of payment.
I have plenty of credit on my card and could easily cover a higher expense but I certainly wouldn’t want to, especially if I had to make the call on my own and the HO didn’t approve it first. I strongly suspect many people house sitting would not have the means to lay out this expense, even a more modest amount, even on a credit card.
Hi just to reassure everyone in this conversation and anyone reading, we have taken this subject back to the appropriate team for review, including all comments and feedback and will keep you updated.
In our pre-confirmation chat we ask the following questions:
Does your pet have any preexisting medical conditions? Do they have history of UTIs or kidney issues (we sit a lot of cats)?
Do they have a vet nearby?
Do you have insurance?
Do you have an account there?
If they are suddenly sick or injured, we usually take to the vet first and then call the owner, is this okay?
(If the pet is very old or very sick) In the worse case scenario, what would you like us to do?
Usually by just asking the first question an organised host will answer all the other ones without prompting. The ones that sort of drag their feet over these answers or worse say “Oh he’s healthy, don’t worry!” we usually take a pass on.
Also, not to be snarky, but this clause shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone on here because everyone should’ve read the T&C’s at this point, especially if you are active on the forum. This, and the Code of Conduct, are regularly invoked when the 3rd party clause or indoor cameras come up, so it would make sense to read the whole thing to be are informed and prepared for anything.
I had a HO that were billed by the vet for the 8 vet visits. I paid for the 16 taxi fares to get the cat to and from the vets…“I will pay you when I return” but that never happened because they were so tried and had to go to bed. Weeks later they wanted my bank account details to pay me, about $120 aud. Should I give it to them or forget??
@Keith1 …it’s Money owed to you so I would give them your bank details as requested . Are you in the same country ?
Some have commented that it’s difficult to get money transferred from a bank account in one country to another country or that charges are deducted when you do so …
If you are not in the same country - can it be done by PayPal or similar?
I think you’re right on reading Ts & Cs carefully @CoolCatAunt and clever to ask all those initial vet type questions. Ultimately though, it should be the responsibility of the owner, not the sitter to have vet care and cover in place before they go on their trip. That’s the change that needs making in those darned Ts & Cs
I am sure that when these T& Cs were drawn up they were not intended to be unfair and unreasonable to a sitter .
Now that this serious issue of this unreasonable clause has been brought to the attention of TrustedHouseSitters , it good to know that they are reviewing it.
It needs to be either deleted completely or reworded to a clause that puts the obligation on the pet owner to pay costs upfront . That would be fair and reasonable to both sitter and pet owner and ensure that sick pets receive veterinary care they need promptly .
just to reassure everyone in this conversation and anyone reading, we have taken this subject back to the appropriate team for review, including all comments and feedback and will keep you updated.