I thought that it said that somewhere in the Terms & Conditions. But when I look it only says that the pets should be there overnight. Clause 5.3.12 in Terms & Conditions | TrustedHousesitters.com
Like i said if its important to the HO or sitter then communicate that.
Its for the individual to set their own boundaries.
Its why some HO state no visitors without agreement because thatâs important to them.
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Definitely not. My husband and I certainly donât stay home 24/7 with the pets, so I would never expect the sitter to. I understand people have lives and I never set that expectation that sitters need to be home the entire time. I tell them that the dogs are fine to be left alone for 5 hours or so and they are more than welcome to go out and do stuff. I feel leaving overnight is a different story though and wanted to get other opinions.
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I did message her a few days after when I noticed, and she was very honest with her reasoning. She was indeed gone the entire night, she confirmed it. In my opinion, it was an irresponsible reason. I should have shared that in my original post perhaps, but didnât know if I should or not? Iâm stroll struggling with what information to share or not.
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Yes, I did ask. And she was open with her response and apologized if it wasnât okay. It was not a good reason and was rather irresponsible in my opinion.
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@kassi Then you can comment on this in your review- sticking to the facts and that your sitter was away overnight without informing you .
Strangely( in my opinion) unlike when sitters rate owners - there is no category to rate sitters on Communication.
I think future owners considering if to use this sitter would appreciate this information
You may decide to deduct stars for pet care.
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Hi Kassi my question re All the time was to the person who in their comment did say All the time, not to you. Sorry for my mis communication
You would think! Iâm sure they eventually did, but I also think they most likely waited by the front door and could have been a bit stressed, but obviously I canât know for sure.
I do know that when Iâm home alone overnight, they donât settle the same as when my husband is sleeping in the room with us. They bark and run out of the room whenever they hear something thinking itâs my husband coming home. It definitely takes them far longer to settle. If we are both home sleeping, they donât do this at all.
But again, I obviously canât know for sure. They are/were fine, but itâs still not okay to me to ask beforehand or give a heads up.
If i didnât care for someone to stay home during the night, then I would just get my neighbors to come and take them for a daily walk/feed them and leave them here overnight. But I donât do that, because they would hate it. Theyâre used to sleeping in the room with humans.
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If that was the requirement, then the sitter should do that.
(It is why I never ever apply to such sits.)
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Overnight? Yes - thatâs where the housitting part comes in
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Honestly, itâs fairly evident that you arenât a homeowner. I have complete regard for their privacy. But perhaps you donât fully understand the fact that we are literally trusting complete strangers to not only look after our pets who mean the world to us, but also stay in our home where all of our personal belongings are. Itâs not like this is just a furnished house for people to stay in; literally, ALL of our personal belongings are in here, including our pets. Yes, we do lock certain things up. Yes, if people are that persistent, thereâs a way to get into these things.
I have a camera of my front porch. Thatâs it. I honestly wouldnât even considering doing something like THS without it. Knowing that the sitter arrived when they specified and that they werent just a no show. Knowing that they arenât bringing random people into my house without asking, or throwing a party. Do I sit there and watch the camera every day? Abso-friggen-lutely not. Thatâs insane and I would hate it if someone did it to me. I also have a life and am on vacation. Ainât nobody got time for that. Do I periodically check to make sure everything is okay? Yes, I do. Honestly, it was happenstance that I even noticed it. I very well could have not noticed. And if I didnât notice? I donât think she would ever have said anything, which is not okay.
I did message her. She was honest and told me the reason. It wasnât a good reason. Why did I not include this in my original post? For the exact reason you stated above. I would never just openly publish stuff like that.
I go above and beyond for my sitters. I leave welcome baskets with gifts and snacks. I have a very detailed binder with tons of things to do in the area. I go out of my way to write out a list of events and dates of things going on in the area during their exact visit. Heck, I gave her free theater tickets with prime seating. Why? I care! I want them to have an amazing stay and feel safe. I set up a personal code for them to our alarm system.
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You sound like an excellent host. Someone most people would be happy to sit for. I know I would.
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Hi @kassi
You have a great topic of conversation! Thank you for contributing!
Lots of assumptions are always made.
But for the sake of everyone here, the next time you post somethingâŚjust make sure you have more information than not enough (soâŚdonât leave anything out) if you are seeking advice or answers. 50% of more of these comments were assumed statements where this most recent post I am replying toâŚhad everyone known, this would have had 25 responses so far and not 50+.
What did you end up leaving in her review?
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Hi! Yes, I did message her. I mainly wanted to make sure everything was okay with her. I know she was alone and doesnât really know anyone in the area.
She was honest and did tell me the reason. I think it was something that could easily have been avoided and was fairly irresponsible. But she was honest with me and apologized if it wasnât okay. I donât think she would have said anything to me if I didnât happen to notice, and that doesnât sit right with me.
I was struggling with how much to share on this matter. Which was partly why I made this post to begin with. I want to be fair to not only the sitter, but also other home owners that may choose her in the future. I donât want to overshare but also want to be honest. Thatâs my main struggle and what I was hoping to get help with!
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And here you are assuming on your part as well. Assuming I didnât ask the sitter first; assuming I have no life and sit and watch my driveway all day?
I did not assume. I messaged first to make sure everything was okay with HER. She was honest and told me she was indeed gone for the night and told me why. It was an irresponsible reason that could easily have been avoided. Why didnât I include that? I donât think it was my place to share that exact reason. Itâs also the point of my post to begin with; struggling with how I should review this and what what/not to share.
I donât feel I need to argue and explain the full extent of how Iâm allowing a stranger to stay in my home, with all of my personal belongings, and take care of the things that mean the world to me, my pets. I absolutely do not just sit there and stare my front camera, that literally just shows my porch and driveway. I have a life. I would hate it if someone did that to me. Do I periodically check to make sure everything is okay? Yes, I do. For the sitter and my house. Itâs completely happenstance that I even noticed. I very well could have checked in at a different time and completely missed it.
Knowing that the sitter arrived when they said they would. Knowing that the sitter didnât just up and leave, bailing on the sit. Knowing someone isnât throwing a rager at my house. I donât think I would feel comfortable using THS without having a way to ensure those things. Iâm not looking for problems. Thatâs such a judgmental thing to say and âassumeâ.
I go above and beyond for my sitters. I want them to feel safe and have an amazing time. I also want to make sure my pets and my house (I repeat, my HOME) arenât being taken advantage of.
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QuestionâŚand I really donât know, because I never had to deal with ring cameraâsâŚ
How does a ring camera works?
Do you get a message/ notifaction if there is some motion (people, cats, cars leaving/ coming to the property)?
Or do you really have to look back the video for the entire amound of hours to look what happened in this time?
And another question: why do people really look every day at their ring camera? Do they check every day/ during the day what happens around the house when they were away/ working? Even if there is no crime? And half of the time nothing to see? Why would they do that? When do they do that? On your work? In the evening hours?
When you have left a review (and ideally, have one left as well), please update us on the end result of this! What you ended up writing, her review of yours and if either of you followed-up each others reviews!
Thanks again for bringing such a great topic!!!
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Greetings @1MA
Thank you for contributing!
However, please note, some of these questionsâŚyou can just google or watch YouTube to find out how RING works.
The other questions are all going to be totally different answers. If you ask 100 people the last two paragraphs of questions, you will get 90 different answers.
I have a doorbell camera (not Ring brand). If I have notifications turned on, it pings me every time there is a movement at my door. I could also log in to check the camera view any time.
I turn off notifications when I have a sitter, but I could still go back and see the activity if I wanted to. My camera only activates when something triggers it. It is not recording 24/7.
This is the activity screen on my phone
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I also have not reviewed her yet! I donât know what to do, and wanted to get some other opinions on the matter first. Like I stated above, I want to be honest but I donât want to over share either. I donât want to ruin her reputation over something I may be overthinking? I just wanted to check in with others first and make sure Iâm being honest with both the sitter and other potential home owners.