@MagicalFarm, gosh that sounds terrible.
That you discussed a backup plan with housesitter at inception of sit suggests that there was a credible reason that housesitter may leave early. “quit the sit early” plans are probably very rare.
Regardless, that housesitter left early and ignored agreed backup plan seems very poor.
Approaches to reviews vary but they are typically best when brief, clear and factual. This would suggest mentioning situation; backup plan; and sitter exit.
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From the terms and conditions:
“5.1.15. only cancel a Sit (or complete a Sit early) if there are extraordinary circumstances and you will immediately notify the Pet Parent or Sitter (as applicable) of this.”
Unless there were extraordinary circumstances (which could have been, don’t know the why they left early) sitter was not allowed to leave the sit early.
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ugh how frustrating and I am glad you had a plan B and got it all handled. I think that the total agreed upon length of the sit should have some influence on the ratings. Can you tell us how long the sit was supposed to be? I feel like a 2 week sit that ended one day early is not as a bad rating than if a 5 day sit ended one day early. Taking into account the five categories in a rating for sitters, you should review each one objectively, factually, remove the emotions. Here is where i think the leaving early and not complying with an agreed upon plan would fall:
Organised - he needed to leave early so dock something here depending on origina length of sit
Reliable - he did not execute the agreed sit dates AND plan - this gets a 1 no matter the length of sit
Self-sufficient - he wouldnt manage the mess he made by leaving early, I’d give a 3 at BEST if the sit was a couple weeks, maybe a 1 if a shorter sit
Clean and tidy - provide rating based on actual condition found, his leaving early and not driving the dogs somewhere have no bearing on this one
Pet care - I think this deserves a minimum of one star off for leaving a day early and not relocating dogs as agreed upon, but if he took good care of all the furries well until the leaving early thing, maybe only 1 star removed.
I agree with the others who recommend in the future you always have the backup plan, but do not tell sitters this info. And DO ask sitters in the interview if they are comfy driving your dogs in your car in the event of an emergency. If they are not, then they are not right for you.
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Hi All - even after the number of sits we have completed since 2018 I learn something every time I go on to the forum. Trouble is, it is so time-consuming once I start reading, so I am a little bit remiss in the number of times I access it! I feel there is something I need to let anybody who will be sitting in Sweden know regarding pets in cars. It is law that they must be restrained when being transported in a car and the police will issue a ticket with a hefty fine if you are stopped in one of their checks and you don’t have the pet suitably restrained. A family member was checked last year, but fortunately, her dog was in it’s travel cage.
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Dogs must also be restrained in a car in Australia and the UK.
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I don’t know where you live but in the UK dogs should be restrained when travelling in a car. So many UK THS dog owners are either unaware of this or don’t bother, which isn’t helpful to the sitter who could get into trouble. I posted details about this a few years ago and some sitters even carry their own harnesses/restraints for dogs they look after. They shouldn’t have to! Here is the Highway Code rule:
‘In the UK, Rule 57 of The Highway Code requires dogs to be suitably restrained in a vehicle to prevent driver distraction and injury, using seatbelt harnesses, crates, carriers, or dog guards. Unrestrained dogs can become dangerous projectiles during, or cause, accidents leading to fines of up to £5000, penalty points or invalidate insurance.
While not a direct criminal law, failing to restrain a dog can lead to charges of driving without due care and attention or careless driving…..’
Apparently at 30mph, a 50lb (22.5kg) dog can be thrown with the force of nearly 1.5 tons in a collision.
I recently saw a man driving his car with a dog sitting on his knee and looking out of the window!
Not sure if THS advises owners to have car restraints for their dogs if offering sitters cars but, if not, they should.
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I feel like we have some missing information however if he did a great job sitting in the days he said I would give him a two, leaving a sit early and not being willing to drive a dog to a safe agreed-upon place is completely unacceptable. And it’s only a two because I’m assuming the rest of us sitting was great. Many people would be left in the lurch if a sitter left early like that that is completely unacceptable .
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I guess I’m trying to understand how ‘the sitter called & said they have to leave days early’ alongside their suggestion to leave the dogs alone for 1.5d isn’t your primary issue. Those 2 issues are unpardonable in my mind — the only exception being an absolute loss-of-life-or-limb type emergency.
Did you have some pre-sit discussion or inkling when the sitter arrived that they might need to leave earlier? Was there something non-conforming about your setup that would lead you to empathize with a sitter refusing to stay for the duration? Had you already given them to understand that leaving early was an option?
I just note that you seemed to apply a lot of pressure on them to drive your dogs, even when they said they were uncomfortable doing so. While I understand you were trying to resolve a logistical issue under stressful circumstances, it makes me wonder if the Sitter was truly agreeable to your full dates & to your backup plan, or if they were perhaps less enthusiastic but acquiesced under pressure, while hoping it wouldn’t actually become necessary.
If he didn’t explain why he “had to” leave early and it wasn’t some extraordinary circumstance, to me that’s enough to justify a two right there.
I hadn’t see your response before and was confused by what was written. In this case it sounds like he blindsided you. I could understand his not wanting to drive your car with the dogs, but it sounds like he’d agreed to do that if there were an issue like this, so it made things even more difficult.
Personally, I think a two is a reasonable rating. To me a one implies complete neglience. The sitter categories are a little odd but even if you give four or fives for other categories, reliability is a 1. And you the overall rating doesn’t have to match the stars.
I think most homeowners will not want to take on a sitter who is just going to leave earlier because it’s convenient for him. A 2 gets the attention of other hosts and if they read what happened, they can make a decision.
If he replies and offers a “reason” he had to leave, others can judge, but I would make clear that he did not provide you with a reason.
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This alone would make me want to give him three stars at most. No responsible person would ever make such a suggestion.
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I have just read the sitter’s response to the owner’s review. It casts an entirely different light on the situation. It is lengthy, but well worth a read.
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Oh wow! This clearly illustrates there are 2 sides to every story. It sounds like this sitter did his best in difficult - and unforseen - circumstances, but that communication between the HO and sitter could have been more timely (though the sitter does respond to the review in clear terms).
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Oups. Sitter would have been better to abandon the sit and avoid this host, instead of doing the dutiful thing and agreeing to do their best in unforeseen circumstances. I wonder how the host forgot to mention that when asking for support in writing the review..? This does make me very vary to help others in review writing in the future, at least there should be strong questions asked. Such as “were there any special circumstances that could explain this behavior”? Or “you say you provided information X. How did you provide it? Do you have any tangible proof you provided it: memory is not valid source for this proof?”.
Though we of course dont know if this is just cooked up b y the sitter.
Just a few key pieces of information missed there by the OP.
Reminds of the guy complaining they got imprisoned for 10 years for speeding, but leaves out the part where they were the getaway driver.
I would say carrying through with the sit after getting everything you have stolen is a 8 out of 5 not a 2 out of 5 for Reliable. Likewise Self-sufficient and Organised.
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The sitter’s response now casts the host in an unfeeling, unreasonable light.
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Rental car companies do not allow pets in the vehicles.
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Said the host. Yet in the review to the sitter they do give out personal medical information - the sitter needing to leave early in order to get prescription medication… seems like they did indeed know why the sitter had to leave. It is possible they did not know about the old medication being stolen, but I find that unlikely. In any case, we asked why the sitter had to leave, in order to help with the review, but did not receive a key piece of information.
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Turns out that is not the truth. See OP’s linked listing with the sitter’s response.
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This is not correct. In the US (where OP’s sit is) many rental car agencies allow pets.
Hertz (the largest rental car agency in the US) allows dogs with no extra fees (you can Google to confirm this yourself.
Many other rental agencies are similar.
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Getting your car broken into is difficult, and this sitter should have cancelled the sit.
Some of his response seems odd - there are many pharmacies in Oregon, not sure why his prescription went to one 5 hours away? That was closed on weekends? Also if he still has his own car he could have driven the dogs in that to drop them off.
Also his review of the OP was great except 3 stars for cleanliness, which is fair since their was a bug issue.
At any rate this is why I clarify up front of a sitter is willing and able to drive my dogs in case of emergency. I would never accept a sitter who would not drive my dog (or cats) to the vet if they were sick.
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