He was first timer - I would also be scared to leave bad review. Also there was not really anything bad the host did.
He writes that the dog was recently adopted: so the host could not really promise it was car safe. But I agree it is bit odd. However, if it was actually not previously discussed, asking the sitter to drive the dog last minute (when if sitters expects that the dog will be fetched) can give the sitter a pause and not have them jump into action.
Itâs quite difficult to tell what really happened but itâs clear OP has two different versions:
Which is why it should always be discussed upfront. Emergencies can happen with pets and they need to be taken to the vet ASAP without delay or waiting to contact a neighbor or emergency contact.
Also I donât understand the afraid to drive on unfamiliar roads, as he seemed to drive himself there?
If he isnât comfortable driving pets he should state that in his profile. Again, I would never accept a sitter who would hesitate to do this and state that in my listing.
I completely agree and Iâm surprised that most of the time itâs me who brings up this issue (I am a sitter).
None of us know what really happened.
And (I was thinking this at a recent sit)âEmergency information needs to be printed out and left in a clear place for the sitter. Imagine a pet has a medical emergency and youâre scrambling to open the THS app and locate that particular entry in a welcome guide.
At a recent sit, HO at least had the vet office name in the WG but had not included any contact information, preferred vetâs name, or info re payment on file.
If you look it up, there are a ton of caveats when a rental co. does allow it. Leaving them ample room to charge a $450 âcleaning fee.â Not something Iâd risk. In any case, it is a distraction in this case.
I have gone through this so can address this.
Once a pharmacy has filled the prescription, it is sitting in that one pharmacy. You (a, the patient/consumer) would have to: Have that pharmacy âunfillâ it by calling them (good luck with that!!) and having them cancel it so itâs not they never filled it. IF itâs the same pharmacy chain, they should be able to transfer the prescription to another location. if you get really lucky as I did, a nice person might call the other pharmacy for you to fill it.
If the 2nd pharmacy is not the same chain as the 1st, then the patient/consumer must get a hold of their doctorâs office to re-issue the prescription to that new pharmacy. This also involves that 1st step in canceling the first, and is all predicated on whether said pharmacies and doctorâs offices are open and reachable. The # of times I have given up calling and had to drive over to a pharmacyâŚ
Richard, the sitter, explains the timeline and details of ALL of this in his response to OPâs harsh review. Where, let it be noted, he says he does not appreciate OP airing his medical laundry. I wouldnât either.
Richard:
You left 1.5 days early: check the dates on THS. The sit began Jan. 22 and ended on Saturday, Jan. 31. You left on Friday morning, Jan. 30.
This is OPâs response to sitterâs review. Point of clarification for OP: He says you required a sitter to stay the night before AND the night after (in other words, staying over after you returned). Doesnât that mean he left Friday morning and you were coming back that afternoon or early evening? And he never outright refused to drive the dogs to and fro (different places and not close by)âhe heard from you that someone would be picking them up so it become a non-issue at that point.
This will for sure look bad for the host (which is why I recommend no bad reviewsâŚ) and probably to the sitter too - most people will not know about this conversation, so all they have is word against word. THS will not step in, but maybe it should.
Sure but that is different than stating they donât allow pets.
Agree itâs irrelevant to OP but since you replied to me I did want to correct the erroneous statement.
I donât know why the host would reply harshly to the sitters 5 star review. If I was an HS considering that sit, that would prompt me to look at the review the HO gave to the sitter. And on seeing that I would pass on applying to the sit.
My guess is that by taking her side in this topic, we filled her with âjustified angerâ. So she was answering from that position: âhow dare you do this to meâ. Unfortunately not all data was shared, so the rage was not so justified after all - but now all messages on THS platform are done, no adding, no changing.
He said he needed to leave on a Friday. So he had all the work week to call his doctor.
Regardless he sounds like he has very poor judgement. First - in not cancelling the sit, and Second - suggesting the dogs stay alone with just some kibble left out for them. Poor judgement twice. I would pass on this sitter. Unfortunately for him, it was his first sit so thatâs his only review. OP has many prior reviews, all glowing. I think he will have a more difficult time getting a future sit than OP will have filling their sit.
I am certain that if he cancelled the sit with a couple days notice because he was robbed, that a post here from the OP about a sitter cancelling on 2 days notice would have people queueing up to condemn him for that choice too.
Having the dogs stay for for several hours until the OP gets home that evening seems like a reasonable option to propose.
I think you may be right. Thatâs what I thought when I read both profiles and reviews.
However, having read both this thread and HOâs profile and reviews, I wouldnât apply to their sits. There are inconsistencies between the story told here and the story told in the review by OP.
Not 100% glowing, IMO. Thereâs a 4.* rating on accuracy of listing regarding sleeping arrangements for the dog and waking up times.
This reply seems like a blunder for the OP. All it does is draw more attention to an otherwise ok 5-star review except for the cleanliness rating. Now I suspect anyone looking at it will be more likely to look at the sitter to see what was said there by the OP and will stumble on the sitters comments.
Getting your car broken into and belongings stolen is a bona fide emergency. Better to cancel the sit in that case I stead of ending up with a poor review as your first and only.
Similarly I wouldnât confirm this sitter because his response shows poor judgement. I also donât think he is suited for sitting dogs if he is afraid to drive with them.
This was clearly a mis-match for a rookie sitter whose profile shows experience with 2 doodles and a cat. I would not have confirmed a sitter with so little experience for a farm.
Probably chose this sitter because they donât get an overwhelming number of applications. There are many sits available closer to Portland, for example, where visitors tend to focus most heavily.
If the sitter just had everything stolen and/or is traveling extensively with everything in their car, they might have trouble paying for a hotel or Airbnb stay unexpectedly.
About the prescription/pharmacy thing: Someone without a permanent address whoâs trying to refill a prescription that was only recently filled might have trouble, depending on the drugs involved. Thatâs because drug-seeking is a problem in some areas.