I now always ask if they have anything of high value, kitchen or otherwise or if they have anything of sentimental value etc, to hide them from me lol (remove etc) or if there is anything they don’t want me to touch, use or room they don’t want me to go into. I like to feel clear what I can & can’t do.
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I have three cats. I don’t have nice things. It’s a lifestyle choice.
A favourite mug of mine fell out of the cupboard when a sitter left, which wasn’t their fault but I was sad about the mug - have got rid of a few since so the cupboard is less cluttered! More worryingly, over the last two years a number of things seem to have gone missing. Two silver knives and forks of a wedding set, a duvet cover (but not the pillows) and a couple of other smallish things which haven’t reappeared. I’ve looked everywhere for said items…hard not to wonder if sitters have taken them!
I am surprised at all the things you take with you 
He said: the story is too stupid for me now and I got in touch with ths . He is still waiting for me to transfer the money to him.
Sorry this happened on your watch. It must be very disheartening. Can we help? Can you set up a crowd fund thing and all of us in the community can put in a few quid each? Even a bit would be less for you to pay.
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I burned a pot once and I replaced it. It wasn’t that bad, but I still felt I should. It took FOREVER to find the replacement.
For this coffee machine? It’s tough. I probably would have paid for it and considered it a cost of “business”. However, the owner asking/demanding is another matter. If its not new, splitting the cost seems more reasonable.
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I feel you shouldn’t be held liable to replace the machine, if using it properly with the replacement pod HO provided.
That said, I told HO I’d fix (but it’s beyond repair, so I’ll replace) a blind slat the dog broke while I was gone for around 4 hours. That’s the max amount time dog can be left alone, so felt it was my fault and I considered not turning the blinds upward (which I think contributed to it breaking), but that’s how HO left the blinds, so I thought that’s how HO wanted them.
Why? The dog may have done that within 15 minutes after you were gone. Maybe because there was an insect.
I once sat a dog that used to try to eat flies that were flying against the window. I was worried that the dog might break a glass pane when he jumped like that. I asked the HO and they told me not to worry, but I thought that it was just a matter of time and that there would be also a risk that the dog might then cut himself.
I agree; I’ve seen dog get in the window immediately after I walked out of the door after being home all day with dog and a 30-minute walk. That’s why I’ll wait until the end of my sit to replace the blind. This happened within the first few weeks of a long sit, so wasn’t aware yet of HO’s pattern of unreasonable requests.
HO says dog is supposed to stay away from window and seemed like severe separation anxiety occurs only if away for more than 2 hours, but how can I prevent that from happening when he’s doing it immediately after I leave the house?
@pietkuip Yes I’ve read that HOs reviews. Unbelievable that she actually blames your height and size for the garden chair breaking. I see that they lost a pet who was being cared for by a sitter. Perhaps they should only use bonded and insured paid sitters as their anxiety and expectations are unrealistic.
That’s very kind, but not necessary. I’ll wait and see what ths says.
I’m not sure if you noted within this thread your out-of-pocket cost? Something broken that costs $50 is very different from something that costs $500 to replace.
As HOs we had a sitter cut the lawn mower power cord (2X). BUT we figured that having them cut the grass for us was equivalent to the cost of replacing the cord so we said “no prob.”
As sitters we have had only two things like this happen, both were electric kettles.
Neither was new: the first we dropped, researched the cost on line but since we didn’t know if they loved or hated the kettle, we sent them a note explaining what happened with an Amazon gift card covering the cost (GBP75/USD$95).
The second one just quit working so unsure why. But it was inexpensive (CAD$65/USD$48) and luckily in stock at a neighborhood shop, so we just replaced it.
With small amounts, I think the decision should reflect good will (on both sides.)
I often ask HO’s to please let us know what we should NOT use in case there are things with sentimental value.
Flipside, one HO must have put away almost everything before our arrival because we found only plastic dishware & what looked like cheap camping cutlery: that’s just mean-spirited.
Bottom line I think is to imagine what you would do/say if this were between friends: you wouldn’t want something like this to ruin a relationship.
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I hope the things turn up for you. How worrying.
I once was SURE I had left a set of keys at a friend’s home.
The keys included my safety deposit box key, a computer chip car key, my home key. Damn expensive to replace the first two (each was $200) so I just kept asking if she’d found them. Nope.
TBH I was a little annoyed, didn’t think she’d really tried.
Two YEARS later I was going through a box of miscellaneous ‘stuff.’ I decided to dump the whole box out and - there were my keys.
I must have dropped them while bending over the close the box.
You never know, your silver might have fallen behind a drawer inside a cabinet or…
Good luck.
@ASASG I lost a 10,000 USD piece of jewelry. I considered every possibility and came up empty. I claimed it on my insurance but unfortunately it was insured for purchase price…30 years ago.
I hide my more expensive pieces when I go out of town. Always the same places. I tore my house up. It was a piece I didn’t wear during the pandemic. So my memory wasn’t perfect.
I recently moved. Lo and behold, I was packing up the kitchen and the jewelry was in the container in the back of the tea cabinet. I never hid things in the kitchen and don’t recall hiding it there even after I found it. This was 3 years after the loss.
I find it interesting that people want to accuse a sitter of theft rather than starting with the assumption that it’s just misplaced. That is usually the case.
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Wise advice. That’s hilarious about the plastic plates and cutlery. Also a little offensive - if they manage to eat fine with silverware they can probably expect you to do the same. Benefit of the doubt if they had small kids and just moved everything to plastic to avoid breakages then forgot it was a bit weird. I’d have probably had a light look through kitchen drawers for better options and then bought some cheap china and cutlery, that taste of eating and drinking off plastic really gets me. We once got invited to a sit where they didn’t want us using the kitchen at all (apart from to prepare the dog’s elaborate meals) and said they’d leave a single cup, plate a cutlery set out!
We looked: that was ALL we had access to. And they cleared the kitchen of everything but a little oil, salt & pepper. I’ve stayed in AirBnBs that provide more!
Curious, in your case did the host make clear you were banned from the kitchen during the interview?
That must have been a shocker! When we travel, most things of significant value are safely locked up. But it’s not possible with everything. When we had sitters I would simply say, “You’re welcome to use anything in the kitchen, including what’s in the frig & pantry, but please don’t use the fine china & silverware in the dining room hutch.” The china & silverware were expensive when new - both were discontinued so replacing even more expensive/difficult.
We had nice daily dishware/flatware & some less nice stuff (for BBQs, kid parties) so not having access to the china & silverware wasn’t a big deal. But I wasn’t going to hide it away!!!
I had one sitter who slightly damaged the dining room table, another who stained a kitchen countertop, one wrecked a lawn-mower cable.
In each instance we accepted it as worth the convenience of a sitter.
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You know, it might’ve broken the next time he used it. If it was me, I’d apologise, say it’d broken but I wouldn’t replace or refund, and neither would I expect a guest ‘sitter’ to replace or refund.
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If an appliance fails - as opposed to being broken - that’s wear and tear, which could happen at any time, so I definitely would not consider it my responsibility to pay for - or towards - replacement or repair.
We once had a kettle fail on a sit. We hadn’t caused it to fail and hadn’t mishandled it. It was reported to the HO but did not offer to repair or replace and they were fine with that.
We once noticed a hairline crack in a toilet seat. No idea if we’d caused it (no rough handling or slamming down the lid) but did offer to pay for a replacement, just in case. Response from the HO was not to worry, as it had “been on its way out for some time”.
@Kristina, if you didn’t physically break the coffee machine, it’s a wear and tear issue so NOT your responsibility.
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