Cleaner let cats into living room

[slithytoveisascientist]

Last week she let them into bedroom and luckily I caught it before anything happened. I reminded her and she was very apologetic and promised to be more careful.

This week she has left the living room door open and the cats have gone in and scratched my leather sofa. It’s never had any damage before and I’m gutted.

AIBU to ask to claim on her insurance for a repair, and will I even have any success?

@OhDoSitDownAndShutUp it was also an adoption condition they are indoor cats

@MsSquiz am I allowed to ask for doors to be kept closed for other reasons?

The cleaner has nothing to do with the cats. She barely sees them.

@SabrinaThwaite they are I don't have lilies in the house and my subscription always sends cat safe bouquets

Are you for real?

I never risk it my bouquets are all cat safe x

@wildlifeWalker I will be though to clarify the cleaner doesn't have to keep the cats anywhere

She has to shut a door

Exactly! Cats are so quick and I wouldn’t be comfortable trying to pick up someone’s dodgy cat and locking it out. If she scratched her would you pay damages? Of course not. Why should she pay you? Your cat, your responsibility, she’s a cleaner not a cat sitter.

Jesus H Christ.

It's only me and husband who cares
Good perspective thank you

I think we've waited so long for nice things and work so hard to have them it's so disappointing to have them damaged especially when it's avoidable.

So perhaps I'm overreacting. I just wish it hadn't happened.

I also don't want to find a new cleaner if it comes to that as it was a nightmare

I think people are being a bit harsh on you here. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have a room the cats don’t go in, and I understand your disappointment that the cleaner didn’t follow your instructions and your furniture got damaged.

However, I also think you’ve been a bit unreasonable to assume she would never make this mistake and not be more proactive about keeping the cats with you given the level of risk involved. People screw up this kind of thing — they just do. I think you could get a different cleaner but I do not think you can assume that most of them can be trusted on this kind of thing 100% of the time if you’re not around — it’s too easy to forget, and it’s not a super well-paid job. You could hire a cat sitter for while you’re away if it’s important enough to you that the place be cleaned when you’re not around.

That doesn't sound a bad idea.

At least the cleaner won't be expected to take responsibility for their comings and goings.

@ohdamnitjanet I would be mortified if my cats scratched her
Luckily they don't go near her and would never be in a room she is in

Cat went in after she left

About an hour later I think as that's when I heard him

Cats scratch. Cats do as they please. Cats are in charge. Pets are the responsibility of the owner, not their employees unless the employees are being paid to care for the pet.

You will never stop a cat going where they shouldn't or scratching as they please. They were less likely to scratch the leather furniture if they were allowed in the room in the first place.

Do not have a cat, if you cannot stomach some scratching. Do not put unreasonable demands on your cleaner.

@Screwballs what's wrong with that?

This x 100

@slithytoveisascientist It can be very difficult finding a cleaner who tolerates cats, that's why we haven't got rid of ours despite me wanting to!

Owner of four cats. That is four sets of claws to do a house makeover akin to Freddie Krueger coming for tea. I love them more than internal decor, but the problem has been solved by placing fire safety rated door closers on areas they are forbidden. Our Gracie was drooling from the window watching the delivery men moving our new sofa into the house, in anticipation of what she would like to do to it if allowed. Door closers make the door too heavy for them to pry open unaided by humans, unless they are equipped with a crow bar. I think it would be difficult to enforce any sanctions against the cleaner, as they are your cats. You should keep them crated during cleaning schedules if you want to stop a repeat of this incident.

???

Surely cat safe bouquets are a very good idea if you have cats in the house, even if you’re putting the flowers in a cat free room?

Probably for the best! Though mine has a tendency to keyboard walk quite often

Cats do love leather sofas as scratching posts!

I think it’s annoying definitely but I don’t think it would be right to claim on her insurance. It’s probably a very easy fix as it doesn’t look too bad.

You have cats.

They damaged your furniture.

Cats are notorious for being sneaky, dodging attempts to herd them and having a strong desire to go where they ‘are not allowed’

Blaming the cleaner is madness.

You are being unreasonable OP!

You can’t control cats

Well, I agree with @slithytoveisascientist she let them in once, by mistake, you told her not to and she did it again. She should have been thankful they didn't damage the first time and then been more careful going forward.
The entire point if insurance is for situations like this, surely. Like you say where does it start then, tv, ruined floor. Sofas are expensive and if you want to keep it nice that's up to you.
And yes, your cats have plenty of room to roam.

So I've been told

I don't think YABU OP. I mean, this is AIBU and usually you get at least the first page of responses which will be holier than thou dickheads who go out of their way to disagree with you just for the sake of it I'm afraid.

You specifically asked the cleaner to shut the door so the cats wouldn't get into the lounge. She didn't and therefore the cats got into the lounge because she was careless. YANBU to be pissed off about it. But on AIBU people will be falling over themselves to tell you how wrong you are, followed by a run through of how differently they would have done it.