Pet-sitter mad I cancelled her and went with another after she didn't get back to me. AIBU?

[jawsnsharks]

Fully prepared to get told IABU.

In only a few short weeks we are off on holidays. Arrangements that were in place for our dog have unfortunately fallen through so now I have to find a pet-sitter at less than 2 weeks notice. Unsurprisingly, with it being high season this is proving a bit difficult as competition for spare places is fierce.

Through an online dog-sitting page on facebook I find a sitter 20 minutes from here. She asked for initial fee to come out and meet the dog, to see if it was a good fit for her (she already has a dog of her own). I felt this was a responsible approach and was prepared to be given a 'no' as much as a 'yes' without feeling hard done by that she had had money for this.

So she came out yesterday at 15:15 and was 15 minutes early for the appointment, which was a good indicator of her keenness. Appointment went well, we asked questions, she asked questions and it felt like it was a good fit. She wouldn't commit to looking after him until she had spoken with her husband which felt a bit weird as she's supposedly set herself up as a pet-sitter, but heh ho, beggars can't be choosers.

Waited all last night for a text from her (but didn't message her as it was Friday night and didn't want to be a pain etc...). This morning I waited until 10:30, what with it being a Saturday and having had no answer sent a text thanking her for the visit and asking if she had an answer for us yet. Well by 15:00 we'd heard nothing, not even an acknowledgement and holding message even though I could see she had been online several times in the day. At this point I had to assume it was a scam or she was flakey. So I started looking for anther solution. Thankfully, a kennels a bit further away has a place for the dog and even though we are paying for a full week when we are away for shorter time, we snapped the place up to be sure of the place.

So at 18:23, more than 24 hours after her visit, I message her to tell her that without an answer, and no 'holding answer' we had sorted out other arrangements. I said I was disappointed that she hadn't got back to us, even if the answer was a 'no I can't look after him'. Well! She's got very shirty with me, saying it's the weekend, she'd said she had to talk to her husband, she's been at a birthday party all day. I tried to keep the tone positive, and said that next time she should at least communicate with her customers about when they should expect an answer from her so they don't do as we did and find another solution. I even wished her good luck with her business. She's then come back with it being unreasonable and she's never had a customer who hadn't given her 24 hours before expecting an answer. I finally pointed out that it was over 24 hours at the point I messaged to say I'd found another solution. To which she's just send 'OMG' and a laughing emoji.

Sorry, I wang on a bit don't I?

TD,LR dog-sitter left it more than 24 hours to confirm arrangement then got shirty that I'd found other care for dog.

So, who was in the wrong

YABU - you should have waited longer to hear from her
YANBU - she's having a laugh. She cannot be serious about running a business if she doesn't communicate in a timely fashion with her customers.

YeNo she could also sue for damages if a private conversation was posted on a public forum.

She could argue that it was private, and by posting it on a public forum to a large amount of people, the OP intended to damage her business.

People can use this argument in court.

I do free meet and greets. All my colleagues do.

You dodged a bullet @jawsnsharks and so did your doggo. She sounds unhinged. I wouldn't trust her with a pet cockroach. What a mardy mare. You did nothing wrong, and she sounds dreadful.

Charging you £35 for the 'meet and greet' with your dog is disgusting. It's an industry standard to not charge for this. I would find out more about her, see if she is officically registered and see if you can register a complaint with who she is registered with.

You can complain here. (If you're not happy.)

https://www.vetmediation.co.uk/

It's a place to complain about vets/vet service you're unhappy with, but you can complain about pet sitters too I think. (This is what came up when I googled it, apologises if it's wrong...)

Also - you could contact these if you get no joy and see who you can complain to...

https://www.narpsuk.co.uk/ (National Association for Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers.)

£35 is almost 3 hours of work for me as a vet (I take home £12 an hour) so she’s done well! I don’t think it’s a scam but rather just new/poor communication

I was thinking this too. I wouldn’t be leaving my dog with a sitter without seeing their home or if it got on with the other dog. It would have been sensible to do a trial overnight too.

OP we have dog sitters that come and stay in our house and they never charged for a meet and greet, sorry I think you’ve been scammed.

OP, when I went away and had ti get a cat sitter, she came to the house to meet me and the cat and didn’t even ask to be paid for it - and she certainly didn’t have to ask anyone else’s permission about whether or not it would be OK to look after her. I can’t believe that your potential dog minder charged you £35 and then wasn’t prepared to let you know there and then whether or not she could do the job. I don’t think you’ve been unreasonable at all.

YANBU. Not responding to your text was poor customer relations for the type of service she's offering. And why does she think she's the only one allowed to consider if it's going to work? Until she has committed she can't expect you to commit.

Also, charging you money to check it's a good fit when she wasn't sure she could take you on if it was, is borderline fraud.

Money aside, I think it was ridiculous of her to come and meet the dog, then keep you waiting for an answer. That’s no way to treat clients. You meet the dog. You get on well with the dog and take the job. The dog tries to bite a small chunk out of your ankle because it doesn’t like the look of you, you decline. I mean that should be all there is to it. If her husband needed to be part of the agreement, then she should have sought his ‘permission’ or whatever BEFORE she came to see the dog.

Yes, you make a really good point here. If she can’t accept dogs unless she has her husband’s say-so (weird in itself!) then why on earth didn’t he accompany her to meet the dog? I don’t think there should’ve been a charge for that anyway. It would’ve been better for her to ask you to bring your dog to her house to meet them. You should have suggested a home visit in return and charged her for it, to see if you felt she was compatible 😂 it’s no less ridiculous than you having to fork out £35 for what you got for it! She definitely knew it was time-sensitive so should’ve let you know within a few hours, in my opinion. Lucky swerve! A true professional would’ve said either we’d have loved to have your dog so please bear us in mind for the future, or we actually don’t feel he/she would’ve been right for our circumstances anyway so we’re pleased you’ve found alternative arrangements.

Hmmm OP this person knows the layout of your house and when it will be empty.
I’d make sure I had a ring door bell and cctv/ alarm system
Don’t fall out with her
Most people are ok and don’t have sinister motives, but just be aware

I am a dog sitter, firstly meet and greets I have always done as free. If someone were to cancel a meet and greet and then re arrange I might take a deposit but this would be removed off the price of the job. I would also give you an answer within 24 hours if not immediately. I would never reply to my clients as she has to you. She was definitely in the wrong!

God you are so right about this! 😬

I think she's got a nerve charging for a meet & greet in the first place. It's as much you checking out if you like the potential sitter, as much as them checking you out, you're essentially interviewing each other.
When my dogs used to go to a sitter in their home, we went there to see where they would be staying. Like you do with a kennels.
I think it's perfectly reasonable that you've decided that the radio silence after her visit means you aren't going to proceed with the booking.

Very good point, this, could possibly be a front to find out when people are away, also to suss out what dogs are where.
I'd be asking a neighbour to keep an eye on the place.

She needed to check with her husband? Is he her sitter?

She sounds bad shit. Doubt she know much about business!

Wow. She charged to meet your dog?
Next time use Trusted Housesitters. Annual fee of £150 then it’s free.

Don’t do this, just chalk it up to a bad experience and be glad that you didn’t leave your dog with her. Hopefully the incident will
make her realise she needs to communicate better with people.

Absolutely this!

to me if she was willing to visit and make sure your pet was a good fit, then she surely could do the dates , as otherwise what was the point?

I would think that you were too quick if I were this dog sitter but I wouldn’t do any comments towards you, rather would make a note to yourself that I was wrong not to reply quicker,
And my reply would be more along the lines sorry for the mistake I was out in the sea/ unwell in the hospital/ in the woods without WiFi etc . Bla bla bla
I would want you to consider me for the future not to be annoyed with me.

I live in a highly populated doggy area near the beach, and there are many dog walkers, etc... round here. The ones who do dog boarding get booked up a year in advance and rarely have an 'odd' weekend free - especially if you decide to go away last minute when the weather is nice. Personally I think the dog should 'know' the sitter/boarder, and for that I'd want at least 2 visits preferably 3, and the first should be free. She sounds young and immature, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

Thanks for that info Zov, much appreciated.

Most reputable sitters would never charge for the meet up. Most reputable sitters should do it anyway without charging. Sounds like a bit of a scam artist and you're well rid.

You're definitely not being unreasonable. As others have said, you've dodged a bullet. If she can be so flakey before she even has the job, I can't imagine she would be a terribly reliable dog-sitter.

I had a somewhat similar experience. I was looking for a new dog-sitter about a year ago. I arranged for someone to come over to my house to meet my dog and ask/answer questions. She never showed up. The following day she sent an apologetic message, saying she had forgotten about the appointment but she was still interested and would bake a cake to make up for missing the first meeting! Needless to say, I told her politely that I would make other arrangements. I was actually glad that she showed her true colours right away. It would have been awful to have hired her and then discover later how irresponsible she was.

It's great that the kennel had space for your dog. Enjoy your holiday!

So her Saturday scam scenario goes like this..
Arrange 3 visits. Claw in over £100.
Dh says no but there's ya bevvy money pet....
No actual work needed..
Scamming bitch imo.

She sounds like a total timewaster. Clearly only interested in how to get easy money. She wasn't called Rachel Reeves, was she?