Sudden cancellation I'm not very pleased

[PissedOffPetSitter]

I was booked for a job from 23/12 to 14/01. The guy has gone to his home country to visit family. When I went today there was someone in the house. I assumed he'd got back early and decided to contact him but I got a text from an unknown number which turned out to be his girlfriend.

She said he's not able to talk to me but has asked her to tell me to drop the keys off tomorrow because as she's there I'm not needed. I've lost £160 with this. I'm so cross.

I can't really expect him to pay. I've gone over and above with them before and I'm so annoyed.

I would message him saying that the cancellation fee is half the agreed price due to you not being able to fill the days with another job. If he refuses then you know not to ever work for him again. Put the ball in his court.

Under no circumstances should you hand the keys over to anyone but the client.

I have seen this woman at the house before. He lives on the next street down from me.

In addition to having a cancellation policy, consider also getting a deposit upfront in future.

I wouldn't return keys to anyone but the client unless he explicitly instructs you to

Does he even know that she is using his house? What if she has a New Year Party, causes damage and then you get blamed for giving her the keys?

She sent this.

So I wanted to tell you a few things, but just when I was upstairs it didn’t work out. So, I’m changing jobs and I’ll be coming to Town on Wednesday. So please come by tomorrow, on Tuesday, and leave the key where you usually leave it when you go out. Brian isn’t able to talk right now, and he asked me to pass this message on to you.

That sounds dodgy AF.

Also, I agree with PP. They are no longer employing you so they can't tell you what to do with your time. They can pick up the keys when it suits you.

I certainly wouldn't be following any instruction regarding keys.

Nope, if he can speak to her then he can speak to you. Do not give anyone any keys until Brian himself tells you too. For all you know they've split up and shes broken in to boil his pets!

Not sure about this given that you normally deal with him. I think you need direct confirmation from him.

I'd text back - Brian can collect the keys when he returns.
My cancellation policy states he owes me £x.

He's treating you like staff, you're not.
He can collect your keys at a time that suits you.

We’ve used a lot of pet sitters, pet walkers and drop ins and all holiday pet care have been payment up front.this is the norm so make sure you do this going forward. Something like £25 on booking and total amount 7 days before holiday commences.

There's no cancellation policy though. Not yet anyway ....

Yeah - but she won't know that.

I’d want to hear from him not a 3rd party.

I’d inform her that your services were not hired by her and so he will need to contact you himself as the employer to confirm if this is true.

He's under the patio

It would be silly to acknowledge OP can't enforce payment. The reality is that the person who made the contract never cancelled it so he is contractually bound to pay.

I wonder if Brian even knows.

Can't you contact Brian, OP? You don't actually know whether he has cancelled you at all, do you?

I will be contacting Brian first thing in the morning and sending a separate message to the girlfriend.

Same job, same issues. People don't seem to see us the same as other services. It's very annoying.

You need to speak to him @PissedOffPetSitter. You absolutely cannot be leaving the keys where she has access to them. That would be massively inappropriate without speaking to him first.

Hello Mavis. As the booking is with Brian I’ll need to confirm any changes directly with him. Once I’ve heard from him, I’ll arrange returning the keys.