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.

It's annoying but surely it's to be expected with some clients?

You need T&Cs which demand either 50% or all the fee depending on the notice given.

You might also need insurance to cover yourself, so look into that as well.

£160 for 3 weeks' work?

How much are you charging per day or hour?

It sounds far too low. You need to value your time more.

He’s got a bloody cheek! Actually, they both do, hiding behind their phones. I hope you manage to recoup some payment.

OP is only doing drop in visits, not full days of work.

You aren't working as a business so the loss is yours to handle. It's no good trying to guilt-trip this man.

If you want to work like this you need to get your act together with written/signed T&Cs and ideally money paid upfront even if just 50%. There will always be people who rip you off.

Do some research online about contracts for this kind of work and create some T&Cs. Ultimately, unless you get paid upfront, any client can mess you around.

I know. I read her posts. It's still very cheap.

Not really as it's only popping up the road to check on the pet. I get roughly the same for cat sitting

But I always get paid in advance.

This!!

don’t give his keys to a random stranger and don’t give them back at all til he pays at least half

I'm also a cat sitter (£14 for 35-45 mins though). Don't return the keys until the owner is home. You don't want to risk the kitty being left alone/unfed. No pay = no keys.

Thankfully I have nice clients, on the rare occasion they cancel last minute, they still pay 100%. I usually offer to bank the visits for another time but that's rarely used.

Not really, £10.50 is a pretty standard price for a check in. It’s not a full hour - I charge about that for 20 minutes.

Another client has a lodger. They messaged me from Cambodia to say the lodger was returning before they are but they were still going to pay me as agreed.

Do you have a cancellation clause when they book? If so you could go to small claims if they refuse to pay up.

I’ve listened to too many true crime podcasts but I’d want to make sure Brian was OK as it would feel very off that he didn’t let me know his plans had changed and suddenly isn’t able to talk to you, and this has all come from someone you don’t know. Wait until you’ve seen him in person, alive and alone. Then you can decide he’s a wimp.

So, she (apparently) asked him if she could stay in his house for a few weeks? How do we know he actually said yes?

I would have thought 50% would be reasonable as you have nothing written in your contract. You should try talking to him and explaining how you are affected first though. I do mean speak not TXT or message to emphasis and make it more professional.

🙄 If only this had already been answered 107 times...

I think YABU in the sense that this is just what comes with a business.

In future request deposits and set out cancellation via a contract.

Or, even if he did agree to it, that may not mean he wanted to cancel you. This may be all to do with her, not wanting to be disturbed by you coming and going.

Sounds dodgy as hell to me.

Contact him direct. He may not even know she is there. Seems odd to me.

I think you’ve done exactly the right thing, OP. Chances are all is innocent and he’s genuinely asked his girlfriend to contact you, but with someone’s house keys and pets at stake it pays to be ultra-cautious. It’s also very professional of you to be so thorough. Unfortunately they clearly see it as more of a casual arrangement. I think adding a cancellation clause is a very good idea to protect yourself against something similar happening in the future.

For future bookings you’ll have to email your terms and conditions e.g number of days notice required for cancellation. You could say that you’re not very happy as you’ve lost money due to this cancellation and next time to please provide x number of days notice.

That's gone out to all customers now.

Absolutely do not hand over any keys to anyone but the owner unless you have their permission. Could be a simple explanation but sounds dodgy to me.

Also I would still go and check on the pets as agreed until your client contacts you.

This is the way to do it. You charge up front with a cancellation fee that is full price if they cancel within 48 hours of the booking.