Bloody cattery costs

[Mariets]

I'm really pissed off with the cattery I use at the moment.
I made a booking for my cat and they charged me 50.00 deposit - non refundable - then my plans changed, but rather than let me change the dates they cancelled - no refund remember- and charged me another 50.00 deposit for the new booking. They charge the day of drop off and the day of collection as a day so just an overnight stay is two days which costs me 34.00. Before anyone suggests a friend or neighbour feeds her, she has kidney problems and needs her litter tray cleaning out daily plus I like to know she's not on her own.
Apparently it's company policy not to allow date changes, cancel and rebook only.
I felt like telling them to fuck off but she's an elderly cat and even though she hates it there, I'm loathe to change as she's used to it .
There's a box on the counter for tips, but at 17.00 per night plus they make you bring your own food, they're not getting anything else out of me.
Is this the norm for catteries?

It’s a rip off. For the four of mine they wanted to charge me £60 a day. £840 for 14 days… and that’s including bringing their own food!
Paid a cat sitter to come in she spends a hour with them a day, comes in twice cost me £350 and they send me photos and doesn’t require having all 4 vaccinated. Don’t know why anyone uses catteries anymore.

Was all this clear in their T&Cs? When is the booking for? f you signed up to them then it seems fair that they want to be recompensed.

Although if the holiday is a way off, they can probably fill that slot.

£17 seems quite cheap. I have a drop in from a cat sitter. She stays about half an hour, feeds, clears litter tray, lets the cat into the catio if weather permits and/or does a bit of a groom (long haired cat). That costs me £12 a day.
Not allowing changed bookings is a bit severe but if it’s in the t and cs…

Recompensed for what? She's still going, just on different dates. They need two weeks notice for cancellation and I supply my own food so what have they lost?

All of this is a choice that you make.
To have the pet, to go on holiday, to use the cattery.
If you don’t want to pay these costs don’t make these choices.
The T&Cs of the deposits etc were clear when you paid?? If so then that’s that. This is someone’s business and livelihood. If they make no money they don’t exist and then who’s looking after your cat?
I have a cat. We go away soon. She will go to the cattery and I will be paying pretty much the same as you. It is part of owing a pet. It is the price you pay for knowing your animal is safe and fed.

£17 a day is ridiculously cheap. But why is the deposit more than the cost of the stay?

They may have lost the opportunity to offer that slot to someone else. The deposit is recompense for that.

I can only compare to kennels. The no refund booking fee seems harsh, especially as you were changing dates, not cancelling. Presumably they’ve been let down by other clients?

The charge for drop off and pick up days is normal with the kennels I have used. They have to do a complete clean/ changeover, and the timings are generally pretty wide - so drop off from 9am - pick up before 5 pm.

They can’t book in the next occupant for that day.

But, is your cat safe? Comfortable & clean? Cared for?

I have looked after a friend’s cat while she was away and to do it properly, took a lot of time.

Probably because a load of people cancel at short notice, affecting their business revenue and costing them money.

The people who cancel at short notice often do it on a whim and expect to get it for free, even though it may be a cost to the business.

It was a holiday booking so a week. I wasn't going until September so to lose the whole lot cancelling so far in advance, then to have to pay it again just for a date change seems hard faced .

Doesn’t actually sound unreasonable to me. They have a policy and you know that and agree to that at the time of booking - they makes plans around your booking and if that changes it’s fair enough they are compensated for it.

They are running a business and therefore need to have things to protect themself. If you don’t like it then find an alternative.

Why don’t you employ an experienced cat sitter?

Our cat has stage 4 CKD and she’s amazing with her. She comes in 2 x a day - one is just to feed and the other she’ll play with her. She’ll do the litter tray as well as needed.

We haven’t used a cattery for years - she hated it and her special food complicates matters.

It was always this you’d pay for 2 days for an overnight stay. If the deposit was un refundable it should’ve been made obvious to you.

I guess it depends on what is usual in your area.

My cattery is £25 non-refundable deposit. It’s £10 a day for single cat or £17 a day for 2 housed together. You pay for drop off and collection days. It’s inclusive of food (though when my cat got older and more fussy I took the food I knew she liked).

Ours is £16 a day, no deposit payable and they provide all food. Much more reasonable.

It is frustrating for business owners when clients sign a contract accepting their conditions, then object when it comes to keeping their side of the contract.
If the cattery is busy, then you making a booking for one night might have led to them turning down a longer booking, so there is some logic to the non-refundable deposit. They probably have had some bad experiences in the past.
If you resent paying, you might want to look into a Trusted Catsitters type arrangement when someone stays in your house in exchange for caring for your cat - but with an elderly sick pet, that might feel like a risk.

Our current cattery is £50 deposit, £22 per day for 2 cats with food and litter provided. They do charge for arrival and departure days, which our previous cattery didn't, but it's lovely, bright, clean and new, so worth it, even if I do swallow a bit at the nearly £400 bill for a couple of weeks away 😁.

I think your cattery is taking the p a bit with the loss of deposit when your booking is at least 6 weeks away.

They probably just have a universal consequence of cancellation rather than implement something more complicated than a sliding scale with time.

If you allowed people to cancel for free for say 4 weeks out people would just game it by booking up "just in case" then cancelling just before the deposit became payable.

Exactly this

price also sounds fine for what I’ve seen - London & SE.

Why not pay a cat sitting to come in? Ours is £9 a day, we don't have a litter tray but they would def do that if we did. The cattery has a policy, you have a choice to go there or not.

Could you not consider a cat sitter to drop in? Will probably be cheaper or at least easier all round and your cat can just stay within their own environment as well.

Just to be clear.....it's a £50 deposit but you only needed 2 days so it was £34 for both days (as in £17 a day) or did an extra £34 onto of the £50 deposit (do actually £42 a day)?

What do their T's and C's say about changing dates when the deposit has been paid and if it is £17 a day what happened to the additional £16 you paid in your deposit?

I just can't believe how cheap some of the rates are!! Saying that as you give lots of notice it does seem harsh not to carry forward the deposit. I wouldn't be annoyed with the place as stuff like that is normally put in place due to people taking the piss.

When I was pregnant I booked a early scan with a 30 pound deposit
Unfortunately I lost the pregnancy before the scan. They didn't refund the deposit as they needed 48hr notice. I started to bleed about 30 hrs before :/ It stung alot tbh even the nurse at the epc was raging on my behalf

They are a business with costs to cover and wages to pay. Their conditions should be clear on their website etc. You cancelled. They may have turned people away because they were full and now may not be able to fill that spot. This is on you for changing your plans. Book a cattery once you know what you’re doing.

Whilst I am very sympathetic to you, as a business that needs to make a profit to survive/ have cash available to pay their employees etc they might not have the ability to make exceptions to these rules on sympathetic grounds. It sounds harsh but you also won’t be the only one and also applying one rule for some and another for others means that they have to judge people’s personal circumstances.