Pet sitter issue - WWYD?

[chefker]

We've been using a local pet sitter to watch our dog and two turtles when we go on vacation (which hasn't happened much since having a baby, but that's another post :) ). We have an upcoming vacation in October, and we have booked our usual sitter, but I'm having misgivings all of a sudden.

For some reason lately, our pet sitter has gotten HORRIBLE about returning phone calls. She was not always like this, but this year...she just takes forever to return a call. I realize that they're non-emergency calls, but still...should it really take her 3 weeks to get back to me about the reservation in the first place? When I initially called to reserve her time for our vacation, it seriously took her about 3 weeks to call me back. Just prior to hearing from her, I had left her a follow-up message asking "did you get my call several weeks ago regarding these dates?" I'm a worrywart anyway, so I don't know if I'm overreacting, or what. When she finally returned my call, she said that I was 'all set' with my reservation, and that she'd be in touch.

So now we're about 6 weeks away from our trip. I called her a couple of weeks ago to see about setting up time in September for her to pick up a spare house key (or to meet her somewhere to get it to her). Still haven't heard back from her...so I'm getting concerned. Obviously we have plenty of time to get her a spare key, I guess I'm more concerned with how she simply doesn't return calls, not without a follow up call anyway. It just says to me that she doesn't care about her pet sitting business, whether or not that's accurate, I'm not sure.

I'm very tempted to go with another local sitter that I've heard good things about. I've emailed them to find out their availability anyway. I would really hate to 'fire' our usual pet sitter, especially if she's got some good reason for not returning calls. I guess I'm a little bit torn.

[ejs]

That would bug me. I would wonder if she was going to be so flaky with my animals.

Maybe you should give her one last call. Leave a message and say something like, "If I don't hear from you by 5pm Sunday, I'll assume that you no longer want to watch our pets on xxxx and I will make other arrangements." Perhaps if you give her a response deadline, she'll be a little more on the ball.

I'd also call the other petsitter and have him/her come over so she could meet me and our pets and see how I feel about her. It's always good to have a backup.

[chefker]

That would bug me. I would wonder if she was going to be so flaky with my animals.



This is exactly my concern. She went from returning calls immediately, to this, where you basically have to prod her to get any kind of response. Not a good way to run a business, and it really doesn't leave me with a good feeling in my gut.

[Ohana]

ITA. I'd call her one last time with a deadline. I'd worry that someone who took 3 weeks to answer a simple phone call would be just as flaky with my pets.

[shopaholic]

I would fire her and go with the new place. Her not returning calls in a prompt manner is a reflection of her business and I would be worried with how she will treat the animals. If she can't find time to call back who is saying she would find time every day to even visit/walk/feed your animals!?

[ysolde]

Find someone else. She is just too flaky. Get recs from other people. Also, call your vet. I remember that there was an intern at my vet's office who cat-sat for me one summer (what sould be more perfect than a veterinary intern affiliated with my vet's office?). She was terrific!

[diam124]

Well, I think it would depend on how much you've liked her in the past. If you've always had good experiences with her before then I would be more inclined to give her a second chance than go with someone new.

I agree she should have called you back sooner, but I'm guessing this is a really busy time of year for pet sitters and maybe since your trip isn't until the Fall it kind of slipped her mind.

[Emilie]

I would move onto another sitter, especially since you have someone in mind. I am super paranoid about who I trust our pup with and wouldn't want to have to worry while I am supposed to be relaxing on vacation.

3 weeks is WAY too long!

[kam]

My concern would be her being not only this flaky with my animals but this flaky if and when I call to check in. Obviously you care about your dog and if you want to call to say "How's he doing?", you shouldn't have to wait the entire length of your vacation to have her call back. Get someone else and if and when she DOES call, just say "Oh, I thought because you didn't bother calling me back for weeks meant you weren't interested in the job."

[PG-rated]

Fire her. We had the exact same thing happen with a catsitter we really liked, and we just chalked it up to him being busy and being familiar with our setup, etc. Then he messed up one of our reservations (that he had confirmed verbally), and our cat went an entire long weekend without food. We're VERY lucky we weren't away for longer. It still makes me mad thinking about it. We're extremely happy with our new company.

[sea74]

Find someone else. Even if there is something serious (like sick parent, etc.) she could find time to call you w/in 5 business days.

[MLA]

Count me among those who think you should find someone else. If she really wanted your business, she'd be calling you back in a reasonable amount of time.

[chefker]

UGH, more bad news. This new petsitter that I was considering, well I emailed them to inquire about rates. Their webpage says they serve the Greater Hartford area...well, I live two towns away from Hartford.
They emailed me back saying they don't serve my area, and 'could not recommend anyone.' Thanks a lot! :mad: Actually, their webpage even says 'visits outside this area can be arranged at quoted prices.' Apparently not. :rolleyes: So now I'm annoyed with not one but two petsitters.

I am sooo frustrated. I really hope our original pet sitter works out, but I just don't have a good feeling about this. If all else fails, one of my mom's co-workers offered to watch my dog - he'd have to stay at her house, and I have no idea if my dog would get along with hers. As for our turtles, they do not need to be fed every day, I could perhaps get my cousin to look in on them a couple of times during the week.

There's a kennel on our street too, but I really don't want to kennel my dog, he's had a rough past, and I don't know if he'd do well being kenneled. :( This is SO frustrating...I thought I had everything all set months ago, and now it just feels so uncertain.

PG-rated - I'm so sorry your cat went without food like that! How awful. I hope you ripped that petsitter a new one, there's no excuse for that.

[ejs]

Have you asked your vet's office for a recommendation. We actually have one of our vet techs dogsit/housesit.

[chefker]

ejs, I think that will be my next step. One of the techs there even has a basset hound who took a liking to Ivan during one of his visits there. I wonder if any of them do pet-sit as a side thing, because my dog certainly likes all of them. If not, certainly they could probably recommend someone reliable.

[mar5195]

I would talk to the vet. My pooch is a shelter dog and I was worried about how she'd do being kenneled. And they were aware of my concerned and promised to play and give her some extra love.

She did ok, I mean she was crazy excited to see us and when we got home she was back to her regular routine. We only left her 4 days.

We are thinking of taking a 10 day vacation & I'm thinking leaving her with my Grandparents for a week and the last 3 days with the Vet. it's so hard to leave them.

[NotDesperate]

Ughhhh I have my own pet sitter issues. But if one didn't return my calls, I would book someone else!

P.S. My pet sitter was so horrible, I will never use one again!

[ManteoChik]

I would find a new pet sitter. Our lab is totally spoiled as has been since day one. We don't leave her with anyone but either of our parents. Period. We spoil her with treats, she sleeps in bed, lays on the couch, walks, swim in the pool, etc. We want to make sure that she gets the same care from someone else.

My mom will come stay at our house to watch her (which is 3 hours away) OR I will drive 6 hours to SO's parents house to drop her off if we're going on vacation. Yes, I'm that obsessive about this issue. For us, our dog is our child (at least for right now) and I wouldn't leave a child with someone that I didn't think would give them the same kind of care and attention.

[jajacobsen]

Well, if I liked the service, I would leave one morephone call and explicitly state "honestly, I'm a bit concerned that you have ot returned my call sna dI need to confirm this service with you."

My pet sitter is not the greatest about returning calls. She is a teenager after all! But she is extremely responsibe an dour dogs just love her. Their body language with her is just about the same as it is with DH or I - and tehy don't act like that for anyone else.

The reason I say give her one more chance is - it's stressful on pets when the owner is gone. If the current sitter is someone the pets know and like - which will reduce that stress - and the sitter does a good job, that is worth it to me to have a little flakiness and annoyance.

However, if you have ANY concerns whatsoever about her showing up - then try to get someone else.

[Ohana]

chefker In addition to asking your vet for recommendations for another petsitter, ask at dog grooming places, places like PetCo, or any other store that specializes in pets. We found our most recent petsitter via a flyer he had posted at a groomer's.

I really feel your pain! When we made a last minute trip last year, I tried at least 2 dozen petsitters before I even found one that was available and served our area! Talk about panicking before I found him!

[chefker]

Well, I thought I'd post a little update in here. I called the pet-sitter (AGAIN), last Monday. Previous call to her was about 2-3 weeks before that. I STILL have not heard from her! This is ridiculous.

So on Saturday, DH and I took our dog and toured a local kennel that sounded like a good match for us. It's a mile away from our house, and is touted as a 'doggie hotel'. There's on-site grooming, a vet is on-call 24 hours a day if needed, and the dogs get playtime together, if the owners desire that.

Well Ivan just LOVED this place - he didn't want to leave! Probably because he was so busy checking out all the strange smells. :) Everyone there was so nice and helpful, answering all my questions - and not pushy in the least. I explained to them about our awkward pet-sitter, and how we were looking for a 'backup' for someone to watch our dog.

I was impressed with the place - for a kennel that had 25 dogs there (and who knows how many cats in the cattery section), the smell was practically nonexistent. I was expecting it to be foul smelling, quite honestly. And DH was glad to see that kennels were not the cold, impersonal places he had pictured them to be. Get this, the kennel's daily rate is about $6 less (per day) than what the pet-sitter charges!

And some even better news: our daycare provider offered to watch my turtle for me! Apparently her brother has turtles, and she and her kids have cared for them when he's away, so they have some experience with that. What a relief, that my backup plan fell into place - and is now becoming plan A.

We did book a reservation at the kennel for Ivan, and I do plan on 'firing' the pet-sitter very soon. And I will definitely mention that her lack of communication was a key factor in that.

[chefker]

Well, here we are - less than a week away from our vacation, and of course the pet-sitter has not called back. Obviously our backup plan of the kennel, is now "Plan A", and has been for a while. DS's daycare provider has agreed to turtle-sit, so all of our pets are covered.

I figured I'd wait until this week just to see if the pet sitter would call, knowing full well she probably wouldn't - and that I'd call sometime during this week to tell her that her services would not be needed since she never got back to me.

So...I called her number, and her voice mailbox was full, so I couldn't leave a message. Real nice. She's really keeping on top of things, isn't she? :rolleyes: Still, I don't want her thinking she can charge me for next week, which is why I wanted to 'officially' fire her. She does not have a key to our house (thank goodness), so it's not like she can show up anyway.

I wonder if I should just mail a brief note to her P.O. Box? I have a feeling that it'll be returned to sender, but maybe I should try anyway. Just to CMA. :)