What is the best way to politely decline a potential client after a meet and greet?
So, I met with a woman today looking for someone to come over 2x/day for 5 days while she was out of town. She has 2 dogs, 6 cats and a guinea pig she wanted me to feed.
When I arrived she told me the very bluntly that the price ($905.00) was outrageous because she only needs me to cycle the litter boxes, fill up cats food, feed guinea pig in morning, let dogs out, feed in morning and give treats at night. She said 4 of her 6 cats were not social and I wouldnt even see them probably so she felt that she shouldnt have to pay for all of them. She also stated she only wanted me to spend a total of 10 minutes at the house per visit and didnt want me to play with any of the animals. She also wanted me to text her everytime I arrived and left so she can open the garage via the app on her phone and wasnt willing to give a key or passcode so I could enter on my own. (which slightly concerned me because what if she didnt have her phone close by and I am waiting outside for 20-45 mins?)
When I got back to my house I saw she had adjusted the amount of animals to only be for the 2 dogs and 2 cats, bringing the price down to $600.00. However I just felt off about the whole vibe and the situation. I felt like perhaps I couldnt give her what she expected of me. She also said $600 instead of $900 was still too much money to pay for petcare, which made me concerned because if I did watch her pets would she try to not pay me? Would she leave me a bad review because the price? I felt like she was fishing for me to offer to lower my prices, but she had ALOT of animals. Not only this but she said her dogs were up to date on vaccinations and treatments but her cats were not, which makes me concerned because I have cats of my own and I don't want to potentially be bringing anything home to them.
There was nothing wrong with her animals, I actually really enjoyed them, but she repeatedly said to me she had a ton of anxiety about leaving them and that this was weird for her and etc. She asked what the next steps were and I said I would have to confirm the booking later on (I do think I led her on but I was panicking and didn't know how to handle the situation in the moment, so that is on me.)
When I got home I felt pretty confused on if I should accept or not and after talking to my fiance he said if I am not 100% comfortable I should decline the booking and that meet and greets are not only for the owners to meet you, ...
Just say no thank you. You aren’t obligated to work with them.