Stuck in the Middle of a House-sitting Booking - Should I Cancel?
TLDR: The expectation for how much time I am to spend at the owners residence was not clear initially. Now in the middle of the booking, I can't dedicate the time the owners want me to at their home.
This is my first booking and I'm super stressed out, anything is welcome!
So, I had a meet and greet with this couple a few months ago for their 'easy-going, low maintenance' small dogs. And the dogs are definitely that, they're a breeze. The owners expressed they were mostly concerned with me being with their dogs at their home at nighttime, but didn't really set parameters other than they work typical daytime hours so the dogs are used to being alone and crated during the day, they eat morning/evening, and can't be left alone more than eight hours. No big deal. They emphasized that they were flexible and easy going.
I did advise them that two of the nights I work my regular job (I'm on 12 hour nightshifts), and they were fine with that. They said the pups would be fine for a couple nights in their kennels.
So, now I'm like three days into this booking and it's been nothing but a nightmare. I came over for their dinner time on the second night and stayed until like 10:00 pm, then left with intentions to be back early morning, well before their breakfast time at 6:00 am (being mindful of the eight hour window). I took a nap at home and woke up prior to the return to a bunch of messages from the owners. They have a camera set up so they can see when their dogs are kenneled, and were expressing their dissatisfaction with me not being there. Ok, I get that. They weren't rude and I was receptive, telling them that there was a miscommunication at the meet and greet two months ago because I was under the impression they weren't super picky at how long I was there, as long as the pups got fed their appropriate times and weren't crated excessively.
At some point they misread their camera thing and stated I had been gone for 12 hours, which was not true. After discussing all of this with the wife via the Rover messages, she stops responding and has the husband calls me, and basically established that the dogs cannot be left alone between the hours of 5:00 pm and 8:00 am, aside from the days I already mentioned I work. And on those days I need to be at the house during the whole daylight hours, prior to me leaving to work. This is what he told me.
Now I'm stuck. They're out of state and they seem like good people, if not just super concerned about their dogs being alone (Not that it matters, because I'm not their owners, but the dogs have been 100% great. No issues, they don't seem distressed in anyway, and we get along great.) I literally can't ...