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Have you ever had complications with another sitter? Advice, other stories, and how you handled them?

Michaela Z.'s profile image

I've never had to ask for advice before, but there is a first time for every thing.

I am sitting for a client who has a pup they just rescued and was diagnosed with health issues, which is one of my specialities, and why they hired me. The clients parents live just down the street and have a non rover sitter for their dog. The entire family is away on holiday. The other sitter has been with the parents for many many years and seems quite nice at first meeting however.....

It was pre arranged by the family for us to meet and for her to watch my pup if I were to leave for more than a set number of hours.
I was about to leave for a short time to have Holiday dinner with my family. And even though it wasn't needed, the other sitter offered to have my pup come hang out so the dogs could have play time together. I accepted the offer so I wouldn't have to rush through dinner. I kept her updated, and let her know when i was on my way back. When I picked up my pup everything seemed fine. We chatted normally about scheduling and got more acquainted. Until....

I got a call from my client at 10:30pm worried that I had been "gone all day" (Which was not the case.) As well as asking many other frantic questions about my work itinerary, which had changed slightly that the other sitter needed to approve. Which she assured me was not a problem, and I told her I would inform my client of the changes the next day so I didn't bother them on Christmas day.

Now It seems the other sitter called and had fed copious amounts of very misinformation to my client via their parents. Due to the questions they were asking and what they had said she told them. I did my best to calm, and reassure my client, and very politely corrected the misinformation. But due to their long time relationship with this sitter I'm afraid this doesn't look well on my end. I'm going to continue being nice and professional with the other sitter and providing my client with daily updates for the rest of the time i am here. However I am anticipating a bad review from this incident. I have never had an occurrence like this.

Should I contact rover so I can document this incident if a bad review occurs?

Are there any tips any one can give me on this issue?

I have over a week left and am trying to prevent any further "miscommunication."

2 Answers

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Karen R.'s profile image

I think your situation is rather unique. At most, you might encounter a neighbor who may be "keeping an eye" on things. You appear to be handling the the situation well. Try being more proactive in making sure the owners are kept apprised of your changes in schedule, comings and goings, etc. Document it with texts and photos so they know you are in their home taking care of their pet. When the other sitter offered to take care of your charge while you went to dinner, I would have said that I needed to run it past my employers. Under normal circumstances, I understand not wanting to bother my clients during the holiday, but the other sitter doesn't. Therefore, you need to be their primary source of information and if that means lots of texts, so be it.

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Thank you for the advice!

Michaela Z.'s profile image Michaela Z.
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Deb A.'s profile image

I haven't experienced anything like this. For future stays, I'd suggest you ask about client communication preferences at the start or before a stay. For example, I have clients with more than 12 hour time differences between us and I'll ask if they prefer messages via the web site (some clients do because they don't set it up for auto notification - they log in when they can), cell phone, email, etc - and specifically ask if based on their settings messages would disturb them? (Which really is to acknowledge that I don't mean to alert them to a photo at an inopportune time like, midnight to 5 AM) Then, if I knew I was going to be changing anything that my clients and I agreed upon. I'd communicate that via their preferred option and not worry about when they'd receive it. Also, if I was leaving a client dog with someone else, I'd take before and after photos. Before I left, I'd send a photo. Rover & I are having a great time I'm going to head over to my family's for a meal and Sitter#2 will be caring for Rover while I'm away. When I returned, send another photo, Rover & I are back together for more belly rubs, cuddles, walks, etc. The client will not get the review until after the stay is complete. So, if the plan was for you to meet them upon their return, you may have an opportunity to clear up any unresolved misunderstandings.

Comments

Thank you for the tips!

Michaela Z.'s profile image Michaela Z.

This was going to be my suggestion exactly. Photos will establish a time line for your activities that will be hard to dispute. Most cameras (phone/otherwise) that I've used create file names for the images you take using the date and time stamp when the pic was taken, so even if you don't send messages right away, you can refer back to when the pictures were taken. If you have the message history between you and the other sitter, that can also help back up your claims if it becomes necessary.

Laura R.'s profile image Laura R.
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