I was glad Lisa could take on our pet sit. She arrived the first day, and everything was good. She visited about 7:00 pm, leaving at 7:30 pm. The next day, she hadn't been there by 9:07 pm, and I messaged her to ensure she could still stop by. I knew it was a holiday, so I wasn't concerned that it would take a little longer to get there. But I needed to know it would happen as we were not home. I did not hear anything back for several hours, and finally, when I messaged again, including that I had contacted Rover, as the pets hadn't been visited for 27.5 hours, I did hear back promptly. While I was waiting, I was trying to figure out what I would do if something happened to Lisa. I knew the pets would be OK until the morning, but I just needed to make arrangements for the following day if there was a problem. She said she had "every intention to visit them 1x/day" but was busy with family and holiday events. When she texted at 11 pm, she said she was heading over there and "[she] is extremely nocturnal." She said that she had her chores to do after the visit to my house and that she generally stayed up late. None of that has any bearing on the paid-for service of checking on our pets once every 24 hours. I got a text at 12:03 am updating me on her visit with the cats. I appreciate the bustle and busyness of the holiday season, that family is important, and that feeding and visiting with my cats is much more flexible than other pets that need walks. But if a sitter says they are available, especially for holidays, that the schedule is not just an "I'll get there before midnight, and it counts as a visit that day." that it's, "I'm responsible for these pets, and I have agreed to check on them once every 24 hours." Thinking it could be stretched with no communication, no big deal, to 30 hours "because it's a holiday, and she stays up late" isn't really acceptable. If the holiday interferes with the sitter's time availability, they shouldn't have taken the sit. Most of all, if I had gotten a response to my message (25 and a half hours after her last visit), I would not have worried at all, I would not have contacted Rover (after 27 hours since the last visit), and all would have been smooth sailing. I will not hire Lisa again, but I'm sure there wouldn't have been any issue on another occasion.

Well-fed happy pets on our return!