I highly recommend Norma. She really tries to work with shy cats

It saddens me to give this poor review as we had used Norma many times previously without issue. However, this time, Norma was not available/ did not answer the door during the agreed upon drop off time. My husband scheduled the dog-sitting and communicated within days before the drop off time of Thurs 7:30-9:00 pm. There was no miscommunication. I arrived about 8:15 and was very concerned about the dark house. No lights were on to indicate she expected me. I rang the Ring doorbell, dogs barked inside, but no answer. I left a message on the Ring doorbell. I went to my car for a few minutes, and returned to the door. I rang the Ring doorbell again and left a second frantic message begging her to call my cell phone, that she was booked to watch my dog, I didn't know what to do, etc. No answer, no sign of life at the door except the dogs barking. I was very frantic. I couldn't reach my husband since he was on a flight, I had no backup for the dog, and I had to leave early the next morning. I drove the 25 minutes back home, trying not to panic. I never heard from Norma. She did not call me. We did not hear from Norma until my husband reached her on the Rover app. Early the next morning, she said she wasn't feeling well and fell asleep and didn’t hear me because her doorbell is broken. I question why she never reached out to me, why she'd sleep right during the drop-off time, and not hear the dogs and chiming Ring doorbell - twice. Also, wouldn't she reach out when I hadn't dropped my dog off? It really seemed like she forgot the booking and wasn't home. This was very stressful because I had a very important overnight trip which I couldn't miss. I ended up asking a neighbor to help take care of my dog, but I nearly missed reaching her since it was late by the time I got home. I was very lucky to have received any help in time. This incident was very distressing to me, so much so that I think we need to find another dog sitter. What if we had a flight to catch? If this were a longer trip, I would've been completely screwed. Agreeing on a drop-off time isn’t optional. It's a commitment to a job. I'm not comfortable with anyone who doesn't take it seriously. I wasn't cancelled on days before - I was left at the drop-off time - it was awful. My husband has always done the drop-offs, but with terrible luck, this happened the only time I ever had to drop-off. We were long-time clients, so this really makes me sad. My husband would consider booking again, but I'm not trusting for good reason. This was a really bad experience.