“House Sitters,
Cathy, Terry, and an addition Rodney.
Firstly, I must say on our return the house was clean, the chicken house was clean, the garden had been mowed, weeding had been done and there was a lovely meal waiting for us.
It is what happened leading up to the house sit and whilst we were away that concerns me and has prompted me to let you know.
Cathy and Terry applied for the house sit and as time was getting short I accepted. I contacted them and they were more than happy to look after the cat and the chooks.
I had made it quite clear that I wanted someone with a van as I didn’t want anyone sleeping in our bed.
During our first contact they asked if Terry’s Brother could come too as he was a divorcee and gets lonely. I accepted but my husband was unhappy that someone was sleeping in the house after all, and asked me to cancel them. My thought was I couldn’t let anyone down.
The house sitters were in contact with us a couple of times prior to them arriving, it was during one of these contacts that I told Cath that I had decided to send the cat to the vet to be cared for, as I felt that the cat wouldn’t cope well with strangers, Cathy replied “oh good I am allergic to cats” REALLY… I had advertised for a house sitter to look after a cat and she was allergic. At this stage again my husband told me to cancel and again I was not prepared to let anyone down.
The sitters arrived the day before we were due to leave. We had had a lot of rain so we parked the van in front of our carport as it was the only dry place.
I showed them the emergency contacts, garbage collection time etc. I showed Cathy where things were and explained to her about the remote we use to turn the switch behind the TV off as a parental control for the grandchildren, even adding the story how they haven’t worked it out yet and think there granddad is magic as he can make the TV work, whilst my husband showed the men where the chook feed was and explained what was in each shed. I continued to show Cathy around as I walked down the hall and showed Cathy which was Rodney’s Room she asked me, which was their room to which I replied you are sleeping in your van aren’t; you. Her reply was well it would be more convenient if we could sleep in the house. May I say how uncomfortable I felt being put in a spot and suspecting that if I didn’t agree with this, they would sleep there when we were in the UK. At this stage my husband was extremely annoyed, so I thought I would suggest we go to the pictures and get some take out to get him out of the house. On our return the furniture on the deck had been moved to suit the house sitters and they complained that my bike was in the way. We told the sitters we had cameras around the house only to be asked if there were any in the house.
The next day I stripped my bed and we left to catch our flights. My husband was not impressed with the arrangement but we were about to fly to Brisbane, Sydney, Dubai and then UK.
On arrival in Sydney we both checked our phones to find messages to contact the house sitters urgently.
We rang in a panic only to find out that they couldn’t turn the TV on, but had run an extension lead and had worked out it was the cut off remote that I had told Cathy all about. In addition they had rang the first contacts on the emergency contact list.
Whilst in England I messaged the house sitters and asked how things were. First a message came through to say “all OK” then a couple of minutes later I received another that said “Who is this?” This caused me to panic and I felt the need to contact one of the children to come to town and check the property.
On our return the fly screen was tied back with a skipping rope, the seepage hose was thrown out of my succulent garden into the grass (nearly ran over it with the ride on) the BBQ we asked them not to cook steak on had been used for steak and the cutting board had been taken off the island bench and food had been cut on the bench. (just over a twelve month old kitchen)
I am not going to mention what we have since seen and heard on the cameras but rest assured it was not what I would expect from mature aged people.
I understand that house sitters come and stay at your house for free in return for looking after your home and pets. What I didn’t expect was the stress as well as a power bill that tripled. (What do you expect when they run the reverse cycle all night).
If I was to give comment to a house sitting service it would be screen your house sitters and remember the a person’s home is their castle not on to be taken advantage of.
Kind Regards
Sue Keune”
“Jeannie was amazing with our 2 cocker spaniels while we were away for 2 weeks.
She sent me picture updates of my babies which I loved she took them for walks and spoilt them just the way we would do.
We came home and our home was so clean and fresh and she even mowed the back lawn which we really appreciated.
I would recommend Jeanne to anyone needing a housesitter she is truly amazing.”
“These sitters are amazing. They left a delicious home-made meal for us with fruit and chocolates as well. They also cleaned, weeded, mended and planted out our garden as well as looking after the chickens and pool wonderfully. I can't recommend them highly enough. This is my first house sitting experience and I still can't believe how easy and positive it was.”
“I was extremely happy with Liz and Kate.
Great communication and I returned home to find my cat very settled and content.
I hope you both continue house sitting for a long time as I will definitely get in touch when I next travel. Thank you :)”
“The house sitter was a nice young lady. She contracted Covid the last week of a 3 weeks it so cleaned my house and left to isolate. She contacted my partner to tell her of her issue and my dog was picked up and cared for when she left. All ended ok.”
“Cath is a very friendly, trustworthy person. Her love for animals shone from the moment she met my pets , they all loved her. Cath is extremely clean and left my house immaculate, great communication on a daily basis I was more than comfortable that my pets were in safe hands. I would certainly use her again and more than happy to supply a personal reference for her.”
