I have used this pet sitting service for at least 10 years. At first, they were excellent. However,…read morein recent years, the quality of the sitters has gone downhill, Robin is not available in emergencies, and she's hands off, in terms of communication with clients, and helping her staff. Even though she lives one town over from us, she does not help sitters, when my dog is injured or monitor what the sitters do or don't do.
First, there was one sitter who decided to turn on all of our decorative under & over cabinet kitchen lights (hot lights that were not to code, and we did not leave them on or use them) while we were out of the country --costing us $1500 in changing out the lighting since Robin's response was she could not go over to turn off the lighting but she'd have another sitter do it the next day. I truly worried my house would be set on fire. Kitchen deco lights were turned off and same sitter put on the decorative over the fp hot lighting instead as a "pretty night light." I had to ask once again, stop using lighting that is not left on, not labelled to turn on, and not in our notes to use. The sitter lacked practical knowledge of light bulbs.
Then, another 7 one-week situations, where we left town, and no one communicated that our two dogs were jumping the 2 foot gate and going upstairs daily and using the upstairs puppy pads multiple times a day. Instead sitters kept that info largely to themselves (maybe mentioned 2x in notes) and one dog started getting lame, with a limp, which incurred over $2000 of vet visits, chiropractic, and laser treatments on his back legs after the trips. I kept thinking why is Sammy fine while we're here, and yet, gets hurt, every time we hire Robin's sitters?
I asked Robin, don't your sitters think they should convey this info to me, or tell you, or confer with each other re why there are all these visits upstairs every day by the dogs (to a litter box, so there would be proof and they were cleaning upstairs), which mean a pet is jumping over a 2 foot gate, multiple times a day and how that may contribute to the limp my dog has? I have in the notes to sitters that the dogs should stay downstairs and there are multiple house signs saying that.
Robin's response-- you need to find a different way to gate off the dogs, and test it out yourself. My sitters are not responsible for your gate arrangement for your dogs.
I'm sorry but my dogs do different things when I'm home or even at work than what they do with us gone for a week. They've never tried to go upstairs when gated off, with us in town. It's just practical for the sitters to question how they're getting upstairs, and move the gate, if it's not effective or remove it all together to prevent further injury to the dogs.
The last issue was this past month, my co2/fire alarm upstairs (a Kidde 10 year battery, expiration of 2029) went off, and was broken by a sitter because "she did not want the alarm to frighten the dogs."
No one contacted the fire dept. or me or my husband (we were out of the country). I was texted the event 3 hrs after it occurred like it was nothing in particular by Robin, because the sitter "does not text" and Robin was too busy to answer the sitter's call. When I called Robin and insisted someone come back immediately, and gave them a list to check, the gas stove was found left on. Maybe not the source of the alarm, but still--it shows no one checked the safety of the house.
Also, Robin showed zero concern and was not willing to call the fire dept for a check on our home, when I called her. She said that the sitter's husband is a fireman and he told his wife that alarms go bad all the time. She had no sense of urgency re my home and dog's safety.
Well, my husband is a surgical nurse, so that's a nonsensical response. Once again, Robin cannot show up, and she does not train her sitters.
When I returned, in complete frustration, i brought up the history of her inability to step in when something is a home fire risk or a dog injury risk and assess the situation in a mature manner to oversee her sitters . Her response was essentially that I ask for too much and too much specific communication. So, I asked for my multiple sets of keys returned.
I don't trust this agency anymore with the care and safety of my home or pets.
The very most important things are not handled well, which are the health & safety of the pets, and safety of the home.
My advice is to find someone who both gets 100% of your money and sits your pets. Having a "hands off" agency owner who does not do her job is just a waste of your money.
