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This is an original interview with a seasoned house sitter who had for the first time a negative experience. Showing what can happen will help other house sitters to be more vigilant and check pet/house owners before committing to a house sit and spending money for travel:
Important for House/Pet Sitters:
- Talk online via Skype, Facetime, or any video/audio calling service
- Insist to see the pet (s), the house or apartment, and the garden
- Ask for details of what this house sit requires and what your chores are
- Insist on a comprehensive checklist for your house sit - as soon as possible
This list will help both sides not to forget any details.
The House Sit From Hell !!!
"After being a house sitter for over 4 years and dozens of always marvelous 5-star reviews - not only on HouseSittersCanada, but also MindMyHouse, Several pet owners called me for the second or third time to take care of their dogs, cats, and house. And with many of them, I became good friends.
But this time was the house sit from hell!
And these people have the chuzpe to turn around after I wrote a complaint in November already to the agency about the dangerous, filthy, “hoarding” place in the woods of Vancouver Island and they set up a complaining “review”, full of lies.
I regret to have not left the place immediately once I entered the house, but it would have been bad for them, as they had already lost another sitter (who might have been less trusty than I was), and it would have cost them a lot of money to cancel their flight and hotel. I also had invested time and money to travel to Vancouver Island as I live in Eastern Canada.
Brad & Julie in Sooke should not be allowed to advertise for house sitters!
Please keep this house sit from your site! I don’t want other house sitters to come into the same unfortunate situation.
THIS WAS NOT A HOUSE SIT AT ALL
It is a dangerous (bears!) and a dirty farmhand job including CLEANING OUT SHIT from chicken coops, and washing & selling eggs, and contacting potential customers. They should better advertise at WOOF, Farmhand, or at a “Working Holiday” site! I regret to have for six weeks all this work done for them for FREE.
I was also told by them - over hours - what former house sitters made wrong and how bad these house sitters were. Made me wonder what they would say about me... Well, here it is.
DIRTY AND MESSY
I have never, ever been in my life in such a messed up place! It was like entering a garbage collection place. Please see the photos I took. It was just disgusting! The fridge was full to the brim with expired and moldy food, food from 2021, 2022, and 2023.
No space for my own items and terribly dirty shelves that had not been cleaned for ages. And this was only one of FIVE fridges they had in and outside the house. I had to clean this fridge thoroughly to place my own food in. A storm resulted in a power outage for 23 hours. After that, I had to clean and sort the whole fridge again. Also, no space in the cupboards to have a place for my own food.
There was no garbage can, I was instructed to “sneak” garbage into the neighbor's garbage can, which resulted in an ear-full from one of the neighbors. Flying to Mexico, but not being able to purchase a garbage can…. Now I know WHY there was no online meeting: to avoid showing me their house. I certainly would have declined the house sit.
As I wrote before, I feel like I am in a TV show, you know when people die and a company has to come and clean the place out. It was hard to walk through the rooms, everything was dirty and dusty and the fridge was extremely stinky. What also was totally stinky was the bedroom I got. It took me a whole week of airing, buying, and using a purifier to get the smell out of the room.
DRUNKEN HOUSE OWNER
The house was ice-cold, especially as I came from a vacation in Italy. Julie gave me one of her hundreds of jackets that are spread all over the house. Thanks for that.
But her DRUNKEN husband Brad asked me in an aggressive tone twice “what’s wrong with you?”. Due to this offensive behavior, I should have packed my stuff and should have left the house right away. As a house sitter who works for free for pet owners, it is unacceptable to be bothered by people under the influence!
BEARS AT NIGHT
I never was told about bears in the vicinity before coming to Sooke on Vancouver Island! Only hours before they left, Julie casually mentioned that a bear came once and they shooed it away by banging pots and pans. This is criminal! To let a house sitter come without warning in advance. This is a rural area, and it is just too dangerous to go out when bears are around.
Also: the municipal rules forbid food or garbage outside. They had TWO large fridges with outdated food in the open. These fridges were in NO WAY locked or secured. - an invitation for wild bears to come and play havoc.
It is impudence to email me to sleep with an open window (directly next to my bed) in order to hear when bears are coming in the middle of the night, and then shoo them away. And also to demand that I carry extremely heavy items to secure their fridges. I certainly kept the emails in which Julie demanded this from me.
If they don’t obey to local laws, then they should at least properly secure their items to avoid damage by large bears. It was December, the temps were around 0, and they asked me to sleep with an open window???
I was invited to come and take care of their (friendly and affectionate) cat, feed the fish, and feed the 20+ chicken and lock them in the coop in the late afternoon. Just hours before they left for their vacation, I was told to scratch and clean the shit from the chicken coop regularly. No single word about that before.
I DID NOT GET THE INTERNET PASSWORD
Previously to this house sit I asked several times for a checklist in order to clear any questions, but did not get anything. When I arrived there was a checklist, but it was not complete, and didn’t mention the chicken scoop work or the IT password.
Brad said it was complicated, and he typed it into my laptop. When the “bomb cyclone” happened, the electricity went off and on. I could not go online anymore. So I called them and Julie gave me reluctantly the password (which was not complicated at all).
COMMUNICATION
To blame me not to use a smartphone is insolence. I have this stated clearly on my HouseSitters site, and also mentioned to them that my laptop is active day and night.
Plus they had provided me with 2 phones in their kitchen. The phone I have at home doesn’t work outside the province. And with email and 2 phones blaming me in their review for bad communication is effrontery! I have kept ALL the emails we exchanged while they were away and can prove it. I contacted them by email twice a week and even send them photos of the cat and the chickens."
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Once more: Be vigilant and check the offer for a house sit,
using the above-mentioned checklist before committing!
