Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  12/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired this company to handle the pet sitting of my dogs from November 22, 2023 at approximately 3pm until November 25 at 9am.During this time, the pet sitter left the animals without access to water for a period of over 13 hours, from 8:00 a.m. to past 9:00 p.m. When asked about it, she lied and said she had stopped by during the day. This turned out to be untrue, as my security system has no record of it. In addition, this same evening, she let them outside for three minutes, they were in the house for a short time and then she put them back in their crates. Given this limited period, in total they were in their crate nearly 24 hours, with a short break around 9pm.Further, the pet sitter texted me the morning of November 25, stating there was a smell coming from the crate. My dog had an accident the previous day. I advised her to remove the blankets, never dreaming she would put my dog back in the crate without cleaning it. When I arrived home, the smell was overwhelming, the pet sitter had done two things at this point: knew there was a smell on November 24, but still crated my animal overnight, and second, after recognizing it was feces, still proceeded to put the dog in the crate when she left at 8:45 a.m.When I contacted the company, she was sympathetic and said this is all extremely unacceptable. She also said the sitter was confronted about the situation. But told me shed already paid the pet sitter, so she could offer a $26 refund. Given the mistreatment of my pets, and given they advertise we promise peace of mind while youre out of town by loving your pet as you would if you were home, this statement is untrue and should be removed.This company needs to engage in extensive training, and ensure they hire who have empathy.

  Customer response

  12/05/2023

  Hi! Thank you for the quick follow-up on this. I do not have an address for them, except their (day job) address. Thank you,

  *****

  Business response

  12/05/2023

  We are very sorry for this experience. It truly was unacceptable and it is not what we expect of our care providers at all. We have apologized several times and promised there would be consequences.
  
  We are an extremely small business and the business itself does not make any money. Due to that, we gave ***** every dollar back that we could and had access to, which was $26 as this was our out pocket cut for *************** ***** mentioned in a review that she left on our ******** page that she did not care about the refund. However, she has stated twice in texts to us as well in this statement that the refund wasnt enough.
  
  ***** expressed that we would guarantee a returning and forgiving customer if we fired the care provider she used with this incident. However, we paused on doing so for a couple of reasons. First, we hadnt heard our care providers side of the story yet. Second, the care providers side of the story was extremely valuable to us because this is her first and only bad review. Now knowing both sides of the story, weve learned that a large part of the incident came down to a misunderstanding.
  
  We did not promise ***** on the spot that the care provider would be fired and that the consequences would remain private as ***** has the care providers personal information and contact. Due to us not guaranteeing ***** that we fired the care provider when she demanded, she has left a review on our ******** page as well as reported us to the Business Beuraeu.
  
  The screenshot we received of ****** security door log was blurry and therefore we could not confirm what it said. This was Thanksgiving Day and we informed ***** ahead of time, and she agreed, that the dogs would receive less attention than a normal day so the care provider could enjoy Thanksgiving with her family. Nevertheless, 13 hours alone in a crate is unacceptable. Our care provider should have spent more time with the pets. Our care provider promised us that she did in fact stop by to let the dogs out to drink and use the bathroom.
  
  Now, regarding the f**** in the crate. Our care provider was wrong to leave the f**** in the crate and place the animal back in the crate. However, her doing so was not a cruel action, but a misunderstanding. ***** informed the care provider to leave things as they were and ***** would handle them. These instructions were the nature of our care providers actions; not malice. It was a mere misunderstanding. Since then, the care provider has been reminded (as it is part of their training) that ALL accidents that occur during their care, regardless of the owners words, must be cleaned up.
  
  ***** told us that the character of this person was revealed and she should never be given another chance, rather than it possibly being a mistake that was made (her first ever). We believe, though wrong, our care provider handled the messy crate as she believed ***** asked her to. 
  
  ***** had received this specific care providers service once before and only had great things to say about her. In fact, after the first provided service, ***** paid for two additional dates requesting the same care provider. This proves that our care provider (or team) doesnt lack empathy, but acted wrongly due to a misunderstanding.
  
  At the end of the day, all we can do is apologize, explain that this is in no way our standard, and offer back all the money we had. Regardless of that care providers employment status with us, we stand by her great character, which ***** experienced the first time the care provider serviced *****, and her previous work for us.

  Customer response

  12/06/2023

   
  Complaint: 20916505
  
  I am rejecting this response because: it is ultimately the business owners responsiblty, regardless of size, to provide refunds when services are as egregiouslly horrific as this one. However, please read to the end, as I'd be willing to reconsider asking for a full refund to resolve this, should certain things occur.

  It is correct that McCulloch apologized many times for the incidents.
  
  ******* did do a good job for me the first time Id hired her. It was a quick overnight, where she arrived in the afternoon and left by 9am the next morning.In fact, shed texted me and asked if it was ok if she go out with friends for dinner, and promising to be home early, knowing my dogs arent used to being crated for more than a couple of hours at a time. Given she actually asked me if that was ok, it is clear she knew that 13 hours was inappropriate.  
  
  Id like to correct some misstatements. First, in McCullochs letter, they state they hadnt talked with the sitter and wanted to give her an opportunity share her story, however, when I talked with ******* via phone after expressing my concerns on November 26 she told me she had talked with the sitter already.
  
  I am not sure what misunderstanding occurred with the 13-hour in a crate incident. Although wed talked about some flexibility on timing given the Thanksgiving holiday, as noted in McCullochs reply, 13 hours in a crate is much too long, and that was not at all the agreement. There is also the fact the sitter told me shed stopped by, when she hadnt, lying to me about the care my pets were receiving.In fact, I was so worried about my animals knowing she hadnt been there, I reached out to my neighbor who was going to walk over there to let my pets out,however, the sitter finally arrived.
  
  The sitter told me she crated them overnight (as opposed to them sleeping with her,which is fine), so actually, the 13 hours was much longer. According to my records, she left around 8am, returned after 9pm, let them out for less than ten minutes, and crated them again to go to bed. So really with the exception of the 10 minutes, they were actually crated for closer to 24 hours.
  
  It is correct that I told her to leave the crate blankets outside on November 26 in the morning, not at all expecting she wouldnt clean the crate. I suppose I was expecting common sense. However, when she texted me about the f**** the morning of November 26, **** said shed smelled it the night before. So despite any misunderstandingabout what she should do about the crate, the fact remains that prior to me even knowing about the situation, shed crated my dog overnight in her own f**** (I have a text from the sitter saying they were crated overnight, as opposed to sleeping with her).
  
  In terms of the sitter's character, this is what I am referring to. The fact she blatantly lied to me, and also to McCullochs as it turns out (by stating shed stopped by but hadnt). My security system logs every single time a door opens or closes, and on Thanksgiving day, there was no log of her stopping by, only leaving at 8am, returning after 9pm, and opening and closing the door for my pets to go potty. In addition, when I texted the sitter to bring up my concerns, I received no response, not even an apology or offer to give the tipmoney back that Id provided to her in cash prior to the stay. Something along these lines would have been an appropriate response from the sitter.
  
  It is correct it is not about the money to me. My concern lies with ******** the sitter,doing this to other families, lying to them about it, lying to the McCullochs,and potentially harming an animal, therefore I believe it important to warn others, hence this complaint. Had McCullochs requested at least one nights pay returned from the sitter to return to me, Id have felt better that the sitter learned a ****** and wouldnt do this again. Had the McCullochs refunded money for at least one night, similarly, it would have been a positive symbolic effort. Ultimately, since McCullochs hires the sitters the responsibility rests solely on them to give refunds when egregious incidents like this occur regardless of their business size.
  
  At this point, my dogs and I are really the only ones that have had to deal with any consequences besides the $26 refunded to me, out of the total amount of about $225, including the tip Id given to *******.
  
  Id be willing to consider a lesser refund than the original request if McCulloch addresses, in detail, the measures theyve taken and the training they are requiring for all sitters to ensure this doesnt happen again. I'd also like to know what consequences, if any, ******* received. Then, all letters and responses, including the measures theyve taken should be posted as part of this complaint on the BBB site. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ********************************

  Business response

  12/07/2023

  Hello again. We've made the difficult decision to cease operations due to this ongoing issues. Despite *****'s claim of there being no consequences, it's important to clarify that this isn't accurate and she is personally and actively seeing to the contrary.
  
  We started this business as a newlywed couple seeking supplemental income. However, given the minimal revenue generated and the escalating situation, we've concluded it's not worth the ongoing dispute. As a small business, we never anticipated dealing with such challenges.
  
  To manage communication, we instructed our care provider to allow us to handle communication with ***** and refrain from personal responses due to ****** evident anger. Regrettably, she not only left a negative review herself, but also through her boyfriend, who initially expressed satisfaction despite one small issue. Additionally they turned off our ability to respond. Just as she had the ability and right to express her experience, we should be given the same to respond.
  
  She continues to contradict her previous assurance that money didn't matter. Her previous statements to us and publicly of respecting our decision and so forth lacked sincerity, as evidenced by her actions.
  Despite the significance of this income to our situation, we've decided to cease operations based on this distressing experience. 
  
  It appears that *****'s public complaints, combined with her disabling responses, prove this to be her desired outcome. While these  actions lacked ****** forgiveness and any consideration for the other side, we accept the consequences and hope she finds satisfaction in this resolution.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩