[Anemonefish]

My family & I have just come home after being overseas for 3 months. We had a house-sitter looking after our house, garden & pets. We didn't know her prior to this, we got her through an email I sent around at work about needing a house-sitter, and she came over and we ran through all the things she needed to do before we left.

It was really depressing coming home to discover:
- she hasn't been paying for our cleaner to come and clean fortnightly, which is something she had agreed to do. The house was filthy when we got home and when I called our cleaner, she told me she had come to clean windows for us last week (the only time she came and no doubt the house-sitter didn't pay her) and the house was so dirty & messy, she took photos to show me.

- the few pots of herbs, our 2 Christmas trees (live ones in pots that we bring inside and decorate each year), and the lawn she was supposed to water were all dead.

- she left us a note with a list of 'casualties', including, "Your office chair broke but I fixed it with duct tape and it works okay" (no it doesn't), "The gas ran out and I didn't get a chance to swap the bottle over" (this takes 5 mins to do at the petrol station nearby), "The light on your bedroom fan fell off in my first week" (um, ok, DH had recently changed the bulb and possibly didn't put the cover back on properly but it would have fallen onto the bed so I don't know how it could have broken)

- there was a rat problem while we were away. She had told me about this via email. We have had mice problems before, so I'm not blaming her for that. But our TV room rug got chewed on by a rat and she just left it there, with bits of rug underneath and rat poo on it. I also discovered a pile of rat poo and 2 empty packets of rat poison under an armchair in another room, where my DS had been playing.

- lots and lots of little things...e.g. the tablecloth on the dining table was the same one I had put on there when we left and there was gecko poo all over it; she left 2 days before we got back and left dirty dishes in the dishwasher but didn't run it; there was a stack of laundry piled onto the top of the washing machine (obviously all the sheets, towels, teatowels she had used and she hadn't bothered to fold & put them away)

- I found 2 pairs of scrunched up panties in the garden - WTF??

- She looked after our dog and 2 guinea pigs, and at least they are still alive, though our dog is filthy and infested with fleas (even though I had left a full packet of Frontline and instructions to check the dog for fleas/ticks).

This girl stayed at our place rent-free for 3 months. She was supposed to pay $70 per fortnight for our cleaner, she didn't. I'm so annoyed, I feel like writing her an email expressing my disappointment, with a list similar to the one above. I don't expect her to do anything about it, I just want her to be aware that I am not happy, that what she has done is unacceptable, in cases she ever house-sits for someone else (definitely not me or any of my friends - she's on our blacklist now!). DH thinks it would be pointless, a waste of time. What would you do? Would you be upset about all of the above too? Would you call/email her?

This post has been edited by Anemonefish: 08/11/2012, 01:55 PM

[galba]

I pay my housesitters a small weekly allowance and have never had any problems like this - that may be the difference.

[Livsh]

Oh my god! Was it my sister??

I wouldn't be able to resist sending her an email with all those details on it... and copy in the person you got the recommendation from!

[Stellajoy]

Meh, your pets are alive and house still standing, the rest can be fixed easy. It was free house sitting, I would let it go.

[soontobegran]

Does she have a web site/ FB site advertising her housesitting?
I'd probably leave her some bad feedback so nobody else gets taken in. What a nightmare

[suziej]

Oh my goodness - you aren't in Canberra are you? A girlfriend had a housesitter (workmate's daughter) and came home to a disaster a few months ago.

How awful for you.

[emlis22]

Annoying? Absolutely. But really, if it was un-paid, she was doing you a favour, so she probably didn't see those tasks as worth her while if she wasn't getting paid.

ETA: I will admit there is nothing more annoying than coming home from a holiday to an unclean house.

This post has been edited by emlis22: 08/11/2012, 02:05 PM

[beaglebaby]

I'd offer her that she can give out your phone number as a reference if she is ever asked to house sit for anyone else

[MrsLexiK]

Oh my god! Was it my sister??

I wouldn't be able to resist sending her an email with all those details on it... and copy in the person you got the recommendation from!

This would probably be what I would like to do. Woud I do it I am not sure, but if I was someone who was recommending a service and the person actually lived like a pig (well not a pig literally as they are tidy but you know what I mean) I would want to know. How the hell can you live with rat poo in the house

[AllegraM]

That is awful OP.

As it was an informal arrangement there will be little you can do to get satisfaction though. I don't think there is a housesitter blacklist.

I would let your nearest and dearest know to avoid her, plus let her know not to expect references from you. Then I would just move on and let it go.