Business ProfileforBarrtrender LLC

I am a homeowner in the Ruskin, Florida community with several pets. We contracted with Heather B. to pet sit during a recent vacation out of state. While away, I asked several times about an elderly dog who was afraid of storms. I was assured repeatedly he was fine. When we returned, he was barely mobile, not eating or drinking and ultimately was euthanized a week later for his failing health.

Not only was communication non existent in regards to his failing condition, she also increased her rates by nearly 400%. Typically her rate was $25 per day. I was anticipating $25 per day plus fuel for the length of the trip since she had performed the same tasks for us previously at that rate. When we returned, I was presented with a $1,500 bill, "reduced" to $1,000 for said services. When I asked about her rate, she "adjusted" her rate because she just didn't know "how hard it would be." She also stated she was sick and overbooked herself for the week.

We "settled" on $500 which has been paid in full. After her pet sitting assignment, I returned to extensive damage to our screened in porch, a thin cover of mud smeared across our entire first floor, a crack in one of our tiles where something had been dropped, and a complete mess that was so extensive, I had to clean for almost 8 hours once we returned to have our home in a reasonable living status again.

I would not recommend her services for any longer than a day or two as a long vacation is too much for her schedule. She also disclosed our house was unoccupied on Wednesday to a neighbor knowing we were not returning until Saturday evening. Overall, the situation was okay but definitely not desirable. Please make sure rates are fully disclosed and payment is settled prior to any appointments.

I am the former pet sitter for ****** ******* who resides in Ruskin, FL. ******, who contacted me on May 17th around 10 am asking me if I could watch her animals from June 4th through June 12th by stopping by 3 times a day. She had recently gotten another pet so this would make a total of 10 cats and 4 dogs, 2 dogs that remained kenneled and 2 dogs free to roam. Cats were all free to roam as well. During our conversations through Facebook Messenger, she kept adding on things that I would need to do. As a pet sitter, this started to become lengthy but I figured it could be done as in the past I usually would work a weekend for her to watch her pets, feed them, let the out to do their business and it was simple for the small fee per day that I charged outside of my regular fees. Any pet sitter has a rule of thumb that anything over 5 days costs more and it should be per trip. I only charged her one fee per day on weekends, as it never went past 2/3 days max.
On June 2nd, my little girl and I stopped by ****** for a tour of the list of things she needed us to do.
Here are the list of items that were being requested by ****** for tasks to be done during the Florida rainy season too. Here are her exact messages to me in regards. Her words copied from Facebook messenger.
*I need to make a list for you since we will be gone for awhile.
*Are you ok with cat litter boxes and taking out the trash and getting the mail and all of that?
*And you'll have to sit with little man (Kaos) so he'll eat
*I'll obviously pay you more thank $20 a day
*The litter boxes just have to be done daily or it gets really nasty really quickly
And I hate having anyone else do them
*But we don't have achoice
*I'll leave out carpet cleaner and have the husband program the vacuum so it helps with the hair (which was not done, I had to try to figure out)
*I just hate having to impose on you to do the other stuff
*Do you want me to make a laminated checklist for you that you can use every day? would that help?
*The mail is being held and there aren't any amazon packages so there shouldn't be very many packages to worry about if any.
*and I usually clean the yard the day before trash day
*I'll make sure my kid Heather cleans the yard on Friday and we do all the things before we leave, you'll just need to maintain it while we're gone.
*Skyler, he hates thunderstorms. there are cbd treats in the cabinet too, he likes them, I'd give him two

The LIST.
1. Feed Kaos - ½ can wet food to ½ cup of dry food with cheese sprinkled on top
2. Feed Cats - 2 cans of wet food divided on four plates, a. set on counter by air fryer b. in front of coffee pot
3. Feed Dogs - dry food only
4. Water dogs, a. big silver bowl in AM and midday b. water bottles filled for overnight
5. Put water in little silver bowls after big dogs are in kennel
6. Cat litter cleaned daily
7. Cat food checked daily
8. One stick of churu at night for all the kittens that are on the counter
9. Trash days are Wednesday and Saturday (pick up pet waste day before)
10. Recycling is Saturday (this check list was never printed or laminated for me, but I kept my own copy)
and I usually clean the yard the day before trash day

I did complete all of these and then some, I even cleaned up other accidents that happened from the critters around the home.
On June 4th, around noon - ****** Messaged me they left. ****** asked about Kaos and Sophie, Kaos had some leash time per what I was told he needed to have done and sitting with him while he ate was also part of his care. The other dogs would either be outside or in the kennel except Skyler. She only asked about Skyler once which was after they came back. Skyler was eating and drinking and even going upstairs and downstairs when I arrived to see them, I didn't see anything other than Skyler's Nails that were out of the ordinary. He ate and drank like usual even trying his hardest to eat Kaos's food too. He never refused any treats even on the last day we were there to visit.
On June 5th, Am - I cleaned up the yard waste from the back yard filling a 5 gallon bucket. This was truly day 1 for me, which this told me the yard had not been cleaned up in a few days and it made it difficult to even walk out there with the dogs without stepping in something or the bigger dogs stepping in it and jumping on me and my 7 yr old assistant.
Every day, we had thunderstorms which the dogs still had to go potty. The floors would get messy outside of that on how quickly they would drink water and eat even with the larger water dispersers most use for rabbits on the kennels.
The mail was coming and not placed on hold, nor were any packages. All of the mail and packages were brought inside for safe keeping even one had to be hidden as ****** Requested.
More to Submit.

Second Submitted Response. June 8th, at my home prior to leaving for ******'s home I had a delivery made and with in that convo I stated I was coming to that delivery person neighborhood and I could pick up my missing items and I said I needed to let ******'s dogs out. Apparently, this meant I told everyone that ****** was not home and no one else was her home which was NOT what was said. In the midst of the conversation, one of ******'s previous friends had been murdered and this person didn't want ****** to find out from someone else not knowing that they were no longer friends but being kind to send that word on. That then infuriated ****** to disclose to me later on this... From ******'s Facebook messenger, okay so what you don't know is our board is currently under a level of harassment and our safety, at best, is questionable....so anyone knowing our house was empty is an issue....we are going to have to have off duty officers at our next meeting... This now was an issue for me as a service provider and ****** kwowingly knew that I took my daughter with me on house calls, put our lives in a questionable manner which is why I sought legal advice. Especially after ****** made a comment for me to take her to Civil Court. And making additional accusations along with even admitting to speaking to one of my clients in regards to my rates and they agreed my rates were inflated. That goes against my character being under an LLC.
June 11th, I was asked to lay out Pork from the freezer and that is shaped like a Book, this led me to think they were on their way back so I left garage opener on the side of the fridge so I wouldn't forget to return it. We had several storms that day, which led to the floors being dirty from the dogs, which I did my best to clean up with what I had right there handy. The dog were messy drinkers and would drink water so fast and make a huge mess that it was inevitable the floors would not be perfect or clean to anyone's liking.

Hi ******, just to clarify: the person I spoke to was never told by me that your home was not occupied, and the event that occurred you believe this to have happened on was Weds June 8th approx 8pm and you came back home that coming Saturday June 11th. Again, the personal conversation came up only bc I was leaving for your home to let your animals out, as she drove up to drop off my order forgetting part of as I assured her I would be in her area and could grab it when I came by. Knowing a friends beloved friend has died in such a way, I felt I was being a good friend by relaying this to you only to find out you were no longer friends and you feel the way you do for me simply being a caring human. I do know now that I was wrong for that and I didn't know you were no longer friends. That's it. You also mention damage, when I came to care for your pets, I didn't not see any damage or noticed anything new during my time there. Pets had accidents and o cleaned them up. Having that many animals, anything could have happened when we're not there that we didn't see. You also previously stated that the board that you are on are being harassed to say, and your safety at best, is questionable. You know that I run my pet sitting services with my 7 year old daughter and I feel that is something you should have disclosed to me prior to. You put me and my little girls safety at risk, this is not cool and my Husband is even more upset over this and the fact that your making all this fuss over minimal stuff outside of pet sitting your 10 cats and 4 dogs. Please take a moment to submit a payment to me as soon as possible for my services that was completed from June 4th through June 11th - 3 visits per day to let your 4 dogs out, Skyler, Kratos, Sophie, & Kaos go potty outside, clean their poop from the yard which filled up a five gallon bucket twice and feed them and even leash train Kaos who recently did training along with Sebastian, Hunter, Shadow, Lacy, Tippy Toes, Macy, Ted, Bill, Grumpy Cat, and snowball feeding them and cleaning the various cat wastes boxes around your home and even vacuuming hair and cleaning up accidents and litter to keep your home clean (I'm not a house cleaner I'm a pet sitter). I even took your trash out to the can and the can to the road on the days you asked along with bringing packages inside and hiding one and mail inside and laying out pork from your freezer for you. Also, no need to worry about using our services in the future, My husband has already decided that we will no longer be available to you and your critters for any further services and he isn't happy that you put his wife and daughter at risk for their own safety. Over the 8 days we spent working your chore list to then be treated poorly the way you treated me via messenger when you got home even after we laid out pork from your freezer per your request, in unacceptable. Yes, we could have discussed pricing, we have only worked weekends for you up to this point and you even said you k

Last Submission in response. Yes, we could have discussed pricing, we have only worked weekends for you up to this point and you even said you knew this would not be a $20 a day job. I was being kind only charging you that to begin with bc we were what I thought "friends" and it was only weekends... I'm working on getting you an invoice that shows what you should have been charged had I still been with Rover and not with Rover and one without discounts. No one who is trying to make a living would be ok with spending 28 plus hours of work and 42 miles per day totaling around 250 driven miles over a span of 8 days and 23 driven trips, coming to about 4 hours a day spent at your home for $40 a day for all that you requested to be done. All pet sitting services charge per visit not per day and add on each additional pet as well along with the services added on and such.
After going back and forth and providing a settlement amount of $500 for the provided care that was done for 14 animals in one home, I was told I would get a payment on Friday, then it was the next Friday then nothing... then I Was asked if I would accept Half now and Half in two weeks. I was legally advised to only accept the full settlement amount and document everything that happened and I did. I was paid for my services from June 4th through June 11th - on June 26Th which all my clients pay me the day they return or the day after they get settled back in and I never had to beg anyone to pay me nor have I ever had a client treat me so unkind for taking are of 14 critters before. I would highly suggest that anyone who has 4 dogs and 10 cats in one home, should not take a vacation or hire someone as a pet sitter for pennies and expect house cleaner results. All the animals were accounted for and healthy when I last visited and I had already planned on discounting my services offered to ****** after contracting a Upper Respiratory Infection and her being disrespectful and putting our lives in a dangerous way and not disclosing that. .

After reviewing our security system, she was not at our home 28 hours for the week, it was less than half at 13 hours for the entire week, based on door sensors and security footage. She disclosed our home being unattended. She was never in any danger. Her entire process was unprofessional and after speaking to other neighbors, apparently she sought this opportunity to create a price increase. i asked several times if it was too much, she assured me it was not. Begging, as with the 28 hours, is an embellishment, at best. She later disclosed she was overscheduled for time and didn't realize how much time would be necessary for our household. Again, 13 hrs, not 28, was the entire week. At times, she was there less than 15 minutes. At most, 1 1/2 hours. She just booked more than she could handle, became sick and that added to her already overscheduled week.

I would suggest she is fine for a day or two but anything longer is beyond her scheduling capability.

This job, 10 cats and 4 dogs was my only job for that week. I did not over-schedule myself. And disclosing that someone you knew passed away which has become me letting someone know your home was not occupied by YOU, specifically as there are more that just you in your home. That was friends trying to be kind to you. Not knowing this is what you do to your "friends"...

The time it takes for someone other than you to tend to your 14 animals, is not time efficient. As we all know pets are curious and want to be where new people are and to keep having to separate everyone from eating together and such, keeping the dogs from eating the cats food and well the list goes on. Pls move on with your life and save us both time from going back on forth on this as it's now in the past. I highly suggest ****** find a live in sitter next time for her 14 pets as simply someone coming to feed them and let them out along with the long list of requested stuff to do, didn't meet her expectations. Nothing would ever meet her expectations. Which is why I will never pet sit for you ever again.

Price increase is for anyone who needs pet sitting services that go over a 5 day span. That's normal for all pet sitters. You expected to pay me $20 ish a day, knowing your home wasn't easy. I did my absolute best and I am very sorry I can't or will ever meet your high expectations for a pet sitter.