'AITA for exposing a 'beloved' pet sitter for defrauding her clients?'
"AITA for exposing a local 'beloved' pet sitter for what she was?"
Numbers_Game_2022 writes:
I have used a pet sitter who came highly recommended, starting back in 2021. At first, she was fantastic. She would send pictures of my fur babies every time she came, was reliable, and always helped me out in a pinch.
Starting in 2023, I noticed she wasn’t sending pictures every time she was supposed to be at the house. This made me a bit suspicious, but the fur babies were happy, and there was food and water for them. So I chalked it up to the fact that I had been using her for a while and we had built trust.
Fast forward to November of 2024. I had to abruptly leave the country because my daughter, who was studying overseas, had a very serious medical emergency. My husband happened to be out of town for work at the same time, so I hired the sitter to care for our two cats for a few days.
When my husband got home, there was poop all up our stairs, by the front door, and down the hallway. He said it was an absolute mess and that the whole house stunk. If the sitter had actually been coming, there was no way she wouldn’t have seen it.
My cats have never pooped outside of the litter box, so this was highly unusual. I didn’t confront her. I just paid her, figured it was a one-off, and decided I would never hire her again. At the time, I was dealing with my daughter’s medical condition in a hospital in a foreign country where English isn’t the primary language, along with my own 15-month battle with breast cancer. The cats were fine, and I had bigger fish to fry.
Fast forward to this past weekend. Someone posted on a community Facebook page about a pet sitter. They didn’t name names, but they described the exact same experience I had. So I DM’d the original poster and asked if it was the same person. She said yes and mentioned that quite a few others had messaged her asking who it was and then said they had the same experience.
On top of the poop in the house, the OP said this sitter did not show up on her cameras. When she confronted the sitter, the sitter denied everything, became defensive, started gaslighting the OP, and eventually blocked her on Facebook.
This wasn’t a one-off like I had originally thought, and I felt this couldn’t keep happening. This is neglectful, fraudulent, and abusive. So I commented on the post that if anyone wanted to know who the sitter was, they could DM me and I would share the name.
One person in particular reached out to me. She had hired this pet sitter to care for her elderly cat, who needed two shots a day. The sitter only appeared on her cameras for two out of five days. When they got home, the cat was sick. They rushed it to the vet, and unfortunately, the cat had to be euthanized.
Now I am even more mad. Not only because of that story, but because I had probably ten others come forward with similar experiences. On Monday, I decided to make a post on the community page naming names. And again, more people came forward.
Some remained anonymous because they feared retaliation. I decided to post a review on her business Facebook page and encouraged others to do the same. Of course, by this point, word had gotten around that I was exposing her. She posted on her page that she didn’t even know me and had only watched my dog once. So I posted receipts. She took them down.
She messaged me privately, saying that I am ruining her good reputation and causing her to lose business. She claimed I was defaming and bullying her, and that if I didn’t take my review down, she would have no choice but to call her lawyer.
I told her that this is my truth and what happened, and that if she can provide pictures of the pets for each and every time she was hired to watch them, I would gladly remove my review, post a public apology, and even put a sign on my lawn advertising for her. All she has to do is post receipts.
So far, that has not been done. In all of this, it has come to my attention that her long-time partner is in jail (long story), so it’s been a tough year, and I am sure she is suffering from some mental health issues, which makes me feel bad. So, AITA for exposing her so publicly?
Here are the top rated comments.
Hot-Care7556 says:
NTA. She lied and attempted to defraud her clients. She ruined her reputation, not you.
Trailsya says:
NTA. She is irresponsible. So sad about the old cat.
Bosmer-1209 says:
You and some others with evidence should sue her for the cost of the stays and get your money back.
Ava91xx says:
NTA at all. if you had gone off after one bad visit, maybe it would’ve been a little harsh. but you waited. You gave her the benefit of the doubt multiple times. when other people shared their stories, you helped protect your community. That’s not bullying that’s accountability.