Business ProfileforKisses Happen

If I could give zero stars, I would.

My wife and I were looking for pet sitting services for a few days while we went out of town for her daughter's wedding. We met with the owner, Janet B*******, three months prior to the wedding. At that time, she appeared casual but got on well with the animals. We let her know that one of our dogs was elderly and arthritic while one of our cats required topical medication at a specific time in the morning. She reassured us that she would be watching the animals personally as she felt ours was a very "peaceful house," and that she would be able to visit four times per day to spend time with them and would therefore be able to accommodate their schedules and needs. She told us that she felt she has a "psychic connection" with animals, a bit on the kooky side, but not a bad trait in a pet sitter.

So we decided to hire her. She told us that she wanted to come back closer to the actual dates of the sitting service, another good sign.

Two months went by and when we still hadn't heard from her a week and a half before we were scheduled to fly out, we decided to contact her. She wrote back and set up a meeting scheduled for five days later, four days before we were to depart.

When Janet arrived, we were surprised to see she had someone else with her. She informed us that she would not be watching the animals personally, as we had agreed. Rather, this new person, whom we had never met and had no time to interview, would be pet sitting instead. She further informed us that their visiting schedule was very strict in time-6 am, the middle of the day, and 6 pm, since "most dogs are fine for 12 hours overnight." She explained a later visit at night could be arranged, but she would "have to charge more because it was late" (by "late," she meant between 8-9 pm).

By this time, we were feeling extremely uncomfortable. Part of the reason we had even met with Janet was that her website advertised "visits [that] are customized to meet the specific needs and routines of your pet(s)." The website went on to claim that the "sitter comes when and as often as you wish."

Yeah. Except that customization of routines does not, apparently, include the specific times your animals are fed, medicated, or taken out to do their business, and "when...you wish" means sometime approximating their visits at 6 am, mid-day, and 6 pm. We talked after Janet left and decided that anyone who changes agreements on a whim, knowingly misrepresents her services on her website, and feels it appropriate to leave a 13-year-old arthritic dog in a crate for 12 hours and disregard the specific times in a day an anxious cat is given her medication is not trustworthy. We wrote to her and told her we would not be using her services. We also told her that her bad faith had resulted in me having to cancel my plans to attend the wedding.

She wrote back the following: "I'm sorry you feel this way. I have very little control over market changes that I didn't anticipate."

Compare that to all the "peaceful home" and "psychic connection" jive and you'll begin to see the outlines of the kind of scam artist-or 21st century schizoid man-that you have here.

And by the way, "market changes" my eye. This woman had three months to arrange her schedule. She just didn't care and acted on her convenience, zero regard for agreements, zero regard for the promises on her website, and bottom line zero regard for the animals who were almost in her charge. Zero sense of accountability-since when does a responsible person affect to apologize for how someone else feels, or take the position that she had no choice but to break her word in view of conveniently unspecified "market changes"?

The business is called "Kisses Happen." Scam artists also happen. If you're looking for pet sitting services, don't even give this fraud the courtesy of a glance.

I'm very sorry that Mr. ******* feels so disappointed. The client was well aware I ran a business and employed other people. I expressed that although I wanted to personally sit for his animals, I couldn't give him a 100% guarantee. Our schedule changes often, particularly as get closer to the holidays. This year has been particularly difficult due to the new business boom (post-Covid), and scarcity of employees. I currently employ two people, both of whom are well qualified to take care of the client's pets. The particular employee the client met has had well over 10 years Veterinarian Tech experience as well as fostering experience with rescues. I find it extremely interesting that he was so "outraged" since he willingly held the meeting with us. In fact, as we left the meeting, he informed us where he would be leaving the key for entry. Additionally, I did not change the number of times, or hours to our visitations. The client did. Since he brought it up, I simply assumed he wanted to change the visitations from 4 times per day to 3 times per day. I try to be as flexible as I can in order to meet the client's needs. What transpired after our meeting is really between Mr. ******* and his wife. Regardless, the client texted me that they decided not to use me because "they" felt deceived. By the way, the client's wife did not participate in the second meeting. She was unavailable. So, she is completely unaware the actual discussions that took place during the second meet and greet with my employee. Finally, I've been in business since 2015, and have been quite successful. My company specializes in dog walking and pet sitting for both dogs and cats. We are not scam artists. I think my customers would agree that we're one of the best in Nashville. We give an excellent service. Mr. ******* decided he did not want to use our services, and he is perfectly within his right.