Shirley L

False advertising ‘Sitters4U’ and incompetent ‘house sitter’

Between the 21 December 2020 and 5th January 2021 we required the services of a house sitter at short notice as our sitter was unable to assist due to the impending COVID 19 lockdown. We were directed to a site run by Bianca Steyn called ‘Sitters4U’. We made contact with Bianca Steyn who assured us that she had someone professional who could assist us at short notice and we proceeded to set up the first interview with a lady called ‘Bonnie/Bronwyn Armstrong’ and that Bronwyn was one of her ‘best employees’. Bronwyn came for an interview a few days prior to us leaving. She brought her CV with her. The CV had no house sitting experience listed. However, Bianca assured us that she was her ‘best employee’ and would be able to do the job competently. We had assumed that ‘Sitters4U’ was a house sitting service, from the name, and only subsequently found out that they provide childcare and related services and not housesitting services. This is false advertising. We had the second interview with Bonnie Armstrong and unbeknownst to us, this was when things went horribly wrong. Bonnie assured us she was a diligent lady, working hard on her education degree and all she needed was access to Wi-Fi and a place where she could work over this period. She led us to believe that only she would be present at the house, which is what we wanted. We set up a second meeting when my husband would also come home early to show her how our alarm system works and other necessary details. She arrived 30 mins late and said she was in a great hurry. This is after we had taken time off work to accommodate her and had to cancel numerous patients. The first question she asked was to see the size of our oven. She was happy that it was large. She also asked if her ‘mom’ could stay over. Shortly thereafter, she asked if her ‘mom’ and her ‘mom’s boyfriend’ could also stay. This was clearly not part of the deal. We refused and had to lock various rooms so she could not have access to them, nor invite people to stay over. We left her money to look after the birds and asked if she could keep a record of the cash receipts. The money was left intact, the birds not looked after over a period of nearly 2 weeks. Prior to leaving on the 21st Dec, we told Bonnie that we would be available 24/7 should anything go wrong so we could direct the appropriate person to assist her when necessary. On or about the 2nd January, Bonnie called us and reported that she had “accidentally” smashed the lid of our toilet cistern. She told us that because the toilet didn’t flush she attempted to remove the lid of the cistern and dropped it, smashing it to smithereens. As she had not obeyed our instruction to call us when there were problems, we asked her to vacate the house immediately. We still payed her in full until the 4th Jan. Upon our arrival home we were terribly upset to find the following damage: 1 A smashed toilet cistern. 2 A patio chair that had been cracked 3 Two antique dining room chairs that have been badly damaged 4 Strange greasy marks on the upholstery of some of the chairs We would like to WARN you to never use ‘Sitters4U’ or a lady who goes by the name of Bonnie Armstrong as a house sitter. We do not know if the details on the CV are correct as her surname was not included on the CV. Bonnie has only admitted to guilt of smashing the cistern lid. Bianca Steyn, her employer, paid us R850. There is still in excess of R1800 that we had to pay the plumbers. Bonnie has told us that she cannot pay this amount as Bianca Steyn from Sitters4U has not paid her since she started her job at our home. We will have to spend thousands to repair the other damage.