catnapper
07-16-2006, 10:06 AM
I was talking to a customer yesterday and it got me wondering....
The customer was catsitting for a friend. They were refilling the water fountain when it broke. The lady almost fell over to find out its a $45 fountain (she initially thought of simply replacing the whole thing and calling it a day) and she's catsitting out of the goodness of her heart, not for any money.
So my question is this:
If someone was catsitting your cats and broke something worth $20 or more, would you make them repair or replace the broken thing, or just chalk it up to it was about to break and would have broken at some point anyway? Would it make a difference if the item was old or new?
I know if someone broke something of mine I wouldn't necessarily care, I'd just like to know how it happened. Right now my own fountain is looking like its fighting for life, so I'd be sure to tell a catsitter that its limping ;) and not to worry if it did indeed die on them
Now my next question is:
How would you handle it if you were the catsitter? Would you want to replace the broken item despite cost or just leave them a note explaining what happened and let them fix it? Offer to find the replacement parts and fix it?
If I was catsitting and broke something of someone else's I'd feel incredibly guilty and would feel the "need" to replace it for them, despite the cost (unless of course it was old and looked to be gasing its last breath anyway)
It made me think, and next time I go away, and ask someone to look in on the cats I will spell out everythign beforehand instead of making hte poor person worry the whole time I was gone. And if I ever catsit, I'll ask what would happen should something break while they were gone.
The customer was catsitting for a friend. They were refilling the water fountain when it broke. The lady almost fell over to find out its a $45 fountain (she initially thought of simply replacing the whole thing and calling it a day) and she's catsitting out of the goodness of her heart, not for any money.
So my question is this:
If someone was catsitting your cats and broke something worth $20 or more, would you make them repair or replace the broken thing, or just chalk it up to it was about to break and would have broken at some point anyway? Would it make a difference if the item was old or new?
I know if someone broke something of mine I wouldn't necessarily care, I'd just like to know how it happened. Right now my own fountain is looking like its fighting for life, so I'd be sure to tell a catsitter that its limping ;) and not to worry if it did indeed die on them
Now my next question is:
How would you handle it if you were the catsitter? Would you want to replace the broken item despite cost or just leave them a note explaining what happened and let them fix it? Offer to find the replacement parts and fix it?
If I was catsitting and broke something of someone else's I'd feel incredibly guilty and would feel the "need" to replace it for them, despite the cost (unless of course it was old and looked to be gasing its last breath anyway)
It made me think, and next time I go away, and ask someone to look in on the cats I will spell out everythign beforehand instead of making hte poor person worry the whole time I was gone. And if I ever catsit, I'll ask what would happen should something break while they were gone.