Holidog - what a rip off

ClaireJ101 · 18 September 2015 at 1:53PM

I WISH I'D NEVER COME ACROSS THIS WEBSITE AND SINCERELY ADVISE ALL PET-OWNERS TO AVOID

I needed to find a trustworthy reliable cat sitter before going on holiday, I came across Holidog on Google and they sounded great - you join and browse/message potential pet-sitters in your area, then only if you find someone pay to join the site - although £72 for a year seemed steep (you have to pay for the pet-sitting as well) it would have been well worth it if it had worked. Unfortunately for me it did not...
Having found someone who agreed to pet-sit, I joined the site and was then given my prospective pet-sitters phone number, after exchanging texts it became clear that she was not reliable and I couldn't risk using her - she did not have any reviews to reassure me, neither did most of the other pet-sitters I saw. I cancelled the booking and couldn't find anyone else, the T&C's said I was entitled to ask for my money back, great I thought, after a few emails with customer services and a few weeks (not sure why it took so long) I was only refunded £25, apparently I still have to pay the £52 for my booking even though I cancelled it weeks before it was due to happen. Customer services are refusing to budge - so they have taken £52 off me for absolutely nothing.

pollyanna24 · 18 September 2015 at 1:57PM

ClaireJ101 wrote: »

I WISH I'D NEVER COME ACROSS THIS WEBSITE AND SINCERELY ADVISE ALL PET-OWNERS TO AVOID

I needed to find a trustworthy reliable cat sitter before going on holiday, I came across Holidog on Google and they sounded great - you join and browse/message potential pet-sitters in your area, then only if you find someone pay to join the site - although £72 for a year seemed steep (you have to pay for the pet-sitting as well) it would have been well worth it if it had worked. Unfortunately for me it did not...
Having found someone who agreed to pet-sit, I joined the site and was then given my prospective pet-sitters phone number, after exchanging texts it became clear that she was not reliable and I couldn't risk using her - she did not have any reviews to reassure me, neither did most of the other pet-sitters I saw. I cancelled the booking and couldn't find anyone else, the T&C's said I was entitled to ask for my money back, great I thought, after a few emails with customer services and a few weeks (not sure why it took so long) I was only refunded £25, apparently I still have to pay the £52 for my booking even though I cancelled it weeks before it was due to happen. Customer services are refusing to budge - so they have taken £52 off me for absolutely nothing.

I agree. They do seem extortionate. But I paid £39 for three months, not £72.

I used them to find a sitter for my dog, but then I didn't need the sitter. Still had to pay the £39.

Until my 3 months is up, I've been using my account to help other people find sitters for their animals.

jumbojuice · 19 September 2015 at 11:40AM

I wish I'd seen this too before when we needed to find someone to take care of our dog.

I signed up to this, paid my money because it was the only way to get hold of the dog sitters details, and then had to pay them on top and they bailed on me at the last minute!

Which was a massive concern considering we were flying out the next day - i used tailster.com - phoned them up, super friendly and they found me someone within a couple of hours - no fees to them, and I could speak freely to the sitter before booking on the site - tailster keep the money until you come back which was nice too..

I'm sure you can get your refund back from holidog if you ask enough? But definitely recommend tailster.com instead as they dont charge subsciption fees i think.

zsazsa613 · 19 September 2015 at 11:45AM

I tried finding sitters for my dogs and not one single person I contacted could do my dates. What a waste of time.

lauralouise90 · 11 October 2015 at 3:42PM

I'm sorry you had to go through that - It's horrible leaving your dog with a sitter as it is without having people let you down or seem untrustworthy.

We've always used City Pups (http://www.citypups.co.uk/) for our dog day care and holiday care - they're only available in North London though. I'd definitely recommend them as they have acres of land so Milo and Max get a lot of exercise when they're there.

missbiggles1 · 23 September 2016 at 2:36PM

Spam......

HM_Shanker · 26 September 2016 at 12:26AM

You're happy to leave your dogs with strangers?

HolidogIsARipOff · 22 March 2017 at 2:07PM

All,

AVOID AVOID AVOID.

Holidog is a ripoff plain and simple. The intention sounds fine - charge (an extortionate) fee to act as a contact finder between you and potential pet sitters. The issue is that their approach to their subscription is nearing fraud!! I cancelled my subscription with them and yet 4 days later they still went ahead and took the money. I should have cancelled it with the bank aswell but I just didn't expect them to take it!!

Along with not allowing for refunds on bookings cancelled in advance, this is a great example of why you should stay away and use someone else!

ThereseGustavsson · 6 April 2017 at 12:58PM

Beware of this company. I signed up for a 3 months subscription last summer and since then they have taken a further £171 from my debit card without permission. They are refusing to refund.

Manor_lady · 12 April 2017 at 1:18PM

Hello l am a sitter for Holidog , l have worked for them for a year now not only do they rip you off they rip the sitters off as well . Since joining Holidog l have had a lot of dogs booked with me but Holidog do NOT explain to the boarders the charges the way they work .They think as have been said in the forums that this fee includes the sitters fee which it does not if l am notified of a booking l can NOT mention where l live text email or nothing till this fee is got by Holidog . I have lost a lot of work through this but the people who have paid their fee have come back to me this year and where they booked for 2 weeks last year they are booking for a month and going further a field on holiday . I have noticed the board has changed there are no people to contact now if you had a query you have to email which l did and got no reply.. l get booking word of mouth now . I am sorry to you people who had a bad experience on behalf of the sitters as we had it to , in some ways they earn a lot more than the sitters for doing nothing as it is the sitters that have to doing the selling to get the job. l always tell the boarders to contact Holidog before l take a booking as it is a waste of my time spending hrs on talking and telling them of how great my gardens are and there dogs come on holiday for sure when they come to my venue if they don' t know the charge anyway Happy Easter to you all happy holidays

Brendao · 11 May 2017 at 8:20PM

I joined holidog February 2017 you pay £57 for 3 months which I did, I did get a sitter for my dog who was very nice but when I checked my bank account they took another £57 in may for another 3 months when I emailed them they could not refund me but they would give me 3 months free I thought the site was not that easy to get your head round it but don't join it is a rip off should be took off the internet .

Holidog - what a rip off

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