We often get asked when payment for pet sitting or dog walking services are due. This policy will vary by company, but our policy is for vacation clients payment is due prior to your departure. That means before you leave you will need to leave payment on the counter and your pet sitter will pick it up on their first visit (we send you confirmation before you leave which includes your total).
For clients who use our daily dog walking services we leave you a spiral notebook where we leave our daily note. At the end of the week your dog walker will leave you a total for that week. Payment is due on the next visit. So, if we leave your total on Friday and if your next visit is the following Monday that is when payment would be expected.
This policy works for us.
By collecting payment from vacation clients at the beginning of the pet sit we don’t have to track receivables and chase people down when they get home. By collecting payment for daily dog walking services at the end of the week we don’t have to track credits if you cancel a day during the week. We have encountered vacation clients over the years that weren’t comfortable paying for services before they were rendered, however it is rare. Our reputation speaks for itself. We do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.
Don’t you love the note we found reminding someone in the household to leave payment for us?
I have a client who keeps “forgetting” to leave me a check for walking her dog on Mondays, she admits money is tight, how should i handle it? I’m really getting fed up and want to tell her I am done.
That’s a tough one. How far behind is she on payment? You could tell her your new policy requires pre-payment? If it continues then I agree with letting the client go.
Hey I’m having trouble do you pay the sitter before or after the booking?
Most professional pet sitters require payment before. Some require a deposit or full payment at time of booking. We just ask our clients to leave payment on the counter and the sitter can pick it up on the first visit.
I currently require a 25% non-refundable deposit due at the time of booking due to the reason that I may decline other reservations in order to accommodate client’s schedules and pets. And they may also be reserving services at a very busy time for me. I never used to require the deposit but I got tired of booking clients and turning down others only for them to cancel on me last minute and I already turned down the others which I lost income for. I also require the remaining balance to be paid the 1st day of service, no exceptions. Does this sound like a fair policy? I’ve never had a problem with it but now I’m starting to get potential clients who have an issue with paying up front before services are rendered so I’m losing potential income.
The beauty of owning your own business means YOU make all the rules and trust me, those rules will change the longer you’re in business. We no longer require deposits. It’s just too much of a pain to log in and track (to me anyway). For vacation clients, we require payment the day the service starts. For our midday dog walking clients, we bill by the week. Hope that helps.