Candle Lake Cautionary Tale

We had a house and pet sit agreement set up months in advance and had several lengthy phone conversations with the homeowners. It is our habit to keep in touch with the homeowners over long periods to assure them that we are coming and the homeowners have told us that they like this.

It is always a bit of a gamble for both parties. We don’t want to be the ones who cancel because some homeowners put a lot of money into their travel plans; buying plane tickets for example.

If a cancellation must happen one should at least give as much time to inform the homeowner or the house sitter as reasonably possible.

As we sit in our campsite about 100 km from Candle Lake and a couple of days early, we give one more call to confirm our arrival date and time. At that time, we were told by the woman of the house that her husband has injured his leg but is getting therapy, so not to worry. We’re told that their departure date will be a couple days later. The contact call was initiated by us and this conversation with the homeowners should have been a red flag! We’d had a similar experience with the last minute cancellation last year because of a health condition.

We accept their explanation of a delay – no problem.

Two days pass and we get a call from them to come to the house and that our room is ready. They told us that Farley, their cat, was looking forward to meeting us. They confirmed that they would be leaving early the next day.

Because there is no place in Candle Lake, Saskatchewan, to purchase bulk fresh produce, we let the homeowners know that we would be bringing up two months worth of perishables.

Later that day, we arrive at their beautiful log house on the lake and get a full orientation. They scrambled to prepare the spare room which we should have taken as a second red flag. In the meantime, we’ve stored all our vegetables and meat in their refrigerator and freezer.

The following morning, during breakfast, the husband tells us that he’s changed his mind and they will not be going on their vacation. We were shocked! He gave the reason that his leg was hurting too much.

We bring up the idea of compensation for all the goods we had purchased and that we don’t have the storage capacity in our small RV. They agreed to calculate the cost from the receipt we provided but not much else. Even though we were provided with a financial settlement, the whole experience left us feeling empty. We call the house and pet sitting experience a bit of a crap shoot. We experience strong pangs of disappointment when there is no practical notice of cancellation.