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Last updated 15 October 2026
These are the terms you agree to when you book. They are written in plain language on purpose, because a term you cannot understand is not much of an agreement.
Nothing here takes away rights you have under the Consumer Guarantees Act or the Fair Trading Act. Where those laws say something different from this page, those laws win.
Version 2026-10-16. Your booking records the version you accepted.
We visit your home on each day you have booked and carry out the care you have described: food, fresh water, the litter tray or garden, medication as you have specified, and time spent with your pets.
We record each visit in your account, with a note about what we did and how your pets seemed.
A feeding visit takes 10 to 20 minutes, depending on your pets and what they need. Morning visits are between 8 and 10am, and evening visits are between 4 and 6pm. We arrive within the time window for your visit, not at an exact minute, because the order of our round changes from day to day. These windows can change; if they do, the new times apply to your upcoming visits and are shown on your booking page.
Visits are carried out by a member of our team. Everyone on the team is named on our About page.
You are told which person is assigned before they attend, not afterwards. By booking, you agree that any member of our team named on the About page may enter your home to carry out the care you have booked.
We offer a meet & greet at your home before the first visit, and recommend one for a first booking, but it's optional. It takes about twenty minutes: we learn the routine, meet the animals, and sort out keys and how we get in. If you'd rather not have one, we still need your keys and the routine before the first visit, so we'll arrange that with you.
It costs $10.00 inside our standard area, and is free when the booking is three days or more. Outside our standard area it costs $15.00, to cover travel. The fee is shown before you book, and it is refunded if you cancel before the meet & greet has happened.
Keys are handed over in person, normally at the meet & greet. If you would rather send a door code, alarm code or key location, please use the optional access section of the booking form, or the secure form on your booking page, not email or text message. Anything sent either way is encrypted, can be opened only by the owner, team members with admin access, and the feeder assigned to your booking (from the day before it starts until the day after it ends), and is deleted automatically seven days after your booking ends.
We keep keys in a locked place, unlabelled and not marked with your address or name. At the end of your booking, keys are returned as agreed, or held for your next booking if you ask us to.
Tell us immediately if you change a lock, an alarm code, or the way in. We cannot carry out a visit we cannot get to. If we attend and cannot get in, or find you already home without having told us, that visit is charged.
This is the most important section on this page.
When you book, you nominate a vet and a spending limit, and, if you have one, an emergency contact. If your animal appears unwell or injured:
By booking, you authorise us, the owner or the feeder assigned to your booking, to take your animal to your nominated vet, or the nearest after-hours clinic if yours is closed, and to authorise treatment up to your limit.
You are responsible for veterinary costs. If the vet needs paying at the time, we pay up to $200.00 ourselves and invoice you afterwards at cost, with the vet's receipt. We do not add a margin.
If the limit you set is higher than that, you agree when you book that your vet bills you directly for anything above $200.00, and you give us the billing contact to pass to the vet. Please tell your vet that a member of our team may bring your animal in while you are away.
If you set a limit of $0, we will still take your animal to a vet in an emergency, and we will not authorise any treatment that costs money until we reach you. Please think about that number carefully.
Feeding visits have a fixed daily price, shown on the Services page, and are paid for by bank transfer. We email you an invoice when you book, and your booking is confirmed straight away: you can pay then, or any time during or after the visits. If it's still to pay on the evening of the last visit, we send a reminder. The amount is calculated by us when you book, not sent from your browser.
House sitting is quoted individually, within the range shown, because the price depends on where you live, the length of the stay and the number of animals. Nothing is charged until we have sent you an exact price and you have accepted it.
Holiday rate. Days and nights in a holiday-rate period cost more, and they are shown as their own lines before you pay:
Travel charge. Feeding visits in Breaker Bay, Broadmeadows, Churton Park, Horokiwi, Houghton Bay, Karaka Bays, Makara, Maupuia, Ngaio, Owhiro Bay, Seatoun, Strathmore Park, Woodridge cost $5.00 more for each visit (twice a day for twice-a-day visits), shown as its own line before you pay.
The price you are shown when you book is the price of that booking. If our prices change afterwards, your booking keeps its price.
We are not registered for GST, so our prices do not include GST. All amounts are in New Zealand dollars.
You can cancel from your account at any time, including once a booking has started. Each visit is refunded according to the notice you give before that visit:
How notice is measured. Notice runs from the moment you cancel to the start of the visit's time window, in Wellington time: for a morning visit, the start of the morning window on that day; for an evening visit or a house-sitting night, the start of the evening window. The windows are set out in section 1.
Coming home early. If you need fewer visits than you booked, choose the last visit you still need on your booking page. The visits after it are cancelled and refunded under the same rules, with no change fee. A meet & greet fee isn't refunded when a booking ends early, because the booking has gone ahead.
If you haven't paid yet. The same rules decide what a booking you haven't paid for still costs: you don't pay for what they would refund, and you do pay for what they wouldn't, such as a visit cancelled too late for a refund. We'll tell you the amount when you cancel.
A booking keeps the policy it was sold under, and the way it was to be paid. If we change these rules, bookings already made aren't affected.
Refunds go back the way you paid. If you paid by bank transfer, we transfer the refund to the account it came from, by hand, within two working days, and email you when it has gone. If you paid by card, it goes back to that card, and your bank decides how quickly it shows up, usually five to ten working days.
If we cancel, for illness, an accident or any other reason, you get a full refund for the visits we don't make, however late it is. Before we cancel, we will try to arrange for another member of our team to cover your booking.
To change dates rather than cancel, use Request a change on the booking in your account. We will move it if we can. There is no charge for that.
Unless you have agreed it with us in writing first, we don't:
On a feeding visit, bringing in the mail, watering plants and opening or closing curtains are extras: ask, and we'll tell you what we can do. When we house sit, we do these as part of looking after your home.
If your animal has a known history of aggression and you do not tell us, we may stop the booking and you will still be charged for it.
We take reasonable care. Under the Consumer Guarantees Act we must carry out this service with reasonable care and skill, and nothing here changes that.
We do not currently hold public liability insurance. We say that plainly rather than let you assume otherwise. It is being arranged, and this page will change when it is in place.
We are not responsible for:
Where we are liable, our liability is limited to the amount you paid for the booking, except where the law does not allow that limit.
We may take photos of your animal during a visit and send them to you.
We do not publish a photo anywhere without your written consent, given by ticking the consent box on your pet's profile or telling us directly. You can withdraw that at any time and the photo comes down.
Location data is stripped from every photo before it is stored, because a photo taken inside your house otherwise records where your house is.
Tell us. Email kelburncrittercare@gmail.com or text 022 566 3711, and we will reply within one working day.
If we cannot sort it out between us, you can take a claim to the Disputes Tribunal, which is designed for exactly this and does not need a lawyer.
These terms are governed by New Zealand law.
The terms that apply to your booking are the ones you agreed to when you booked. If we change them, the change applies to bookings made afterwards.