Terms of service

1. What we agree to do

We attend your property on each day you have booked and carry out the care you have described: feeding, fresh water, litter or yard, medication as you have specified, and time spent with your animal.

We record each visit in your account, with a note about what was done and how your animal seemed.

A visit takes roughly twenty to thirty minutes depending on how many animals there are. Times are approximate — we ride between visits in Wellington weather.

2. Who will attend

Usually the owner. When the owner is unavailable, one of the trained backup sitters listed on our About page will attend instead.

You are told which person is assigned before they attend, not afterwards. By booking, you agree that a named backup sitter may enter your property to carry out the care you have booked.

3. Keys and access

Keys are handed over in person, normally at the meet & greet. We do not accept alarm codes, gate codes, or key locations through this website, by email, or by text.

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, and we will still charge for it if we attended and could not get in.

4. Veterinary emergencies

This is the most important section on this page.

When you book, you nominate a vet, an emergency contact, and a spending limit. If your animal appears unwell or injured:

• We call you first.
• If we cannot reach you, we call your emergency contact.
• If we cannot reach either of you and the animal needs urgent attention, we take them to your nominated vet and authorise treatment up to the limit you set, and no further.

You are responsible for veterinary costs. We pay them at the time if we have to, and invoice you afterwards at cost, with the vet's receipt. We do not add a margin.

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.

5. Prices and payment

Feeding visits are a fixed daily price shown on the Services page, charged when you book. The amount charged is calculated by us at the time of payment, not sent from your browser.

House sitting is quoted individually within the range shown, because the honest price depends on distance, length of stay, and the number of animals. Nothing is charged until we have sent you an exact price and you have accepted it.

Prices include GST where GST applies. All amounts are in New Zealand dollars.

6. Cancellation and refunds

If you cancel:

• More than 48 hours before the first visit — full refund.
• Between 24 and 48 hours before — 50% refund.
• Less than 24 hours before — no refund. By that point the day has usually been turned down for someone else.

Refunds go back to the card you paid with. Banks typically take five to ten working days.

If we cancel — for illness, an accident, or anything else — you get a full refund of the unused portion, regardless of timing. We will try to arrange a backup sitter first, because that is the point of having them.

Changing dates rather than cancelling costs nothing, if we can accommodate it. Ask.

7. Your responsibilities

• Give us accurate information about your animal, including anything that has bitten or scratched somebody before.
• Leave enough food, litter, and medication for the whole booking.
• Tell us if your animal is unwell, on new medication, or has been to the vet recently.
• Make sure the property is safe to enter and that we can reach the animal.
• Keep your contact details current so we can reach you while you're away.

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.

8. What we are responsible for

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:

• Illness or injury that is not caused by our negligence, including an animal that becomes unwell while you are away.
• An animal that escapes through a fault in the property — a gate that does not latch, a window that does not close.
• Damage your animal does to your own property while you are away.
• Loss caused by wrong or incomplete information you gave us.

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.

9. Photos

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.

10. If something goes wrong

Tell us. Email kelburncrittercare@gmail.com and we will reply within two working days.

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.

11. Changes to these terms

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.