Cancellations & refunds
The short version
Cancelling before a sit starts is free, for parents and sitters alike. And because your card is only charged after a sit is completed, most cancellations never involve money at all.
Cancelling a booking
- Either the parent or the sitter can cancel a confirmed booking from the booking's page in the app, any time before the sit starts, at no charge.
- The other person is notified straight away, and the cancellation (and who made it) is recorded on the booking.
- Unaccepted requests can simply be withdrawn, and an unanswered request expires on its own after 24 hours, or at its start time if that comes first.
Cancellations are logged. Cancelling with plenty of notice shows nothing on anyone's public profile; a short-notice cancellation (see below) is shown on the canceller's profile for a limited period before it drops off again. A sitter who repeatedly cancels confirmed bookings can be removed from search or suspended.
Cancelling at short notice
If a parent cancels a confirmed booking less than 12 hours before the start, the sitter has usually kept the evening free and can't fill it. Cancelling is still free - but the app offers the parent an optional goodwill compensation payment to the sitter, suggested at one hour at the booked rate and adjustable. It is entirely voluntary. Every penny of it goes to the sitter; a small flat service fee is added to cover our payment costs, and that fee is all Sit&Co ever keeps - we never profit from a cancellation.
If a sitter cancels less than 12 hours before the start, it is counted as a short-notice cancellation on their public profile, and the Sit&Co team follows up on every one. Short-notice cancellations - by families and by sitters - stay on the profile for a limited period (currently around three months) and then drop off; a genuinely unavoidable one - illness, a family emergency - can be taken off straight away after review.
The window and the suggested amount are shown in the app when they apply; the values that applied when your booking was accepted are the ones that govern it.
When you're charged
Nothing is charged when you book. After the sit, the sitter's recorded times set the final amount (rate × time, plus the platform fee, plus any tip you choose), and your saved card is charged once the booking is confirmed as complete. If you think the recorded times are wrong, query them in the app before confirming.
Refunds
- If a payment needs to be corrected after it's been taken - a charge for a sit that didn't happen as recorded, or an amount that doesn't match what was agreed - raise it in the app or email [email protected].
- We review the booking's recorded times, messages and payment records, and where the record supports it we correct the charge.
- Refunds are issued through Stripe to the card that paid, and typically appear within 5-10 working days depending on your bank.
If a sitter doesn't turn up
You won't be charged for a sit that didn't happen. Let us know at [email protected] as well - no-shows count heavily against a sitter's place on the platform.
Changes to this policy
If the cancellation rules ever change, the policy that applied when your booking was accepted is the one that applies to that booking, and account holders will be told before any new rules take effect.