What would you do?

We have a dog walker that comes over and walks our dogs four days a week while we are at work. They would send me an invoice once a Month which I would then pay. I noticed sometime in I would say 2022, that I stopped receiving invoices. I reached out at least three different times letting them know that I hadn’t received an invoice and they would reply saying that they were busy and would get around to it and told me not to worry.

Here we are three years later, the walker keeps coming over and walking my dogs. They’re very nice, they care for our dogs well, they’ll bring packages inside if they’re left at our door and they always leave us a note in our log book letting us know how the walk went.

Here’s where it gets weird, I received a text message from the owner two weeks ago asking when the last time was that I received an invoice. I said I think it was sometime in 2022. I said I text you three different times letting you know and you told me to not worry about it. I received a text back saying, to clarify, this is Vanessa, the new owner, then saying she bought the business back in April.

I was like what? New owner? No one told me the business was sold. It was the same number so since April, I thought I was texting the previous owner. No one ever told me. I was really annoyed at first because I thought, he we are, letting these people who we don’t know, into our home and letting them take care of our dogs (babies). I even saw the girl one time when I got home early one day and just assumed she was a new employee.

We thought that the owner was giving us a break and not making us pay because I had cancer.

  1. How would you handle this?15 votes
    1. Fire them and pay nothing.
        6.67%
    2. Keep them and only pay starting from 2 weeks ago when they let you know they were the new owner.
      13.33%
    3. Keep them and only for the walks since they bought the business in April
      40.00%
    4. Keep them and pay for all walks including the walks that took place with the previous owner.
      40.00%
«1

Comments

  • If its an actual business, I dont think not paying them is an option? Just sounds like poor management on their part.

  • That is so weird. Maybe it comes down to "how much do you want to keep using them?" If it was always the same walker and you had a good relationship, maybe worth working out some compromise on payment to keep using them. If you're not attached to the staff, maybe leave the ball in their court. I'm not good at not paying for things people do for me (friends aside), so I'd try to make a at least a little right and maybe hear Vanessa's story - there may be a lot more to it than the surface.

  • edited October 2025

    If it were me, I’d definitely have a quick chat with the new owner to clear things up and see about paying for the walks since the new owner took over in April, that’s really when it became their responsibility to handle the invoicing and communication. Anything before that you had reminded the the old owner but they told you not to worry about it.

    In regards to keeping them, it sounds like they’ve been great with your dogs even since the new owner, so if you still feel good about them overall, I’d keep them. I’d definitely chat and make sure you know who’s coming into your home and how billing’s going to work from now on.

    Good luck and hope things work out.

  • edited October 2025

    no personal insults-Stormy

  • You should pay for the services you've received, even if you decide to switch to someone else now.

  • I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the CC discussion forums.

    For a clear conscience and to avoid any legal issues, this is what I would do:

    1) Send a certified/return receipt letter to the previous owner explaining the situation, and due to the significant amount of past money owed since 2022, ask for an invoice for all unpaid service, and ask to negotiate a reduced retroactive rate, or for a payment plan for the full amount owed. This will CYA.

    2) Send a certified/return receipt letter to the new owner explaining the same, and ask the same in regard to their services since April. If you wish to discontinue their services at this time, state that in the letter as well.

    I would not feel comfortable at all with someone entering my house unsupervised, who is expecting to be paid, but isn't.

    I hope you're able to get this sorted out, and with favorable terms.

  • edited October 2025

    @jubal yes 🙌
    @Morpheus Do the right thing ..Pay for the services you received..

    It’s a business, they should be paid for their services..

    One time I noticed one of my bank accounts had a few thousand extra in it.. I knew it was incorrect and it was a mistake on their part.. I called the bank and let them know .. the same way I would call the bank and let them know if I had fraudulent charges on my account , etc..

    Always do the right thing 😊

    Sorry to hear you had cancer 😔 Hope you are doing well and cancer free 🙏

  • By notifying them on three separate occasions (hopefully in writing,) you acted in good faith. You weren't trying to hide the mistake or take advantage of them. You notified them and a gave them a chance to correct their mistake. They didn't follow up for whatever reason, which would fall into the category of negligence by them for not fulfilling their end of the contract. Their failure constitutes an accounting error and not a breach of the contract on your part. In other words, as a business owner, you can't make a mistake, be notified of the mistake on multiple occasions without attempting to rectify the situation, and then try to hold your customers liable. Especially in light of you thinking it was comped because of your cancer diagnosis. I'm assuming they were made aware of it, or some conversation took place that would allow you to make that assumption. I'm not a lawyer, but you have a strong case especially if it's documented. You obviously should discuss it with them, but don't let them take you to town because of a failure on their end. Business owners have a responsibility to their customers to follow up on discrepancies and fix them in a timely manner. This was not timely and would likely be a heavy financial burden on your end because they ignored your communications. It's bad business.

  • Update: they sent me an invoice asking for payment for visits for the past 12 Months. I checked my records and they are billing me for 9 days where I didn’t have a visit. I don’t think they are being shady, I’m sure it’s just a record keeping error on their part.

  • @TheFunCartel

    Disagree with the "child stealing change" analogy. It was the business' responsibility to send the invoices in a timely manner. As @Love2Spoon noted, this was negligence on the part of the business.

  • edited October 2025

    personal insult #2. Lets not do 3 -Stormy

  • @TheFunCartel

    @Morpheus reached out to the business on three separate occasions attempting to rectify the situation, and they told him not to worry about it.

  • Yes that is correct, I reached out multiple times and was told not to worry. I said that in my original post 😊

  • @Sunrise_Snuggle If you research this, an invoice is not required for them to pursue back charges. They just need proof of services rendered. And unless @Morpheus has it in writing that they said not to worry about it, then good luck defending yourself in court on just your memory. I doubt he has it in writing because if they put that in writing they would have probably taken the time to send a written invoice.

    In addition he said he received invoices once a month for awhile. Then they stopped. But he continued to use services that he should pay for. He established that he knows he paid monthly. He would most likely lose in civil court if they pursue that route.

    Notifying someone that you didn’t receive an invoice does not relieve you of your financial obligation. Ask anyone that has dealt with major surgeries at a hospital and received a past due invoice a year later when they didn’t ever receive an invoice from whatever particular service it was (when you deal with a hospital, the bills come from all over the place).

  • No one is going to court lol

  • reached out multiple times and was told not to worry.

    You have proof of that?

  • Yes I do 🐸

  • A civil court judge is going to ask one thing if the dog walking company in question pursues collections—did you use their services? They hear the I didn’t get a bill all day long by delinquent payers. The only proof you can offer that will help you is what @TxTom said—registered mail proving your attempt to resolve the debt.

  • Want to know why we aren’t going to court?

  • edited October 2025

    Because you are lying? And it’s a family member?

  • I suspect the dog walking company is a child

  • edited October 2025

    Cause we settled lol they sent me an invoice. I said that about 10 comments ago 🤦🏻‍♂️

  • edited October 2025

    But you never said you were paying for any part of the twelve months. Just that you disputed 9 days of the twelve months. That’s not resolved yet:

    Update: they sent me an invoice asking for payment for visits for the past 12 Months. I checked my records and they are billing me for 9 days where I didn’t have a visit. I don’t think they are being shady, I’m sure it’s just a record keeping error on their part.

  • So did you pay up or not?

  • Should I take them to court for the 9 days they charged me for that they didn’t provide a service for?

  • Ask your lawyer, not me.

    My opinion is the original post was trolling.

    But if it isn’t, and you haven’t paid, they can still take you to court or send it to collections. Disputing part of the charges doesn’t exonerate you from the other charges.

  • But I am sure if you called your local small claims court they would provide guidance.

  • No, I have no desire to take these nice people to court. I’m happy we were able to resolve this with both parties happy 😁

  • I was curious so I did speak to my lawyer about this and she told me that since they didn’t have a contract with me and never informed me that the owners had changed, them entering my home without my consent could constitute breaking and entering. As I said though, it’s been resolved and everyone is happy.

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