All the Comforts of Home Pet Sitters

I’ve been using ATCH for more than a year and have been pleased with the service. If you use petsitters — I have in several states and cities — you know this is often a 2^nd job and there is frequent turnover. I like being able to call Dave knowing he is familiiar with both my and my pet’s preferences.
Like other reviewers, I contacted several petsitters when I moved to Charlotte. 2 or 3 never called back and I was unimpressed with the others. Doing your homework is smart but at the end of the day it comes down to judging by your own experience: mine has been good.
As context I have 2 indoor only cats with no health issues.

As the references arrived, we called them. Two (of three) were out of our area code. That’s not unheard of, as people move, and take their cellphones with them. But it is odd, no? If you’re curious, one was for South Carolina (Coastal SC, not Upstate) and the other was for Maryland. None were home, but all called back. Nice touch.
The first said that they had two outdoor dogs, and after some prodding, that services were «good». Like our kids’ day at school. Later in the call, they said that they used the services «daily» and had «since December». I didn’t take the call, so I don’t know which number it was. The local one, I think. But they then said that the only problem they had was that the pets were spoiled when they were let out. Hmm. Thought they were outdoor dogs?
The second seemed to like the services and had generally good things to say as well, especially in regards to medicine. Unfortunately their dog seemed to have passed recently, so it’s not a completely current reference.
The third had good things to say all around, uses the service daily (more if they are out of town), and has for about a year.
All-​in-​all a good choice for references, although they weren’t provided at the interview, and there were ultimately fewer of them than some others may provide. You can’t control that some people’s animals will pass — or how much people will share when they get on the phone. Overall, they were good references, and that all of them actually picked up the phone and called back? Nice. They might all be family, but it was still impressive.
However, because the insurance wasn’t current and because our dogs were more comfortable with others, we decided to go a different way. When we called to let Dave know that we wouldn’t need his services (also because we weren’t going out of town this time after all), he said that maybe he could drop by to «check on the puppies». That was a little strange. After using the services for a while, perhaps. But after one interview? Sorry, no. Still moving on.