~ The Peaks Pet Nanny's Policies and Procedures ~
Reservations: The Peaks Pet Nanny is a "reservation in advance" service. While we will make every effort to meet your emergency and last minute needs, we cannot provide "on-call" service consistently. A two week notice is requested to ensure adequate coverage of your pet care needs. Please understand that last minute requests will allow less flexibility in scheduling and preferred pet nannies.
Office Hours: Monday - Friday, 9am until 4pm. Messages are periodically checked in the evenings and on weekends for clients returning from vacation care.
Visitation Times: We will make every effort to visit your pet as closely as possible to the time frame requested. However, if an unforeseen situation arises, times may be adjusted or pet nannies may be switched. For daily dog walking clients, we do ask for a 2 hour window of time for our visits - as afternoons are our busiest time of the day.
Scheduling: Scheduling is on a first come, first service basis. Please call the main office (973-601-3035) for reservations, cancellations, date changes, extensions of care, or any other information you need to give or pass on to your pet nanny prior to, during and after care. In order for your services to be covered by The Peaks Pet Nanny’s insurance and bonding all communications must be made through the office.
~ Please DO NOT call or email your Pet Nanny. We ask our pet nannies not to accept calls from clients on their personal cell phones or home phones so to ask them to do so is asking them to break our staff policies.
~ It is a breach of contract to hire work from a Peaks Pet Nanny professional pet nanny "on the side" without going through the office.
Cancellations (Daily Dog Walking): We understand that your plans may change for a variety of reasons. Please call the main office before 9am for same-day cancellations. Any calls after 9am will be invoiced at half of the regular bill rate, as this time was reserved for your visit. However, if a pet nanny is already in transit or makes the trip to your home, the regular charge applies.
Early Returns (Vacation Care): If you return home early, please call the main office immediately. Any visits that were booked and no longer needed will be will be invoiced at half of the regular bill rate, as this time was reserved for your visit. (Holiday and weekend fees still apply). If, however, you do not notify us of an early return and we make a trip and find you home, the regular charge applies. Please keep in mind, The Peaks Pet Nanny is a "reservation company" and may turn away new clients in order to accomodate our client's booked vacation care.
Late Returns (Vacation Care): If your return is delayed, please contact the main office as soon as possible so we may plan for additional visits until you return safe & sound.
Payments: The Peaks Pet Nanny accepts personal checks, Visa and MasterCard.
~ Checks are payable to "The Peaks Pet Nanny" and mailed directly to the main office: 949 Hunters Ridge,
~ For your convenience, we also accept Visa and MasterCard. If you wish to pay by credit card please call the office so we may take your information over the phone. Or we can walk you through adding your information into Power Pet Sitter directly. The credit card on file will be automatically charged for all completed pet-sitting appointments and 3% processing fee will be added to the total. Please know all future invoices will default to credit card payment.
~ Payment for daily dog walking clients: Statements are generated and emailed at the end of each month. Payment is due in full, upon receipt.
~ Payment for vacation care is collected in full, prior to your departure. Please remember to mail your payment to avoid any late fees.
Late Fees: Any unpaid balances are due 10 (ten) days from receipt of invoice and will accrue a $15 late payment fee every 30 days.
Returned Checks: There is a $35 fee for any returned checks, for any reason.
Gratuities: (never required & always appreciated) are passed directly to your pet nanny. It is best to leave or mail a separate check specifically for your pet nanny. Please do not to add a gratuity to the invoice amount. Gratuities can not be charged to credit cards.
Confirmation Calls (Vacation Care): The Peaks Pet Nanny will make confirmation calls or e-mail before your departure in order to verify that all information (dates, contact numbers, etc.) are still correct. Since phone messages or e-mails are not 100% reliable, please make sure we speak personally or e-mail is acknowledged by us before leaving for vacation.
"Honey, I’m Home" Calls (Vacation Care): Please remember to call the office (973-601-3035) when you have returned home safely and your pets are back in your care! Please call at ANY hour and leave a message that you have returned. We look forward to hearing your feedback and will relay any messages to your nanny.
Holiday Cancellations: Please understand that in-home pet care & kennels receive more requests for reservations than they can handle during holiday time. We may have turned away other clients because we have reserved time for you during a busy season. If you cancel five days or less before any holiday, you will be charged for half of the visits.
Keys: If you are not already doing so, consider allowing The Peaks Pet Nanny retain copies of your house key.
In the event of an unexpected trip, you’ll be glad you did. As a precautionary measure, we ask that you entrust us with TWO copies of your key—one for your primary Pet Nanny (for entry purposes) and the other key is secured in a lockbox at our office; or in some cases with the back-up Pet Nanny. Keys are coded for customer confidentiality. A back-up key is invaluable if the original key is accidentally lost or broken.
~ If you decide NOT to keep your keys on file, there will be an additional fee for key pick-up & return: $5 weekdays & $10 weekends.
~ All keys will be checked at the consultation to ensure that they are working properly.
Medications: The Peaks Pet Nanny will attempt to administer medications as directed but cannot be held responsible for complications that arise as a result. Excessively shy cats with medical problems can be a serious risk. If you have such an animal, this must be thoroughly discussed with The Peaks Pet Nanny.
Vaccinations/Immunizations: For the safety of other customers, The Peaks Pet Nanny requires that all pets have the necessary vaccinations and immunizations before service begins. We may ask to see immunizations records and/or expiration dates for rabies vaccinations. If a Peaks Pet Nanny is bitten or exposed to any disease or ailment received from the client’s pet(s) which has not been properly or currently vaccinated, the client will be responsible for all costs and damages that may be incurred.
All Pets Under One Roof: When you hire The Peaks Pet Nanny for Home Alone Care, we are responsible for every pet in your home. Although some types of animals require less attention than others (i.e. fish, ferrets, cats, etc), we cannot ignore any pet living under your roof while you're away! Rates vary accordingly, but every pet will be under the care of your pet nanny.
Fleas: The Peaks Pet Nanny will not provide service to any animal with fleas, as we cannot run the risk of carrying fleas into another client’s home.
Veterinarian Care: If emergency care becomes necessary, The Peaks Pet Nanny will attempt to contact the owner(s) and/or emergency contact. The Peaks Pet Nanny will call the appropriate veterinarian for instructions. The owner(s) are responsible for the veterinarian fees, while the pet(s) are under the care of The Peaks Pet Nanny. We will ask you to sign and authorize a Vet Release Form for these purposes.
In addition, if a pet exhibits symptoms of kennel cough, the dog flu or any other highly contagious diseases, we urge you to contact your vet immediately and cancel your pet sitting or daily dog walking service. These viruses can be transmitted by humans who have contact with multiple dogs and our Pet Nannies cannot take the risk of infecting the pets of our other clients. It will be necessary for anyone whose pet comes down with a contagious virus to produce a note from their vet giving the pet a clean bill of health – before we can safely resume service.
Access to Your Home by Others: We all want our pets to have all the love and attention they deserve, but please advise if there will be other persons entering and leaving your home. The Peaks Pet Nanny is not liable for the act(s) of third parties, whether known or unknown. This includes, but is not limited to: friends, neighbors, relatives, or other service persons that enter your residence for any purpose while The Peaks Pet Nanny is caring for your pets. Our insurance will not be responsible and will become null & void when other people are in the home. Please inform us of anyone who may have access to your home while you are away. Please also notify the person(s) in your home of our visitations so they are not alarmed by our entrance.
Household Emergencies: The Peaks Pet Nanny will attempt to contact you if there are any emergencies. If you can not be reached, your emergency contact(s) will be called.
Fences: Fenced-in yards are wonderful play spaces for pets--however, no fence system is totally secure. The Peaks Pet Nanny does not accept responsibility or liability for any customer’s pets that escape, are injured or become lost, fatal or otherwise, when pets are left out or given access to a fenced in area. This includes electronic, wood, metal or any other fence types.
Leashes: All dogs will be required to be on leash during outdoor walks. We prefer not use retractable leashes for large dogs.
Pet & House Clean-Up: The Peaks Pet Nanny will properly dispose of pet waste and will do our best to clean up any accidents your pet may have. We are not responsible for carpet/flooring stains created by your pet(s). We do request that you provide plastic bags, towels, cleaning products, paper towels, trash bags and indicate where you would like the waste to be disposed.
Animal Behavior: Animal behavior can be unpredictable. The Peaks Pet Nanny does not accept responsibility or liability for animal behavior, which results in self-inflicted injury, injury to other animal(s) in the same household, or damage to the client's property. Further, if a Peaks Pet Nanny is harmed or injured by the client’s animals, the client accepts full responsibility for the cost of any necessary medical expenses and damages resulting from an injury to a Peaks Pet Nanny or to a third party.
Unforeseen Purchases: Any additional necessary costs such as food, litter, cleaning supplies, or other necessary items that contribute to the health and well being of your pet will be purchased by The Peaks Pet Nanny. We will retain a receipt and the customer will be responsible for reimbursement of these items. A 20% fee will be applied.
Our Privacy Policy: All of your information will be kept private and confidential. The Peaks Pet Nanny highly respects our clients’ entrusting us with the care of their home and their loving pets.
Inclement Weather: (Primarily for Severe Snow or Ice storms). You entrust The Peaks Pet Nanny to use our best judgment in caring for your pet and home if we are servicing you at the time of inclement weather. We will try to carry out your instructions to the best of our ability. We have requested the name and phone number of a person living nearby who has access to your home. (This should be a person close enough to walk to your home if roads are impassable--for example, a neighbor). If we are physically unable to drive to your home, this information is needed so we may contact this person to request their assistance to check on your pet. Please remember that garage door openers are not operational in the event of power outages. In the event that the customer does not provide a nearby emergency contact with access to your home, the customer realizes that The Peaks Pet Nanny will provide service but not until conditions allow us to reach your home safely.
The Inclement Weather Plan will be as Follows:
1) Every effort will be made to drive to your home.
2) The service schedule may be altered, interrupted, or delayed due to circumstances.
3) If it is not possible to drive safely to your home, the client and/or the emergency contact will be notified.
In addition, we ask that when possible you do your best during inclement weather to clear all walkways and paths to the primary entrance to your home.