Tom’s Dog Walks

Tom is completely unreliable and sketchy, he didn’t return calls the day before our trip — and then vanished (with keys and money!) after we had already reserved him. We had to cancel plans :(It then took months to hear back from him — long after we had already changed the locks. There was something very suspicious about how he explained away his absence — the most flimsy fake-​y excuses. When we asked why not just return our calls, even more excuses. And he refused to return our money! We are convinced this guy is an addict or a scam artist and completely untrustworthy. Don’t trust care of your pets or your apartment with him!

I found Tom on craigslist when I was looking for a catsitter. He came to my apartment to meet my cats and pick up keys. As far as I know, he fed my cats while I was out of town, but who knows? Every email he sent me was generic and redundant.
I also planned on using him again the following week, so I paid him up front for that. Big mistake. It was a few days before I was about to leave again, so I tried calling and emailing him to confirm that he would be around for my cats. No response.
Oh, and I contacted his supposed insurance company and they informed me he is not insured by them.
He then sends me an email the night BEFORE to tell me he has been in the hospital for something or other. Bullshit. By this time, I had to cancel my trip as I couldn’t find anybody to watch my cats on such short notice. He offered to have his uncle stop by. But I’d like to meet whoever is going to be entering my apartment when I’m not home. I told him to return my keys and my money and that I wouldn’t require his services anymore.
Four months later, I finally got my keys back, but not my money. However, I already changed my locks. It seems he still advertises excessively on craigslist and he’s been busy posting fake testimonials on citysearch. I’m glad Unilocal weeds out the shills and I hope people do their research before hiring this charlatan.

ALMOST KILLED MY CAT!
Tom is a menace to animals and should never, ever, ever be hired.
Even after I explicitly told him not to, he opened our windows to smoke, let our cat out, and shut the window behind her, on the 21^st floor! She is lucky to be alive because someone in another apartment saw her and saved her. Tom even admitted to opening the window.
Because my cat almost died, I got reports on when my key was used in my apt. Turns out Tom showed up multiple times when he shouldn’t have. He also _didn’t_ show up when he was supposed to.
I can’t even describe how much I hope no one hires him. You may find your animals dead. He is unreliable, a complete idiot, and doesn’t know one thing about animals. He is a pure scam artist, and will probably have a party at your house while you are away.

I should have been suspicious when over email he told me he charged $ 15 a visit and then within the hour when I didn’t respond he offered to come for $ 12 a visit. We arranged a time for him to pick up keys and meet my cat. Not only did he not show up, there was no followup, no apology. i am leaving the city in a few hours and have to rush around making other arrangements. I wish I had read the other reviews here (the real reviews, not the reviews where obviously something is amiss as they are all glowing reviews from members that have only reviewed tom’s service)
ugh!
people deserve better service and our animals deserve someone reliable

After meeting with Tom several times, and being impressed with his punctuality and obvious affection for our dog we decided to hire him to stay with her for the 8 days we’d be out of town for the holidays.
We checked the references he provided and they had good things to say about him.
We chose Tom over several other good candidates primarily because he was willing to stay at our home.
He told us that overnight pet care was his specialty. Our dog has special needs, so we wanted her to stay in the comfort of our home and have a companion.
On the very day that we left town, he called us when we were already 2000 miles away, and told us that his back went out and he couldn’t take care of our dog. At this point, she had already been home alone for hours.
He offered no back up plan, suggested no alternative dog sitters, and simply said «If this were a regular job, I’d just call in sick.»
Well, sir, this isn’t a regular job. You’re a business owner caring for living creatures.
We spent the first day of our holiday in a sheer panic, scrambling to find a last minute back up two days before Christmas, worrying about our dog, wondering if we were going to have to get back on a plane to care for her.
Tom seems like a nice person with good intentions but I don’t think he fully understands the gravity of his work and cannot be trusted to care for your pets.

It sounds to me like Tom is a total scam artist because he did the exact sam thing to me as he did to sl. Lost my keys, left my cat starving, etc… IF YOU LOVE YOUR PET… NEVER EVER HIRE TOM.

5star review was written by the owner– and truth be told the guy is 100% UNRELIABLE.
HE WILL NOT and CAN NOT care for your pet. If you love your pet, don’t hire this guy. he’s only interested in your money, and has no intensions of actually doing what he’s paid for.
you’re better off to just leave your pets unattended. same difference. whatever could go wrong went wrong. I met him in person, and should have trusted my instincts. he knows nothing about animals. he let himself in the house the wrong week! and then he LOST the keys — he didn’t even remember he had them! (I had to change the locks — and he refuses to pay up for it), and did NOT FEED my pets! The poor things were hungry, and the litter box was so full, they couldn’t use it anymore. after calling from 11am till 10 pm, and asking for a call in return, he only ignored me. Guess he did so, because he just decided NOT to take care of my cats and thought I’d never find out. and he NEVER told me! I called the doorman and found out and had to call someone in the middle of the night. they had no food, or water, and the litter was already too full after 4 days! Since i expected him to perform the job, I only had out a days worth of food.
and don’t count on a video. he kept saying he’d send one, but it’s pretty hard to do when he doesn’t even show up.
i also asked in person, if he knew animal CPR — he had no idea. it’s all crap to scam you. i never thought it was a hard job to pet sit — but i will never trust just anyone again.
i wish i had seen the other review below by AD.
Save your self the heartache and ask your vet for a recommendation.