The Fine Print
Here are all our policies in one place- designed to protect both our clientele and our team
Booking
There is an $18 booking fee due to secure your sitter. An invoice will be sent to the email provided and must be paid within 24 hours, unless the sitter is due to arrive sooner (in that case, the booking fee is due upon receipt).
If you need to cancel for any reason at any time, the booking fee is nonrefundable, but can be reused within 60 days for your next booking!
Payment
Normal hourly rates are as follows:
$23 per hour for 1-2 children
$25 per hour for 3-4 children
$30 per hour for 5-6 children
Hourly rates are paid directly to your sitter immediately following care, in a method the two parties agree upon (cash or money transferring apps typically work best!) Payment is due immediately after care is provided, the same day. Unfortunately, we cannot offer delayed payment or daily/weekly rates.
There is a 2 hour minimum when booking a sitter. However, if the sitter is booked for 4 or more hours, they must be paid for a minimum of 4 hours if the parents come home earlier than expected.
Cancellation
You can cancel your sitter up to 24 hours before the appointment start time free of any charge!
* If you need to cancel within 24 hours of the appointment start time, a $25 cancellation fee will be due.
* If you cancel within 12 hours of the appointment start time, a $40 cancellation fee is due.
* If you cancel within 4 hours of the appointment start time, a cancellation fee of $70 OR the scheduled hourly rate amount is due, whichever amount is LOWER.
100% of the cancellation fee goes to the sitter booked. If you need to cancel for any reason at any time, the booking fee is nonrefundable but can be reused within 60 days for your next booking!
No Show: When a sitter arrives to provide services, we request that you please ready to let them into your home (unless previously given other instruction). If the sitter / we are unable to reach you, our sitters will wait for 30 minutes before being able to leave or pick up another job for the day. After 30 minutes of no word, the appointment will be considered cancelled and a cancellation fee will be due.
Sick Child
Late Policy
Our sitters will often have multiple bookings a day or other commitments to attend to. If you would like to extend the scheduled end time of your booking, we request that you ask the sitter beforehand and get confirmation that they are able and willing to stay later than the originally agreed-upon time. If the sitter is unable to stay late or is never asked to stay late, a late fee will be due. For every 30 minutes past the end time, an additional $15 will be due, along with the regular hourly rate. This ONLY applies if you do not communicate with the sitter about extending the end time, which they are often happy and able to do if their schedule allows! We ask that you please be respectful and considerate of our sitters' time and schedules.
We get it- sick kids are never a fun time. However, many of our sitters have children of their own, or provide childcare as a full time job. We request that you please disclose any sick symptoms your children are exhibiting as soon as possible (including but not limited to: cough, fever, vomiting, lice, loose stools, etc). Depending on the symptoms, some sitters may feel comfortable still coming to your home, but we respectfully leave that decision up to the discretion of the sitter. If they are uncomfortable providing care for a sick child, we will do our best to find a replacement sitter that would be comfortable caring for a sick child! Please note: if the sitter shows up to your home to discover a sick child they were not told about beforehand, they can reserve the right to leave. Cancellation fees still apply for sick children if the sitter is given less than 24 hours notice.
Booking Fees
We spend a significant amount of time, money, and careful effort selecting and vetting our sitters before sending them to your home. Booking fees help cover the cost of thorough background checks and help pay for software and other expenses required for us to run smoothly and provide exceptional care to families in our community. We ask that you please not ask our sitters to babysit for you outside of Rocky Mountain Sitters once we send them to you. We do not take a cut of our sitters' hourly rates, so booking fees are essential for us to serve the community in the capacity that we do. We appreciate your understanding!