My pet sitter is lying to me
I’ve used this pet sitter a few times in the past and had great experiences. One of my good friends recommended him and he seems nice and responsible. However, during this trip, I unintentionally noticed inconsistencies in their updates that make me believe they’re not being entirely honest.
For context, I offered the sitter the option of doing two visits per day for $350 (total) or one visit per day for $300 for my one cat. I don’t have cameras, and I didn’t ask them to send updates with each visit, but they’ve been sending updates regularly, which I’ve appreciated. Before my trip, I told them that one visit a day would be fine, but ultimately left it up to him and to just let me know their plan. Either way, I anticipated paying the $350 since it’s a holiday.
Everything seemed fine until I saved a few of the photos he sent to my camera roll. The timestamps on the photos they’ve sent didn’t line up with the updates he was sending me (visible through Apple’s metadata and occasional clocks in the background). This caused me to look into more photos. He sends updates twice a day (once in the morning and one in evening) and claim they’re visiting in the afternoon as well (but all photos are from the morning of) (every day there have been fresh photos - so he doesn’t reuse them from previous days). this wouldn’t be an issue as I understand pet sitters reuse photos - however - they’ve sent photos and text messages of my cat eating wet food for “dinner,” but the photos were clearly taken that morning (time stamps & clocks indicate all photos were taken the morning of). (My cat only has wet food once a day- I then explicitly asked if the cat was getting wet food at breakfast or dinner and he said dinner). Similarly, photos of other tasks they say they’ve done later in the day are also from the morning (like taking out the trash or grabbing the mail)- where he could’ve just said he did these tasks in the morning update - but he isn’t? Or didn’t have to include messages/pictures about these tasks at all (because I never asked him to do any chores so he’s including these details on his own and saying he did them in the afternoon which he didn’t???)
This has happened a few times now, and I’m unsure how to address it—or if I should at all. The trip ended today and I am about to pay him. I don’t mind paying the full amount, and I’m just happy my cat was fed, cared for and played with as that is what matters most to me. But the idea that they might be lying feels upsetting. I doubt I will use him again but should I address it? Or just leave it be? Am I overreacting about the photo updates since my cat is getting cared for daily anyway?