Hello lovely people
I’m a sitter and two times it has happened that someone accepted me, but was not available for a chat or even more than the briefest of messages. I’m very puzzled about this. Before I agree to do a sit I want to know if there is rapport with the owner.
How do others feel about this?
Hi @andrealovesanimals - personally I wouldn’t feel comfortable accepting a sit with so little interaction. If the homeowner is not willing to engage I would move on as it doesn’t bode well for communication during the sit.
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Unless the listing is very, very detailed with great photos and amazing reviews, I might consider it for shorter sits. But generally, no, I wouldn’t accept without some direct communication. I would like to get an idea of what kind of communicator they are, their exact departure dates/times, area of the city, pets and their needs etc.
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Agreed. We would NEVER acept an invite with no communication and preferably a video call so that, as you say, you cam see if you have a rapport. Because after all It is a two way street, where everyone is happy with the arrangements. If someone accepts you like that you have to ask the question, would you leave your house and pets with someone you have never had any communication with? RED FLAG!
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Yes, I very much agree about it being a red flag
I think the fact they’re not available for a chat is a bit off and I wouldn’t be comfortable about that. Have they had sitters before? If so, what was the sitters’ feedback, and what reviews did the owners give them?
It’s unusual but I’ve just been confirmed to sit in Australia within 2 hours of applying! I always have a video chat, or occasionally telephone conversation, before accepting a sit. Before I confirmed I did ask them if they’d like a video chat but they said would if I wanted but they were happy with what they’d read about me (50 x 5 star reviews) and they’d had several sitters before all giving them glowing feedback. Their information was detailed and they included a car. I was happy but, as I say, that’s unusual for me. I have a good feeling and they’ve even just sent me the Welcome Guide without my requesting it!
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@Smiley That sounds like you had some friendly communication in messages, which would be enough for me in this case.
@Smiley we did about 20 housesits in Australia (pre-Covid) and never had a single video call!
No real communication, just them saying they’re happy to accept me!
Wow! That does surprise me, but maybe that’s your choice.
The latest person who did this has had two sitters, one left a great review and the other one didn’t give any review.
@Smiley It wasn’t a thing there (Aus)! It never once came up as an option for either us or the HO’s. Just communication through the various platforms.
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I don’t think it always needs to be a video call. I have accepted sits after exchanging some friendly messages, if I had a good feeling, and they turned out great. But if someone can’t be bothered to send me any real messages, they are probably not the people I want to connect with… I just hope that they give more attention to their pets than that…
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@andrealovesanimals I know what you mean, same for us.
Something might happened to the owner, or the owner has restricted access to the computer/ app.
- That happened with us in the past and also with elderly owners that also only speak a little bit of English so we had to make sure in having writing conversations to avoid any misunderstanding. *
I would suggest ask the owner for a phone call to make sure everything is ok and giving them a reasonable time to answer.
If not, I wouldn’t go on.
I entirely agree
I remember I applied for a sit a few years and was accepted immediately with no call. I was early into my pet sitting experience at that point and was thrilled to just confirm BUT then it turned out to be one of my less desirable experiences shall we say! I know that if we’d spoken prior to that, I wouldn’t have gone ahead. The red flags came in thick and fast once I was already on the sit and unfortunately locked in to the arrangement.
I certainly learned my lesson not be quite so over eager and now for me, it’s an absolute must to always have either a standard phone call or video call prior to accepting just to get a sense of whether or not we’d gel. For me personally, that’s hugely important.
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We’d never take a sit without at the very least talking to the HO. Video call even better. It’s a warning sign that all is not as it seems for us…worth looking at their previous reviews to see if they help throw some light on it too.
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@andrealovesanimals I can understand your concern as I personally would not accept a sit without a video call/chat first. I have also had local pet parents invite me and no one else without first talking to me and I never accepted the sit. It is possible they are fairly new to TrustedHousesitters or any housesitting at all and may not understand the protocol. There are so many reasons to chat first. I want to “meet” the pet parents, the pet(s) and generally get an idea from the background as to what to expect in the home. It is important that you “mesh” with each others personalities before arriving.
If this happens again, I would push for that video chat and not accept if you cannot get one.
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Update. They said something like “tell me if you can make it or not, if you can’t I’ll post another ad”. I said I wanted to chat before committing. They posted their ad again without responding to my text. The following day they texted asking me for a chat later on. I said I was no longer available and wished them good luck…
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