My Husband and I have done many sits in the last 11 mos. and have enjoyed it very much. No weird happenings to report.
However, recently I açcepted a sit in mid October and just the other day got a notice it had been canceled. So I messaged the the lady and asked if she canceled. She replied that she had done this accidentally, and for me to email her at her person email, or call her, or whatsapp. Not through THS.
What concerns me is she has not reposted the sit, and its coming up quickly. I am also concerned about the sit not being under the protection of this platform.
Has anyone ever encountered such a situation on here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Could it be that her membership has expired?
I don’t know how it works if that happens before your sit occurs . I don’t know if you get notified by THS .
Yes, if it was a simple mistake and their membership expired, but they renewed their membership promptly and did the sit through TH. A small hiccup. Things happen.
No, if their membership expired and they wanted me to sit for them not through TH or another site, and it sounds by what you’ve written that is what they want. I would not be comfortable with that.
It sounds as if she doesn’t want to renew @Mdillard15 and pay but she does want you to sit for her still. If she’d said that and been upfront then maybe but doing it sneakily seems off and as you say, no THS protection or support and no review for you for the sit either. We’d cancel or certainly say no, through the platform please or we will be unable to sit
@Mdillard15 the red flag for me here in that she said she did it accidentally. If that was the case, then why not invite you privately on TrustedHousesitters now, or repost and accept you?
If she can lie about that, she can lie about other things too. That’s what would concern me. Personally, I wouldn’t do the sit without addressing that inconsistency, but of course that’s your call.
A huge red flag here @Mdillard15 run in the other direction!
I suggest advising her that you won’t do the sit unless it is through THS, unless of course you are ok with the owner’s suspect behaviour you have brought up here.
Yes I had a similar experience. And the HO took a while to sort it. But she genuinely struggles to use the app and always gets in a pickle with dates, invitations, etc. Bless her.
I always say to HOs, I will only sit via the THS process. But I always give the benefit of the doubt, or not assume too much into it if a situation like this arises, as the app for HOs can be tricky to use.
Because I know how many of my HOs
struggle with making personal invites, changing dates, etc, and quite often get overwhelmed and ask me to help. But I don’t have the same set up as a sitter, so unfortunately I don’t know either.
So I would check first with them and have a dialogue via WA or email as to what the hold up or issue might be. It may be genuine.
I have sometimes had to ask a separate HO, to send me instructions on how to help another HO having difficulty in navigating the invitation process.
But I’d turn down a sit in the end, if they still wanted to do the whole privately. So far this has not been the case. Just using the app issues.
ANGRY, DECEIVED, DISAPPOINTED,… This is my first experience as a petsitter and it has become “MY WORST NIGHTMARE”. Apparently, even though an agreement has been concluded (confirmation of acceptance by the 2 parties), THE “SIT” CAN CANCEL THE “SITTER” AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTifying TrustedHousesitters or the sitter ??? So this is what I experienced today. My flights are booked (13/10/23-23/10/23). The Petsitting was canceled without informing me (I see today that the sit no longer appears on “my sits”). REASON according to sit: your dog cannot come. It clearly states in my PROFILE, by telephone, text message and WhatsApp that our dog is coming along. Her explanation: "I didn’t read it properly, sorry, but we won’t let you into our home. CAN’T YOU PLACE YOUR DOG SOMEWHERE AND STILL COME ??? This is not animal-friendly and selfish. What now ??? I have contacted TrustedHousesitters but they are not helping me (for the time being). I thought: OK, I have insurance for such a situation so I can call on it (150€ per night during the 10 days of booking elsewhere). However, this must be done within 20 miles and on the dates in question there are no hotels, B&Bs, houses WHERE DOGS ARE ALLOWED + that are somewhat comfortable in that area. The house we went to was spacious, beautifully decorated, swimming pool,… with super nice animals " THAT’S WHY WE CHOSE IT. I’ve completely lost TRUST. Has anyone else experienced this? To the MANAGEMENT of TrustedHousesitters: It can’t be that a sit can just be canceled WITHOUT letting you and the sitter know? ??
Edited to remove personal information.
I am so sorry to hear of your experience @Flor3jaar. I can understand how shocked and let down you must feel. Any one would in your shoes. Especially if this is your first sit with THS. You poor thing. Let’s see if there is a possible solution for you…
It is good that you feel able to reach out on this forum. So well done for doing so.
I am not that experienced with this situation myself and hopefully other more experienced members and THS support staff can lend you some better advice and practical support. In the meantime, here are some interim ideas that hopefully may help a little.
It may seem a long shot, but it might be an idea to look for potential new sits in the area you were flying to and here is a link to another thread where a similar situation occurred recently, with some good ideas/strategies of finding somewhere else for a replacement sit ….
The sitter in this case was fairly quickly able to find two sits to replace her one cancelled sit, I believe using various means and advice. I know you have a dog too, but you may feel it is still worth a try. You may still have time. Some people are willing to be very helpful.
It may be useful for you to start a separate new thread about your situation, as you may get more people posting ideas or offers to sit/help etc. So consider re-listing this post under a new topic with a suitable title, like (Help needed for a last minute cancelled sit, with flights already booked) This thread on here where you have posted is about accidental cancellation.
Get in touch with THS support again tomorrow or today. (I’m not sure what time zone you are in.) There are email addresses and other contact options in the same thread link I have posted in item 2 above. Even moral support and guidance can help at such times. A moderator might potentially read your post and flag this to the right team/person for assistance.
Keep us posted ( even if you start a new thread ) on how you are getting on. Hopefully you might find a breakthrough solution that saves the day.
I really this helps a little and you get a happy ending after all.
Best wishes and sending you hugs at this difficult time for you.
! Thank you!