Hi,
I have to say that am quite disappointed with the site and not impressed at all with the technical aspect of it.
I hope my message here will be productive and acted upon positively.
I have many things to say but I will focus on one aspect here because am sure it must be annoying to more than one. And this is also one of the thing that makes me want to be on this web or give up…(lucky you are not paid by sittings)
I am a pet/ house sitter with plenty of pet/house sitting experience (and paid ones). I am here to find particular long sits across the country (UK) for now to fulfill personal and professional needs/goals. Caring for pets & homes, feels natural to me and I enjoy it.
I have known THS from the start (bit more than 10 years ago) and I am surprised and disappointed to say that it is not that much different (apart from the price of course).
Yet it seems here that popularity (from a marketing point of view) and profit has made you rest on your laurels.
I do send a lot of emails, browse and favourite a lot on the site, it is part of planning my sits, not only on your website but also elsewhere.
I am sorry to say that the search and mailing system is quite appalling (this include your categories of archive, labelling, inbox, search, favourites)
let me explain why…
Just trying to write, sort and find emails and sits has taken me most of my time, the lack of organisation or flexibility is very frustrating.
Here are some issues I noticed:
labels:
so you offer Labelling, great idea but… nope, here it is quite useless.
To put those labels you have to go into the message and label them which makes the labelling quite time consuming. (no labelling from profile or from list in inbox or favourite –without opening the message or the sitting, which then goes back to zero, see below) can´t even open a message or a profile in new tab …
I do not comprehend why no one ever thought about
-being able to label from selection (boxes to tick, see below),
-or even introduce the NO LABEL label, so maybe we can label the new ones separately or later on, or find them quickly
-the possibility of labelling directly from a profile, not only favourite
inbox:
there is no sorting/filter of the mail so it means (the label system doesn’t make it easier -see above) if you have a full inbox you can’t look through it easily
The inbox should have options to organise/sort the messages, for example: by start time of the sit, no dates, maybe areas / countries, not replied, etc
My inbox has way too many emails and to find one or see what is happening is overwhelming.
If you are actively looking for a pet/house sit then you send quite a lot of emails. Homeowners also seem to be overwhelmed by emails I heard.
Favourites:
again no sorting, What is the use of the labels if you cannot label from the list (in bulk) and go one by one
Not only this, it is actually doing the opposite. Favourites are sorted by the eldest so to see the new ones you have to go at the bottom of the long list and click on load more, and again and again
Or to have a sorting filter –sort by dates added, sit start date, proximity or region etc.
At the moment it is actually doing the opposite. Favourites are loaded by the eldest only so to see the new ones you have to go at the bottom of the list.
Searches :
Within the messages dashboard (really not sure what you would call this part *)
Frankly, not sure what the search box is for (people, words, messages?) as it doesn’t seem to work.
Categories.
Now only : archive, inbox and favourites*
How about categories (menu in left bar) that can be created by us or even set ones like: unsent, not labelled, not replied to, ( maybe the labels should be reflected in the menu) etc.
Categorising or sorting from the inbox or favourites should be more precise and flexible : we should be able to select by ticking boxes to be able to delete, write, label, etc. put into a category. Etc.
There is an option to send message to all, you can see boxes to tick , but it doesn’t work half of the time!
So really it comes down to more flexibility and options to be able to customize or have more options for: searches, results, sorting, organising inbox etc.
I just can´t believe no one has said or thought of this, and if they have then it’s time to do something because at this time, it really doesn´t feel like value for money.
I hope this new year brings you more efficiency so HO and sitters so you, can be happy.
I have found it difficult to find where messages I have not read are at times. In fact I have had one unread message showing for about a couple of years now. I believe it was a reply to a sit I had rejected, so had not rushed to read. A day later when I did the HO had deleted their profile and therefore unable to read message. So the site permanently says I have one unread message and never been able to find to read. Did query once but told nothing could be done and will always stay there. I also find it extremely difficult and almost impossible at times to put in specific dates that I am looking for a sit. Took me simply ages to fathom it out when system first changed. You have to somehow click on the first date and then scroll across to last date and try numerous times to get it as a green coninuous block. This does not happen often, as will end up just the first date in green or then just the very last date in green, or otherwise simply little light blue squares over the dates I wish to enter, which will not work if you then click ‘apply’. I frequently just give up as seems like continuous trial and error. Far better as it was once before, when just entering the first date and last date.
I also much prefered the daily/weekly new house sit updates as they used to be. I do not like the new very much reduced daily alerts supposedly matched to what I am looking for as they definitely are not. Much preferred it as it was. As to ‘Labels’ was unaware and but from comment sounds too complicated to attempt. Everything just needs to be a little more user friendly.
What do you mean by sending emails to HOs?
Surely you cannot send emails unless the HO replies to your messages via the platform and gives you their actual email address.
Do you mean messages from HO or emails fromTHS?
Emails from THS are ignored and deleted. I find them tedious. Messages from homeowners come through the sites web page and are very easily to deal with.
I have never had problems putting in a search criteria. Just a few clicks and your in. The most annoying problem on search is when I search for a specific place LA for example the search results usually cover most of California. Pages and pages. Grrrrrrr
Have been on the site for years. Have no problems with the messaging system. What was described sounds way too complicated and unnecessary for the vast majority of users. When you’re an edge case you can’t expect the site to cater to your needs when the basics work for 98% of users. You have to put development time in where it helps the most people. There are about a dozen other things I could name without even thinking that I would prioritize over any changes to messaging.
am talking about the search box in the messaging.
but yes the search in general is also very frustrating, esp the map.
Maybe it just goes mad on desktops? anyway, the whole tech aspect is way behind and needs improving.
Now if you are going to use it once in a while it won’t affect you but the idea here is to make it better in general for all.
The messaging system is limited and should me more organised, especially if you are going to use it a lot.
Yes if you plan to do some sitting sometimes here and there, then basic is fine but there are others who need a bit more options out there.
but as i said, what you are talking about is an edge case. the vast majority of users don’t need any of the functionality that you’re talking about. so spending development time/money on improving something that almost no one needs doesn’t make good business sense. there are other pieces of functionality that impact everyone, not 2% of users. that is where the focus needs to be. that’s what makes good business sense.
the majority of the people in this forum are full time or frequent sitters. implying that your needs are so much more complex because you think people here don’t sit as much as you do it a little insulting. if you need something that complex, start a google sheet where you can track everything. it’s what i do when i’m juggling multiple plans for sits. then I can add notes, dates, reorder things, etc. but asking site owners to build out complex functionality that will take at least few months between design, development, and testing to get launched - time that would be taken away from actually needed functionality that helps ALL users - so a few people can use it is a bit unrealistic.
@Jazzys I am fine with the options available concerning messages on THS.
By the way, you request multiple mailing and sorting options but you obviously haven’t found out that you can tag those you answer by adding a @ in front of their name. Like this you don’t have to answer each one in a single post
UPDATE
so when I wrote this, these issues and suggestions I made was for using the WEBSITE so meaning on DESKTOP/LAPTOP.
I was surprised today when I saw the mobile app which is much better so WHY NOT just do it also user friendly for desk/laptop?
Not everyone uses only a mobile device, I like to search and communicate with full attention, this is why I do it on the laptop.
Anyway, I still suggest you make it better for this usage.
And all the comments saying you can not send an email to the HO directly, yes I know that, i am talking about via the website obviously. So really it should be a more organised email system as it is the only way of contact.
Also I was surprised that no one from THS company bothered to comment or say anything about this…
I don’t like the app at all! I never use it.
I tried once or twice but even if I use the same device the desktop version is much better, better to navigate and I have a much better overall view.
I never use the app. I hate it. I prefer to use the large screen on my laptop and to not be tied to my phone. The site takes ages to load on my phone and I cannot do half the things on the app which I can do, using my laptop.
I don’t like using an app or my mobile device for these things either and this is why I have written this post in the first place. I would like to be able to have a better desktop experience !
