As a general rule of thumb, I would say never hang around wasting your time waiting for a response if there are other listings that you are interested in doing.
Think of it as their loss if they miss out on you because they were too slow making up their minds.
I see listings with three or four applicants and the start date for the sit is the next day. It was hoped by THS that the application cap would encourage speedier responses from all members. Not sure what has happened with these listings. Have they changed their mind? If the four applicants aren’t suitable do they know how to decline them?
There will always will be members who communicate in a timely manner and those that don’t and no amount of ‘tweaking’ will make a difference. That’s life.
We’ve never been picked if we have had to wait for more than a week after our application. Our learning: The longer you have to wait, the lower your chances of getting accepted.
We applied for a sit over 11 days ago and we were the 5th applicants so it went immediately to ‘reviewing applications’. The host read it the next day but did not acknowledge or respond. We wrote again a few days later which has gone unread and a last attempt yesterday- also still unread. And the host is still apparantly reviewing applications and the listing remains open. Either they’ve chosen someone by now but have not properly confirmed the sit (first timers) or they are still waiting for the ‘perfect’ applicant but don’t realise they have to reject some people & unpause the listing, or they have changed their mind etc etc!
We’d normally have withdrawn our application by now and we are not expecting to get it now either. But for now we’ve just left it as our plans for those dates are still open. So its just there on the back burner. But tbh if they did suddenly choose us after all this radio silence I’d be inclined to decline now anyway. Its not respectful to leave sitters hanging on for so long.
I think it’s really inconsiderate of homeowners to do this. I am both a homeowner and sitter. When I advertise, I usually decide very quickly, i.e. within 2-4 days. There is almost always somebody suitable within that time, although I do live in a popular destination. I wouldn’t wait too long. Apply for more sits.
I’d say if they’ve put it up again you haven’t got the gig I’m afraid. Sorry.
Thank you to everyone for the replies and apologies for my late response - the holiday period distracted me! Thankfully, the homeowners replied again apologising for their late response and have requested a video chat in the new year so I am still very hopeful ! As we don’t have anything else for that time I will keep my application in because we really do love the look of the sit. Fingers crossed 
Good luck!
I’m curious on the home owners side. Do you receive a best practices protocol in how to communicate with applicants?
I agree everyone should be acknowledged within 48 hours and given a timeline of when the H.O. will make a decision.
I don’t understand if the HO never reads the application, why don’t they close the listing?
My friend just joined THS and had quite a struggle to get everything synced with alerts, email. I’ve coached her a bit since but she lost a sitter because she didn’t receive notifications that the sitter responded. Needless to say, when she did connect, the sitter took another sit.
Sometimes wires get crossed or notifications aren’t seen, or people see it, mean to respond later, and then forget. It’s unfortunate for her but also unfortunate a sitter missed out on a lovely home, sweet and easy pets in a beautiful place.
Hopefully her issues are resolved and she can get a sitter in March!
HI @MelindaW
Please ask your friend to contact support@trustedhousesitters.com if she needs assistance and is still not receiving notifications.
Thank you but she’s got it squared away now!
I have never received a best practice guide that I know of. I applied for quite a number of sits recently. I closed two or three sits as they were taking too long, more than a week. Two chose someone but closed without bothering to write. Two wrote neicely to say they had chosen someone else. Anyway, I comlete one sit tomorrow and two more to look forward to over the next two weeks.
I’m wondering if something like this is happening to me. We had a sitter apply to our ad. We talked here back and forth. They seemed all in but they never hit the “confirm sit”. I have been trying to reach them on THS for days and I see they read my messages but they do not respond. They have 8, 5 start reviews so I would think they are reasonable people. Can a mod from THS look into this for me. I hate to lose them over a glitch. It is not easy to get sitters in my area.
@catdad1 you could also check their availability calendar and see if they still are available. If they’ve been booked on another THS sit, there will be black lines through the dates.
Hi @catdad1 for help and advice please contact the Membership Services Team on support@trustedhousesitters.com
I agree with the other post that says to check their availability and see if it has changed. I had someone I was conversing with last year, to sit for my pets, and she didn’t seem to be ready to commit. I wondered what was going on, then strongly suspected she was stalling hoping she’d get a different sit! I didn’t confirm it with her but the way she phrased her response, when I let her know I wasn’t having her come, basically confirmed it - reading between the lines.
In the midst of Covid, I hadn’t received much interest at all (unlike earlier sits when I had 13 replies in 14 hours) so it was unfortunate that I wasted time and energy on her.
I wonder if something similar is happening to you, even with people being busy over the holidays.
I agree with the others’ opinions, but there’s also the chance the app is glitching. I’ve heard of several issues with the app (vs the website). I think it’s good policy to exchange contact info with an applicant as soon as you’re comfortable doing that. Perhaps you can write another message with your email/cell/WhatsApp and ask them to contact you there, because you’re not sure if TH replies aren’t working.
Good advice and I’ve already done that with no response. It says that my messages have been read. I just don’t know why anyone would do such a thing instead of saying they cannot do the sit. I truly am hoping it is s glitch. I did send a message last night for admin to look into it.
Hi @catdad1. Some thoughts in no particular order:
You said you asked an admin. Do you mean a moderator on the forums? Angela suggested you contact Membership Services: support@trustedhousesitters.com. Definitely do that if you haven’t.
It’s surprising to me how often I’ve read about communication changes on these forums, but it definitely happens.
For example, here’s a topic from Thanksgiving:
Need advice re: unresponsive confirmed sitter
The HO hadn’t heard anything for a month, even though they’d tried multiple channels. However, Membership Services was able to contact the potential sitter, and the sitter than contacted the HOs again.
Note that I asked for clarity on what actually happened, but the HO never replied.
Then there’s this one:
Sitters not responding
Here, the HO also lost contact with a potential sitter. Turns out the HO had somehow blocked the sitter’s number?!
And of course, there’s all the busyness of the holidays. Or life in general.
The number of 5-star reviews you would think is a good measure. But while searching I ran into this topic:
My Sitter Was Going to Be A No Show - #30 by AllTheFerretsDied
Here, a sitter with 12+ reviews, all 5 stars, is described as canceling a sit and then blocking the HO to avoid arguing. Of course, if that ever happens to you, please report the sitter to Membership Services, then go from there.
If you link your listing to your forum profile, it’ll help everyone understand more in the long run. And once you do it, you’ll never have to update it. Instructions are here:
How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile
Is the sitter using the app or the website? On my last sit, the HO commented about some app issues, so we just used texts to communicate the whole time. I feel like the app can be a bit glitchy, especially on Android. But many sitters use the app to get notifications.
You could try to hedge your bets: If your listing is blocked from more applicants (can’t tell as I can’t see it yet…), then you could send a polite message to the sitter and unconfirm them, then unpause your listing. I’d like to think the sitter would understand what you’re doing and if it’s simply a miscommunication, they’ll let you know and you can re-confirm them, if you want. In the meantime, you can accept other applications. And also ask for listing help on the forums (feedback on improvement, etc.)
Best of luck! Keep us in the loop!