You may think it’s none of my business and that’s exactly what I thought when I first saw it. I decided not to apply and leave it alone. But then, soon after, I saw the other listing and I thought it may pose some problems regarding the insurance
and quite a bit of confusion with reviews and other important issues in a sit.
The owners introduce themselves as siblings living in two completely different locations (hundreds of km apart) and with different pets. When they publish new dates, it seems they put the relevant location, animals and responsibilities. The sitters and reviews have to be discerned by context and references but are always submitted by the same person no matter whether it is her house and pets the ones involved in that particular sit.
Both locations are attractive for me but I didn’t apply for either of them as I don’t want to add possible stress and confusion.
I’m just curious if this is within THS policy. I understand any two or more people living together would share the account, even if two people get divorced and share the custody of the pets perhaps they keep a shared account with the general description and responsibilities being still the same but a totally different listing every time seems a bit odd.
What are your thoughts?
Only one of the members will have had an ID check . ( Edited this applies to sitters not owners so not relevant in this case )
Have you asked member services about this ?
E-Mail Support@trustedhousesitters.com.
I was once contacted by the sister of a member ( who using her sister’s account sent me an invitation to sit ) in this case the only photos were of the original members home and pets - I contacted MS and they removed the account .
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In this case I think there is a mixture of pictures. It’s difficult to tell but there are certainly two different kitchens and there are pictures of the sea and the person who submits all the reviews does not live by the sea.
I thought it was only Sitters that were ID checked? Is the OP not speaking about a Pet Parent (Parents in this case)?
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I find it unsettling as a sitter, as it would be difficult to know what host, what home, what pets and as you say, what reviews are really a reflection of the factual circumstances - and what effects will that have when it comes to who will be responsible vs. the THS terms and insurance.
Legally I can imagine this will be a problem. What if there is a real problem and a member dispute? Who is responsible? Or maybe worse - what if the consequence is that the responsible party can not be held accountable? That would be quite a risk for both sitters and THS.
They are not sitters, they’re HOs.
That’s my main concern and that’s why I don’t apply.
I’m going to contact THS. If it’s OK, I would like to know how to proceed in case of breach of T&Cs and if it’s against the rules, then THS should act, maybe ask them to split accounts or whatever but I think inexperienced sitters should not be exposed to uncovered risks.
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Cheapskates! I would imagine this contravenes THS policy, or else groups might end up doing it too.
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@Newpetlover
I would think this clause prohibits people sharing an account.
14.5. You will not assign or transfer any of your rights or obligations under these Terms of Service to any other person.
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@PetSitterBug yes you are absolutely correct HOs aren’t ID checked . Thank you for pointing that out .
Please ignore my comment about the ID check.
@Jenny @Carla Would you please connect with @Newpetlover to ask for the specifics of this listing and do a follow-up on their behalf? Such a sharing of an account seems to me to be unacceptable. If @Newpetlover gets less than satisfactory assistance when approaching membership services, or conflicting answers if they pursue it further, then an important breach of rules (in my opinion) will slip through the system. Thank you.
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Hi,
I have informed THS support. They answered very quickly. At first they seemed not to have fully understood the situation because they said homeowners are allowed to advertise one location at a time and at the event they need a sitter for another home then they can edit the information on the same account while removing the previous info for the other one. I, then, insisted that I would like to know how someone would be allowed to review a sitter she had not met for a house and pets that were not their own and they must have had a more thorough examination of the listing because they later said each account should only hold one ownership.
I will follow the listing and see if there are any changes soon.
I will update accordingly.
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Last update.
When asked if the agent’s support was satisfactory, I replied that I could not assess it yet as no change had been made in the listing, I got a reply saying that as long as the homeowner is posting dates for one listing at a time there should be no issue. They encourage me to apply, should there be any issues they would support me.
I still said I don’t see how they can post a mixture of pictures from both homes (no way to identify them) and from different pets. And I don’t see how just one owner can write the reviews for her sister’s home and pets.
Of course I haven’t applied and I wish those who have well because I really don’t get how someone who hasn’t signed up an account or someone who has nothing to do with the home and pets can be held accountable if something happens.
So weird!
An HO is kind of cheating THS itself, and even then they don’t care about HO behaviour. I cannot understand this company.
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So is it possible for sitters to discern which reviews are for which home and pets?
As for the response:
Do you think that the THS agent has properly understood that there are in fact two homeowners sharing the same account, not that a single homeowner has two homes?
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It’s cristal clear both in the listing and in my emails. I also explained that just one person is writing reviews for both houses and pets. A house is in Madrid, the other is in Canary Islands, no way the person living in Madrid, the one signing the reviews, can check how the sit went.
Yes, because there are references to the real host, the pets and the location. What’s not possible to discern is which pictures belong to which house, apart from the ones with sea views. I mean the don’t even bother to fully update the listing for each location.
It’s up to THS to decide if they want to be “cheated”, as @pietkuip said, but I am not interested in sitting for people who don’t bother to write a clear listing, who write reviews in the name of someone else and, also, if they are not willing to pay full membership, what kind of reliability or generosity can I expect from them? The offer of the agent to back me up is just a joke; he contradicted himself in two emails a few minutes apart, what can I expect?
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So can sitters also share an account? 
As long as we only have on sit at a time?
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That’s exactly what I thought.
But I like to keep things simple, so I’ll stick to my solo account and apply only to sits where people are responsible for their own accounts, house and pets. I might volunteer to do something extra but never accept that an owner assumed it’s my duty to accept extra pets or different locations.
I wouldn’t take much comfort from that statement as advice from Membership Services varies so much dependent on who you make contact with. I speak from experience!
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@Jenny Is it possible to escalate this query? It seems illogical that two separate hosts in different regions / countries can use one shared account for their sits and THS finds that OK. Does that mean more hosts should consider dropping their memberships and sharing with other hosts? And for sitters, this can obviously create needless confusion or lead to misunderstandings that could be avoided with each host instead having their own account.
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