My LinkedIn and Airbnb are linked to my profile, which has my work, email and a couple of professional body registrations with my membership numbers. So there is a fair bulk of information there.
We didn’t do an in-person handover, but have meet previously and chatted for over an hour. Also, no use of car.
I offered the call and my DBS check information.
I am curious about my uncomfortableness and where it is sitting - I have just had it ground into me that it isn’t a ‘safe’ thing to do …. But then I guess we have also been told not to trust strangers!
@HappyDeb, just out of curiosity do you consider 7 reviews new, over newish?
It’s just my opinion, there’s no set level, but I think 7 x 5* reviews to be enough not to warrant extra ID , and I wouldn’t class you as new or new-ish. I’d class you as “experienced to a certain level”. I’d say you’ve proven yourselves to be trustworthy, reliable, and caring, but that’s just my opinion.
Remember there are LOADS of sitters on here with only 1 or 2 reviews, and you are above all of those. But others will think different.
You’re on LinkedIn so you’re business savvy, so what I used to do, was to look at the big list of THS sitters in our area, and count how many had more reviews than us and how many had less than us. It’s a brilliant way to really see exactly where you stand and also see how likely you are to be picked over others if an HO’s choice of sitter was purely based on review numbers only (which it isn’t obviously).
It’s no big deal till someone tries to take out credit cards with your identity. It happened to a friend. The guards make very little income. Professional people do not work as guards.
Guards may not make much income but that doesn’t make them thieves.
Waiters and waitresses don’t make much money either, that doesn’t mean I don’t pay with a credit card.
Hotel front desk staff don’t make much money either. I still offer my ID on check in as required.
I understand OP not wanting to provide the ID as it’s unnecessary, as the platform is supposed to be the ID check. But I don’t think the HO are trying to steal their identity either.
You can see both owners and sitters profiles. Just click on the “Find a sitter” box instead of the “Find a house sit” box, type in your location, and you can manually skim through each page to see how many have more than 7 reviews etc.
You can also click in and view any sitters full profile too.
Seems fairly obvious that what the poster meant was that THS provides the ID check, which it does, when a sitter follows the THS guidelines and provides this information to THS recommended 3rd party ID verification system, which is then displayed on the sitter’s profile.
It is NOT fluff, they get our passport/driving licence and it’s verified by a third party, Evident ID, and also sitters in the USA are background checked too, because the US system is different.
She wasn’t a paranoid person because she lived in a gated community. She was just a paranoid person in general as she was the victim of fraud. She said she purposely picked a community with very strict entrance. It was over the top IMHO with a camera as you enter taking a picture of the car license plate and I guess me as well. She used THS because she liked all the money it saved her as she stated.
Ok, your link shows that an ID check is required. The one I found only says that it’s requested. There seems to be inconsistent information supplied by THS in various places on the website.
I just scanned our entire list of sitters who have favorited our listing and out of 266 sitters, ranging from zero reviews to dozens of 5 star reviews, literally every single one is ID checked and many have the second badge which indicates background checked.
So that would seem to indicate the first is required and the second optional.
, and I wouldn’t class you as new or new-ish. I’d class you as “experienced to a certain level”. I’d say you’ve proven yourselves to be trustworthy, reliable, and caring, but that’s just my opinion.
