Hi guys my sitter literally left the sit, went in areas of the house we asked him not to go and brought in overnight visitors/3rd party people without clearing it with me. We met in person prior to the sit and my wife and I clearly said no one was to spend the night or sleep in our bed. He then abandoned my dogs when we confronted him about this and lied. We were in Asia at the time. Our house is in the US. My wife filed a formal complaint with Trusted Housesitters and we included texts and video proof. We were told the sitter would be banned and we could be reimbursed for the amount spent on boarding after our emergency contact took my dogs to boarding. I just found out the sitter was given only a warning and was offered 6 mo free. This does not sound appropriate. What would you do?
A few questions @Jrahim - how do you know they were only given a warning? And ditto the free 6 months membership? The two donât correlate. You donât âwarnâ a sitter and then reward them. Maybe thereâs more to it? Were they experienced? Did they have lots of good reviews? Did you have evidence when you submitted the initial complaint? You can now escalate the complaint with THS HQ as it isnât the outcome you wanted if so. #tellusmoreplease
This all sounds a bit odd to me. Also, how did you have video proof when internal cameras are not allowed?
@Cuttlefish - I am guessing the 6 months membership extension was offered to the HO and not the sitter. Seems to happen regularly.
Sometimes THS agree to neither party leaving a review which isnât very helpful.
Aha! @Twitcher that makes more sense. I didnât read it that way. #youreabetterinspectorclusoe
Wow that is terrible! Sorry that happened to you.
Even though the Sitter was totally wrong on a number of counts, it is probably better not to confront Sitters while they are still in your house, as long as you believe your pets and home are safe. No overnight guests is a common rule, and it is a shame that Sitters break this rule.
External cameras are allowed and can certainly show people coming and going from the home, so I can imagine how you can prove the behavior with videos.
Sitters like this should get booted off the platform. I donât see how they can stay. Please write a factual review.
Just curious, how long was the Sit and on what day did the Sitter leave early?
I had video of two separate women on my ring camera bringing in a suitcase with them. I donât have internal cameras. My scheduled housekeeper also let me know that my master suite and bathroom were being used.
Did you get reimbursed for the boarding @Jrahim ?
That guy has quite a nerve! And not very smart. Doesnât he realize that your housekeeper might tell you what is going on? Sheesh.
If you continue to use Trusted Housesitters, I would make sure that you put these directives in writing in your Welcome Guide or equivalent guide.
No guests.
Do not enter or use the master bedroom and bathroom.
Perhaps you already have these in your Welcome Guide. Just trying to help others prevent this sort of behavior.
@Jrahim I hope that you will review this sitter accordinglyâŚlowâŚ
Iâm so sorry to read what happened to you, your dogs, your home.
This must have really spoiled your trip and left you uncertain about trusting sitters in future.
As HO we had sitters who stayed for a month but rarely answered our EM asking for info on how things were going. Turned out all was well, why they didnât reply is still a mystery to us. We put it down to inconsiderate & still gave them a good review.
What youâre describing goes far beyond inconsiderate - it was reckless.
Are you sure the Sitter is still in the system?
If so, have you asked THS why they said the Sitter would be removed, yet is still on?
Itâs hard to believe THS would allow someone who violated trust in so many ways to remain on the system, someone who very likely will go on to do the same to other HOs.
Re: sitters having guests - I think thatâs a very personal call.
We allowed sitters to have guests but we always locked rooms we didnât want anyone entering (two offices, the master bedroom).
Conversely as Sitters we have asked: âIs hosting a meal OK?â We have family & friends across Europe & itâs lovely to get to âhostâ on a trip!
We make sure that the host knows it will ONLY be people we know well, and stress strongly that we are 100% OK with them saying they are not comfortable with it.
And our goal: the host should not be able to tell anything was used: everything is back where we found it, clean, orderly.
But MOST hosts have a housekeeper, a neighbor, a friend who would notice if a Sitter has people over - so why anyone would have people over without first getting permission is beyond me.
Re overnight stays: In two instances we had a daughter meet up with us in a foreign country: in both cases when we asked if she could stay a night or two we provided the HO with our daughterâs LinkedIn profile so they could be assured about who she is: she works for an internationally known organization and her job requires both security clearance & Trusted Traveler clearance so that helps!
I would say going forward all any of us can do is trust our instincts.
But we should also all be able to trust THS will weed out those who abuse trust.
Thanks. It was 2 weeks. They left four days early.
It was two weeks and he left four days before the sit ended.
No I did not so our nearly $600
Yes some of it was. Thanks!
Yes I did. Thanks
@Jrahim did the sitter abandon the dogs without informing either you or the emergency contact that they were leaving?
We were emailed the outcome of the complaint. They given a warning. We were offered 6 mo. I left a review. If you want to read to better understand what happened. He was new. I did have several pieces of evidence. How do I escalate the complaint? I asked the bot chat on the website to call me. I was then emailed by an employee that my phone did not ring when it was called. Odd because I spoke to the staff of trusted housesitters on the phone several times during my initial complaint.
Edited to remove other members details as per the posting terms
Yes. He was seen leaving on the ring camera with his stuff, would not answer me. I immediately contacted Trusted Housitters and he did not contact them either. I had my emergency contact take my dogs to boarding and his stuff was noted to be gone when she picked my dogs up. This is why I am so upset with the company and will not be using them again. They do not hold up to their rules.
You can appeal the decision - as far as I am aware a sitter abandoning pets is instantly banned from the platform.
â How to appeal a decision
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can request this to be reviewed by a senior member of our Membership Services department
You will be required to send your request via email to support@trustedhousesitters.comapplying the subject line âComplaint Appealâ
Your appeal will then be reviewed by a senior member of our Membership Services team who may contact you for further information if required
The ruling on you appeal will be delivered within 14 days of receiptâ