The sitter paying for vet care has always been in their policies. I refuse to do it. Either the PP has a credit card on file at the vet or they are reachable. In the US a vet bill can exceed 1k if an emergency and thousands more for surgery. I read one post on here where a sitter said she spent a lot on vet bills and still hasn’t been reimbursed. Try to sue me, they will lose.
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^This. Make sure you’re on the same page with the host at the start of the sit regarding Vet fees and anything else of concern. Accept the infinitesmally small risk of a possible lawsuit in the event there’s an issue regarding money that would even proceed in a court and ultimately requiring any sort of payout, or don’t house sit. No different to traveling internationally to sit and accepting the possible risk of being detained or turned away.
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‘The nowhere else to go’ isn’t a thing for many sitters though… as THS is a hobby not an essential part of life. We’ve now got sufficient HOs now in 2 preferred regular locations who we will sit for outside of THS. I’m sure others are in a similar position, probably those numbers aren’t large but it’s an initial crack in the Dam Wall….
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The THS platform as well as others like it are populated by millions of members precisely BECAUSE the vast majority of them need a service to match hosts and sitters.
If you, or anyone else has so many great hosts to sit for then why are you even here?
We take the same position: I ask the HO to nominate a local decision maker on their behalf so any vet issues have nothing to do with us we simply contact their nominated person. They also take on the payment aspects too. Obviously we would take the pets to the Vet if required. In any case a vet bill for a horse would be very significant the HOs would need to discuss options with insurers before treatment outside of emergencies and a broken leg requires in the majority of cases a decision to PTS.
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This still is nowhere near enough to undo the damage! After speaking to many sitters in particular NO reliable sitters actually want to use the platform anymore, from increasingly entitled HO, to no insurance and full liability being placed on sitters, to the added booking fees, the clear greed in ethos and direction the platform is taking, the fact that we sit for free when it’s actually a job it really is no longer worth the stress, hassle, responsibility, burden and cost to look after someone else’s animals and home. The scales are now far from being a balanced exchange of services and experiences between THS, HO and sitters!
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Such a ridiculous statement. Unless of course you spoke to every single one of the roughly 250,000 active members of the THS platform.
Pot calling the kettle black
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This is directed to @largo as well - if THS has, say, 300,000 members (though I believe it exceeds that number) and each of them was even on just the Basic membership at 100/year, how are they actually losing money? Where is all of their overhead? It’s certainly not in “member support” as it seems like there are few people working in that area, and website maintenance couldn’t possibly be a massive financial drain, even if it is antiquated code and infrastructure and such. Where is the membership money going, to companies they’re continuing to purchase? That is a LOT of money. A lot.
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@Jenny I’m sorry that you’re at the receiving end of everyone’s frustration Jenny. But that is the fault of THS not their customers (us).
It’s really come down to this: THS shot themselves in the foot and in doing so have given a boost to the competition. Then they “heard" but didn’t listen.
The corporate word salad did it for me. I’ll let my membership expire, and move to MindMyHouse where the fees are way better, and in my experience with them they listen to their customers.
I cancelled my auto renew when THS published the first post on this subject. And their 2nd post caused me to move to the competition, where customers are listened to.
As I said, I’m sorry you’re at the receiving end of all these posts Jenny, but it’s not the customers fault.
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@anon27729151 if you have a spare few hours to kill, this link and it’s contents could answer most of your questions. Mind you, figures can be worked on to reduce tax by a good tax accountant.
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It is interesting to see that other housesitting platforms have posted a video (in one case) and statements that they will never introduce booking fees for housesits. No other platform in the UK has been able to compete with THS in a credible way but, sadly, that could change. In fact a lot of the competition only have sitters’ membership fees, which I have always thought unfair, as owners aren’t charged, and they seem to be coping.
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Hey @Smiley . MindaHome has recently introduced a membership fee for homeowners both in UK and Oz but VERY minimal and a one off. I know Oz it was always free and Aussie Housesitters still is. But at least the fee for both HO and HS is very reasonable. I guess in time both parties will pay on all sites, albeit small
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Thanks, I didn’t realise. I haven’t been checking as won’t be sitting in the UK for nothing in the foreseeable future as am back in my home. That could change at some point, so good to know and much fairer.
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Good plan going forward 
Bet you are pleased being back in Cheltenham and home at least for a while. You are in a good position now to follow your own path.
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I’m the same. Just going to do paid sits near me as back home now for a few months. I may do sits here in future if it’s somewhere I really want to go.
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You’re probably right. My friend runs a large members site and every 4 to 5 years it usually gets outdated and needs a complete rebuild. That’s using software and code that is readily available at the time.
The cost each time can add up by time you develop and test a new platform. Then there’s always bugs left that need fixing.
I’m not sure why directed at me as well as I think Erlend’s post and mine are very different. I made clear in my post to look at the Company House documents and also not necessarily to believe them as has been pointed out by various people as per Ziggy’s post. giving the Company House link.
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Do you ask and check on this?
It’s absolutely a flaw in how this works. I think most pet owners and all the sits I’ve been on have a vet and either have an account, left a credit card, or are reachable to give credit card info at all times and in all situations. I think most homeowners in other words have thought it through and our doing their job.
But I have heard of sitters expected to shell out and get reimbursement.
I am combined. As a homeowner, I get reminders to clear my fridge, do some spring cleaning, write reviews, etc. but I have never gotten a reminder to make sure sitters have a letter authorizing them to get emergency life saving care for my cats and a credit card to pay for such care.
I see the lack of change on this being part of the “new” “conditions” people had to “accept” before even seeing them that also included the booking fee as a big sign the company is going downhill in a very serious way and no amount of corporate doublespeak is going to help.
Great post. However, we would love a commitment to improved features that justify the new fees. That’s fair, I believe.
My suggestion: Let sitters receive tips. Incentivise excellent service. Like I pay my uber driver and review them, then, I am prompted to voluntarily leave a tip. This provides a way for those fees to get paid, especially when certain owners are asking above and beyond pet care.
I have personally received tips of 300 on the high-end and 100 on the low end from grateful owners.
It makes a huge difference when considering the free labour and my travel costs.
Something like this would encourage me to stay.