One of my sitters left the sit after 2 weeks in my sit. She left her bf to continue the sit. I was NOT inform of this during our phone interview. She is the main applicant.
He broke my car clutch. They both were well informed to drive our dog car slowly and to treat her like an old lady. They accepted. We overhauled our dog car for Euro 4000 plus. Nothing was found faulty with the gears and clutch by Fiat.
He drove my car to two tourosts spots. He continued to drive the car even when the car could not engage into 2 gear. He told me so. I was NOT informed of the car breakdown when i was away. We told then to text us if they needed assistance with our mechanic. He did not do so.
He reversed into my front wall and damaged it. He also damaged the wing mirror.
5 flower potted plants have all died. I have videos of my flowers planted 3 days before their arrival. Freash and new.
He lost his phone. I was not contacted by him for 1 week. I was having contact only with her. She had already left the sit.
Food eaten but not replenished. Their room was not cleaned. Bathroom not washed.
Got in touch with THS, all they told me was the sitters were given a verbal/ written warning. THS cant force them to pay for the car breakdown if they dont want to pay.
How is this fair? I gave them a fully functioning car with 5 working gears and a reverse gear. They enjoyed their trips until it broke down. Now they say my car is old with thousands of miles added to it. Thus they are not paying. Is this fair? Just a verbal warning? And they walk away scott freeā¦
Is this what we as homeowners want? How do i find trust in this platform? What level of quality sitters are we attracting? I am a serious homeowner with integrity and i know when i am wrong, i admit my faults and learn from it.
Did you raise an official member dispute ? If so and you donāt agree with the outcome you can appeal the decision.
Did member services explain this to you?
Do you have the individuals name and contact details if you added them to your car insurance? If this is in UK you may need to make a court claim against them to recover your costs.
Iām sorry this happened, and that the response from THS is unsatisfactory.
Please mention in your review that the main applicant left midway without informing you of her plan, and that the sitter left on site did not communicate with you, caused significant damage to your car and property, and did not clean before departing. As always, keep emotion out of it.
This is horrible, you must be very shaken by the experience! I donāt know if THS helps with car insurance. Here in US that would be done through your insurance, who will then be reimbursed by the sitterās insurance.
But THS absolutely should ban these members from the site! Please lodge a formal complaint and post an honest, unemotional review as suggested above by @belluca. Donāt miss the 14 day review window!
Itās so disappointing to hear these things, especially as Iāve got three sit dates coming up to post, but I know there are more great sitters than bad ones out there. Hang in there.
I agree with others that you should make this an āofficialā complaint. AND you should attempt to get some kind of compensation from THS: If nothing else than a free membership.
Part of the problem IMO is the lack of control of people accompanying on a sit. Technically, one person has the account and the second person is listed after the ampersand. While these are āsitting couplesā only the primary person is background checked in the US or ID checked in the rest of the world.
I donāt know if the insurance counts for the 2nd person or what happens in a case like yours where the primary sitter leaves the sit. Iād love to know if you could get a straight answer from THS! I know that a lot of people with the ampersand or even who donāt use the ampersand operate like they have two separate accounts. I get that a lot of people whoāve been doing this for years donāt want to see changes and donāt want to spend more as a couple, but I think this is an area with āissuesā and more regulations to clarify it would be good for hosts and more fair to sitters who donāt use one account as two.
This sounds as if you are new to THS and so were the sitters. You didnāt know what to expect and they took advantage of you.
Hindsight is wonderful. My solution wonāt help this time but next time have the sitter(s) sign an agreement about maintenance/fixing of the car.
My real worry is that the THS sitter left and her boyfriend took over. Was he registered or was it a joint profile? Had you agreed to this before they accepted the sit? This is not usual.
A little bit more organisation and a lot more communication would have helped. Next time, stipulate who fixes the car if it gets broken. A ādog carā sounds like it gets used for doggie things and not sightseeing. Find out exactly who will be looking after your property and pets. Make sure the sitter understands what is expected of them.
Using someone elseās car is a huge responsibility, and to be honest, I am amazed that so many home owners seem willing to offer it as part of a sit. Presumably they are prepared to do so as an incentive to attract a sitter āfor freeā, but as you have unfortunately found out, if something goes wrong it can end up costing someone - possibly you - dearly.
I used a homeownerās car on a sit in France, as it turned out that it really was a necessity, but vowed never again. I had to drive the car back from a railway station about an hourās drive from the sit, (home owner drove us there, hopped out at some traffic lights whilst they were red, and waved me goodbye!), and when they changed to green I immediately set off on the wrong side of the road on dual carriageway. Luckily it was about 6am and minimal traffic - but having only arrived the day before, and spending the entire night vomiting for reasons unknown, I was not on good form. Even when I was feeling better, I caused chaos in the boulangerie car park every time I visited, and drove on the wrong side of the road again twice.
As a sitter, youāve usually travelled a fair distance to get to a sit - especially one in a different country - and taken in a huge amount of information from a home owner who may or may not have left you a decent welcome guide. Youāve met new people, new animals, and are in unfamiliar surroundings. Throwing use of an unfamiliar vehichle into the bargain is something that Iāve decided, for me personally, is just a step too far. Iāve held a license for over 25 years and am the sort of person who would watch videos of how to deal with French roundabouts and google āquirks of the highway codeā in preparation!
If a car really is necessary for a sit, or home owners need to offer it as an incentive, it may be worth weighing up the potential costs against those of hiring a local sitter with their own transport. Or offer money towards hiring a car for part of the sit, in the sitterās name. At least that way, the sitter has a contract with the hire car company, and if anything goes wrong itās out of your hands.
I ve requested their info fr THS, this was denied. Company regulations do not permit to give out info to houseowners. If this is needed further, the authorised authority should get in touch with THS themselves.
Iāve had a look at this as I was considering sending it back to MS to see if they could review things.
I really feel for OP but I have noticed that thereās a conflict between what Iām seeing here and what was discussed with MS. We need to be fair to all parties so Iām going to close this thread for the moment while I pass over more information from this post to MS to check things out.
I would recommend that OP takes the advice of @Silversitters and disputes the outcome, and Iām sure the team would be happy to reiterate all of the points that were discussed.
Thanks to everyone who came to offer advice and commiserations.