One host disassembled it in front of me and the other said would take it down and I didn’t see any signs of the pet cam in front of the bunny kennel
Not sure if your reply was from my post. In my case, I don’t expect it in the listing, but any cameras should be mentioned prior to booking and in the welcome guide. In my case it was not a doorbell camera but a camera in a tree aimed at the front door.
A HO asked me on a sit whether it’d be OK to set up a camera to watch their pet sometimes. I agreed to it, because it was an aboveboard request and I knew where the camera would be and could tell when it was on.
It turned out that the pet rarely sat in camera range, preferring to hang out with me mostly in the guest room / office, where I spent most of my time, since I telecommute.
I ended up live streaming the pet a few times with my phone. It was all very friendly and I didn’t mind doing it to ease the HO’s mind, because it was the first time they’d been away for long since the pet had nearly died of an illness a year earlier.
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I just began a sit and the HO didn’t mention camera’s in our video chat, but she mentioned them on written sheet she left, yet not on the welcome guide and stated they don’t watch them. My question is how can I be sure they’re not watching them, even though they said they don’t. I have no issues with a camera at the doorbell in case of unwanted intruders, but it is a bit uncomfortable while I’m in living room. Should I mention to them while they’re still stateside before leaving to be abroad? Since it was never stated in initial chat i feel she wasn’t up front to begin with.
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@Catgoddess_99
The THS camera policy is that
- Owners must disclose the presence of any internal and external cameras or recording devices when creating their home listing.
- Any internal cameras or recording devices must be disabled for the entire duration of the sit.
It’s not just that they can say they are not watching internal cameras but they must be Disabled during the sit .
You can tell the Homeowners that you are concerned that they didn’t disclose the presence of internal cameras in their listing or your video chat with them . You can also ask them to confirm that all internal cameras will be disabled for the duration of the sit.
IMO You need to have this conversation before they leave to give them the opportunity to disable them.
I sent her a message stating I understood outside security, and explained “THS” policy regarding internal cameras , she said she wasn’t aware of because nobody ( previous sitters mentioned it). She said I could turn them upside down. I was very nice about it. I feel a lot of HO’s do not read the policies which is unfortunate.
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Has she agreed to disable them - do they record sound ?
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@Catgoddess_99 , send them the link to the camera policy that @Silversitters posted above. They have to be disabled. Most likely they record sound. It’s not your policy, it’s THS’s policy and necessary if the owner wants to use the service. You will feel much more at ease when this is done. Good luck.
I plan to do that, for now i turned it over. They’re on a flight.
I just sent her the link
She disabled them and I thanked her
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Report them to THS regardless of your conversations with the HO.
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If you’re on the sit, UNPLUG all internal devices now. That’s the deal if homeowners want you to stay, since they didn’t disclose and claimed not to know.
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I sent her the policy link and she didabled them. I’ll submit a report after the sit. There’s only one internal camera in tbe living room, I’ll pull out the connection from the back while I’m here. Other than they’ve been quite generous and the dog is cuteness overload…
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I unllugged them and will reconnect them when I leave.
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Btw, I noticed this after they left for the airport. I was busy getting setlted and read her info sheet after they were gone.
When I had meet & greet with HO, they stated there are no security cameras. When I arrived for the sit, they had a camera indoors, facing the front door. I didn’t say anything as it’s pointed right at the door, but after a while, I realized it might be recording audio of me and phone conversations on speaker, Zoom meetings, etc. I’m not sure if I should approach this with HO—I put tape over speaker so hopefully I at least am not being dropped in on my phone conversations anymore.
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I just got my own camera/listening device detector.
Time to cut through all the worry and lack of transparency.
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What are you using and how easy is it to detect cameras and listening devices?
You can search Amazon for several options. I chose one with both camera and listening detection.
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