Hi there @Jlt59 Having just read this whole thread I feel your disappointment and disillusionment. Take heart in knowing that most sitters have experienced some sort of negative experience in their life as a house sitter. It is part and parcel of the experience. THS does not guarantee anything. They are simply a matching platform. In the vast majority of cases hosts and sitters do not cancel on each other. However it does occasionally happen and you must be prepared. We’ve been members for 6 years have done over 100 sits and we very recently experienced our first cancellation (on arrival to a sit in Spain- long story!) We had to cover 2 weeks accomodation as there were no other sits around that fitted our timeslot. It was a costly but interesting experience staying in unexpected places and getting to know areas we had not anticipated. We are full time sitters so we’ve just put this down to experience. The rest of the year we have got tremendous value from our membership! Its important to keep things in perspective.
In your case it sounds like money is a real issue and it seems you are unable to make changes with your flight and you don’t feel confident to get another sit in Switzerland or neighbouring countries.
I would suggest therefore that you drop the flight completely- I do not believe any flight between UK & Switzerland could be too costly that you cannot absorb the loss- and that you immediately start looking for alternative sits in UK for your dates- there are so many!! In the long run you are likely to save money doing this as opposed to taking your flight & trying to find sits/accom for that precise time slot.
In 2022 we did a whole summer of back to back sits in the UK and this winter past we did the same again- it was easy peasy! It really is sitters paradise!
Don’t lose heart!
@Jlt59 From a moral standpoint, you’re right, but from a legal one you haven’t got a leg to stand on I’m afraid because there’s no obligation for pet parents to reimburse sitter’s expenses due to cancelled sits (or indeed, for anything other than veterinary fees incurred during the sit - and I wouldn’t even bank on that being easy!). So, the only choices realistically open to you are to make the best of it (as has already been suggested and detailed) or not go, and put it down to experience.
It’s a rubbish experience and you have my sympathies. As others have said, best to get the sit officially cancelled and look for other sits (destinations of your choice).
Good luck, going forwards.
If a sitter cancels and the HO’s are not able to replace them, they might have to board their pets or pay a sitter and that’s a lot of money.
But, with a month’s notice (as per the OP’s situation), there’s a good chance of finding another sitter.
I hear what you’re saying though, there is financial risk on both sides.
It’s not down to my or your opinion, it is simply the t & c’s of what all of us signed up to. If you don’t want to lose out again, the easiest thing to do is to stick to places where the travel costs are minimal. We had a total of 9 weeks cancel over the summer in the UK, and we replaced those sits within 3 days, so sticking to the UK from now on may be simpler for you.
The two occasions when we’ve had a sit cancel have been due to a pet passing away, and I wouldn’t dream of asking the owners for anything in those circumstances, as we have become very friendly with both sets of owners. They are going through enough grief, without adding any extra pain. What reason did your owners give for cancelling? They need to have a good reason to be able to cancel.
I know you are feeling very frustrated, but if a sitter cancelled for a very good reason, should they be liable to pay for last minute pet care? Or for a pet owner having to cancel their holiday because of it. Of course not, it’s a two way thing, there’s a chance of lost costs from both sides.
One of the things you are reviewed on as a sitter is ‘self sufficiency’, that sort-of includes being able to deal with things when something goes wrong.
Also, to safeguard yourself in the future, why not choose locations where you could potentially volunteer, if things go wrong again. Check out:-
Appreciate your lengthy reply but it would be super helpful if you could read the thread and responses before repeating previous sentiments.
Has the pet owner cancelled the sit yet
@Jlt59 ? If they do not at least you will be able to leave a review about the late cancellation. It sucks that you are going to be out of pocket on that flight cost.
It would be super helpful to treat responses with politeness, or perhaps answer questions other have asked…
I will not add any more responses in this thread here, but keep studying tips from others with interest.
When are you flying and where to in Switzerland? There are quite a few sits available in Switzerland for the upcoming weeks. If you were supposed to fly to Geneva, you’ve got relative easy access to certain parts of France too.
Also check the ‘House and petsitting Switzerland’ group on FB.
I hope thing will work out!
Thank you for message - unfortunately she hasn’t cancelled the sit. I’ve requested 4 times so not sure what the issue is. Support are not responding to me, so it’s a very frustrating situation. There’s also no possibility to leave a bad review for a sit that doesn’t go ahead.
Thank you, very insightful.
It’s the end of August. Thank you for the heads up on FB group!
A month might not be enough, if it’s an international sit, a place where people typically travel to.
Hi everyone,
To update I’ve been reimbursed for some flight costs and I’ve requested that THS update the terms and conditions to say flights must be (or strongly recommended to be) refundable. Hopefully this saves future situations.
Thank you for all the useful advice.
Thanks for the update and good luck filling the slot with a really enjoyable sitting.
Thanks for the update @Jlt59 .
That is great you got some of your costs back. But I don’t foresee THS requiring hosts to reimburse travel costs, or even suggesting it as a voluntary act.
If people feel they aren’t in a financial position to purchase higher-priced refundable tickets, or absorb the costs of cheaper non-refundable fares, in the event of a cancellation, they should probably stick to more local sits if this is something that is of a major concern for them. Like I had said previously, based on my experience, I do think cancellations are relatively rare and most trips go as planned.
Best of luck!
I also don’t foresee THS requiring hosts to reimburse travel costs, that would change the nature of the mutual exchange that THS is based on .
Hosts would base their choice of sitter on whether the sitter would already be in local area . The result would be that sitters coming from further away less likely to be chosen in case the sit had to be cancelled .
Or they would decide to go for a paid service instead - which would cost less that the cost of reimbursement of an international flight.
But I am happy to know that in your situation @Jlt59 the owner has offered to reimburse you some of the travel expense even though they were not obliged to .
@Jlt59 , Thank you for the update.
THS is a matchmaker service…that is it.
What OP is proposing THS to do would be like Match.com or eHarmony reimbursing me for a date that went wrong! LOL, it won’t happen!!!
THS will NOT be responsible for costs associated between members but only the optional insurance…or non-insurance plans that each member chooses or doesn’t choose to pay for. I have been wrong, including five times yesterday total but this is one if I am wrong on…as @Silversitters pointed out, it won’t be the THS we recognize today, not to mention recognized a few years ago.