Hi everyone. Ive been fulltime since December 2022. I have a new ssituation and wondering what others would do??
I have done a zoom meeting because sit is interstate. I accepted after that meeting and have spent a significant amount of money on travel to get there.
This week i was contacted by one of the adults from the house not the one I met with on zoom. They declared to me via text there would now be two other people staying in the house and my daughter would now be sleeping outside.
I have asked to see the outside sleep out as this wasnt in the listing and for information about the people coming into the house to sleep.
I am a female travelling with uni daughter to spend some days over christmas together before she goes overseas. I have asked to re do a zoom appointment with both adults present next week to review these new plans. I am trying to find info on THS and considering not doing the sit. This situation feels quite strange.
I would appreciate suggestions from sitters who have had a similar experience,
Thanks.
This is against THS Ts and Cs and violates the third party code. You can make it not personal and say sorry, unfortunately breaks the rules of the sit so not allowed, please make other arrangements for your daughters. THS support will back you on this too @Gooloongarring Weâve had a similar situation ourselves so stick to your guns!
5.2.13. ensure your home is vacated for a Sitter throughout the duration of the Sit, and that no third parties will interfere with the Sitterâs enjoyment of your property;
Though I have to say, that the wording of the clause is not quite clear. Thecnically, a home could be âvacated for a sitterâ, but a third party could pop in every now and then, as long as they do not âinterfere with the Sitterâs enjoyment of your propertyâ
Thatâs an absolute cheek, Iâm infuriated for you. You would be completely justified in declining this sit now. (And they can get the two others to look after the pets!!)
This sounds super dodgy. Aside from not being allowed by the terms they agreed to when joining THS (and that forms part of the agreement between you and the owner) their attitude of informing you rather than asking if you would be ok is a huge red flag.
You mentioned you spent a lot of money on travel so I can see why you may be reluctant to cancel. You could remind them that they cannot have anyone else in the property and if they insist tell them they have to refund your costs and they will need to cancel the sit as it is not allowed. Not sure if you would get anything from them but I have been wondering when someone would pursue financial losses due to an owner or sitter cancelling and agreement.
They could agree that there would be no-one there and when you arrive you may find they have not kept to that.
Personally I would cancel this and report them to THS and hope to get them removed from the site especially if they have caused you financial loss.
Good luck
They are not obliged to pay back the travel expenses. Frankly, sitters need to be careful when they are travelling for a sit. Not sure about carriers in other countries and I know Europe has a lot of inexpensive airlines that have terrible refund policies, but generally in the US most carriers will give you credit (not a refund) minus a fee even for budget tickets.
Just a nonemotional âThis wasnât what I agreed to. It goes against the Terms and Conditions. Iâm not comfortable.â
Itâs entirely possible the plans changed and the HO is simply trying to make everyone happy, and itâs not working.
Maybe useful to send this to the home owners ahead of your chat with them next week so that they have time to review it and consider a different plan .
Another forum member had a similar situation and you can read how they handled it here.
Like other people have said, having third parties in the home while you are there is against the terms and conditions so you have a very easy out if you want it. Because something like this is clearly stated by the site, it will protect you if you cancel the sit since you have a solid reason.
This is important since THS claims to track cancellations to weed out âflakyâ sitters. So in the unlikely event the HOâs were to âreportâ you for cancelling, you wouldnât be considered such a sitter.
There is no reason to have a sitter if other people are staying in the home, nor should a HO expect a sitter to share space with strangers. If the people who will be in the home are incapable of caring for the animals or the HOs do not trust them to do so, they either need to arrange for the pets to be elsewhere or the other people need to be elsewhere so you and your daughter can come and take care of the animals as originally planned.
I appreciate the reluctance to cancel because you have already incurred expenses.
As someone who has been doing this a long time, the best advice I can give to people who decide to go ahead with sits they have serious reservations about because of new information that came to light after accepting, but they donât want to cancelâeven though it would be perfectly reasonable to do soâbecause of money, they feel badly doing so, etc. is to FULLY own that you are making a conscious choice to do it anyway. This will cut down on any resentment you feel and make it easier to handle whatever challenges you know you will be facing.
Hopefully they will honor the original arrangement of just you being in the home.
I would not try to salvage this sit - just let them know these terms violate the T&C and cancel. Get THS involved if they are reluctant (since only HOs can formally cancel the sit). I would not entertain them backtracking if they try to go back to the original terms, as I would expect a nasty surprise on arrival.
As others have mentioned, there might be other holiday sits in the area to not have to change your travel plans. Good luck!
Informing THS would be one way to go. Because of the terms, that means the HO will probably get an email or something. They may have NO idea about the TOC and really feel put upon by THS suddenly confronting them. Itâs not necessary. If the OP has an outside contact â phone, they just have to tell the HO to unconfirm, and explain why. This could even be done in a text if you really donât want to deal with it. It is conceivable â unlikely but conceivable that being nice (but firm) in this could result in a future sit that doesnât violate the TOS or even some help on the travel fees incurred. Something changed in the circumstances. It is possible the change wasnât the HOâs idea and they were just trying to work around it without being aware of the TOS and without thinking about how the sitter would feel. It shouldnât be necessary to call customer service unless the HO refused to cancel.
Definitely cancel. Breaking all the rules and dodgy as heck.
Not sure where sit is but sounds like America?
There must be a ton of sits in America.
Can you find one in similar location so you wonât lose your travel costs?
I would definitely cancel. Why should you and your daughter spend time with total strangers? You know nothing about these people and their habits. I would cancel and try to find another sit in the area or simply try to get your ticket changed
Totally out of order but unfortunately a risk that comes with doing long-distance sits.
I would pull out of this, inform THS as this is against their T&Cs, then, as damage limitation try to pick up another sit in the locality so as not to lose your already spent travel money
Weâve had a similar situation ourselves so stick to your guns!