We just had a bad situation with a sitter who was defiantly violating THS’s rules and we are wondering about a few things:
The sitter complained during the walkthrough about the outdoor security cameras. That should have been a clue that something was going to go wrong and it did. I should first note that the cameras are not only disclosed in the place on my profile where THS asks but in 4 other places. The cameras are for security and one would think that if you are not doing something nefarious, you would be happy about them. We have been on the THS platform since 2019 and never had an incident but this one was quite different. Frankly, we have never had an alert to look at the videos but again this one was different!
3 months ago, shortly after we listed this sit, a sitter who had sat for us in the past reached out and asked: “…..would it be ok if my mother and my sister joined me for Christmas and new years?” We said yes but no parties and she replied: “….yes, of course no parties.” We knew from the past that she had family in the area including a brother and aunt so we assumed since she was explicit about two days, Christmas and New Years, that it was just those two days.
We later learned, way to close to when we were leaving, that she meant her mother and now brother would be joining her for the whole time. While we reluctantly accepted this, the second day of their stay our doorbell camera alerted us to suspicious activity as there were people outside, going in, that were joking about “the mansion”. While we had not looked at the cameras prior as we had no reason to be alarmed, we now did and could not even count all of the comings and goings. On the first day alone, there were 52. On both days, it is impossible to tell how many people were in the house at any one time given all of the comings and goings mainly from the garage.
On the second day, when we noticed an issue, we reached out to the sitter stating that having guests without explicit permission is a clear violation of the THS policy and she went on a rant about being watched. She then started purposefully blocking the doorbell camera. We shared all of these videos, including the really strange one of her blocking the doorbell camera, with THS who also reached out to her. She also mainly used the garage to let people in and out and I do not think she noticed the cameras there which are in plain sight!
When we asked her if she could abide by the THS rules going forward during the sit, she said no and wrote: “….never had any issues like this, even though I’ve stayed in houses where I brought guests and there were also outside cameras.” Clearly admitting she has broken THS policies in her words “SO many” times.
When she said she was going to continue to violate the THS policy and have unauthorized guests, we said we were not comfortable with that and asked when she could leave. She said she could leave the following day at noon as we did not want to kick them out on the street. But, she immediately had more guests that day! We reached out to her and asked her to only have the 3 people who we authorized to be in the house but she did not respond so we had to call the police to have them removed.
We learned quite a few lessons during the situation and have quite a few concerns about the THS platform:
- The police asked for us to share the sitter’s profile and anything we know about her as a preliminary precaution should we need to file a police report when we get home. They pointed out a few things:
- The sitter never shows her full face on the platform. They suggest that we should never allow anyone in our home whose full face we cannot identify on the platform. Frankly, hearing this, I think it should be a requirement on THS to have one full face photo that perhaps is only disclosed when you confirm.
- Her profile says that her phone has been verified but the police found it is not registered to a person but instead to a club in Delaware - the sitter claims to be from Brazil. THS says the only way they verify the phone is by calling it to see if the sitter answers. That is not my definition of verification! This is a flaw in the THS system.
- The police also pointed out that sitters can google our address and find out exact details of our names even if we do not leave stuff in our house that identifies us - which would be a challenge not to do. But, we have no way of knowing their full name. This is a very one sided deal where the one with the most liability, the homeowner or in other cases the renter, can be fully identified, the but sitter cannot. It should be a requirement of THS that the full name of the sitter is shared when the sit is confirmed.
We did learn that all communication especially about details or when a situation happens need to be on the platform, not via phone or text, so that THS can see them should they need to.
Some other concerns are:
- What will be the consequences for this sitter? I think she should be removed from the platform as she put in writing in the platform that she violates the policy all of the time and I provided videos of her doing so including a really concerning one of her purposefully blocking the doorbell camera.
- What about reviews? This sitter has made untrue comments both in writing and to the police that she in no way can substantiate. If she leaves those in the review because she is mad and trying to deflect from what she did, will THS ask for substantiation before publishing?
This whole incident is of a huge concern. It is terrible to be 3000 miles away and to have to deal with this which is why I do strongly hope there are consequences for her. While we have been THS members for many years, recommended THS to many friends and mostly had great experiences, this one is unacceptable for many reasons. Not only because of her clear violations of policy and her defiance in the face of that but also because of her clear submission in writing that this is her common practice.