The reason why THS does no background check on HOs is because it can get away with it, and the checks cost money (that adds up quickly with their user numbers). Even though especially the non-USA check is minimal, hosts of course feel much better to let “verified” sitters in their homes. So it is worth the money for THS. Verifying hosts would bring minimal gains (it would be good for sitters, but would not affect their behavior in a noticeable way).
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And yes it’s amazing how many members are convinced that everyone is vetted by THS. Most just have an identity check.
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Any update on this? The forum is giving me the “topics has been solved” pop-up but that is clearly not the case. As a HO i am interested to see how this is handled. thanks for keeping us updated Vixen.
That popup happens because the member who started this thread chose the third reply on this thread as the solution.
Well thats interesting, I went and found the comment, It has been marked that way BY A THS moderater. So its actually not solved, but is currently under “investigation”. I’d like to hear how it actually gets or got resolved. As a homeowner, I want to know how THS handles these nightmare situations. I havent experienced this personally thankfully, but I do want to be prepare myself with expectations should i need help from THS. thanks for showing me how this forum works. It is also a learning process, in addition to the “ins and outs” of using THS to have the best experience possible.
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The moderators reply was marked as the solution, probably by the thread starter who falsely assumed help was on the way.
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As a sitter, I find that the whole pet sitting ecosystem has changed hugely in the few years. For sitters too. I started sitting in 2017 (on another platform) and it was much cosier, and not so much ‘a thing’ that everybody can do on their travels. HOs now seemed to be overshelmed with applications, which wasn’t the case before (at least here in Australia). Good for the platforms, but they’re just looking for membership fees.
I think this is partly through widedpread advertising there is now, and there are more and more sites springing up.
I’ve started doing it again full time in the last few months and it’s nowhere near the positive experience it used to be. All the electronic monitoring devices everyone has now, doesn’t help.
I actually wrote an ebook about petsitting, which I’m thinking of either heavily editing, or taking taking down altogether.
I am very happy to report that THS followed up with me after I filed a formal complaint, did an investigation and now has confirmed that the sitter was removed from the platform. They were concerned that the background check did not uncover that the sitter was actually a resident of Silver Springs, MD and not Brazil and that the phone verification did not uncover that her phone did not belong to her. Their action has given me some renewed confidence. I do believe there is a lot they can do to make their platform more secure and perhaps that is coming based on the actions they seem to be taking.
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Great news!! Glad they finally took action to remove this fraudulent sitter.