Hi everyone,
I’ve been a Trusted House Sitters member for several years and have generally had great experiences—until now. I recently had a very unsettling situation that has left me questioning both the vetting process and the level of customer support provided by THS.
A few months ago, I confirmed a sit with a seemingly lovely couple who had an autistic son. We did a meet-and-greet at my home, and while they arrived about 30 minutes late, they seemed kind and genuine. They had several great reviews so I confirmed them for a sit that was scheduled to start next week.
Fast forward to last week, I received a message from the woman claiming that her son had accidentally deleted her THS account and she wanted to ensure that the sit was still confirmed. I checked at the time, and it was, so I didn’t think much of it.
Then, yesterday, I suddenly started receiving new applications. When I checked the platform, their account was inactive. I reached out to them, and they told me they had been “going back and forth” with customer support, trying to reactivate it. They sent me a screenshot of a new account they had supposedly created, but I couldn’t find that one on the platform either.
At this point, I contacted THS customer service myself to understand what was happening. Initially, I was just told their account had expired, and there was no record of their support history. After pushing for more information, I finally received an email stating that they had been permanently removed due to a serious complaint (presumably from another sit).
This is where I’m really shaken—I have no idea what that complaint was about, and my imagination is running wild with worst-case scenarios. The fact that they blatantly misled me makes it even worse. I know I caught this in time, and I’m grateful for that, but now I feel like a paranoid homeowner. I live in a pretty desirable area and, thankfully, I’ve had a few more applications come in, but I can’t shake this uneasy feeling. I don’t want to unfairly judge new applicants, but I also don’t want to ignore my gut instincts.
I actually have a meet-and-greet scheduled tonight, and I’m not sure how to handle it. I don’t want to come off as overly suspicious and scare good people away, but I also feel like I need to be much more guarded after this experience.
For those of you who have been long-time members, how would you handle this? Should I escalate my concerns further with THS? Have you ever dealt with something similar? How do you balance being cautious without becoming overly paranoid?
I’d really appreciate any thoughts or advice!