I have cancelled my auto renew too! I was offered a 20% reduction if I stayed. Is this normal or something new?
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I think the 20 percent reduction offer has been there for a while. I saw it when I cancelled my auto-renew. That was, a couple weeks ago, when it became obvious that THS was definitely going to implement this new Pause-after-Five policy.
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It was there when I canceled too
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You only get to use that option once. At the end of my first year I cancelled the auto-renew and was offered the 20% discount - which I used. At the end of my second year I tried the same again and got the same message - but when I tried to take advantage I got a message stating that I’d already used the offer previously and it was a once only offer.
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Wait, the “survey” was done with 5 sitters & owners?
That’s NOT a survey!
And concerning the reply you got, for all the Trekkies out there the phrase
“Resistance is Futile”
comes to mind
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@Ben-ProductManager what surveys?? In 5 years and 48 sits with THS, I have never received any kind of survey asking about my "experience ".
Myself and others have asked, repeatedly, about sharing the data that substantiates this permanent change and it has been, repeatedly, ignored. You keep saying “the data show” so SHOW US THE DATA! We are not stupid people and we come from a variety of professions, careers and backgrounds. Please stop glossing over this rollout.
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@anon1411559 This is the thing I find very frustrating. Constant references to ‘the data’ but never an opportunity for this to be shared with us. Why not? We, whether sitters and/or house owners, are instrumental to the success of THS and I do think we should be treated with a level of respect that appears to be lacking here. It is simply not good enough and I am sadly disillusioned after less than six months of membership.
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No, in June they asked for 5 sitters & 5 owners to participate in a small questionnaire to ask a few questions.
One of the questions was the pause after 5 applications. I would like to think they did more thorough research after that! But already then I had the feeling that it was a bit of a done deal.
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@LizBCN of course we are instrumental to their sucess, we are their revenue stream! THS seems to have lost sight of the fact that we are ALL paying customers, not employees or school children. The condescension and disrespect are palpable.
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Us too. We list all the options but did mention the advantages of THS. I guess I have to go back and add the disadvantages now as well. And update the advice on how to secure a sit with the expediency aspect. I always advised it was good to be early but now its essential even if it’s a stop gap message to ‘grab your spot’
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@Vanessa_A I do get emails from the generic THS email address that apparently sends the newsletter but I don’t get the newsletter. THS has previously looked in to this months ago and allegedly fixed it but still I’ve never received any emailed newsletter. So I can 't rely on being updated by your newsletter communication platform about any changes. I wonder how many other members are in the same boat? So I guess your answer is “no”, members won’t get a direct email about this update and they will only, possibly, maybe, get a newsletter emailed to them about it if you can resolve the flaws in your system.
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@Ben-ProductManager Will you at least acknowledge that almost every sitter and owner on this vast forum topic are reporting that they are NOT seeing good outcomes?
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@Ben-ProductManager I’ve never received any survey following any of my sits to find out how they went? The only survey I’ve received is the general “quality” one that many people received.
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I have never seen a company go from such a high to such a low in a 9 week period.
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Hi @Crookie Vanessa is now offline but I’m certain that she will follow this up for you, with the CRM team, when they are back after the weekend.
It seems to be so unpopular I dont understand why TH are persisting with it.
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It seems to be so unpopular I dont understand why TH are persisting with it.
We’re in an echo chamber here. The majority of subscribed sitters and owners don’t even know it’s happening or don’t care about it.
I also think that the vast majority of sitters responding here who do care about this are sitters who do this full time or close to it. High-volume sitters decrease their profitability. TH doesn’t make any more money off a sitter after the first sit each year. They’d obviously rather have 10 sitters do 10 sits than 1 sitter do 10 sits, so they need to “spread out the success” as they’ve said to increase profitability. In Ben’s own words:
We are always looking for ways to improve overall success on the platform. Previously, there were a couple of challenges: a small number of sitters taking a large majority of sits…
If 1 high-volume sitter is upset and doesn’t renew, but 9 low-volume new sitters are happy and stay (who previously would have canceled their subscriptions because they couldn’t get a sit), TH is financially better off. It’s to their financial advantage to lose their handful of high-volume sitters.
Is that fair? Probably not. The high-volume sitters stuck by them during the pandemic and paid their membership even though there were no sits; the high-volume sitters helped grow the company by providing repeat quality care and spreading the word; and so on. But unfortunately life isn’t fair. Companies grow and evolve and change how they operate.
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I understand your point and how THS may be thinking. However, there’s a flaw in their logic.
It’s not surprising that a small number of full-time sitters have more sits than other sitters.
The flaw is in assuming that because they have more sits those sitters are keeping other sitters from getting sits. It’s not based on seniority or paying more. It’s basic competition and presenting yourself in the best manner to the HOs.
In other words, it’s been a level playing field.
The new system of first-to-apply and no more than 5 only favors the fastest to apply.
I challenge Ben or anyone to explain how that benefits new sitters or sitters who do not do as many sits as others.
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Thanks for this post. Very well said.
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The flaw is in assuming that because they have more sits those sitters are keeping other sitters from getting sits. It’s not based on seniority or paying more. It’s basic competition and presenting yourself in the best manner to the HOs. In other words, it’s been a level playing field. The new system of first-to-apply and no more than 5 only favors the fastest to apply. I challenge Ben or anyone to explain how that benefits new sitters or sitters who do not do as many sits as others.
It benefits them by disrupting the level playing field and allowing them to win with what would otherwise be an inferior application. An example:
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In the beforetime: Popular sit gets 15 applicants. 13 of them are new or have little experience so their applications aren’t quite as polished. Two are high-volume sitters who, based on experience, present themselves better but also just have more experience so HO picks a high-volume sitter.
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In the new world order: Time limit prevents the high-volume sitters from applying or even seeing the sit (won’t always happen that way, of course). HO doesn’t know they can open the sit to more applicants or can’t be bothered and “settles” for one of the five original applicants. The sit likely goes well. HO and new sitter are happy. High-volume sitter has moved on to either another sit (through TH or not) or securing another type of accommodation (AirBnb, etc.). Mission accomplished.
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