We have a confirmed sit scheduled for November. I logged in today to send a note to the sitter that we will have one less pet to sit than when we had our interview. Doing this as a courtesy.
When I log into our dashboard, I see our confirmed sit and our sitter’s photo. When I go to message her via the inbox, I see a header for our last correspondence thread. However, it states under the sitter’s name and photo, “Currently Not Active”. I’m unable to open up the correspondence thread that was active before.
Does this just mean she hasn’t paid her yearly fee? Or something else? We received no word that she cancelled. We have several weeks before the sit. I’ll check back from time to time to see if there is any update to her status. I guess I’m concerned that if this doesn’t change, I have no other way to contact the sitter since she didn’t provide me another email or a telephone number.
You really need to confirm contact information, at least two methods, as soon as possible, but at least when you confirm the sit.
Best case scenario, the homeowner puts together a well prepared welcome guide …but most of the time they won’t send it unless the sitter asks, or they won’t post it until the sit is imminent.
On the other hand, the sitter doesn’t send anything, as its not as essential to send info to the homeowner.
We had a Zoom call and interview. We used her account. She never shared her mobile number or alternate email. Hoping moderator or membership can give some guidance if we don’t see a change.
Interestingly, using the website via my desktop computer, I can’t open the previous chat thread. But, using the app on my mobile phone, I can open the chat thread. Perhaps if I message her, she’ll be able to see it and respond?? I’m sensing it’s all a matter of a lapsed membership which she will hopefully renew.
We definitely plan on requesting alternate contact methods prior to the sit in case the site goes down or something like that. The sit was booked well in advance of the start date. Being new to THS, we didn’t know when the usual sharing of this info normally occurred. We did share my mobile number after the Zoom interview and confirming the sit. We were hoping she might send her contact info at that point. She did not. As I mention, the sit date was still weeks away. I figured we had time to get her contact info. The interview went extremely well. The sitter has great reviews. So, all in all, we were willing to wait for the contact info. The fact her profile is not active is just the concerning thing. We lean towards thinking it’s due to a lapse in her membership - and hopefully nothing to be concerned about in the big picture.
You have no way to contact her unless she renews her membership. If she doesn’t do this in the next few weeks, I would contact TH, they might be able to contact her on your behalf.
@Savuti94 I would contact Membership Services at this stage to put your mind at rest. Hopefully they can prompt the sitter to get in touch with you and provide contact details.
Whenever a sit is confirmed or even before it is confirmed, it is always best to get a phone number that you can text or WhatsApp on, as well as an email address. As a sitter I always try to get an address and phone number as soon as possible, rather than rely on a Welcome Guide, as sometimes one is not always completed or it is some time before it is. Hope ylu manage to find a way to get in contact soon.
Welcome @Savuti94. As @Twitcher has suggested, I would be contacting Membership Services now rather than leaving it till too much later as you may find you need to re-advertise for another sitter. Hopefully she has just forgotten to renew her membership but most cases, it is set on auto-renew unless a member changes that. You do need her to be an active member because if there are any problems with the sit, there is no back-up from THS (not that there’s much back-up anyway).
You have done the correct thing by wanting to let the sitter know you have one less pet. It’s not just a courtesy though as it changes the agreement you made at the time of confirmation so it’s a case of asking her whether she is still happy with doing this sit, less one pet.
As new members, you have now learnt the importance of sharing contact details straight after confirmation of a sit.
I hope it all works out well for you.
This is a hard lesson for you to learn that once a sitter is confirmed you should exchange mobile numbers and email addresses. I hope that you are able to connect. THS membership services should be able to help you, although they do take their time…
Well, after contacting member support via chat, we are told the sitter has been suspended for “behaviour” issues. Apparently booking overlapping sits. We are disappointed. She had great reviews. Our interview with her went well. Just a bummer to happen on our very first owner listing. Good thing is that we have time to rebook…I hope.
We are concerned that we weren’t notified by THS of the suspension. I discovered it by accident. Our dashboard still showed the sit as confirmed. That said, the suspension is recent. I was told we were in the queue to be notified. I am trusting that to be true.
I strongly encourage THS to automate some type of alert to owners to contact support immediately if a sitter is suspended. There doesn’t need to be detail in the alert - just to contact support. It just doesn’t look good for an owner to discover this fact and have to sort it out.
@Savuti94 - yes I agree I would have expected that you would have been notified by member services immediately- I can’t understand why there would be a queue of people to be informed ??
I wonder how many sits had they booked ?
I hope you find a sitter soon - is your listing live again ? Did THS unconfirm it or instruct you what you needed to do ? They may boost it for you or publish on social media if you want that .
I had a sit in your neighborhood and bookended another sitter. The woman was someone who mostly telecommuted to San Diego, but lived a couple of hours away. When I returned for my second sit, there were water bowls with debris and food bowls with old kibble and tiny gnats. I told the HOs I thought she’d left the sit earlier than agreed on and the dogs were neglected. I wonder whether it was your sitter.
We’d agreed on timing, because I was flying back for my second sit. She picked the time before I booked my ticket.