My post on this topic and being a pet siiter/homeowner and still not being able to communicate with another pet sitter was just removed. Home owners being protected and pet sitters being left to roll the dice has made us extremely cautious in doing any new pet sits. We are mostly doing repeat pet sits unless they have nothing but rave reviews. Unfortunately, THS is not protecting pet sitters from retaliation or allowing communication amongst one another. They also allow reviews/feedbacks after reading what the other party has said thus not giving an honest experience since everyone wants positive reviews. The should look to other sites who utilizes the review format to improve the quality and honesty of feedback/reviews.
Hi @claudinekent. I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. I’ve asked membership services to contact you about it. Unfortunately there isn’t any way currently for sitters to contact other sitters using the THS platform. There are, however, facebook groups dedicated to sitters, where sitters share information about recent sits. You may want to look into those as another possible source of information before confirming pet sits.
@claudinekent Sorry to hear that you’ve had a bad experience. At present there is no way to contact previous sitters and many choose not to leave negative feedback because of reprisals .
Until the revised feedback and review system comes ( which has been promised for sometime in 2023 ) the only way to protect future sitters is by raising a dispute with THS who say they will investigate.
It seems that not many sitters / HOs know about this process and THS member services do not seem to be advising members who contact them - but it’s in the THS policy.
Complaining about a member or a house sitting experience
We encourage members to manage disputes or disagreements between themselves and attempt to find an amicable resolution. Where this is not possible, you may raise your concerns directly with TrustedHousesitters.
We ask that you email our Membership Services department at support@trustedhousesitters.com upon completion of the house sit, stating your membership ID number, a detailed explanation of your complaint and include any relevant evidence that you may have. Supporting evidence we will accept:
- Time and date stamped photos
- Time and date stamped videos
- Screenshot of email, texts and any other messages on our platform that is in relation to the sit (it must be a full thread conversation, not one message screenshots)
- Police/Crime Reports
- Veterinary Report
- Hospital Reports
The case handler will review the information that you submit to us and any other relevant information. We might need to contact you and/or the other member for more information.
We will carefully consider all relevant information as part of our investigation.
We will aim to communicate our decision and any action that we have taken within 7 business days.
We will only accept complaints that have been submitted within 30 days of the completion of the relevant house sit.