Now that many sitters are receiving countless invitations are any experiencing the same as me?
Sometimes I receive an invitation without a message. I always ask the HO if they have sent a message and some respond that they have.
What seems to happen is that the HO sends a message and then hits the Invite button at the same time. The invitation arrives in the sitters Inbox but the message disappears.
I have advised the HO to send the message and then once it has gone, send the invitation, or vice versa.
This scenario has been going on for years and it needs a technical fix.
Maybe this is why some HOs are not receiving any responses to their invitations as their messages are not being received by the sitter. I always respond but maybe other sitters donāt.
When I receive an invite without a message I must admit I donāt ask if they sent a message - I just assume they didnāt. Occasionally I suggest to them to send a personalised message to improve their chances. I feel pretty bad now!
If I think about it, in the past when I have received an invite to sit and needed to decline I could not see the message I sent if I declined at the same time. I have now got into the habit of sending the message first and then declining shortly afterwards.
Hope this makes sense!
I think a lot donāt send a message. If I donāt get a message I just ignore it & wouldnāt bother asking if theyāve sent a message.
Hi @Itchyfeet Iāll tag @Lucy-MembershipServices who can take this up with you when she is back online ā¦ thank you for bringing it to the forum.
Hi @Itchyfeet thank you for bringing this to our attention. I have taken a look and raised the issue with our wider team who are going to be looking into this. Hopefully we will receive some feedback soon and I shall endeavour to update here when I can.
Thanks again for raising.
All the best
Lucy
Thanks @Lucy-MembershipServices
I am a little confused as to why there is a grey box under everyoneās message saying Solution with a tick. As it is not resolved should this box be here?
@Itchyfeet I believe the box is there so that when a forum member responds with an answer that solves the initial query, you can click on āSolutionā and it will mark that particular reply as the solution.
Perhaps @Vanessa-PartnershipsMgr or @Angela-HeadOfCommunity can verify just in case Iām barking up the wrong tree?
Iām having a problem with messages disappearing to a HO and a sitter in the past few days. I know I sent the messages - and the recipient has received them - but they donāt show in my Inbox (yes, I have expanded it).
Also - messages that I send via the app donāt show on the web version. Itās all very glitchy 
Thanks Lucy and you are absolutely right. The option is only turned on in categories where itās relevant 
@Lucy-MembershipServices I like your use of ābarkingā here. 
So appropriate on this forum. 
Thanks @Lucy-MembershipServices
and so agree with @Snowbird your animal analogy is very appropriate 
where would we be without a sense of humor?
I do that. send message informing them of my reason for declining.
I then know I have acted in a good way 
I have had 1 or 2 invites without anything in the message box and have to admit I declined 1 of them without a message. It caught me at a bad time. 
I use the website on a computer and have always assumed my careful messages were lost in the ether if I sent them without ticking dates first. I would then go back and tick, declining in what seems to me an abrupt way, and afterwards send a message. This goes back at least 9 years. @Vanessa-PartnershipsMgr
Hi everyone and apologies for the delay in responding, Iāve been off for a while.
We have followed this up with the product team and can confirm this is the way the system works currently:
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First the owner selects the dates which sends an invite
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Secondly, they can follow up with a message.
We have raised everyoneās concerns on this process and your suggestions for improvements.
My own experience is that in all cases of the frequent invites we are currently receiving, we do receive an accompanying message sent separately - whether thatās instinctive or trial and error Iām not sure.
In reverse as a sitter, I send a message first and then decline the dates.
Sorry this isnāt worthy of a SOLUTION tick at this stage.
My experience differs from yours
Over the past 30 days I have received 36 invitations
13 of these did not have a message.
4 of these responded to my question āDid you send a messageā and said that they did send one but it disappeared. They were all mortified that they must have seemed rude.
I look forward to further updates
I believe the message disappears as an action of the screen refreshing if they type it first, before sending the invite. Needs some messaging as part of the processā¦ letās hope this getās picked up as an area to improve on. 
@Ben-ProductManager, I opened up this thread in April and there have been comments from Angela, Vanessa and Lucy and still nothing has happened.
Yesterday, I received 3 invitations with no messages. I asked them all if they had sent a personal message. One didnāt respond but the other 2 did, saying that they had sent a personal message. Again, the process is confusing and it is embarrassing responding to these invitations, asking if they sent a message.
Surely this procedure must be fixed once and for all.
I look forward to your input
Thanks