It seems like you wouldn’t want the auto decline to go out until the sitter accepts. If the sitter does not accept, then all the other applicants have already been declined.
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I do, and I let prospective sitters know if I would be interested in the future. Just a thought but might it also be an idea for sitters to have an automated button for when they accept a sit so I know they are no longer available. I keep in touch and ask them to let me know if they are still interested but some don’t bother until you get to the point of inviting them for a chat and they suddenly announce they have taken another sit. Just a thought.
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Thank you Claire, I actually do have a car, but it is in the USA and I will be in the UK for the summer. I’m finding car rental prices to be spendy enough that I’m better off paying for accomodations near public transit rather than having to rent a car to do a sit.
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Alas, another thing we share in common; I have not found my beautiful Subaru car in the USA to be of any help for my UK Sits. Nor, have I found this exact car which I want for Scotland in the UK anywhere in Cypress Green Pearl, my favorite color. I will seek no-car-needed Sits until my new UK car is found; after “Flying Clover” is sold in Taos, New Mexico, USA.
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I wish you the best. I am only in Europe for 3 months so my car will just be lonesome without me while I galivant around the UK and Portugal.
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@Debbie-L this seems a good logistical point.
Would it be possible to confirm if the auto decline goes out before the sitter even accepts?
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@HelloOutThere I am more than happy to help you with that one. The auto-decline email is sent to all applicants when the sitter has accepted the owner’s confirmation. Thus the sit is officially confirmed on the site by both members and the live dates are no longer present on the site.
There is also an automated email that goes out to sitters when the owner manually declines a sitter, when the owner takes this action in their inbox it asks if the owner would like to decline with a message and the owner has the option of selecting yes or just decline.
I hope that helps clarify things but please let me know if you have more questions. Thank you.
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Yikes! They get an auto-decline before I have a chance to let them know!!! Now I know to start those notes with “I’m sorry you heard it from THS before me, but……”
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The lack of courtesy when declining sitters never fails to amaze me. I applied on a sit last week and just received “application denied” today and the listing shows as “reviewing applications”. There was only three other applicants so obviously the homeowners weren’t impressed with our almost 40 glowing reviews 
First time I’ve had an application declined while the sit is in the “reviewing applicants” stage.
We just faced this same issue! You see, I want to be sure one sitter has officially accepted before I contact the other(s) to thank them and let them know/let them know why, hope they re-apply for future, etc.
I actually secured the confirmation acceptance and then went to write the other two and saw and thought the first had (coincidentally) declined her application. When i saw the second with the same message, “Application Declined”, I realized they both had been auto-declined by THS before I had a chance to let them know.
I felt awful!
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I agree. It would be nice to know if they sincerely would like to have the opportunity in future or if they don’t think it is the right fit for them. I know my sits are a lot to ask because I have 3 dogs and a cat, (it’s really not as hard as it sounds) so it would be good to know whether to even bother inviting sitters again in the future.
Also (as I said above in another reply) a bare minimum courtesy reply would be preferred instead of just declining a sit without any note.
I’m new, so don’t have much experience, but I feel the same way about sitters declining an invitation without a word. I think it would be more courteous to at least say there’s a conflict. Or if there is something wrong with my sit listing, I’d like to know that too. It left a bad feeling for me to just get declined with no explanation.
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Hello. As a owner I’ve recently experienced sitters “ghosting” me. In other words we have had back and forth communication and then when I ask if they would like to sit, if they have questions for me, or if they’d like to chat…NOTHING. l will then try contacting one more time, and if still NO RESPONSE I will either flat out decline or just let the system do it if another sitter accepts. If I have to make a decision between interested parties, I give more detailed declines. Communication is a two way street. Thank you to all communicative sitters out there.
I’m really sorry to read you’re having “ghosting” by some sitters. With the huge growth in membership, there seems to be more and more lack of communication from both parties who don’t fully understand the uniqueness of THS and the etiquette involved. If I was you, I’d have no qualms about declining those sitters. It also opens your listing up to more sitters applying. I hope you have success in gaining a super sitter @SandBee.
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@temba as a 6 year THS member, and believer, I really do love the service and all of the members that truly believe in the mission. I never take anyone for granted and believe that we should treat others as we want to be treated.
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I so agree @SandBee. I’ve had a combined membership since 2015 but only use the sitter part these days. We’ve both seen changes over the years but thankfully the majority of members embrace the ethos of THS.
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