Hello, @Timshazz The poll results have been passed back to the Product team.
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Fantastic @Carla thanks for the feedback.
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@RR12345 Same frustration here!
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@Timshazz thanks for posting the results and following up. It looks like the majority of respondents (66%) express strong dissatisfaction, while 20% dislike it to some extent. Only a small percentage (4%) find the new process beneficial, and an even smaller group (2%) loves it. There’s also a neutral group (8%) who are unsure about their opinion.
This breakdown suggests a significant negative sentiment overall. It would have been helpful to collect some more data/votes but it appears THS is not interested in collecting that data or in ever changing the application process. Please keep in mind that as more and more new members join they will not be aware of the old process so they will accept the application process as it is. I personally have decided to vote with my wallet and I didn’t renew my membership.
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I also think that due to the ‘5’ rule some people apply immediately for sits that they may not even be able to do or not even sure they want to so they can get in the 5. I have had people apply for all of my sits and once a meeting was set up they decide they actually can’t do the sit. It’s such a waste of my time.
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Exactly! I do not want to waste people’s time but as a sitter I’m starting to feel compelled to just hit apply without really thinking it through completely or asking questions I need answers to (especially when there are few photos and limited information) because I’m afraid it’ll fill up before I can apply! It has already happened a few times this week.
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I managed to apply for a sit in a popular area recently. I first saw it a few days prior when it was ‘reviewing applications’. The homeowner obviously declined those 5 applicants as it reappeared with zero applicants showing. It filled up again the same day I applied and went to reviewing again. It then popped up again with 2 applicants showing so the homeowner obviously declined three of those applicants. My application has not been declined but I also haven’t received any contact from the homeowner.
The 5 application limit is clearly not allowing homeowners to receive quality applications as the homeowner in this case has declined 8 of the first 10 applications they’ve received. Nor is it achieving the oft-stated aim of allowing new sitters to get popular sits as homeowners who are aware of the limit keep going back to the pool until they find a ‘better’ sitter, and obviously all this slows down rather than speed up response times.
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Ziggy, I was not aware of the 5 rule until reading it here on the forums. I know many owners are unaware and had wondered why they were now getting so few applicantas. Nothing was sent out to ask peoples opinions before implimenting the rule. And they did not send out emails with details of the new rules to members.
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Hi @Visit - the rule was implemented more than a year ago. I think late summer '22 is when I really started noticing it. And no, as others have said as well, it was never explicitly communicated with members. As so many others, I found out via this Forum; not because it was in a newsletter or in an email outlining changes.
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I hate it too.
As a sitter I’m constantly searching THS app and before I even get a chance to apply there is a ‘reviewing’ statement.
Every single saved sit alert I get even when I respond immediately, is ‘reviewing’.
I’m too considering not renewing my membership. It’s not worth it anymore due to the amount of time I have to keep searching.
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Hi Carla_C, I notice it is now 3 weeks since the poll results were passed to the Product team. Do they have any response?
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I also found out through the forum but as a HO I definitely was informed that my listing will be paused until I have decided if one of the first 5 applicants is suitable or to decline some that I can receive more applications.
It’s definitely not true that HOs are not made aware of this rule while they have a listing online.
I have recently behaved in a way that is abhorrent to me. I am searching for a sitting in a different time zone to me and they tend to come in as I am going to bed. On 2 occasions I have sent a one liner advising that I will write a full application in the morning.
Morning comes, and I decide that it is not for us so have written an apology, explaining the pause feature and withdrawn.
I hated it and I will not do in again but this system is driving all the wrong behaviour.
I will repeat what I have said in other threads; I can no longer recommend the site to others.
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Hello everyone!
Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback about the work we’ve done around pausing owner applications, and for waiting while we took your feedback to the Product team.
We understand that any site changes, especially those affecting how some members use the site, need to be communicated transparently. We’ve used this experience as a learning curve to improve our communication and transparency in the future.
As well as giving you an update about pausing owner applications, we also wanted to let you know about when and where we gave advance notice of the change, as we know that some of you were concerned that you were only made aware of it after seeing it here on the Forum.
Here’s the timeline of announcements:
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Initial testing was mentioned in June 2022 on a blog posting here
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Our Product Manager, Ben, posted about the changes in July 2022 during the testing phase here, and there was also a new blog post update here. This post also contains a document with screenshots showing how it will look on the platform when members log in and what instructions will be given for using the new feature.
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We then shared an update on the change in our September 2022 newsletter, that was emailed to all subscribed members, after the initial testing was complete. You can see a copy of the email we sent out by clicking here.
The Product Team are really grateful to all Forum members who took the time to provide their feedback, whether it was via the recent poll, or in one of the discussion posts on the topic.
They’ve asked us to confirm that there are no plans to change the five pausing feature at the moment, due to the overall success of the function across the platform.
Although we know you’ll most likely be disappointed to hear that we won’t be making any further changes to the feature, we wanted to let you know that as a direct result of your feedback on this update and how it was announced, that the Forum will soon have a Product Update section.
Having a dedicated area for Product updates means the way that we communicate these kinds of updates will change for the better, making sure your voices are heard, and that we’re being as transparent as possible.
Please watch this space for an announcement about the Product Update section in the coming weeks.
Can I ask who is benefiting from the 5 only rule and how? And what is the depth of your evidence?
Can I also ask why you won’t trial a 10 only rule given the wealth of feedback on this forum?
Many thanks.
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Forget it! This has been asked a thousand times on the unmentionable thread. They will never admit that they are wrong and 5 applications are not enough.
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Thanks @Carla for the update and yes, it’s a very disappointing outcome as is the veterinary expenses for sitters outcome, with THS not budging on their decision. Our voices have once again not been heard on two very important concerns.
As we all know, the Forum members make up a small percentage of the total THS membership, so I would like to assume that every Trusted Times newsletter will also contain a Product Update section, thereby reaching thousands more members than just those tuned into the Forum and showing THS’s willingness to become a little more transparent.
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@Carla Of course, THS had mentioned that somewhere. Yet many THS members are unaware.
Part of that is that the language is not transparent, even misleading. For example, instead of “Reviewing applications”, it could say something like “Applications paused at 5”.
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…what can I say: it’s very disappointing that THS is not willing to consider trialing different alternative setups despite the flood of valuable suggestions that have been provided.
What we’ve seen so far is:
- The longest THS Forum threads I’ve ever seen on one & the same topic, and predominantly to share frustrations. So that’s not a good sign when there’s so much discontent brewing; and continues to brew and bubble up more than a year after a new rule got implemented
- Long term members ‘voting with their feet’ by indicating that they no longer or much less so recommend THS to their friends and family, or by not renewing their membership. Both are not good marketing for the site
- More and more Forum threads lately from HOs dealing with very poor or even disastrous pet sitters
- The latter may of course also be related to: more Forum threads lately discussing recent THS ads and how ad language or images may create the wrong impression to prospective sitters. So this is probably a combination of having more people join with the wrong expectations & the ‘apply as fast as you can’ rule
I remember how I used to be a fan of Couchsurfing. Then the site changed - it became much more commercial, it no longer listened closely to its long term members, it created a large influx of new members with a very different ethos and expectations, CS hosts became more and more frustrated being inundated with requests from people who didn’t really understand what Couchsurfing is about (no, it’s not a free hotel). And the result is that CS has become a shadow of what it used to be and its popularity has dropped considerably.
Now THS likely won’t lose popularity any time soon since there are many HOs out there who are in very real need of petsitters, and this is the largest site that serves that need. Particularly for the UK; less so for the rest of Europe.
Nonetheless, it does sadden me as a long term member (2015) that THS is not showing at least some degree of willingness to do something with all the feedback provided on this issue, such as experiment with different setups. After all, the 5 rule was also a test initially.
And this likely means that on any other contentious future issues, THS is likely not willing to co-create solutions with its members either. Nonetheless, I think that together WE are the site, and that the stonewalling approach THS takes on this issue is not fit for the current times. Enough said.
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"The overall success of the function (5 apps then pause) across the platform ". Hmmm, I think the juries out on that one.
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