It’s a nightmare for us as we are not quick on the trigger and take a thoughtful amount of time before we apply for sit. THS has dug in its heals are arent budging.
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Thanks, I didn’t know that.
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Just filled in a “Your feedback is important to us” questionnaire,
In the past I gave them 9 and this time it is a 1 because we are not being listened to.
I think the forum encompasses a good snapshot of what the wider “community” represents and that is the 5 limit is wrong , unfair and not what we signed up for.
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@Cleeflang don’t worry about that comment. I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that nothing has changed. Must be a coincidence. Apologies to the team.
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Your meme game is strong at the moment… 
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@temba - for UK sit, there’s the lucky circumstance that there’s nearly a 100 times more sits available than for all of the rest of Europe combined. So yes, with so many many UK sits on offer, getting a UK sit is less affected by the 5 application rule than locations with way fewer sits.
And why do I say: nearly a 100 times more sits? Cause I’ve counted total number sits at various points in time and generally arrive at 3-5 rest of Europe sits for every 100 UK sits
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Hi @LIQ, agree with you that I would like to see a lower membership fee.
I already raised this with THS late last year: the membership fee has actually gone up, but the number of sits I’m given access to has gone down due to the 5 appl limit. So actually I should pay less, since I’m no longer given full access to all available sits
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UK sits (except rural ones) are nearly impossible to score if you’re in the US. So the 5-application rule does affect UK sits, depending on where you are. We have to be up in the middle of the night and/or sitting in front of the THS site and refreshing the minute the listing goes up in order to even get the chance to apply. So chances are slim to none for us over here. By the time we see it, it’s long gone.
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Hi @LIQ - I hear you and know how frustrating it is under the ‘new’ system. My reply was purely in response to Temba who noted that he/she had still been able to get the sits they wanted (but at nearly a 100 times more sits to go around for UK than rest-of-Europe, one’s chances are higher as well!)
As an example of my own struggles with the 5 application rule: just this evening, late evening, I happened to see a sit come up (in my timezone) for which I’ve already been in touch with the owners twice before. Note: my contact with them started before the rule came in place, as it was still possible back then to reach out and express interest in future dates. This approach landed me quite a few sits in the past, as it allowed for establishing an early trust basis. Of course, this isn’t really possible anymore these days.
Anyway, I saw the sit had just been posted, after midnight! And 3 people had already applied. So I quickly opened an application window, as I truly needed some time to carefully consider the posted dates and figure out if I was able & willing to do them. Of course, by the time I’d made my decision, the sit had long closed (5 applications received) although in this case I was lucky enough to still have an application window open.
Had I refreshed the THS listings page 5 minutes later…I would completely have missed the sit due to the 5 limit. And thus, even though the owner and I had already established rapport, the HO and I would have missed out on the opportunity for me as an experienced sitter (8+ years on this website) to potentially do this sit for them.
I think that’s a loss for both sides, cause their location is popular attracting many applicants of the ‘speed is what we need’ type. I’m more of the ‘careful consideration’ type, but that’s the type of sitters who’s on the losing end of the 5 application rule.
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It’s a lose-lose. Sitters have to be in the same timezone as their desired sits OR refreshing listings 24/7 in order to even get a chance to apply. HOs by and large don’t seem to realize that their 5 applications aren’t their actual candidate pool, but just the first 5 people who clicked “Apply Now” the fastest.
Here in the US, if we want to even see UK/European listings in time to hit that button, we have to stay up all night, because it’s already well into the day over there when we get up. For instance, if a Londoner puts up a listing at noon, it’s 7am New York time, and 4am California time. What are the odds this sit is still going to be open for applications by the time any of us see it?
As for HOs, how would many of them react if they knew that they’re only seeing 5 applications, most of which are totally unsuitable? And that they have to take a certain additional action in order to get any more? How does it help the HO in any way to only get a handful of applications—which are statistically unlikely to be candidates who closely read, understood, and fit everything in the listing?
No one wins here, so I don’t get it.
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Wow. I didn’t realize U.K. sits were that hard to get from the U.S. (I’m based on the U.S. East Coast, if that makes a difference.) I don’t remember doing anything unusual to get them. I check sits randomly, because I’m pretty flexible on when and where I sit. (I just don’t do sits in rural areas.)
I did one a few months ago as my first sit abroad, right outside of Cambridge. Am on one in London now and have another soon in the heart of Stratford-upon-Avon.
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Indeed @LIQ, like the sit that by luck I happened to see yesterday after midnight -same timezone as the sit (and apparently even then sitters are still jumping on the sit at speed) - I would have completely missed out on it, had I checked this morning or even 5 minutes later.
And that while I’ve already been in touch with these HOs before and they’d already indicated that they’d be happy to have me sit when the dates work out. Instead, now they just get whoever jumped the fastest, but (apart from not being glued to a screen all day to refresh THS) for what was a 2.5 week sit I usually just don’t want to respond THAT fast as I need a few moments to carefully consider:
- Do these dates fit?
- What are the HOs expecting of me as a sitter, and what’s the property like?
- How about the cost of train or plane tickets to get there on these dates?
- How’s the public transport to get around?
Etc
That takes time, but it’s much better for the HO if I figure these things out first before I hit the apply button
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Hi @Bluehorse
Do you not use the Favourites option?
In the case that you describe, if you had “Favourited” it, you would have been advised on your app that new dates are listed.
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Different but very related topic: does anyone feel less engaged with THS than before? As in: slacking to check the platform, less ‘in the game’ to try and score a sit?
For many years I checked the THS website somewhere between 5 and max 15 times a day. Since the 5 appl limit came in place, that’s no longer enough. Many sits are long gone if I don’t check the listings every 10-20 minutes.
I notice it has the opposite effect on me: I start to check THS less than before, as the process has become more demotivating. My expectations of being able to score nice Rest-of-Europe (non-UK; I don’t live in the UK) sits as an experienced sitter has taken quite a hit. And I’m increasingly looking for other ways (AirBnB) etc to go places since I don’t consider my chances on this platform all that high anymore.
Member since early 2015, 5 star reviews, always consider carefully whether I can commit to a sit, but those attributes doesn’t mean much anymore under the new application system
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Hi @Itchyfeet - it’s well known that there’s a lag (op up to 1 hour) between sits becoming available and actually receiving a notification about them. Many sitters have already reported here on the platform that when they get a notification in, and within seconds go to that listing, that it’s already in ‘reviewing’ status. So that’s unfortunately not the workaround to ‘snag’ a popular sit before the 5 appl window closes
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@Bluehorse I certainly dont love them the way i did, nor rave about how fabulous they are. Instead i let people know they are useful BUT not what they used to be.
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It’s common for businesses and services to evolve, often to the chagrin of early customers or users.
For the company, the key thing typically is that their customers or user base grows and keeps growing. Sure, it’d be nice if they could keep the old customers, but overall that matters less than whether it can acquire new customers in greater numbers and retain them.
The new customers or users have no recollection of what the service was like in earlier days. As long as they’re happy with the current service, that works for the business. And even the existing customers don’t have to be perfectly satisfied. All a company has to do is provide a service or product better than whatever else is available, either a direct competitor or a substitute good.
With growing businesses, often there are upgrades going on behind the scenes that cost money and yield no noticeable improvement for users or customers — there’s infrastructure that’s needed to serve a larger customer base, sometimes to replace what won’t scale or ends up obsolete, for instance.
Companies don’t typically promise to stay the same or even deliver more value over time. Some do that as a business strategy, but that isn’t feasible for all businesses.
Ultimately, as a customer, our choice is to continue with the service as it evolves, or to vote with our money and leave.
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Hi @Bluehorse
You have said that you have been communicating with this Pet Owner before. In that case you have the ability of writing them a message advising that you are interested but cannot technically press the Apply button.
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Hi @Maggie8K, of course businesses evolve. However within doing so, they make various choices and sometimes these turn out to be very unpopular and turn off part of their users. Look for example at the current complaints (past week) about the new colour scheme that Google Maps is testing - many users (myself included) find it harder to read maps now.
When a development is unpopular, companies can either ignore it and just press ahead (and that’s when you get threads like this, which surface again and again). Or they can listen to their clientele and see if changes can be made that overcome or smoothen the biggest stumble blocks.
In this case, that solution could be very simple as many sitters and HOs have already suggested. E.g. some things that have been put forward include: increase the application limit to 10, or keep the sit open for at least 12/24 hours, or let the HO choose the limit of applications.
As simple as that, and then these complaint threads would quickly vanish. The ‘feedback not being taken into account’ or ‘head in the sand’ mentality is what upsets quite a few people considering the large volume of complaints about this not-so-new-anymore change.
THS has a very dominant position in the house/pet sitting market, which means that it’s not that easy to switch to another platform with similar amounts of international sits. Just like AirBnB has a very dominant position for people looking to rent someone’s room.
So all one can do is to keep surfacing the issue, with a hope that there’s some serious re-consideration in the end. This platform should be about quality in the exchange between sitter and HO; not merely about who can be the fastest before being cut off.
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