I was just offered a sit that I applied for by a first-time lister (HO), and they accidentally closed the sit (“Currently not in need of a sitter” appears) instead of offering it to me first. Does she need to re-list it? Or what does she do next. I don’t know what it looks like from her side as I only am familiar with the HS side.
I think they can do I personal invite. We have had several of these in the past when it was repeat sits. I can’t help how to do it but I’m sure one of our experts will pop up.
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@SoloTraveler They should send you a private invite. Forward them this link or the instructions below:
If you have added private dates and you would like to make these public, you will just need to follow these steps (on our desktop site):
- Log in with your email address and password
- Depending on what device you are using either click your name or the three lines in the top right corner
- Select ‘Inbox’
- Locate and click into the conversation of a sitter to who you have sent the private invite (ensure that this invitation has not been declined by the sitter)
- In the blue box at the top click the pink ‘Manage private dates’ button
- Here you will see an option to mark your dates as public by clicking the ‘Publish your dates here’ button
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Thank you!
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I have had this happen 3 times!!! It must not be very user-friendly for new Owners! I message them back, explaining that they must have clicked the wrong button! Then they have to figure out how to fix it on their end. I wish TH would make it easier for the Owners.
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I had a sitter apply two weeks ago for April 18 sit and was to come to meet my cat and I this week (she is visiting nearby). I had already confirmed her as the sitter two weeks ago. I reached out to set up the visit this week and she informed me she is canceling now. I went into the sit to unconfirm the sitter and when it asked to cancel it said they will send a notice you are declining the sitter. Well, no, she cancelled on me. So should I be asking her (although I’m annoyed) to unconfirm herself and cancel the sit. It should not look like me, the homeowner is the one canceling, however, I need to get this reposted very quickly. soooooo annoying.
HI @trekker954 I’m so sorry to hear about the cancellation I will tag @Lucy-Moderator who will pick this up with you directly.
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Where are you? And what are the dates?
If you share your location & dates, perhaps one of us can help you out?
Paging @snowbird to post the link on how to add your HO profile…
Hi @trekker954. I’m so sorry to hear about the cancellation. Here are instructions for adding a link to your posting in your forum profile, so people here can see it.
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My question here was really to do with who does the canceling through the site, I initally went to cancel, but did not care for the verbiage that they (THS) would let the sitter know you cancelled. Its the sitter who canceled on me. So I had no open sit to list here until she canceled on the site. I wasn’t looking to this forum for a quick replacement, I’m extremely choosy. In order to move along, I quickly sent the confirmed sitter know I unconfirmed her but asked her to cancel through the site, which she did. Luckily for me, sitters who left my home yesterday, best sitters in the world, I was venting to about this cancelation, said they would return as they absolutely love The Villages, my cat and my home. I was able to just send them a direct invite so all is well in that department, a blessing in disguise I guess. Thank you to those who replied.
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Hi @trekker954 I am going to send you a quick email from Membership Services regarding the cancellation and your query.
Thanks
Lucy
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Ah - sorry 
I appreciate what you were specifically asking about, but since time appeared to be of the essence, information shared here would help those on the forum to get in touch.
I’m curious, also, as to the outcome of the point you are asking about!
@Lucy-Moderator can you please share the information here for everyone to see? If TH is keeping track of who is responsible for initiating cancellations, I’m sure many of us would like to know the official company stance as well.
Hi @MissChef Happy to share in this thread. We actually don’t keep track of who is initiating the cancellations, I believe this is just a terminology thing when you click on the button to unconfirm and appreciate any confusion caused there. We do recommend keeping any cancellations in writing however should you need to share details of a cancellation with our team. The option to unconfirm a sit lies with the owner only so the sitter does not have the option to initiate a sit cancellation from their account.
As always, we say that sits should only be cancelled in the event of extraordinary circumstances or if both parties mutually agree to cancel.
I hope this gives a bit of clarity.
All the best
Lucy
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It makes us sad as sitters to see that some people aren’t keeping their word. We wish you better luck with your replacement and future sitters!
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OK still learning here, I guess, because @trekker954 said
and also, I thought that TH does keep track of cancellations?! If not, then, are there no …um… repercussions (?) if a sitter repeatedly bails out on a HO after a confirmed sit ~or~ if the HO spontaneously revokes the confirmation, which could leave the sitter with travel cancellation fees and such?
This particular situation is none of my business of course, but in general, what counts as “extraordinary”? Global pandemic? Natural disaster? Winning tickets to …whatever?
Hi @MissChef I am still new to navigating this forum so I did just reply but deleted as I accidentally posted before I had finished writing so I apologise if you received a notification for that.
You’ve asked some great questions and whilst we understand there is some room for subjectivity as to what ‘extraordinary’ could mean, as a guide please see the below:
- The death/illness of a family member/friend
- Covid restrictions - though we do ask that members are aware of any potential restrictions before applying or confirming a sit
- Natural disasters causing disruption to travel (e.g. hurricanes/floods etc)
Of course, as I mentioned before, if both owner and sitter are in agreement of the cancellation and happy to unconfirm a sit then they can absolutely do so. This is one of those situations where you would hope that mutual respect and common sense come into play.
In regards to keeping track of cancellations, to clarify what I mean, we don’t have a system that keeps tabs on these. However if a sit is ever cancelled and you feel this is not due to extraordinary circumstances then we ask that you contact Membership Services and we will investigate this. If a member is found to be in breach of this then we would internally flag this in our system, so should we be made aware of future cancellations by the same members can decide if we feel they should remain a part of our community.
Hopefully, that clarifies things bit more for you but am happy to answer any further questions. The thing I love most about this forum is having an open platform for these important conversations to take place.
Take care
Lucy
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Hi lucy,
I’ like to add i reported a HO to member services for changing their dates at last minute but did not get a very good response. I was basically informed this was ok for a HO to do!
This HO has invited us to sit almost 5 months earlier, so we had held them dates.
As conscientous sitters an agreement is an agreement and these dates were etched in our sitting calender, which for us is just afew times a year.
We felt this particular HO had really messed us about and it should be referred but member services didnt seem at all concerned.
I feel its completley wrong for a sitter to cancel on an agreed sit but it needs to work both ways.
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Just to bring the full circle. I did in fact unconfirm the sit. The sitter had to go in an cancel on her end, then I did not receive the pop-up saying they would let the sitter know that I’m canceling. I’m not sure what pop-up she received when she removed her dates, which is probably the same as canceling. I believe it shows application cancelled. Yes, things happen, its tough to know do you post sits far out or closer to dates. Seems too far out and things can happen or maybe better sits come along for the sitter. The only time I canceled a sitter who was driving in was at least three weeks in advance due to my cruise getting canceled due to Omicron uptake. At the time I posted I even mentioned “only if my cruise really sails.” There was no issues, she picked up a sit further south and stopped at my house for an overnight on her way to Charlotte. We had a nice evening together out on the squares.
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I am both a homeowner and a housesitter here on THS. I was under the impression that it was the homeowner who had to officially cancel a confirmed sit. I committed to a sit back in April 2020 and because of Covid, the homeowners and I mutually agreed to not do the sit. They, the homeowners, have never cancelled the sit on their end, so it still like I sat for them, but never left a review. It’s more on their listing that it shows up, but I don’t like it to look like I didn’t review someone because I believe in the importance of leaving mutual reviews. I have written to the homeowners multiple times (and I know they’ve read the messages), asking them to officially cancel the sit, but they never have. If this something someone in membership services could help me with?
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Hi @sledgejoyce I’ll tag @Therese-Moderator and she’ll connect with you next time she’s online.
Francine,
Voluntary Forum Moderator
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