I previously reported a listing for a sit for two dogs that don’t belong to the member that are dropped off daily (by the daughter) and collected of an evening, a doggy day care service. Membership services told me this was fine and allowed. I queried it asking how my insurance, vet access etc would be valid if the pets don’t belong to a member of THS. Again I was told this is fine. I responded and said I disagreed but had brought it to their attention and left it at that. A short while after I received an email asking for feedback as to how my query was handled. I told them it was unsatisfactory and explained why. I was contacted very soon after to say it was in fact a mistake and I had been told incorrectly and that the member would be contacted immediately.
Today the member listed another sit, same as before, care for the home and the daughters dogs on a daily basis, not overnight. I looked at the reviews and the listing I reported went ahead.
I’ve contacted membership services today informing them and asking why I was told one thing and yet the sit went ahead.
I do try and be helpful and report listings as there are so many with a couple of photos, third parties present or a day sit, however, this will be the last listing I report.
If I’m wrong, then that’s fine, no one is right all the time, but not being told the truth is unacceptable.
Pet Parent" means pet parent members who create an approved listing of their home on Our platform. The term “Pet Parent” is interchangeable with the term “Owner”.
“Pet” means a cat or dog owned by the pet parent member.
If I’m understanding correctly the HO’s don’t have pets. They have made a listing to take care of their home while they are away…the sitter is asked to stay at the home for the duration of the sit. The sitters are also asked to watch the homeowners daughter’s pets? These pets don’t live with the homeowners of the listing? And the daughter drops them off in the AM and picks them up in the evening?
I just want to make sure I understand correctly. Please do send me the listing either way. Thank you
The response from membership services is that they are reaching out to the owner to give them the opportunity to rectify the situation. (Again).
Same reply as the last time I reported it which clearly the owners ignored as the sit I flagged back in July did go ahead, with the daughters dogs included.
Like I said previously, it’s the last listing I am going to report.
Hello @Itchyfeet I have shared this from the other thread you mentioned, just to reassure you the feedback has been passed back to the Membership Services team
@Daisy999 I checked with the team and can see that the latest update is that the listing has been removed pending looking into it further. They have also sent you an email, please feel free to follow up with them if you have any more questions. Thank you for helping with this listing
I understand your concerns @Itchyfeet and your frustration @Daisy999 .
I share your misgivings about putting the time and effort into reporting listings to MS. I have had similar experiences when reporting to member services listings that clearly break the T & Cs and put sitters at risk.
For example @Carla Earlier in the week it was highlighted on this forum and by yourself directly to member services that a member was using their profile to list a sit for someone else . The sit is to take place at someone else’s home not a THS member and the pet’s owner is not a THS member.
5 days on the same listing is still live.
There doesn’t seem any point in flagging these discrepancies to member services except for piece of mind that you’ve tried to speak up because someone could be put at risk if the sit goes ahead.
Ideally there should be a button to “report this sit” with a drop down menu and / or some free-form text so that whoever is reporting can draw the attention of member services to the issue and themselves can be contacted for further clarification if needed. I see that a moderator has mentioned that monitoring of new listings does take place but clearly this system isn’t working effectively as otherwise there would not be the volume of sits not complying with T&Cs.
Also it seems a very clunky way of reporting via email. I really do dislike the fact that it seems that THS rely on sitters to report discrepancies rather than having a robust system of monitoring before sit opportunities are uploaded onto the system or when edits are made.
Yes, would like to see a robust ‘report this listing’ feature on THS. As I just posted on another thread, just saw something again that to my understanding is against the THS Terms & Conditions.
And despite being in quite a popular city, the HO does not have any applicants either - the 2 might have something to do with each other…
Nonetheless, it happens too often that things show up in listings which are not supposed to be there. Sometimes I take it on me to write the HO a quick note about it, when I see they’re not getting applicants but it shouldn’t actually be up to me to make them aware.
It could be so much simpler, if it were, I’m sure members would be more inclined to report the listings. It’s for the benefit of members and the company.
It would be so easy - report, click reason, details of the cause for concern, submit. Done.
Perhaps this is with the product development team and one day, will be implemented.
Yes, that’s very necessary. Even the forum has a button where you can flag posts.
I think THS wants more members more than anything else at the moment, so they want as many postings on the site as possible. Even if some are dodgy. I see more and more dodgy ones these days, and also ridiculously demanding ones, like “don’t leave my dog alone, ever” or taking care of a whole zoo.
I have just seen an alarming listing @Carla - can you have a look at it please
It is listed under York, Title is “Lovely House in superb location”
Dates 17th - 18th February
It states that there will be a 15 year old living there who “keeps himself to himself”
THS need to contact the owner for all sorts of safeguarding issues!!!
What are people thinking. Your inviting a complete stranger into your home with a child in situ. I can’t actually bring up the info now but there was another set of dates with some applicants already. And IMHO if a teenager can’t look after the pets if they’re at home they aren’t mature enough to be left by themselves anyway.
Quite unbelievable that a) anyone would feel comfortable to leave a young person of this age in what could be a potentially dangerous situation and b) that anyone would even consider applying for a sit which is not only against THS third party rules but which could lead to into all sorts of legal issues.
In the U.S. if you leave your child in such circumstances, you risk being reported to child protective services and having them come investigate your family.
To me this is genuinely disturbing. I’ve seen people wanting complete strangers (???) to watch their teenagers, which is inviting a whole mess of problems.
Send your teens off to be with their friends, or get an adult friend or family member in, and supplement with paid help. Good grief.
Hello @Itchyfeet apologies I was out of the office for a couple of days. I can see that Membership Services has reached out and the third party will go and stay elsewhere during the sitting period. Thank you for raising this!
And another that should not have passed the screening: I just see a sit coming up in the UK for 2 dates but with zero pictures. Should not be possible…
Hello @Bluehorse Please feel free to send the listing link to me as this should not be possible with the current system, so sounds like there is a glitch with this particular listing. I can have a look into it for you
