Hi there,
I had an simply ok petsit in December end in disaster. Before the HO’s went away, I asked them about their policy on visitors. I never have guests, but in this case I was there for a long stint and asked if for instance someone could pop in for tea or to use the loo after a nearby hike. The HO said “20 minutes was ok” but they told me they had bad experiences with previous sitters, who by all accounts had overnight guests and it wasn’t great.
Two days before I left, a friend popped by unannounced with a scarf I left at a dinner. The next day I got a very accusatory text from the HO asking “who is that and we heard him saying it was unannounced on our Ring, but do you know him?” I explained and that seemed the end of it. Until I got their scathing review, in which they also outright lied about things regarding their pets food etc. which I take umbrage with as the pets always come first in this case.
Fast forward to today, I discovered that I have been tagged on Facebook in a THS FB group and the HO is eviscerating me - this is after their unfavourable review which is already doing damage to my profile. But now she is replying to my posts on FB and writing all manner of things dragging me through the mud. She has also sent me long texts on WhatsApp harrassing me and explaining why she is right. I am getting ZERO support from THS. Also, the HO is no longer on THS and so you don’t see their profile or my review, you only see a strange L of Romania, and when you click on the profile, it starts a Pet Sitting search.
Fine, leave the review. But the offline harrassment and the public debasement is just too much. She’s a bully. And all because of something completely out of my control - a drop by friend. NOT A VISITOR.
I just saw another FB post by someone who has had a similar experience of being the bad guy, and getting no support from THS. Which is really unfortunate.
Anyone have any advice on this or how to speak to management of THS?
I remember the situation and I am so sorry this happened to you. It sounds like online stalking and bullying.
If the person is no longer a member - what can really THS do? THS doesn’t have any powers - apart from kicking someone off the site. Which isn’t possible as the person is no longer a member.
It seems the only way to go is to report her posts to Facebook and/ or blocking her.
Hello
I am really sorry to hear about this. I am sure it must be very upsetting.
Like someone else said, in a situation like this, the only thing THS could do is remove them from the site for improper behavior towards another member, but since they are no longer one, that wouldn’t be possible.
What would you expect THS to do in this instance? This question is not meant to be dismissive or sarcastic. But I just don’t see what type of support they can offer.
I think this circumstance is a good example of recognizing the limits of what the site can do when there are issues between hosts and sitters. They are merely providing a platform for connecting people seeking a service with those willing to provide it.
They are not a direct party to the agreements made between the two. It is not as if us sitters are their employees whom they are assigning to sits and they have any sort of official responsibility towards us if we encounter problems.
And while I do think they try to make the experience better for everyone by doing things like offering support in the form of membership services, cancellation reimbursement plans, making the review system blind to encourage more honest feedback, verifying the identities of sitters and such, at the core, they are essentially the same as any other matching site and subject to the same limitations–they just have some more bells and whistles.
Like someone else said, blocking this person is a good idea as I don’t see any reason why you would want to keep communication channels open between you–certainly aren’t going to sit for this person again or become friends.
I know that having a negative review on your profile is very upsetting but that will fade over time and from posts I have seen on the forum from others who have received unfair reviews, it doesn’t seem to spell the end of their sitting days.
I know it all feels really raw right now but as you get some distance, it won’t as much. Good luck!
The fact is you did have a visitor/guest or whatever you want to call it without first getting the owners permission, so THS can’t help you anyway because the rules were broken by you, and with hindsight you could have popped a message when your friend arrived just to let her know what had happened, but that is by-the-by now.
She’s now taking things to a very different level, and it’s really unfortunate that you are members of the same fbk group, so all you can do is get her out of your life, block her on socials, and join other fbk groups that she isn’t a member of, there’s loads of different pet sitting groups you could join, so why stay with that one.
You need to cut off from her entirely by whatever means, because it sounds like she is making your life really difficult now. Just join other fbk groups instead if that’s what you want to do, because it isn’t worth all of the hassle you are now getting. Pet sitting is supposed to be fun and calming, life is too short, join a different fbk group.
Yes, I agree. In hindsight I should have texted her immediately saying someone stopped by unannounced, but honestly, it all happened so quickly it didn’t occur to me. I have to admit, the reaction seems quite overboard, especially in light of the fact that I am basically a astranger staying in their house for an extended period of time… this whole process is a leap of faith, tbh.
Thank you for all of this - I agree with you on most points - thing is, I can block her everywhere except when she posts as anonymous - one can’t block someone who doesn’t use their name. Oh well
What I would like from THS is the courtesy of changing the profile on the review to something like “former member” or “dormant account” rather than a very suspicious looking avatar with a fake name. That just seems bizarre.
One of my petsitting reviews is from a HO that no longer has a THS account. On my reviews it shows up as “Former Member” and has all the star categories checked as 5 stars, but the text of their written review has disappeared. I was sad to see their glowing written review disappear but oh well.
Maybe ask THS member services why the review of a former member doesn’t show up in that manner on your reviews?
@PNW I have a review from a former member and it looks normal — just like any other review. The only difference is that when you click on their picture, it doesn’t go anywhere.
Yours might not show, because under privacy laws, if someone asks for their account info to be wiped out, they’re entitled to not leave a trace of themselves. The company then has no choice but to wipe out the info. By contrast, my host probably just didn’t renew — they probably didn’t ask for their data to be deleted.
And data privacy laws vary by country, so that also might be a factor.
I should probably do that @DianeS but in reality I do the majority of my sits as non-THS paid sits via word of mouth.
My few THS reviews are all 5 star, but I think most homeowners choose me (when they read my profile) due to my experience with retrievers and senior dogs, and I’m guessing they choose me more from that.
I’m super picky with THS sits and have a narrow range of dog breeds I’ll sit, so missing that one review is OK by me.
If I decide to do lots more sits via THS I’d for sure screenshot my reviews.
There is a THS group on FB that us not run by, or monitored by, THS. I joined the other day 25k+ members. Its interesting, a bit like the forum although some of the posters and commenters seem rather inexperienced and not fully aware of all THS policies. This forum is better.