HO Allowed to List Dog That's Bitten and Aggressive

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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I’m just posting this to make other sitters aware of the realities of THS.

THS terms and conditions are very clear that they don’t allow animals that have attacked or are aggressive (see the two clauses below).

5.2.4. ensure that no pets to be left under the care of a Sitter have ever caused a person or animal any physical harm (no matter how minor the injury);

5.2.11. not have any inherently dangerous pets (such as venomous snakes or constrictors, primates, wolves or wolf hybrids, non-domesticated cats, alligators), banned dog breeds, or any animal with a history of attacks on pets or people;

So why is a HO advertising on the site less than a month after I was repeatedly attacked and bitten causing my forearms to be blackened with bruises?

I’ve contacted THS about this already and am perplexed that genuine concerns have not been addressed.

I’ve had over a decade of pet and housesitting experience. I have nearly 20 5* reviews on this site. I’m experienced, and have had no issues before. I am pretty disheartened by this experience.

I was injured on this sit.
I also informed THS that the advert is misleading. It doesn’t show the dog’s true age, it still doesn’t. It’s under 1. It also said that the dog could be left, it couldn’t for any length of time.

The most recent listing also doesn’t warn any sitter of the dogs teething, biting or aggression.

THS haven’t adhered to their own terms and conditions on this. I’m only posting this to warn other sitters.

In the terms and conditions it also states that THS can’t guarantee a sitters safety, that’s the reality I experienced too.

THS you have emails detailing this specific situation. I’m genuinely concerned someone will get hurt more than I did.

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Hi @Compassion

I’m extremely sorry to hear that this happened to you, it’s an upsetting situation for you have to deal with.

After checking your details I can see that you’ve sent a complaint through, and we have a note of your previous correspondence, so the Complaints team are best placed to help you with this.

While the Forum can’t directly resolve this for you, we’re here to support you, and I’m sure our members will be along soon to offer some moral support and advice.

If you have any issues getting a response to your complaint in the coming days let us know, and we can check up on that for you.

Take care.

Jenny

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So sorry that you experienced this. Were you able to go through the formal dispute procedure or was it a more back and forth series of emails with member services?

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This is yet another case where THS MS are very disappointing.

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I’m sorry this happened. I hope that you mentioned the dog problems in your review of the sit, so future sitters are aware.

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I hope if THS doesn’t do much more that you write an honest review warning other sitters

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Thank you Jenny. Hopefully I will get a response from the complaint.

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Thanks MaggieUU. It was more a back and forth with support, but it’s the same email. I’ve filed an official complaint now only because I’m concerned this dog has been relisted so soon.

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Fingers crossed @Compassion - I know the team started looking at it yesterday - and I hope you hear from them soon.

Feel free to keep us updated here. :heart:

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@Jenny it’s been over 24hrs (it’ll be 48hrs in 4hours). and I’ve heard nothing from the support team.

I’ve not even had an acknowledgment from them.

This isn’t good customer service.

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I’m really sorry that’s the case @Compassion - thanks for letting me know.

I’ve passed your comments over to the team and asked if someone can please get in touch with you to get things sorted out.

If I hear anything helpful I’ll let you know, but I’m hoping you’ll have direct contact from them soon.

Jenny

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@Compassion is the listing still live ?
I thought member services took down these listings as soon as they were reported since it is a breach of the T&Cs and they already have a written report from you about the matter from the time of your sit 1month ago.

There does seem to be a lack of training about how MS agents should handle these serious breaches of the T&Cs to protect sitters .

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@Silversitters yes, the listing is still live, that’s why I put this on the forum as the HO is advertising for a sitter. The HO is interviewing people now for a sit in early April, so the status says.

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I would like to hear from the legal standpoint about this: if THS allows sits that go against terms and conditions, and they know because there’s correspondence about it, can THS be liable due to alleged foreseeability and negligence?

These liabilities would include when THS turns a blind eye to third parties, interior cameras, and aggressive pets, for example.

Jurisdictional considerations would apply based by country, of course.

As a big fan of THS, I like to think that ensuring the safety and privacy of sitters and homeowners alike is priority #1 for THS.

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I may have missed it @Compassion but did you leave a review of the sit?

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No. I didn’t. I wish I had now.
It was a difficult one as I really liked the HO. The puppy was teething which was not mentioned, the age is wrong on the listing. I didn’t want one negative review to effect future sits, when it could have been just a puppy phase. It was also when their was just one rating category and I didn’t know how to reflect that. Rather tellingly the sitter that took over also didn’t leave a review.

TH have lost my respect on this issue. It’s probably only a matter of time that someone gets seriously hurt.

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Did you share what country this occurred in? And if not, do you mind sharing?

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I don’t follow. You didn’t want to damage their chances of future sits with a review and yet you expect THS to remove them. They’d not get any sitters if removed.

Ultimately, it was a disservice to other sitters to not review the sit based on facts. If you’d done that, even had THS fallen down, you would’ve helped other sitters.

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7days on and I’ve had to chase for a response.

I’ve tried to give more information on this situation on this forum but because TH disagree with how the facts happened they’ve blocked that post.

This isn’t an open forum. I really love the concept of TH but I’ve lost respect for this organisation.

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Hello @Compassion Thank you for updating the post. The Forum team are really sorry to hear that this happened to you.

I can see this is an open investigation with our complaints team. They aim to conclude a complaint case within 14 business days and that time has not passed, they are still working on the case for you.

I can see that you received a reply from the team yesterday and today and please be assured that they are still looking into it.

The forum is a place to get peer-to-peer support and I am glad that members have jumped in to support you. Outside of that for complex complaints cases, it is best left with Membership Services until it is resolved. For example, the post you submitted had different information than what was shared with Membership services and I think this all becomes a bit outside of the remit of the forum team to manage. If you have additional information please share it with Membership services rather than on the forum as they won’t see the thread.

I want to be as transparent as possible as we never want to shut a conversation down, but on this occasion, I think it is best to close the post and wait for an outcome. Feel free to come back and post at a later date.

This must have been such a stressful experience for you and the forum team hope you manage to get everything sorted.

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