Our THS experience been going so well until this !!! As the title says - mid sit Home Owner advised us they would be coming home several days early ( and not for an extraordinary circumstance) so our sit was cut short with all the inconvenience that entails .
We are still in shock - not seen this discussed before - are we the only sitters this has happened to ? Or are we not allowed to discuss it on this forum?
Deliberately kept my description vauge so as not to identify Home Owner or breach any forum rules .
It does happen unfortunately and has been talked about on the forum, it needs reporting to membership services. There are a few threads on here if you use the spyglass @Silversitters - so sorry that happened, totally out of order! Imagine if you left their animals 3 days early and jetted off into the sunset…
I’m sorry to hear that. We have had a few sits cut short in the last few years, but considering we have done over 60 on here alone and have been sitting for close to a decade, I think our ‘stats’ show it is pretty rare.
Two were because the HO’s got Covid. The third was because there was a family emergency with their son–they didn’t say what it was but it must have been something big since they flew all the way back from Paris to the US only a few days into their trip. They offered to let us stay but we wouldn’t do that.
In the third instance we decided to drive down south and visit some family so we didn’t incur any additional expense but we did have to pay for accommodation for the first two–one was just overnight while the other was a few days. Didn’t love having to spend money we didn’t anticipate spending but plans changing–cancellations, trips getting cut short,etc…is always a possibility.
That they didn’t seem to have a pressing reason to cancel their trip and to put you out like that doesn’t seem very considerate. But ultimately, if the HO changes their plans, they change their plans and there is nothing to stop them from doing so. I think in situations like this, most people aren’t purposely being inconsiderate, they just don’t think how their actions may affect the other person.
In many respects, I think HO’s and sitters are operating in really different head spaces and don’t see things from the other’s perspective or understand their thought process around certain things.
But I totally understand being angry about it. Like I mentioned earlier from my own experience of sitting for almost 10 years, I don’t think these sorts of situations are very common.
@KC1102 thank you for your insight based on your many years of experience. It’s reassuring to know curtailing of sits by HO is rare . We actually have had 2 of our 5 THS curtailed this year !
The other one Homeowners needed to return home a few days early because of a medical emergency . We totally understood that it was an extraordinary circumstance and we gave no thought to the inconvenience it caused us. We were more worried about Homeowners and they were considerate of us too .
We took it as part of the course, understanding that something like this could happen to anyone at anytime .
On to the next sit when this happened again ! However Not for an extraordinary circumstance and without any consideration of the impact on us .
We were committed to the sit until the end date and would never dream of leaving days early …incidentally a sitter Leaving the pets early would result in instant removal of THS membership. But there no sanctions for HOs curtailing sits .
Did you actually raise the issue with the HO when they let you know @Silversitters? Are they new owners who don’t realise that returning early for no extraordinary reason is not on?
Yes we certainly did explain to homeowner how inconvenient it would be for us to leave early and that we were committed to stay until the end date. We also reminded them of the THS policy .
I had a HO return early, because they’d had a serious accident and wanted to get follow-up care at home, which I totally understood.
The HO offered to pay for a hotel room for the remaining two nights I would’ve stayed, but I decided to pay out of pocket.
With THS sits, I wouldn’t accept without having a fallback. In my case, I assume I’ll either have to pay for accommodations or return home early, potentially paying a penalty for that. And I’ll never be shocked, because I’m mentally prepared for the possibility. It’s a real one.
It makes sense to report the HOs if they’ve violated terms, of course.
This a difficult one to review. If you were enjoying the sit and it had gone to its natural conclusion then you would probably have given it 5*
However, in my opinion, them coming home early has totally ruined your sitting and you are still in shock. I am therefore in agreement with @Peonie19 that it could be low.
As you wouldn’t recommend it to others and they breached the code then a low rating of 2 or 3 will concentrate their mind for future sittings.
Please do though mention the plus points so that it is a balanced review
My husband and I were on a sit about 2 years ago and had a similar situation where the owners came home early, but under totally different circumstances. The homeowner’s brother had died of covid so they called us and told us they would be home in a few hours and we needed to vacate. I understand how @Silversitters felt, because we were caught totally unaware and had to do our best to clean and get out quickly. Our HO’s circumstances were devastating for them and we were very understanding, whereas @Silversitters didn’t have HO’s with that same type of circumstance so I understand how it was very upsetting.
The issue for us at the time was that we are both HO’s and sitters, and we had sitters in place at our home taking care of our pets. We didn’t feel right displacing them, so we stayed elsewhere until the designated time of the end of our sit. We weren’t offered anything by the homeowners, but I think they were in shock and not thinking everything through as to how it affected us. It all worked out, and I certainly did not make note of the early arrival of these homeowners in our feedback, but I feel @Silversitters should say something to THS support.
I wonder if the THS insurance would cover the lodging required if the homeowner returns early? I couldn’t very well say no, you can’t come home, but it doesn’t seem right to be forced into paying for lodging because someone else changed the plan.
However Not for an extraordinary circumstance and without any consideration of the impact on us .
… how many stars should we deduct ?