Home Owner curtails sit by coming back several days early

Yes @peg we are drafting the feedback to include the positives but also to warn other sitters about the trip being cut short - I am still wondering how many stars to deduct for this to be fair to Homeowner and to warn future sitters.

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Yes this has been reported and I am glad to know itā€™s not the norm. 2/5 of our THS this year have been curtailed by Homeowner.
One due to Homeowners medical emergency which we did not report but this one was not for an extraordinary circumstance. So we did report this one.

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I hope you are going to wait for your well earned review BEFORE you give your feedback! Donā€™t risk your 5* review when you are not the ones at fault!

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2 seems accurate

@Silversitters Iā€™m sorry to hear that happened.

I had a similar thing recently, but it was a sit Iā€™d originally done through TH and had done informally a couple more times since. (Thereā€™s a lesson thereā€¦ :slight_smile:

They did say they were thinking of coming home early, and just sounding me out - but because I could easily leave (my partner had gone ahead to the next sit) I agreed.

Theyā€™ve asked me to sit again and tbh itā€™s one of my favourites: I love the home, the area, and especially the dog! Iā€™ve said yes, but will state clear boundaries when they get in touch to confirm dates as next time may not be so easy for me.

Other than that, weā€™ve had it three times out of about 100 sits: twice because of Covid. So as others are saying, it is very rare! Stars must be up to you, but I think youā€™ve done the most important thing by explaining the impact on you - sometimes things like that just donā€™t occur to people.

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Thank you all for your comments . It seems from all of your comments that our experience is very rare , so that is reassuring.

The impact for us was that as we work ā€œfrom homeā€ we are often accepted for sits where the pets need company . It works well for us and the PP.

We always schedule our work so that we donā€™t have to work at all on the moving in and moving out day . This means we can pack and do the final clean . Also that we can arrive / leave at a time convenient for the home owner and their travel plans .

So when the homeowner announced that they would be coming back several days early - we had to reschedule work / meetings and scramble around to find suitable accommodation that we both could work from . As well as the usual cleaning and packing and taking care of the pets . So it became a very stressful experience.

So I am very glad to know that most of you have not had this problem. I guess weā€™ve just been unfortunate to have it on 2 out of 5 sits .

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I changed my mindā€¦ this is a one-star rated sit.

This is simply MY thought process, from the sitter perspective. (Not comprehensive, and Iā€™m NOT asking for feedback :shushing_face:) I wonder what the homeowner scale would include?

Zero stars? That could be perceived as forgetful, but it also means ā€œ4 stars or less, but I donā€™t want to leave a 4 star review.ā€ and itā€™s the default so it does not seem to affect the calculated average.

One star means they were intentionally evil to you, or the house was filthy, infested, unsafe, or the homeowner disregarded the most significant of THSā€™ rules, or caused me to have to spend my own money for something they did (usually with regard to spontaneous changes in agreed-upon dates)

Two stars means, for whatever ā€œbigā€ reason, (kind of dirty house, secretly incontinent pets, noisy neighbors) I would never take this sit again and donā€™t recommend you do either.

Three is for when, between the animals, homeowners, the house, and/or the neighborhood, there are too many issues that add up to not recommending the sit.

Four is when most things were fine, but there was at least one significant infraction that could not be overlookedā€¦and could likely be fixed or avoided.

Five Stars is everything else.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE - I have only ever given/received and 5-stars on THS, but I wonā€™t give ā€œfeedbackā€ until I get reviewed.

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I wrote a quick note to a homeowner to touch base on a sit that was scheduled to commence in just under 2 weeks. I asked if thereā€™s anything new for us to be aware of and to confirm what time they would like us to arrive. The HO response was ā€œyes the sit dates are changingā€ they would like us to arrive 3 days later and depart 2 days earlier than originally posted thereby reducing a 8 night sit to 3 nights. Luckily the sit is only an hour away from our home base so we can accommodate. We do have contingency plans and funds so that we could go into a BnB or some other form of accommodations if these situations occur elsewhere.

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In that case, I would just cancel. I would not want to be treated like that.

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@ACLRJM IMHO This amounts to a cancelled sit - most sitters would not be able to accommodate such a drastic change .
Not just a change in dates but reducing the sit from 8 to 3 days . :triangular_flag_on_post:
At short notice too ! :triangular_flag_on_post:
Not only that , you would not have known if you hadnā€™t contacted them ! :triangular_flag_on_post:

Lots of red flags for me - It seems homeowners are taking you for granted . Have you reported this to member services ?

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Please review them honestly. Itā€™s critical that reviews are honest. Itā€™s important that we as homeowners know who we are having into our homes, and for the sitters to know that the sit will be followed through on. We see this as a mutual agreement. And barring an emergency, we would never do this to a sitter. Iā€™m so sorry this happened to you.

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Iā€™d deduct at least 2. One for the poor situation and another for the lackluster communication and compassion.

Cutting a stay short is disruptive and deeply stressful I would imagine. Trying to rush packing , cleaning, planning, and tying whatever other loose ends. Not cool without deep apologies and some concern/ empathy present.

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Iā€™m so sorry this happened. We donā€™t sit and are awaiting our first sitters soon, but I think if we had to get home in an emergency weā€™d arrange alternative accommodation for our sitters. Imagine if they were from the other side of the world? We have an arranged sit for next year and our flights have changed. Weā€™re just leaving a day earlier and will enjoy a night in a lovely hotel prior to our flight minus cat responsibilities. Perfect!

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Iā€™d cancel. Iā€™m starting to think people are so damned thoughtless, rude, and some of them, entitled! Iā€™m sure you could find a different sit at short notice if you want to go away. Come and sit at my homeā€¦ā€¦Iā€™ll find an excuse to go somewhere! :joy:

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@Elsa1 you sound like very caring & thoughtful homeowners

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I would cancel too @ACLRJM
The terms of the sit have materially changed so you are in your rights to ask them to cancel your application.
What other changes will they spring on you?
If they get away with this with you they will assume they can do this with other sitters

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Thank you. My motto in life is to try and treat others in a way Iā€™d like to be treated. Doesnā€™t always work, but I do try to be nice.

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Yes, Iā€™d cancel too if dates were changed like that. Not necessarily because of the date change itself, but because it shows a dismissive and uncaring attitude. If they have that attitude, other aspects of the sit could go wrong too. It happened to me. People changed dates and this was followed by lots more rudeness and turned into a very stressful sit.

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We have, however the HO did message me as soon as they were thinking of cutting their trip short (Camping and constant rain) and would we be okay with it, we were not booked back to back or travelling so we didnā€™t have another sit for about a week anyway, so it was not a problem for us, we do get a message quite often, can we stay an extra night or Two again if we do not have any back to back sits/plans we stay on. I check where the HO are going, keep an eye on the Weather there or unrest (France atm) and touch base with them each day. However if a HO did not enquire and just said "weā€™re coming home early by 3-5 days, thatā€™s rude especially if you are travelling and have other sits you are going to etc.
Regards,
Amanda

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Iā€™m very sorry youā€™ve had to experience this. Iā€™ve been doing this for five years now and itā€™s happened to me on four separate occasions during that time. Several times now, I have been in situations where the home ownersā€™ teenage children came back half way through the sit. I of course then had to leave and it caused me a lot of disruption and inconvenience. It also happened to me last year when I was approached by a HO who had been let down at the last minute and I agreed to travel to the other end of the country at super short notice to look after their pets. A few days into that sit, I was asked to vacate the property earlier than the agreed dates as they simply wished to come back earlier than originally planned.

I know we would all completely understand and accommodate a change like this if it were for extenuating circumstances but these were not that. THS member services did what they could to support me but it is without a doubt extremely upsetting and highly disruptive whenever this happens.

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