Homeowner review if membership has expired

[liz]

Our homeowner has said that their membership will expire while we are on their housesit. Will they still be able to leave a review on the site?

[Candide]

I think not…

[Debbie-L]

Hi @liz and thanks for posting this question in the forum. Below is the information I found regarding your question and I hope it helps.

Reviews from inactive members

Hi @Els - just checked with membership services and yes, they can still leave a review. Here’s what Carla says… “Yes they can still leave a review as an expired member. They should login and in the drop down menu under ‘renew’ they will see the review option and can leave a review as long as the sit was originally confirmed on the site.” Of course the happiest outcome would be they carry on using house sitters Where to next Els?

Thanks again, and please post pics of your adventures here on the forum. If you have any more questions, or want to help others with answers to their questions, please do so.

Have a great day!

Debbie - Forum Team Moderator

[Els]

@liz I had the same problem last year and they were able to leave a review.

[liz]

thanks Debbie

[liz]

thank you Els

[Caroline99]

I’ve just raised this as an issue, because I feel it’s extremely unfair. I was told the homeowner would NOT be able to leave a review, should their membership have elapsed since arranging the sit. We have three upcoming sits where this will be an issue, plus one that’s already taken place. I’m not happy about it at all.

[Therese]

Hi @Caroline99

I just wanted to clarify that a petparent/owner can leave a review for a sitter if their membership expires before the sit finishes. Naturally, it must be a confirmed sit on both your dashboards, before the PP/owners membership expires.

The homeowner needs to simply log into their account, on the right hand side there will be 3 little lines (next to their Renew button). This will bring up the Review section, and your name will appear there for them to write a review.

Please contact your PP/owner to let them know that this is possible.

Sitters can also write feedback, which the PP/owner will not be able to see until they renew their membership, and it will be on their listing when they do.

I hope this helps.

[lifephasenext]

@Therese Are you able to confirm that this is still the case? A HO for a sit we just completed contacted support to get help and was told that she could not leave a review. ‘I reached out to membership services, but they say “once an account has expired you can’t access the platform or leave reviews, feedback or messages.”’

[J0e]

Apparently THS has changed this policy. A PP on a confirmed sit now can’t post a review if their membership expired before the sit.

And why? Why should a sitter be penalized because a pet parent allowed their membership to expire after the sit was confirmed online? The review is for the benefit of the party being reviewed and future parties reading it, not the party leaving it.

In my case, the PP used chat and tried to leave a review there, and apparently was told that it would be added to my profile. She even texted me her review. I used chat and was told it couldn’t be posted, even after speaking with a “team leader”. And after I had read this thread before the sit and told the PP they could leave a review.

This really is a DS policy. I have been an ambassador for the brand, telling everyone how great THS is, but I’m beginning to wonder. Seems like THS stepped in it this time.

I feel like a lab who has done a good sit and stay and is still waiting for his treat. Seriously, reviews are important! And when someone takes the time to write one, it should be posted.

Is there ANY good reason that a sitter with premium membership can’t have a review provided by a pet parent who was a member at the time the sit was confirmed posted on his profile? I’d really like to hear the reasoning on this. Because it seems quite backwards to me.

[Carla]

Hello @lifephasenext

Therese is currently offline so I am more than happy to help you with this one.

Previously an expired owner could leave a review, however, as we are in the process of launching a new review system. I will copy the thread for you so you can have a look:

New review system - Mega thread

It’s the news many of you have been waiting for… We’re delighted to share that we’ll soon be making some changes to the way that reviews and feedback are left on our platform. Under the new system, reviews and feedback will be kept temporarily ‘hidden’ from the other member, until both parties have had a chance to leave their review/feedback (or until 14 days have passed). This new process is designed to enable a more open and fair review/feedback system and encourage impartial, honest feedback…

I have just checked and this feature won’t be available with the new review system as each member only has 14 days to review after the sit.

Both members should have an active membership during the sit period as per the T&Cs, then the review/feedback can be left the day after the sit is completed.

It’s such a shame if either members membership expires before the review/feedback can be left, I appreciate how hard everyone works to get them.

I am more than happy to pass back any feedback/questions about this.

Thank you

[Maggie8K]

Maybe you take a screenshot of the review from the HO and add it to your photos. Not ideal, of course.

[Silversitters]

@Carla

I have just checked and this feature won’t be available with the new review system as each member only has 14 days to review after the sit.

Both members should have an active membership during the sit period as per the T&Cs, then the review/feedback can be left the day after the sit is completed.

@Carla I have some questions around this . .Is there a way for a sitter to know when a host’s membership is due to expire?

We have THS sits lined up until Jan 2024, including a 2 month one , we would be quite annoyed if we didn’t even get a review at the end of a two month sit because the host’s membership had expired during the sit and they had not renewed it !!

Also how does this affect the sitter if there was an accident and the hosts was no longer covered by THS insurance ? Would member support get involved if there was a serious issue during the sit and the hosts membership had expired ?

[Snowbird]

@Silversitters If I see that the host’s first feedback was for a sit in a month close to when I planned to sit, then I do ask when their membership is due to expire and if they plan to renew it.

If I was booking months in advance, it would certainly be a standard question for me, and I’m not one to have a long list of questions. I just appreciate having a review for my sits, as well as the possible support from TrustedHousesitters staff, if circumstances warranted it.

[Carla]

Hello @Silversitters

I am more than happy to help with this one.

I do not believe there is any way to see when another member’s membership expires, but there is a relatively new feature that makes sure that any member that has a sit or sitter confirm has their auto-renewal turned on to cover the sitting period and to turn their auto-renewal off in their settings they would first need to officially cancel the sit in their inbox.

(demo screenshots only - not taken from an actual account)

So in theory going forward all sitting periods for both the sitter and owner should be covered by an ongoing membership and if the membership expires it will be automatically renewed.

I hope that helps alleviate any worries about your future sits.

[lifephasenext]

Thank you @Carla . However, I don’t understand how the 14-day review limit can be used as reason the feature won’t be available. My HO tried to review on the day the sit ended and the next day. It is well within the 14 days. Expired HOs should still be allowed to review even if they are limited to 14 days following the sit. Again, denying this penalizes the sitter, which is extremely unfair and poor form.

Coral

[Twitcher]

@Carla - thank you for the examples.
The last time I checked homeowners had an option of a 3 month membership. Is there anything to prevent them listing a sit, wait for the sit to commence and then turn off auto renewal during or immediately after the sit?
If their membership expires during or immediately after the sit there is no opportunity to leave or receive reviews or benefit from any insurance cover.
The scenario I am thinking of is if the homeowner only wants sitters for a one off special holiday - they won’t really worry about reviews in that case. I guess the same could also happen with an annual membership.
There are loopholes in any system but I would be very annoyed if I was a new sitter and had done a great sit with no review to show for it.

[Carla]

Hello @lifephasenext Thank you for your reply. I can confirm that members can only leave a review/feedback the day after the sit has finished. Had the owner already expired the day after the sit finished, if so that was very unfortunate and I am more than happy to pass your feedback on to the wider team.

[Carla]

Hello @Twitcher You are most welcome

I am not too sure about the 3-month memberships in general terms, so please check about that with the Membership Services team, however, I would say using the above logic that if the sit was officially confirmed and the dates were locked in the system, then they would need to remain on autorenewal whether on the 3-month or 12-month plan as there would be no option for them to cancel the sit in their inbox as it had already started.

To cancel any autorenewal they need to first cancel the sit in the inbox. This option will be lost when the sit starts as there is no longer an option to cancel the sit, thus they can’t cancel auto-renewal, so will still be members during the sit period. After the sit if they have no future sits they can turn their auto-renewal off, but their current membership will still be active until its natural expiry date.

I will have to feedback this all back and check what happens in the small chance that their expiry date is the day after the sit finishes. This seems unlikely in most cases, but a good question to ask.