I just had a homeowner cancel a 3 week sit over Xmas because they decided to give their dog to friends who had to put their dog down recently.
I spent nearly 2 weeks putting this sit together and just a few days ago met with the homeowners at their residence to finalize everything.
To make matters worse I passed up a similar sit and changed my work schedule to reflect the dates agreed.
I understand integrity is not a common thing in this world, what recourse do I have and is there an avenue of recourse so that this doesn’t happen to another sitter? It appears there is no way to leave a review for homeowners when a wasn’t completed.
Not inpressed…
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There isn’t much that you can do to warn others I’m afraid. In general we wouldn’t book tickets and plan everything in detail more than 2 weeks ahead, otherwise we would have to rebook all the time. It has also happened to us that a homeowner cancelled on us 2 days in advance after having a videochat, meeting in person, sending personal documents and signing a 20 page contract. That’s very unusual, but we have had a couple of cancellations 1 month ahead, some other last-minute cancellations because of Covid restrictions and a lot of small changes (2-3 days).
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Appreciate the input.
I expected that the THS “code of conduct” would be a joke, but with no penalty involved the bad kids of this world are free to repeat again and again…
Hi. I had an experience travelling in Australia (from Canada) for three months to do sits. We had a 5-week booking set for near the end of the trip. About a month before, the pet died. The homeowners notified us but insisted that we still stay in the home. We felt a little awkward, and it was strange to do a sit without a pet, but we appreciated their consideration.
If your homeowners have not cancelled their travel plans, it would be considerate of them to make a similar offer. By your post though, I guess that hasn’t been the case. Given there seems to be so many unfilled Christmas sits, I hope you find a great replacement sit.
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Hi @tinker thank you for joining our community forum and we’re sorry that your first post is about a negative experience.
I’m going to tag @Therese as this sit is still confirmed on both of your accounts and will need to be unconfirmed so that you can apply for other sits, as @Snowbird says there are many great Christmas sitting opportunities on the site, which may seem like a small consolation when you’ve just experienced an unexpected cancellation.
We are constantly working on communications to all of our members around best practices as all sitting arrangements involve the plans of more than one, we each rely on one another.
Therese will connect with you when she is back online meanwhile if you need help with this do DM me or connect with the Membership Services Team via the live chat or email.
I hope you will take this opportunity to explore the forum and connect with other members who you will find are helpful and supportive.
Angela and the Team
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I know it is frustrating when things like this happen but I don’t think the homeowner had any ill intentions in what happened, nor do I think they had an obligation to hold onto the dog for the sitter’s benefit. This doesn’t strike me as a matter of integrity, just an unexpected change of circumstance. Trips can be cancelled for a thousand different reasons and this is a risk taken when deciding to do a house sit. We had a sit cut short back in September because a family emergency called the owners back to the US with only one day notice–they offered to let us stay but that wasn’t necessary. We had a sit cancelled once because the pet died unexpectedly a few days before the sit and the owners weren’t taking the trip anymore–should they have still gone away to accommodate us and our expectation that is where we would be staying for that week? I think most would say no.
Sucks I know but I think there is a way to look at it where you may not feel as angry or wronged. And the sooner you shake it off, the sooner you can align with a new opportunity! In my experience with sits, you always end up in the perfect place for the moment so if something falls through or you don’t get picked for one, it’s not where you are meant to be.
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@KC1102 I would have to disagree with your post, especially as it doesn’t sound like the HO has cancelled their trip. Even if they would prefer their dog to stay with friends instead of at home with the sitters, they should have made accommodations for the already planned sitters(which it sounds like they could easily have done.) I feel this website will only continue to work well for all concerned if these sit agreements are binding unless there is a TRUE emergency. Imagine how the HO would have felt if the pet sitters had just decided they would rather go somewhere else when they were being counted on! As both a HO and Pet Sitter I have put myself out several times after making a commitment, when it would have been far easier for me not to have done so. “Sorry, we’ve cancelled” just doesn’t cut it to me. A deal is a deal (without truly extenuating circumstances).
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@tinker That response is totally uncalled for. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and thoughts, and even if we disagree, it needs to be done in a respectful manner. Your comment was not.
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We have a similar attitude towards homeowners and don’t get upset when plans change, but we also have lots of experience, are registered on a dozen sites like this and can quickly adapt to changes (it also helps that we’re two people and have tons of good reviews). We’re stricter with ourselves though and have only cancelled one sit that we accepted because of new Covid restriction (once month ahead). Also, one month is plenty of time for some people to adapt to a new situation, while for others it’s a major upset in plans.
This topic is now closed.
Opinions across any subject can and will differ everyone is entitled to their opinion and while an individual member may not agree with some of the comments or feedback from fellow community members we will not tolerate personal slights, inappropriate language or disrespect.
When this happens we will moderate the reported comments, delete if necessary and contact the member by Direct Message.
Cancellations can happen for many reasons and can be incredibly frustrating depending on the circumstances. There are occasions when cancellations are unavoidable due to extenuating circumstances and when these are brought to Membership Services they are managed and support given to everyone involved.
The way to help avoid cancellations outside of those unavoidable circumstances is to be 100% sure that the arrangements being entered into are right for everyone involved BEFORE confirming a sit, if there is any doubt at all then it is only fair to acknowledge that and move on.
When sits are cancelled it affects more than just the member making the decision and on reflection all of the stress and inconvenience it causes could have been avoided.
Thank you