I might have thought the HO for the first sit I had applied for was just too busy to read my application immediately; however, after waiting a couple of days and after having applied for another sit and having that one unread as well, I wonder if something is wrong with the system. One would generally think that if a HO went to the trouble of posting an availalbe sit that they would at least glance at the message within a couple of days, even if they had not had the time to reply. They both show as unread both on the website and on the app. Anyone else having this issue?
@Laurel , this seems to be happening more lately. Its happened to me too. Does anyone know if the problem was fixed ā it used to be that if a message was read on the website it still appeared as unread even though it had been read.
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It is hard to know. Sometimes HOs donāt read messages (weird, I know, but it happens!). But we have also experienced messages not getting through. (We applied for a sit we had done previously and the HO told us she didnāt get our application/messages). THS canāt really help investigate this problem (I know, I tried) so maybe you just have to move on and keep trying. Best of luck - I am sure you will get something great eventually!
Iād consider moving on, of course (and did after my first went unread), but how long do I keep moving on without homeowners reading my messages? If itās a technical issue, then it does need to be looked into by someone at TH. If itās just uninterested homeowners, then maybe itās just something in the water. 
You could ping a follow up message to both of them and see if that propels them into actionā¦
& maybe helps identify if itās a coincidence or a tech issue
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Iāve done that, and thus far no reply, but itās only been a couple of hours. Iām tempted to try applying for another sit just to see if itās indeed the system thatās a problem, but of course I donāt want to apply for a sit I canāt do just to test it. It seems I am on the horns of a dilemma.
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@Laurel I really donāt feel this is a glitch in the system as you are the first I have heard of with the feeling it could be an issue but I will send the info over to support for their thoughts.
I could just be that they looked at their first application (or first couple of apps), contacted the potential sitter, then chose to go with them right away. It wouldnāt hurt to just follow up with them to see if that message is read.
@Laurel We are not aware of any technical issues but I will check with the Tech team to be sure.
We do remind all members to reply to messages in a timely manner and as frustrating as it can be not to receive one, as with any form of communication and across every walk of life, there will be those who do and those who donāt and any number of reasons why.
Hi Laurel
For a message not to be read for a couple of days is not atypical by any means. How long a HO takes to respond varies greatly. Some will read a message in minutes, while others might not check for days.
I have done dozens of sits on here and for the most part, applications have been read within a day or so. I typically withdraw one once several days have passed without it being read.
Not sure if you apply for sits with overlapping dates, but most sitters do since you never know when you will hear back from a HO or if you will even get picked for that sit regardless. Though some may wait on that application if it is somewhere they really want to go and arenāt in any particular rush.
While I understand people are busy, and I donāt expect a HO to read applications and pick someone within hours, it always surprises me when people put up a listing then donāt check messages for days.
Finding a sitter may not be a top priority at the moment, which is fine, but if I was a HO I wouldnāt post my listing until it was. But many sitters are often always in āplanning modeā and this more ārelaxedā approach wonāt work for many of them as they will move on to other opportunities, and the HO may lose out on a really good match.
I think HO and sitters are operating in different headspaces. When people donāt respond to messages in a more timely manner, I donāt think they are consciously being dismissive of the sitterās time and effort to apply.
While it can be frustrating for the sitter if they are anxious to secure a sit for particular dates, and the like, that really isnāt the ownerās problem; and again, I donāt think slower response times are any deliberate dismissal of the sitter and their āneeds.ā
An attitude of detachment, and not taking anything personally, is very helpful in this arena.
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@Laurel As a sitter myself this has also happened to me. I have applied for several sits where the message went unread, sometimes I never know why, but I have also had feedback and found out why. I am happy to share as it might give you some examples of what might be happening.
A Christmas sit application went unread and in the new year, I received a message from the owner to say they had found a friend to sit and had completely forgotten to take the listing down apologised and would keep our information for later.
We also had one go unread for weeks and then got a message apologising as their work trip was cancelled and life got busy and again they forgot to remove the dates.
I think for sitters the experience can be different from owners, as we are waiting to line up sits and their needs may change, especially if they only use to site now and then. This is no excuse not to reply but happens in many areas of life lately.
I never worry about these as I have the mindset that they were not meant to be and there are lots of great sits that we have got, with amazing pets and communicative owners.
I also totally understand that life can change quickly and things can happen which means some things get overlooked.
I myself did not reply to several invites until much later when my mum was unwell (I normally like to reply quickly), but at that time I just had other priorities.
Keep applying and there will be owners out there that reply equally as quickly.
Wishing you all the best for some amazing sits 
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Hello!
I found I was having a few issues with the app until I searched for it in the app store and selected āupdate.ā This may not be the issue in your case at all, but it helped me with some notification issues. You may also be on the website instead of the app, but hopefully this is useful to someone!
So, in the end, one of the homeowners had just been busy and apologised for the delay in reading it (and I got that sit, happily); the other never responded at all, so I just removed my application. It seems people are just more busy these days, although Iāve been with TH for a few years and had never had that happen, so I was surprised.
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If it helps, Iāve also had HOs come back to me a lengthy time after an application apologising that they hadnāt seen my message.
The first time was because theyād linked their account to their phone & so had missed notifications. I thought it was an excuse but since Iāve had 2 other HOs say the same thing.
Helps to know there can be various reasons why.
A post was merged into an existing topic: App being buggy
Hello, @mars Thank you for reminding us of this one 
I have checked and there should not be any issues of this nature. The only feedback is that if you are using the App for example to message, but are logged into the website at the same time, you will need to refresh the website to see the update on the website inbox.
If you are messaging on the App, and then you log in to the website you will automatically see the updated message status and vice versa.
Iāve had this happen on a very rare occasion. Itās not the norm so maybe move on to another application? People have so much going on who knows. There are so many great pet parents on here though!
ā¦and Iāve had a couple of sitters have my messages to them appear as un-read. I just put it down to them possibly being busy/travelling so hadnāt checked in to their messages in a while but I did find it a bit weirdā¦
I just had this happen for the first time. I think itās a little odd that the HO doesnāt open and read the applications, but Iāll wait a little or move on.
Iāve found it to be fairly common for applications to go unread. I have one that I sent almost a month ago that has not been read yet. I really think THS should include some type of response rate for HOs like other sites have.
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I had an application go unread for several weeks and then less than 2 weeks before their dates it was suddenly read and they were interested. By then flights were triple the price so it was a non-starter. Sometimes I wonder what goes through owners heads when they are planning their holidays.
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