How do I formally register a complaint about a sitter?

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
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I have just returned early from a trip, in part because I had lost all confidence in my sitter due to extremely poor communication. On arrival I found the power off, the kitchen in a disgusting state, 3 days worth of catfood spilling out of the bowls and the sitter still asleep in bed at noon.
Given her attitude during the sit, this came as no big surprise but this sitter should absolutely not be inflicted on anyone else.

I have tried talking with the ai chatbot which was totally useless and demanded to speak to a real person. It says it has passed on a message to thesupport team and that they will get back to me - will they?

I also see no way to terminate the sit early on the site and as such can not yet write a review - anyone know a way to terminate the sit before the “official” end date?

Thanks

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There is a number on the bottom of your profile to call to speak directly to a real person. Yes this person should be removed from the platform. Sorry you had this experience.

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I believe you’ll need THS customer support help with that. I doubt you’ll get much help or satisfaction from customer support when it comes to a complaint about a sitter. Your best and likely only bet there is writing a clear, unemotional and honest review of your experience. I will point out that you’ll need to be more careful and clearer about the bones you’re picking there. Your mentioning that power was off is a head scratcher. Who turns off power why and why is it upsetting to you? What is a “disgusting state” for a kitchen is important because that could mean anything from dirty dishes in the sink to pots on the stove containing cold, congealed mystery food. But the time a sitter is still in bed isn’t any host’s business on a cat sit. And so on.

Also, it’s going to take some days to this sort out.

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@Erik_H - Did you just walk in on the sitter, without informing them that you were coming home early? And did you then make them leave?

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I bet you showing up unexpectedly while the sitter was still asleep was a big surprise!

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@Erik_H, sorry to hear of your terrible experience. Recommend raise a “Member Dispute”. This is a specific, structured THS process that collates information/evidence; critically assesses situation; and determines action steps.

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Sorry to hear this, I hope your kitties are doing okay. You can call the Urgent Support line on your dashboard. They can end the sit on THS. You can also file a Member Dispute but will need to substantiate it with proof (lack of communication, not following feeding schedule, power off? That’s a weird one).

TBH You can’t really complain about cleanliness or sleep habits if you’ve arrived unexpectedly. Sitters aren’t required to keep a place clean 24/7 or be awake at certain times, but they should follow the agreed pet care instructions and have the home clean for your stated arrival time. If you get a chance to review (member disputes can pause reviewing) please be factual and unemotional. I hope this ends okay all around :crossed_fingers:t3:

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Make sure you take plenty of photos of the kitchen, cats’ feeding area etc as evidence

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Yeah fair enough. In the name of brevity the bones are a little unclear.

Will flesh all that out in review.

Thanks

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No I gave warning. Although due to a misunderstanding (they took half past midnight on Saturday to mean Saturday night and not Saturday morning) I did arrive a day earlier than I was expected by the sitter.
And no did not make them leave. Specifically offered to let them stay for a couple of days to figure out their next move.
Also offered a lift into town.
Both offers were declined and the sitter left almost immediately.
I am willing to believe that the intent was to clean up before I got back, but the kutchen stank of rotting food, there were pots with things growing in them, one of them 10 days old - I know this because it was the food I made for us the day before I left.

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Yeah it was, which was unfortunate. And unnecessary as I had texted that I was on my way with an updated ETA.
Failure to communicate clearly and promptly is what characterised the entire sit, so I guess it is kind of appropriate that it ended that way too.

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If part of the reason you returned early was because of poor communication from your sitter, what was the other part? Is the crux of your complaint what you found on arriving home early (unwashed pots, sitter sleeping at midday and cat food bowls overflowing)?

Have you had previous sitters? Did this sitter have good reviews, which mentioned positive communications? Did you specify frequency and type of required updates verbally with the sitter, and reiterate in your Welcome Guide? Going forwards, it’s worth always doing this, so that you’re both on the same page.

So your sitter expected you to return home at half past midnight, and agreed to that?

This sitter does indeed sound like a slob but, as @Shafofo says, sitters aren’t compelled to keep the home totally clean and tidy for every moment of the sit, or to sleep only during hours HOs deem acceptable. What if a sitter feels unwell, and so puts down food for the cats then goes to bed during the day? We hear only one perspective on these boards, of course.

You mention you were away for 10 days before returning home early, did your cats seem happy and well nourished? Did the rest of the home appear to have been maintained to an acceptable level? Clearly you are upset and disappointed, so it’s maybe worth trying to look at the wider picture, which might help.

As has been mentioned by @GotYourBack you can submit a ‘Member Dispute’ but do be clear on what your grievances are, and what was agreed prior to confirming. Remember that, according to the Terms of Service 2.4. ‘You should use your best judgement before arranging a Sit/Sitter, or otherwise interacting with other Members via the Platform. You are solely responsible for making decisions that are in your best interests, including in relation to properties and pet(s) and vetting any potential Pet Parent/Sitter.’

Here’s hoping you will find a much better match with your next sitter.

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ugh, that sounds absolutely gross. You are well rid.

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So I just want to say thank you to everyone who has chimed in here - it has been very helpful and on reflection I think that there probably aren’t grounds for a formal complaint. The cats are alive and well, the chickens too, although they are definitely skinnier than when I left. The house was mostly in decent order, kitchen aside and my food was still frozen, so no major harm done.
So I suppose that the review is the appropriate forum to air all this.

I would also just like to make a few things clearer about the situation.

I had a 2week sit posted starting early January, then on 28Dec my mother passed away and I altered the listing to include an URGENT start. This sitter responded very quickly to say she was available immediately. We had a zoom call, she seemed really lovely and so we agreed she would come on 29th and I would leave 31st for I didn’t really know how long, probably 1-2 weeks, maybe longer.
She assured me that she was happy to be flexible regarding dates, but would not be able to stay more than 2-3 days longer than the agreed end date. I was so happy - this seemed like a gift from the gods and I was super grateful.

We were to have the afternoon of 29th and all day 30th for me to show her around, how everything works, routines, etc. Basically the deal is feed the cats, feed the chickens and let them out of their cage in the morning, bring them some kitchen scraps and/or fresh leaves from the garden and lock them away in the evening.
Also check the solar system panel (I am off grid here) morning and evening and let me know what it says so I can advise when and for how long to run generator to keep batteries topped up and power on.
It was this monitoring of the system (which, by the way, takes less than a minute to do) that was the primary source of the failures to communicate, (excuses for not doing it included being busy, unwell, tired, cold, on a call, not having phone, ….) culminating in a low battery system shutdown 5 or 6 days into the sit.
This was actually the final straw for me. After dealing with that in the morning and knowing for sure that the generator would need to be run for a couple of hours later that afternoon/evening, she ignored my messages, sent me one saying she was going to sleep and turned her phone off.
This forced me to call a neighbour and get him to come over and talk him through how to charge up the batteries with the generator.

Given how poor communication was, as soon as I had finished with packing up the house and organising funeral directors, death certificate and probate application I looked to get home for a short while before returning for the funeral itself.

So I booked a flight on Friday morning for late that night, arriving shortly after midnight on Saturday, stayed in an airport hotel and then on to my house in the morning, arriving shortly after midday. I texted the sitter in the morning on Friday that I had booked the flight and on Saturday morning with an ETA.
I apologised for the short notice and assured her that she could stay as long as she needed to figure out her next move.
The sitter took “shortly after midnight on Saturday” to mean late saturday night and not early saturday morning, and so I arrived a day earlier than they were expecting me.
In a way I’m glad it happened because I got to see the reality of the sit.
When I arrived I discovered the solar system again in low battery shutdown, skinny chickens whose house had not been properly cleaned out (somewhat, but poorly) a truly disgusting kitchen, all the mats in the bathroom soaking wet and smelling of mildew, cat food spilling out of bowls and a sleeping sitter at almost 1PM.
Despite all of this, I did not scream and shout, I did not get angry, I did not make any snide remarks. I felt bad about the misunderstanding and offered a ride into town, I offered to let the sitter stay, but they refused and fell over themselves trying to get out as fast as they could, never once looking at me or saying any kind of goodbye to the cats.

I take on board what some of you have said that it’s none of my business what hours the sitter keeps and that they are under no obligation to keep the house immaculate at all times - fair enough.
But when the arrangement is that chickens are to be fed and let out in the morning and the solar system monitored morning and evening, sleeping until 12-1PM is no longer cool.
And letting someone’s kitchen get like that, even if the intent is to clean it up, is NOT acceptable. It attracts rodents and roaches, it stinks the whole place out and above all is indicative of an attitude of disrespect and not giving a crap that I don’t want in someone looking after what is basically my whole life.
There were some other baffling behaviours too which I won’t go into here, but overall a most unenjoyable interaction for my first sit on TH.

I hope that makes it all clearer as to why I felt so let down and disappointed by this sitter, and thanks again for all the helpful feedback.

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I do hope you get a better sitter next time- it’s very unlucky that your first experience has turned out to be not so good. You’ve done the right thing to listen to feedback here. You’ll be feeling sensitive at this sad time of grieving so this will be adding to your disappointment. You took a last minute decision to offer your last minute sit to possibly a less than ideal sitter purely because they were available which carried risks. You’ll do better in the future. Be aware that sitters will read your Review of your sitter so be fair, and mention that you’ve learnt a lot as this could go a long way to attracting more experienced sitters in the future. Best wishes.

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I include in my listing that my dog wakes up early (we are morning people in this house) and our sit is not suitable for sitters who prefer to sleep in. It isn’t our business what hours they sleep but they have to keep up with agreed responsibilities, but I would leave the review focuses on the sitter failing to care for the chickens or perform morning monitoring of the off-grid electrical system, which eventually forced you to return early.

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Totally agree.
As @Felinelover, I think that the main issue is repeated failure to properly monitor the electrical system, disregarding your guidance and requests, you can also mention poor care of chickens.
I don’t think I would mention the state of the kitchen but if you do, you should also mention that there was a misunderstanding and the sitter was not expecting you so can only suggest that regular cleaning was below your standards.
Sometimes people share their drafts on the forum before publishing the review. You have 14 days starting the day after the sit ends so you can take your time and make sure emotions have settled down a bit and don’t show in the review. Just facts in a friendly non judgmental tone. This will be really helpful for you in future applications.

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@Erik_H first, I’m very sorry for your loss. This whole must be incredibly distressing on top off the stress and grieving. I hope I didn’t come off as suggesting it’s fine that sitters completely trash your home as long as they clean up before you return. I was only trying to help formulate a fair review, which maybe shouldn’t include things that might have been taken care of if you hadn’t returned early. Your further explanation makes it clear that the sitter was not caring for your home or your animals properly, and I’m sorry you had to come home to that. This whole scenario would likely put me off using THS.

Your honest review will be very helpful for future HO’s, including some mention of lack of cleanliness and pet cleaning and feeding schedules not being followed. The off-grid situation is tough. I’d make sure in future to have someone who understands more about solar and batteries. We have them too, and though we’re not off grid it can be complicated when issues arise.

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Not making excuses for the sitter, but we sit as a couple and have had sits where one of us has been ill (virus, cold etc) and have been so grateful there is one person to carry the load while the other is in bed. The off grid thing may have been beyond the sitters capability.

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You’re right, and I’m sorry to hear you’ve had an upsetting experience, particularly when you’re already dealing with significant issues.

That’s such a shame. Please be assured that what you’ve experienced is not the norm.

This was your first sit. Going forwards, please don’t just accept that someone is ‘really lovely’ during a video chat, as they need to be both competent and responsible, too. Read previous reviews, as well as reviews that sitters have left for HOs. Make sure you clearly detail responsibilities in your listings and ask pertinent questions of sitters during video chats, so that you can feel confident they have the aptitude necessary to properly maintain your home and the wellbeing of your pets. Possibly consider partnering with a pair of sitters next time, since - as has already been mentioned - if one does indeed fall ill, the other can keep things ticking over.

Do please consider leaving an unemotional, factual review. @BonnyinBrighton has given sound advice about this.

I hope you can put this behind you and be kind to yourself. This sitting lark is a journey, and we all learn better how to go about it as we go along.

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