@Dee So true, THS must get its act together now and train or retrain whomever screens new members’ listings.
@Carla If THS wants to keep its reputation strong and maintain the safety of its members – there could be liability issues if something goes wrong – It must screen new members appropriately and REJECT any who do not adhere to THS’s stated 3rd party policies.
This particular listing is probably the worst offender I have encountered for policy breaking. It appears to have been addressed but I’m surprised by the number of applicants!
I just had another look and they’ve actually got their 5 applicants (even for the Feb 7-7 date) and the offending paragraph is still there…
@Dee I think you will find that TH has actually put that on reviewing for now until they speak with the HO. I have seen this happen before and it went to reviewing before being finally removed. I saw it and it had no applications for the one day sit but ten seconds later it went to reviewing. Pretty sure it’s under review by TH. It’s a doozy isn’t it?? 
Well that’s a relief! Hope your right Ziggy. It sure is a doozy, so many things could go wrong on a sit like that, it doesn’t bear thinking about it.
Third parties in the home is a big issue. I had the HOs adult son let himself into the house with a key and no notice while I was napping after a long walk with the dogs. It was terrifying. He had been sent to “check on things”.
That is so disrespectful of your privacy. We did a sit where the adult daughter needed to come and collect some things for a camping trip. The owners messaged us a few days before and asked if we were OK with that, what time would suit us for her to come by and reassured us that if we didn’t want her to call that was fine! We were perfectly happy for her to come by and she made a point of ringing the doorbell and waiting to be let in even though she obviously did have a key. What a shame that all owners are not so thoughtful.
Yes, sitters would need better protection.
I saw a listing in Panama of a small farm for July and August. It is currently a building site, the first photo shows that. No photos of any bedroom, and the interior photos of the pets were probably taken somewhere else.
It is now in reviewing status.
Imagine an (admittedly overly naive) sitter taking on this assignment, investing in airfare, and arriving to this remote rural place.
It is not responsible that THS allows such listings on its site.
@Jenny in the past on this forum moderators encouraged anyone who noticed a listing that breached the rules to flag it to member services.
Recently members reported a listing where the member was using their profile to list a sit for someone else’s pet in someone else’s home. It was reported to member services by Carla herself. The member’s profile is unchanged 10+ days on.
Is there a new policy that members can use their profile to list for someone else’s pets and home ? In which case forum members do not need to flag these kind of listings anymore .
Actually I reported a listing just yesterday that did exactly that. The listing showed a lovely large riverside house, with 2 small dogs, but the seemingly, last minute, add-on text explained that this listing was actually for the members’ daughter, who lived 65 kilometres away, in a one bedroom apartment. It also specified that the sit was for a German Shepherd dog that was scheduled to have puppies DURING the sit!
That’s a whole lotta different.
I admit that I felt a bit “snitchy”, but I reported it via the chat feature, and the moderator was grateful for the information. The listing was gone by the afternoon.
@KateY My criteria for deciding whether to report a sit is to consider if I’m doing it to support and care about other sitters in this community. If it qualifies that way, then I don’t have any sense of being a snitch. We have to watch out for each other, especially for those who are new and may walk into a bad situation.
Thanks for your reply. It was thinking about the other sitters in our community that helped me decide. I asked myself, what support would be in place for the sitter, as the daughter has not been vetted, or agreed to the Terms and Conditions? Not to mention how much could go wrong with the unexpected canine midwifery crash course…
@KateY i saw that one too it was so odd and the way they downplayed the dog having puppies was shocking. I also wanted to report it but was out at that moment and it’s just arduous having to screenshot and go to the live chat and all the back and forth and then the consequent emails etc.
Thank you for reporting it!
I’ve checked this one out and it sounds like there was a misunderstanding, which Membership Services clarified with that member. We can’t share the details but the member confirmed the information needed to prove that they were a pet parent and financially/legally liable for the dog.
Membership Services advised them to update the wording of their listing to explain things more clearly, and they’ve done so.
There’s not been any policy changes (I’d hope we’d get a heads up if that ever happened!), and in this case, Membership Services were happy to allow the listing to remain once they had gained a clearer understanding of the situation as long as the wording was updated.
We’d encourage members to continue reporting listings that are against our policies, and we really appreciate anyone who takes the time to do so.
Jenny
That reminds me, I remember being asked to play midwife when a cat was due to give birth while the owners were away. It was just dropped into the conversation last minute oh so casually like it wasn’t a big deal. I decided not to go ahead with that one!
I agree with the suggestion that the company should mandate specific photos to publish a listing; some competitor sites do.
Mandating specific photos is common on real estate sites and serves to prevent scamming. The company would be wise to implement the safety practices that alternative accomodation sites do.
Addressing another related issue, the map inaccuracies should be rectified.
Utilizing the welcome guide’s address would resolve the map inaccuracy.
The map thing is a constant source of frustration for me as a HO. If someone uses the map to search my general area, my home (in a small town near a popular college town) will come up.
However, if they have a set search for that town (not the surrounding county, state, or geographic area), then it won’t come up at all. Most people set searches up by place rather than using the map function, meaning that my listing won’t show up. I don’t have any desire to deceive or misrepresent where I live, but I did change my geographic location recently to make sure my listing was being seen.