I am new to the site and just had my first sitter. If I didn’t know about many positive experiences my son and daughter in law have had both sitting and hosting, I would drop out now and still might. I am waiting to see what THS does because I don’t consider the sitter I had safe for animals, not to mention all the damage she did to our house. I am sure there are great sitters out there and my situation is pretty easy for a sitter, but I am not confident in my ability to choose someone good because of this experience. And, I have owned businesses with over 200 employees who were easy to manage by comparison! So I would appreciate any advice you could give. Thanks
Hi Suzanne,
Really sorry you have had a bad experience. I would say that to ensure you do have a better experience next time to read through sitters with plenty of reviews and try to glean as much as you can from those. Also check a sitters profile and see if they have written an interersting profile about themselves. I am a sitter and always leave a place as I find it and do take good care of all animals.
I believe, because of the way TH has been advertising recently, there are a few, who are only looking for somewhere to stay, without any responsibilities.
I hope your next experience is much better.
Can you please explain what happened. Did you put in a report to THS? If she is dangerous to animals THS should be involved to possibly remove her. Was this her first sit or does she have reviews?
Did you have a Zoom or phone conversation first? I had a new host just book me without a conversation first as they thought since we in the US are background checked that it wasn’t necessary. I am sorry you had this bad experience as a new host. As a sitter one of my very few sits was with a crazy violent host that I had to leave the sit before it officially started. They were removed from the platform. It would have had many sitters quitting. I did not and have had numerous great sits after that. The bad sitter or host is the exception and not the norm.
Thanks for your responses. We spoke to the sitter at length before she arrived and she stayed with us 2 days before she left. We had chosen another sitter a month earlier who came to our house and we loved her, but she had a change of plans 2 weeks out and we had to repost because the other respondents that were good had already made other plans. We called the support line and gave details and sent in an email with photos and all relevant facts. That was 3 days ago. We have 2 out of town weddings coming up and need to make arrangements so are going to use our local resources. Unfortunately, my husband apologized to a the head of an organization running an event on the day we got back telling her he couldn’t make it because we came home to a disaster. She said I hope it wasn’t THS because I have my first sit lined up. He said it was but that we had reported it and he thought they seemed responsive. She is waiting for us to hear. I am sure most sitters are great, but we just can’t take a chance. We live in Tucson and it requires pet owners to be vigilant.
One of the things we have found in getting great sitters is like mindedness. We read all profiles, reviews written by sitter and written about the sitter. We have a video call and make the call more about getting to know each other rather than an “interview”. This seems to work very well for us. We’ve had 12 sits over just under 3 years and it gets better and better. We now have a pool of sitters that we ask first if they are available, if not then we post the sit for a new sitter.
That sounds great and I am happy you have had this experience. My son and daughter in law have had great experiences as well. This first experience was so bad for us because she endangered our dog. The neighbors were going to call us, but Chile is very far from Tucson and they knew out would take a while to get back. They said they considered calling the police instead. She was breaking several local laws, but then our dog would have ended up at the pound and they didn’t want that to happen.
@suzanne2 I’m wondering whether you received a number of applications or just this one. Did you have a video chat before confirming the sit and feel comfortable with this person? What was it about this sitter that made you choose them, or were you desperate because of lack of choice and didn’t have a backup plan like the kennels?
We had 5 immediate responses when we first posted. 4 of them were great and we chose one who came to the house beforehand and we loved her. She had to cancel 13 days out and we reposted because the other 3 already had plans. We had a long telephone conversation, not a video call and she seemed fine and then arrived and stayed with us 2 days before.
I don’t mind paying a housesitter but a kennel isn’t a good choice for our dog. He’s older and might have some dementia and can get very depressed and not eat. In familiar surroundings he is easy to care for.
@suzanne2 Sounds like you did everything you could and this sitter definitely let you down. Don’t give up on THS as you had excellent response the first time advertising with very suitable applicants so you know there are great sitters out there who are interested in looking after your dear dog.