Creating a void of actual information invites speculation, so yes I was speculating as others will also be doing. Again a 3rd time I ask what did the HO promise you?
So now it appears to me that you simply want to argue, attempt to shame, or engage in a convoluted discussion about what exactly?
My empathy is now all with the HO…. I’ll watch to see if sometime in the future we hear from them here.
This session for me is now finished.
You keep returning to this point over and over again in one way or another, so this is for all of those owners with zero reviews reading this, for us personally, we’ve sat for plenty of owners with zero reviews, and our sits have been amazing.
Our view is totally different, and that’s okay, because we all have differing opinions on things, and that’s fine with me.
So I will repeat this again, our own personal experiences with new owners to THS have all been great!!!
We’d be quite happy to sit for more new owners too, as well as the old ones. We treat everyone how we find them, and we don’t tarnish a whole chunk of members for one less than perfect experience.
I reread your original post (a few times) and it is seemingly 99% about the car’s mechanical issue. That happens. The other 1% seems to be about accepting a sit with a new HO. Now you are all about the HO’s transparency/honesty about something else that you are declining to divulge and wanting to warn other sitters.
OK, thank you. I consider myself warned but it may not be about what you intended.
I can only hope that OP leaves a review as clear as this thread.
No transparency about pest issues (roaches :-/, working camera being present when asked on several occasions if any was inside, needing to do yardwork when I was only told prior to sit to water indoor plants). The car was not the biggest issue here. Transparency. Don’t like walking into a situation where the game changes according to HO whims and I should just abide. It doesn’t create a good communication or trust.
I can only hope you are not in a situation like this by making fun of me because others are. Peace
these are very big issues - I have no idea why the thread is about the car when these should be more pressing.
Hopefully you just disabled the indoor cameras (if the HO didn’t on arrival) and are not doing the yardwork that wasn’t agreed upon.
And you thought I was making fun, but for your own sake, please do write a review that states the problems unemotionally and without a ton of subjective opinions, rather than dancing around it. It will benefit everyone, including yourself.
To be clear, my situation was not similar to the one you perceive yourself to be in. My host’s return flight was cancelled (through no fault of her own), & I had to figure out alternative transport at the last moment to get to my next destination, with few easy options…which I ultimately accomplished.
My point was that I decided I’d prefer in future to have 100% control of my own transportation, because it’s more predictable & less stressful. But at no point did I feel that my host was at fault for the situation…I just took it as a (personal) learning moment.
I didn’t hound HO. After they said they couldn’t help sort car issue. I didn’t reach out again. It was he who reached out later to say he would video call to show where jumper cables were then started being rude about how he doesn’t think I can do it but not giving me time to do the proper set up to get the car jumped. It’s all draining at this point trying to discuss on this forum. I see how some people are being judgmental and misconstruing my words to create a sense of entitlement of knowing of how the initial agreement with HO occurred. At this point people are welcome to believe what they want on this thread. I just wanted to share a cautionary example on how to be more careful when choosing a sit, especially with first time HO. I never said avoid first time THS HO, but people keep making up assumptions.
(Post edited by the Forum team to comply with the Community Guidelines).
“I am sorry this happened to you, though, & I commiserate. I recently let myself depend on a Host for transport as well, & won’t be doing so again…just too much dependency if things go wrong, I found.” This is what you wrote. It did not give all what you wrote above, which had you written, I would not have said you were in a similar situation. Also, I find lack of transparency and integrity of a HO not to blame, which I will stand by. But, I do see why you want to be in control of your own transportation. Up until this point, I had no problems with other THS with use of vehicle. All, in all, I have learned a few valuable advice on here, and to not post anything good or otherwise to this forum ever again. LOL.
I’m sorry to hear that you won’t post on this forum again. I do agree with your concern, though. It would be better for members to encourage the exchange of info and clarification from the OP then to criticize and past judgement before all the details are provided. I think many try to be the voice of the silent party of such posts, but do go a little overboard, in my opinion. So, don’t be discouraged. Next time (hopefully there won’t be one), provide more detail to make your case for better community support.
Hope the rest of your sit is pleasant, or at least tolerable.
I wasn’t blaming you, @DorisP ; as I said I was clarifying (elaborating.) I get that you’re feeling defensive, but maybe it would be good to take a breath & step back for a moment.
From my perspective, I think you presented a problem in your OP, & the members of this forum assumed you were asking for advice on how to deal with that specific situation & offered some practical suggestions on how to move forward. Instead, it sounds like there were actually other issues that exacerbated your frustration with the host — but because you didn’t elaborate on those here, no one here could help or empathize or sympathize.
I’m sorry if that’s frustrating for you, but we can only comment on the things we know about.
Tbf, with indoor cameras present — I will borrow a publishing term & say that I, too, think that you “buried the lede” on this story. No one here has any tolerance for that under any circumstances.
There have been several threads on the forum where the OP (whether HO or sitter - happens in both roles) presents one issue, people form opinions about the situation, and then it turns out the OP left out a crucial detail that basically changes the entire situation. So, a reluctance to share additional information that has been mentioned in passing makes one look at best like an unreliable narrator. Attacking anyone who doesn’t agree as not reading closely or assuming makes it all look more sus.
The forum can be a wonderfully helpful place, it can sometimes be an overly “helpful” place, and it can sometimes devolve into an endless circle reiterating the same points without changing anyone’s opinion - basically, “the internet” - but there is no denying that there are a lot of experienced sitters as well as some HOs and even a few who do both who are regulars and care deeply about the THS community.
You do know, don’t you, that use of a car is a rare privilege for an HO to offer a sitter?
Let’s wind back a couple of hundred years… "Alongside free rein of your manor house and estate, Milord, you condescended - despite the ready availability of such corporates as Uberstage and FetchMyPistols - to allow me use of your contemptible old nag. But Egad! Yon old nag has whinnied in my face by going lame on me, Sirrah! I demand you reprimand your old sack of horsemeat, be ye never so distant, and make right to me the efforts I have bestowed upon your home and escutchceon! Oh… If you need me, I will perchance be swimming in your lake. Unclothed. "
An alternate lesson is that you can be clearer in what you write. It literally took 12 hours and 40+ posts about the dead vehicle to get to the biggest issues of roaches/camera/yardwork. Rather than the empathy and commiseration you deserved and undoubtedly would have received, much “projection” occurred in all the confusion. None of that is on anyone but you. But thank you for your recent transparency and clearing up the confusion.
Getting back to your stated intent to help the community avoid a similar bad situation, what advice do you have beyond throwing in the towel on participation in this very educational forum?
Thank you for the additional details, It really helps give perspective on what is fully happening there. OMG, I’m so sorry, Doris. If you are able to leave the sit and he already was OK with that, that’s probably the best option. I would not be happy to live amongst roaches on a house sit. I hope you can figure out a solution to this.
My thoughts on these three issues in case you’re still reading replies, is make sure that camera is unplugged, refuse to do the yardwork since it was not agreed upon in advance (if it is not something you are open to doing), and see if he can get pest control to come and spray immediately because it will kill the roaches quite quickly. I have had an issue before when I was newly moved from Chicago to Dallas, and had rented an old craftsman home. In Dallas they have the huge 1 inch roaches and they were getting in! The landlord paid for pest treatment every three months the entire time I lived there, and the problem was handled quite quickly.
The other issues seem more material to be honest.
For the car - really it’s a favor to be leant a car, not a contractual obligation. They do break down. It’s not anyone’s fault but pestering the HO on vacation about it is not right either.
For the car I lend (older model but I am original owner and have maintained it well, so it still runs well) and for emergency vet or home e repairs, here is what I do. I leave a sealed envelope with my signature along the edges, with a credit card and a letter authorizing use. I tell sitters if no emergencies, great, leave the envelope alone and don’t open it. If there is an emergency - one time, minor - the tail light went out on the car but I didnt want the sitters to get pulled over by police for that - so I told them to take it to a repair place to fix. $20 and they left the receipt in the envelope with the card. Only time it’s ever been opened.
If you are counting on the car for a sit, I would ask the HO what happens if it breaks down. It’s really on you to clarify that, but really if it were a major repair (like a new transmission) even I would tell the sitter to leave those decisions with us and find alternate transportation themselves.
Once we rented an airbnb and there was an extended power outage. We left early and got a motel. The airbnb owner refunded the days after we left, but it’s not like we pestered them to pay for our motel. These things happen, it wasn’t his fault. Similarly, you could just find alternate transportation?
Except instead you’ve created a post which pertains to be about a broken down car, and then turns out to be about something else. And in the process you’ve written some less than pleasant responses to community members who have offered advice based on your original post.
You’ve suggested that several people re-read your original post. You might like to do the same.
Ironically, other than the fact that letting the community know that you personally won’t be taking another sit unless it has ‘5 great reviews’ and that you’ll be ‘getting every agreement in writing’ from now on, I’m not really sure how your cautionary example helps anyone.