I am so sorry. Sitters like this destroy the trust in this exchange. I don’t think you owed them anything. Canceling 2 months in advance is totally acceptable and understandable. They were entitled and demanding. And now they have inconvenienced you! Again, I am so sorry.
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Good sitters are adaptable and need to solve problems. Having 2 months notice to adjust their plans was reasonable. Instead they were demanding. And then turned around and caused the same inconvenience with half the notice to the other party. I see that as rude, entitled and not in the spirit of THS.
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Yeah I’ll definitely do that if a similar situation happens next time. Hopefully not!
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Definitely. If I hadn’t tried to cancel in the first place, then even if the sitter canceled a month before, we would have still been upset but it would have felt more expected and easier to accept.
What’s more complicated is that when we decided to stick with the original travel plan, I made appointments at our destination, so now I have extra things to sort out.
Just never ends huh. But you’re right, I’ll rethink the trip.
That sounds horrible! I’m really sorry you had to go through all of that. Getting cancelled on at arrival is brutal. I’m very impressed that you were able to regain your positivity and keep going. Mike Tyson’s quote is totally on point, I like that haha
Definitely. If I hadn’t tried to cancel in the first place, then even if the sitter canceled a month before, we would have still been upset but it would have felt more expected and easier to accept. Great perspective. Pretty low chance, but like in your experience we could have also ended our trip early and asked the sitter to leave, and if they complained that wouldn’t really be fair either. I’m sorry you had to go through those struggles though.
What’s more complicated is that when we decided to stick with the original travel plan, I made appointments at the destination, so now I have extra things to sort out.
Just never ends huh. But you’re right, I’ll rethink the trip.
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You’re so true, “Home & Location” should actually be about the home and location!! I’m a little tied up with other things now but once I have time this weekend, I’ll rewrite it. I’m not going into details about who did what but we kept adding requirements over time as we figured out things we didn’t want to deal with based on past sitter experiences. That’s how it ended up looking strict. Thank you, I’ll add photos of snow… which might not be everyone’s cup of tea but could be exotic!
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Thank you, we had never tried to cancel a sit before that, so we weren’t sure if we were being reasonable. The bright side is that now we can be more careful and clearer with confidence when communicating with future sitters.
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Thanks @Misaki, yes most unfortunate. In each case, the Pet Parent determined to cancel before meeting us. Each had their personal reason. Nothing we could frankly do but take a deep breath and move forwards!
In any case, we hope that you find a pragmatic solution.
Presence of a popular ski area may yield surprising interest from potential housesitters. You are right to note flight costs but housesitting community is diverse - and some housesitters may prioritize experience over cost. Don’t see you’ve much to lose by re-listing, at least for a limited duration while you assess other options. Perhaps you may e surprised by a great applicant.
We lived near popular ski areas in Western Canada for many years - skied a lot - indeed have confirmed multiple sits in early 2027 to enjoy some pets, properties and pistes. Yay, happy days.
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I am going through the same thing right now. The sitter cancelled with three weeks until my departure date. It is a three month sit. I reached out to all the others that applied but everyone has another sit or has plans over the holidays. The sitter cancelled saying she had to return to the USA for work or lose her on line job. THS did nothing other than boost my listing. Even if I had premium is only covers $1500 and I am gone 3 months. I have reached out to everyone I know and have a friend of a friend coming tomorrow to meet us. Fingers crossed. I have sent 20+ invites through THS and nothing. I understand that THS cant force someone to come but there should be someway of us knowing which sitters have cancelled on a sit. Good luck, reach out to friends if possible. It seems THS doesn’t work very well last minute!
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It would be a great feature for THS to implement, that way sitters who cancel regularly can be tracked, and also if a sitter knows they’ll receive a strike on their record they may be less likely to cancel.
But don’t hold your breath for it to happen anytime soon
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I have learned that by always having a
Plan B, I worry much less about scenarios like this. In my case, I have my dog pre-screened for boarding at a large nearby facility (who will even do home pickups and dropoffs). Clearly have to keep his vaccinations up-to-date and board for a night or two occasionally so they “know” my dog.
Plan C is Rover
Plan D is begging friends/neighbors/family if in town
also… fyi, I think there’s some kind of Panic Last Minute Sitter Needed (or something to that effect) here which I figured I’d look for in the case of a late cancellation.
I know it’s different for everyone, but in my experiene I don’t think I’d have a problem finding a SUITABLE THS sitter a month before a sit.
Obviously, contingency plans (most of them) cause money (or dignity if beggine neighbors..lol) but it removes a level of stress for me.
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I think that’s a great idea. As a homeowner, I had to cancel once as I’d been in the hospital for a very life-threatening condition just before the sit - I wasn’t comfortable traveling. I don’t think someone in that situation should be penalized - so while I like your plan, I think there should be a mechanism to not penalize folks for documentable emergencies.
In my case (since I happened to have an empty guest house) we decided to go ahead with “the sit” as planned and she stayed in my guest house (and my dog still got walked, she helped me a lot and we both made lifelong friends of one another!)
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How to you get to their listing?
thank you!
@sailorgirl I just put in Japan in Find a Sit plus Christmas dates.
That’s really upsetting, I’m sorry you had to deal with that. I completely agree, showing a sitter’s cancellation history would be a great idea. Personally I’d also like a feature that lets us see their application withdrawals. Some sitters have ghosted us before a scheduled video call. I hope your friend’s friend can help with your situation!
Our plan B would be using a pet hotel/local sitter service, but neither option works well when we’re going away for a long trip. Plan C would be giving up on the trip altogether… Screening sitters is really the key (which we’re clearly not great at :/).
We’ve had three sitters apply so far. The first one didn’t read our listing, during the call she wasn’t even sure where we were located or whether our pet was a cat or a dog lol. The second one ghosted us before the video call. The last one seemed good and is checking the route to get to us! Fingers crossed!!! I feel like good sitters basically don’t make spontaneous travel plans, so they tend to aim for listings that are 2–3 months out?
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A sitter confirmed our sit so it became unavailable finally!! (She’s checking the travel routes now, so hopefully I won’t have to reopen the listing again…!) Thank you so much for reviewing our listing. I made the changes based on your practical advice, and I think it worked!
(Listing has been added to member’s Forum profile)
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I think sits in Japan are rare enough that as long as you advertise early enough you can screen carefully, even if that means rejecting some duds to open up for more applications. Screening on both sides is the key to great sits.
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Well stated.