I'm on an 'unauthorised' sit!

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
1

I’m currently almost one week in on a month long sit, and by chance logged in to my THS account to check something on the listing. I went to my inbox to find the original listing, and was a bit surprised to find that the home owner for whom I am sitting is no longer an active member of THS.

I was under the impression that, as a sitter, I would be unable to confirm any sits with dates that fell beyond my active THS membership, and assumed the same to be true for homeowners. But apparently not…

Here’s an extract of my conversation via membership services:

“Me: As a sitter I would be unable to confirm a sit without active membership in place. So why is it possible for a home owner to do this? And why have I not been notified by THS that the home owner’s membership has lapsed?

Membership services: Currently, there is no block in place that prevents members from doing so. This means you can still accept or confirm sits even past your renewal date.

Me: I should have at least received a warning that their membership was due to expire during the course of the sit to allow me to make an informed decision.

Membership services: I understand how important it is to stay updated, and I can see how the lack of notifications regarding member’s status might be frustrating. Currently, we do not provide notifications for this information, and you can only view it by logging into your account and checking your inbox. I appreciate your feedback on this matter, and I will certainly pass it along to our team for consideration.”

For me personally, I’m happy on this sit, and other than having renewed my membership specifically so that I could complete it under the ‘protection’ of THS terms and conditions, (which feels like a waste of money since the sit is now considered a private arrangement), there is no issue. I have requested – and received – a refund for my membership, given the fact that the home owner is no longer an active THS member.

I am writing this post for two reasons.

Firstly because I know that some members will find themselves on sits where having the security of THS terms and conditions is of real importance. It doesn’t seem right that people can pay a membership fee, only to find themselves unprotected and on an ‘unauthorised’ sit, midway through that sit, especially with no notification from THS.

And secondly, because for those who aren’t too bothered whether their sit is authorised or not, this is an excellent opportunity to make the most of your membership and book up as many sits as you can – even those that extend beyond the dates of your active membership! In the interest of keeping things transparent and fair and avoiding any nasty surprises mid-sit, I would suggest making it clear to home owner / sitter when your membership will expire, and ensure that both parties are happy to continue with a private arrangement.

8 Likes
2

Have you raised the issue with the owners so they understand neither of you have THS backing and, if you wanted to (which I understand you don’t want to), you could just leave the sit? I hope you have a written Welcome Guide or similar and that important information has been provided like emergency contacts and vet arrangements.

8 Likes
3

As a homeowner with a membership, I don’t think I’d be “happy” to continue the sit if I knew the sitter wasn’t a member – unless maybe they’d sat for me before but even then it wouldn’t be my preference for a number of reasons like activiting the premium insurance just in case for one.

3 Likes
4

I’m not understanding why you canceled your THS membership? Is it because of their lack of notification to you regarding the lapse in the hosts membership and you’re fed up with it? It appears you’re getting lots of sits and obviously that won’t happen anymore once your membership expires. I could see maybe canceling a higher level membership but to completely quit over this one situation seems a bit much..

2 Likes
5

This is the opposite of what happened to us. Hosts had their THS membership expire before the sit date so THS messaged them and advised all sits would be cancelled automatically?! The system auto cancelled is when they didn’t renew. (We did the sit anyway as it was a repeat host). Maybe if their renewal is mid sit it doesn’t activate? :thinking: #veryconfused

4 Likes
6

Hi @idocsteve My membership was due to expire before the sit began. I don’t sit full time, and renewed specifically so that I would be an active member for this sit, otherwise I would have most likely taken a break over winter and renewed my membership for sitting again next spring. Since I have found myself in a situation where I am not on an authorised sit anyway - due to the home owner not renewing their own membership - there seems little point in me paying to be a member either.

5 Likes
7

We had the same issue in spain we were away for 2 months only to find out when we came to give a review that the other party couldn’t give us a review because they were no longer members . Couldn’t fault the sit but would have been nice to know where we stood , I blame THS as this is their fault ,a member should not be able to list a sit that goes over their time as a member

12 Likes
8

Hi @Cuttlefish I am really surprised that the system allowed the sit to go ahead to be honest, but am not sure exactly when the home owner’s membership expired, and maybe it makes a difference if that happens mid-sit rather than before the sit begins.

3 Likes
9

Hi @Marion Exactly. I’ve posted to raise awareness that this can happen. ‘When does your membership expire?’ needs to be on the radar of both sitters and home owners as part of deciding whether a sit should go ahead, since the system isn’t doing it for us!

4 Likes
10

Hi @temba I have a guide, emergency contact and vet details thanks. I’m assuming that THS will have let the home owner know that their membership has expired and that the sit is no longer authorised.

2 Likes
11

@Becca, what an odd development.

We can completely understand your concerns, as three weeks of a four week sit are not subject to THS terms. This seems undesirable.

Your clarification that the Pet Parent membership terminated after the housesit started seems important.

It seems unclear what impact this situation would have on your eligibility for THS Sit Cancellation Insurance if Pet Parent cancelled the sit. It is our understanding that this coverage applies for sit cancellations that occur [alas only] 14 days before the start date of the housesit, but also for cancellation that occurs during the sit. So if the Pet Parent cancelled the sit after their membership expired - e.g. they want to come home early - then you probably have zero THS coverage, despite your own active membership.

How very odd. Curious on whether this is a rare situation - have other housesitters faced anything similar?

3 Likes
12

We had a similar situation at the later part of the sit but only discovered it when we realised the HO couldn’t give us a review.

3 Likes
13

@Becca I probably wouldn’t assume THS has notified the owner. However I guess it doesn’t matter now where neither of you are members although the owners won’t know you’re no longer a member either. You must really have wanted this sit (I’m assuming it’s the location that’s the attraction) to have renewed specifically for it and now cancelled your membership knowing the owner’s membership has lapsed but are still doing the sit. Enjoy it and I hope no complications arise for the duration.

14

Hi @temba I was almost a week into the sit before discovering that it is unauthorised, and having spent a few hundred quid and travelling 1000km to get here, there would be little point in discontinuing. My post is simply to make others aware that the THS system allows this situation to happen.

8 Likes
15

Experienced the same not long ago. The host’s membership expired during my stay, and neither was able to leave a review afterwards. Was a lovely host, and as most they asked me if I was available for a return housesit. I don’t “collect” reviews, but can certainly see why this is problematic for those who do.

Not to mention for premium members on both sides; If, for some reason, this now non-member canceled mid-stay, then what…would the rest be covered..?

1 Like
16

This sounds exactly like the kind of glitch, THS has throughout the system. Sitters can book sits far ahead of their renewal dates, and then not renew and homeowners can go ahead anyway without the protections. Homeowners can place dates ahead of their renewal dates which will be “cancelled” but this might be noticed until review time (even if a message is sent out by THS.)

This isn’t about special privileges that one side or the other side has. It’s about limits to the tech. I think (I could be wrong) last time my account renewed the money was taken out through autorenewal a couple of months before the actual date it was applied to the account which may be the workaround and one of thes reasons why THS gives discounts to encourage auto renew.

There’s a tendency to think that a company is somehow being nefarious when something like this happens – favoring homeowners over sitters for instance – when really it’s just being inefficient. It works less well for everyone but good enough that they don’t have to spend money to fix the problem.

2 Likes
17

We are sitters on auto-renew, but I am curious how members without auto-renew are notified that they must “pay now” to prevent their membership from lapsing.

I imagine that members without auto-renew receive a few emails over the 2 months before their membership lapses, notifying them of the impending lapse.

1 Like
18

I would not call it nefarious, just negligent.

THS owes it to their paying members that ALL are making commitments with the same rules and expectations in place.

Ridiculous!! You can do better, THS.

This issue, and the fact that THS is altering/removing reviews, really leaves a bad taste in my mouth… :tired_face:

2 Likes
19

I’d like to see more details about the review changes before I judge. I have a positive reference from a friend for whom I’ve done some petsitting through the years. They really didn’t understand the nature of the site or read through my message request to them for a reference. There was a true story I was hoping they’d use as an example of my helpfulness and reliability with pets. However they left me a glowing reference but one that portrayed our relationship as more employer/employee and suggested I was a cleaner as well. I know they were trying to be helpful, but I’m a bit embarressed by it. I asked THS to take it down and they said I’d need the other person to write in and request it. I eventually did that but they didn’t change it. Finally, THS agreed to take my last name out of it at least! But that was as much as I could push them. So my thinking is that if they have “altered” reviews they’ve probably taken out stuff that could be considered defamatory or might be dangerous such as pinpointing a homeowner location or other information within the review.

4 Likes
20

I just noticed that the credit card I have on file is no longer active. With referals I’m not up for renewal for a while so I don’t want to change it just yet, but I could easily see it’s not going through and my not even knowing why my account doesn’t work or why I’m not getting the additional 2 months offered.

I agree they should and coud do better. I just don’t expect them to.

2 Likes