A little concerned - a man just showed up at my front door who said he had applied for my upcoming sit on TH (but because I have not yet selected from among the first few sitters, I have not seen an application from him). Is information like my home cadres just made immediately available to anyone who applies, or did this person research me? He seemed pleasant, but the fact that he arrived in person has me concerned.
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I am a sitter and no, your address is only given to the sitter you confirmed and when you fill in the welcome guide, definitely not to everyone who applies!
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Welcome to the forum @raflorshe
Your address is not disclosed to anyone by THS at any stage of the process .
The address is only shared by you -( at the time when you choose ) to share the welcome guide with your chosen sitter . This is after you have confirmed the sitter . They will see your address in the Welcome Guide (if you have put it in there - it’s not automatically in there )
I assume that the man is living (or house sitting locally ) and recognised your house from the photo in the listing ?
Do you have the house number and or road name shown on your listing photos or information ?
THS say that they check the listing and photos to ensure that this information isn’t shown but I have seen many listings where the house number / name is shown clearly in the photo - THS should probably tighten up on enforcing this
Has a previous sitter referred to your home’s name in a review of the sit ( I see this often , but am always very conscientious not to do it myself ) . THS should probably tighten up on this
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Hi @raflorshe. Sitters don’t have that information until you share it with us, through message, video call or submiting the welcome guide.
Let’s assume that he made a search, probably with the suburb or images of your listing?
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They can put the front of your house picture in Google Lens and find it and especially when you list your town and state. Then it gives them the address. It is suggested to take the front picture at an angle to make it more difficult to find. Besides the fact, the fact that he just showed up at your house is creepy! Maybe with all the technology we live with, TH needs to make it clear to sitters never to show up at their door unless invited.
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Wow! That is creepy and I would be upset if someone out of the blue showed up on my doorstep and wanted to be my sitter.
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If he applied, you would be able to see his application. If you already have 5 applications, he would not have been able to submit his. If he is nearby, he may have thought this would be a good way to work around the 5 application limit. Either way, not ok.
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No, no no!!! Wrong.
That is truly disturbing.
You cast your information into the abyss—your home, your pets, your family— personal information…and a stranger is able to access all of this information (including the dates that you will not be home) and show up at your doorstep???
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Yikes. Creepy. No sense of boundaries.
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Is your full name listed anywhere applicants can see it? Did you use any photos from a sales listing? Those can reverse image searched.
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Wow!!! This info should be given to every homeowner that is considering uploading photos. Who knew it would be that easy for a person to find a home??? As a sitter, I’m perfectly ok without a photo of the front of the pet owners home in the listing.
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The front of the house is not important to me as well. I always want to see a picture of where I’ll be sleeping and especially the bed. I have seen quite a few listings without this.
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Hi @raflorshe
I’m so sorry this happened to you.
I have explained what happened to the team, and asked if someone can reach out to you, as it’s absolutely not ok for someone to turn up at your home like that.
Were you able to verify the person did submit an application to you? If so, please keep a note of the profile if you can, as this would allow the team to identify the person.
Hopefully someone will be in touch soon.
Jenny
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For me it’s important so I can see if it’s detached and on a busy road.
But it’s absolutely creepy to show up on someone’s house this way and I hope he’s removed from THS. This shouldn’t be allowed.
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Good point, hadn’t thought of that.
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The front of the house is important to me so that I recognise it from the listing when arriving/looking for it.
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Addresses are never given, until you share the Welcome Pack or give it to your sitter personally. We’ve recognised a few houses that have been listed, but we would never dream of turning up on their doorsteps.
He may have been very pleasant, and he probably meant nothing bad by it, but his lack of ability to realise how weird or insecure that could have potentially made you feel is very worrying.
You need someone who has the ability to make good judgements linked to your pets, use their initiative when required, and have common sense, and it doesn’t sound like he has any of that.
Bonjour from France and greetings all for a safe and enjoyable Easter!
This is not about Sitters showing up at a Host’s address, my tale is about Hosts stating and/or including their full names in their heading post, Eg ; “Mary Smith would like to neet you for care of cat”. The location follows with house photos., details of absence, etc., etc. It’s then now out on the www. It doesn’t even need further research.
We know of an occasion where thieves asked directions in the village for “Mrs. Smith of Harmony Lane”, then appeared at the door telling the Sitters they had been arranged to clear the garage! Unfortunately the Hosts were unable to be contacted to confirm and it seemed so legitimate to the point our colleague Sitters actually helped load the gear (mowers etc.), into the truck!
Perhaps THS could make a note about this in any guidelines they give homeowners? Sadly, it’s our current world where these things happen.
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I recently viewed a post that listed the town and a location 3 blocks from downtown, across the street from the park. It is an area I am very familiar with and was curious to see which part of the park it was near as there is construction going on near the rear of the park. I was easily able to identify the house on google maps by its red tile roof and confirm the location as the street view image was an exact match to the listing. It never occurred to me that someone could use that information for other purposes. I appreciate the details about a homes location, but I can see why homeowners may want to be less specific or include only an image of a welcoming front entry and perhaps a view looking down the street to provide perspective on the area without images that are easily identifiable.
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I find that very inappropriate. Not sure why the sitter thought that was okay to do