As I thought. To me that clause has been inserted thinking that if a sitter is not in the area of the cancelled sit then they have not left home and hence do not need to book accommodation. As we know this is not the case with many sitters.
@Kelownagurl - Unfortunately I fear you did the sensible thing not to travel to the area where you knew the sit was no longer needed but in doing so meant that your claim for accommodation costs most likely will not be paid out. I hope I am wrong - let us know how it pans out!
Actually we stayed in the area of the sit because we had just finished one in the same area, albeit a bit further than 5-7km. We couldn’t find any appropriate accommodation in Cirencester, but we stayed in the general area.
As far as I know, everything looks like with our insurance claim (so we’ve been told), it’s just the wait now for it to be processed.
Re: Premium sitter cancellation cover, does anyone know what happens if the owners cancel, say, 2.5 weeks ahead of the start date instead of within the stipulated 14 days? Are you not covered whatsoever for a hotel if you can’t find an alternative sit? Although it wouldn’t be quite so last minute, it could still end up disastrously expensive if you had non-refundable transport booked and hotels were very pricey
Hi @Rosie Just to answer here for everyone’s interest. The cancelation does have to be within 14 day’s of the sit starting. This is a part of the terms and conditions written by the underwriters, so like all insurance companies they are very strict on this and unfortunately there is no flexibility.
Most times, we find if there is a fair bit of time given to the sitter, for a cancelation by the homeowner, sitters do manage to find alternative sits for more or less the same period of time.
As @Angela_L mentions, should you be a premium member and have a cancellation within the 14 day period, please email support@trustedhousesitters.com immediately, so they can assist you going forward.
Our claim was submitted to the insurance company on July 6 (after a week or so of back and forth emails because they wouldn’t accept the handwritten receipt the B&B person initially gave me).
Got an email today (Aug 1) saying it had been approved and asking for banking info so they can send us our refund. Since we booked in the UK, we will be paid in GBP.
I assume we will have the refund shortly.
Thank you THS!
My suggestions to everyone:
Ensure you have a written record of the cancellation etc - for example if the home owner calls you to cancel, ask them to put it in writing in the THS inbox as well, and then take screenshots of all related conversations.
Keep a list of sits of you applied for to replace the cancelled sit, and dates of any sits you accepted to fill in some of your missed dates.
When booking alternate accommodations, book someplace close to your cancelled sit. I know they said within 5-7 miles, but we stayed further than that, but still within the Cotswolds.
Get a proper receipt for any accommodations you have to pay for. If you are paying cash, ask for a proper receipt.
After you apply, assuming you have provided all necessary info, it will take a week or so for THS to go through it to get it ready to submit. Then they contact you and tell you it’s been submitted and will take up to 30 days for the insurance company to approve it.
We have just had a very disappointing experience with THS and the Cancellation Insurance policy.
We are full-time sitters who had a 3 week sit in Calgary, AB, Canada get shortened to 1 week because a homeowner got injured. We diligently searched for and secured a replacement sit in Salem, OR, US. We had 4 nights between the sits which we spent traveling between the 2 cities. THS has denied our claim because the hotel nights were not near Calgary.
So, lesson learned. If we had simply gotten a hotel for the remaining 2 weeks of the sit and treated ourselves to a vacation, we would have been reimbursed for the 10 night/$1500 maximum. Because we did the right thing, we are being punished.
@WanderingAmber I have mentioned that clause before as something to look out for - It is a really strange get-out clause that I just can not understand the reasoning behind ?
@Colin We were aware of the clause, however, we had a similar situation last Fall and were reimbursed for 2 nights traveling between sits when neither night was anywhere near the cancelled sit. So, I guess they pick & choose when to apply the rules?
@Kelownagurl That was our experience with our claim last Fall. We were notified it was approved Nov 10th. Funds didn’t arrive until Dec 3rd. Keep emailing them - squeaky wheel!
@WanderingAmber That’s extremely disappointing—thank you for the warning.
I had planned to upgrade to Premium once I start full-time housesitting, but between the 5-applicant limit and this “local” caveat, Premium is looking less and less worth the cost.
Yes, these sits would be covered should you upgrade in November. (before any sit commences). It is important to note however, that as long as an upgrade occurs before any cancellation takes place.
I’m expecting it to be deposited in my bank account by Friday, Sept 30. That will be 10 working days (after two other sets of 7-10 working days have passed up by due to various errors).
Personally, I’m sticking with the basic THS membership. I’m happy to cover any extra expenses I might have should I have a cancellation and not manage to get another sit meanwhile. I just couldn’t be bothered with all the hassle experienced by people trying to claim. I’m currently on my 49th sit (since January 2019) and have had just 2 cancellations. The first was a Brisbane sit just before the pandemic, understandably, so I flew back to the UK before getting locked down in Australia. The second was because the dog I was due to look after became suddenly ill and had to be put to sleep. I had 2 weeks’ notice and managed to get another sit to replace it.
