It’s funny you should say that @botvot the same day you posted this message I got an email from QANTAS saying they had refunded a fare from a booking reference that was not one of ours. Unfortunately no Christmas miracle for us. 
So sorry to hear that, @Crookie, it is disappointing. Just this morning there was a news article about Qantas trying to clear a $600 million credit backlog…all I can say is, hang in there. You too @Lokstar.
We finally got our Air France reimbursement for delayed baggage!! One year and 10 days after we submitted our claim!!! 
Endless calls & enail follow ups but we got there in the end. Yay!! Its not a huge amount but it was the principle!! If you’ve got a travel related claim on the go don’t give up! Don’t let the big boys win- stay on the case!
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Hey, Im wondering how common it is for sitters to opt for the premium membership in order to have the sitter insurance, to be protected financially if a pet owner cancels? I’m planning to do frequent sits but it would be nice to save the money and keep to the standard membership. It would be great to know if pet owner cancelations happen much, and how effective the insurance protocol is? Thank you
Hello, @Aurora I would like to wish you a very warm welcome to the forum community. Please feel free to read this thread and also use the search spyglass as there are a few other threads that discuss insurance.
You can also add your sitter’s TrustedHousesitters profile link to your forum profile, that way other members can view your profile and give you helpful feedback and tips.
Here is how:
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/how-to-add-a-listing-or-profile-link-to-your-forum-profile
You can also view this help desk article where you can click to view the individual terms of the policy.
Best wishes Carla
Hi @Aurora
Your question has been discussed a lot on the Forum. Have a read of this:
Hi @Aurora -
Firstly, home hosts cancelling is not common.
Insurance is always a bit of a gamble and you have to weigh up the annual cost vs the risk and return on the risk
The premium also gets you two free airport lounge passes per year so if you are likely to use them obviously you can deduct the price they would have cost you from the extra you have paid to be a premium member
However, personally, I think an extra £100 a year for the very slim chance of ever needing to claim a few nights accommodation is really expensive. ( Normally, if I was paying £100 annually for insurance I would be expecting it to be covering something to the value of many thousands, if not millions of pounds)
We have only had one cancellation when the pet sadly died a week before we were due to arrive. Had we been covered we probably could have booked ourselves a cheeky free hotel stay for a few nights. We were not covered so we looked at the listings again and managed to book ourselves another sit that ended up being a much better location for us than the original one was!
The cancellation cost us nothing. Had we not been able to re-book we would have done what we normally do when we have gaps between sits and booked ourselves into a cheap Airbnb.
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Hi @Aurora We’ve been members for over 4 years and have never had a host cancel on us. Or at least not where we have ever been inconvenienced. The one cancellation was a host in the UK who changed her mind about travelling but it was literally just a few days later, and 3 months ahead, so we very easily found a replacement. A better one too! We are on the basic membership which we’ve always had, before the 3 tiers came in, and see no need at all to upgrade. We are very frequent fliers and have never used an airport lounge so do not miss that perk at all! Last year alone we sat for over 300 days and did 40 sits in 6 different countries- & everything went perfectly. Most people- hosts & sitters alike are very reliable & commited- in our experience!
I do think in Covid times there was far more risk of cancellation- due to illness, testing positive & not being able to fly, flight cancellations etc… Things that were beyond most peoples control. But its all a bit more normal now…
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I haven’t provided an update lately but just thought I’d pop in to say we still have not been able to secure our insurance claim funds since they were approved last summer.
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Kelownagurl, that is very disappointing to hear. Is there anymore being done or have they given up?
That is not a good advert by THS to get members to upgrade - They should have intervened personally way earlier than this to ensure you get reimbursed.
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Hi @Kelownagurl I’m sorry to hear that this is taking so long, unfortunately I don’t know the details so can’t comment directly, but I’ll tag @Therese and ask if she will pick this up with the Membership Services team.
We upgraded after two international hosts cancelled three sits in total. One was fair and two were not, totally flaky and involved flights and two different countries. It was a black Friday offer so it only cost us $45 to do it. We do a lot of sits internationally so will make use of the lounge passes so it seemed a no brainer as those alone would cost $80.
That’s just unbelievable and, for once, words fail me
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Thank you Barb - excellent advice. We are off to the UK in July. fingers crossed we aren’t cancelled.
HI @Kelownagurl
I am so sorry that this is taking so long. It really is unusual, and to give you some reassurance, I have spoken to management, who have it in hand and are trying to solve this for you as quickly as possible.
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Aside from the possibility that reimbursement could take over 8 months and countless repeated requests, as it has for Kelownagurl (who’s been an angel about the whole thing!), it’s good to be aware of the following terms and conditions for cancellation insurance:
-
There is a $50 deductible from each claim you make. So if you make a claim for one night, for a hotel that cost you $100, you will be reimbursed $50. This deductible is per claim, not per night. So if you spent two nights at the hotel and paid $200, you would be reimbursed $150.
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You have to inform THS of the cancellation within 24 hours of the host telling you about it.
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THS won’t reimburse you if the cancellation is mutually agreed between pet owner and sitter. So if a pet owner asks if it’s OK with you that they cancel, you apparently have to politely reply in writing that it’s not OK, if you want reimbursement.
4)You “must allow THS to attempt to source an alternative house sit where possible.” No information is given about whether you can decline such a house sit if it’s not one that suits you.
- THS won’t reimburse you if the hotel you end up staying in is more than 20 miles from the cancelled sit.
Here are all the terms and conditions:
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It certainly is a strange situation. I know there have been a few places that they’ve been unable to send money. No clue why. They’ve been in direct contact with my bank and tried so many different things.
Hi Kelownagurl,
have you tried contacting your bank and asking what is the issue? Perhaps knowing from another prospective might help.
And have you asked the insurance for a copy of the processed payment in order for you to discuss it directly with your bank and find out what could be the cause of all of it?
I find it very difficult nowadays not to be able to process a simple bank transfer.
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Thank you for posting this topic.
Currently I am not in need to open a claim and hope I never will have to do it, however as my departure will be approaching at some stage, it is good to know in case circumstances change.
I read the information that in case of a cancellation of a sitting it requires to book an alternative accommodation within the area of where the sitting had been cancelled.
I agree with other sitters in saying that it is nonsense. Why do I have to travel the distance if the location of the cancelled sitting is far from the place where I will be in that moment and where I might go in a second moment during the trip?
And what if I cannot find any accommodation available in that area and I have to move further away? How can I prove that the accommodation that I book is the only one that I could find at the moment I made the booking? I am going to travel from May until end of August. July and August are very high seasons. There could be very few accommodations left or none and the few ones might have very expensive prices. I am already aware that prices in this Country are very expensive anyway.
Thank you for advising.