Ridiculous money grab, crouched in political speak that is nothing more than codswallap!
If the sit process is “ not smooth and streamlined” then fix if!!! That’s what we pay our annual fee for.
Shame on you THS.
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Does anyone know if this is 100% legal? I know in some cases memberhsips cant be changed. It must be clearly written in the original terms that changes can happen. At least in germany some courts have ruled that unilateral changes to essential conditions or pricing can be invalid if the original Terms and Conditions do not clearly allow this.
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How sad. Nothing lasts forever. THS was great before the owner (understandably) sold out for the big bucks & looked to America to increase income.
We are no longer a community; we haven’t been for a while. Let’s just move on & remember the good times.
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damn, I wish I had too
I wont be renewing my membership in February if I have to pay a £9 booking fee for each sit. Why should I as a sitter have to pay? Surely HO should be. The reason I enrolled on this site is because everyone pays the same at which ever level they choose, but now as a sitter I have to pay for the privilege of looking after someone’s house and their pet. I already have to pay to get there, and then while I’m there pay for my food in many cases. The HO isnt obliged to leave provisions although tbf most do and are very generous.
I don’t see how £9 helps things run ‘smoothly’, dont they already. Just put up the membership fee so everyone is paying the extra.
Really disappointed, very greedy
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Ill give public negative review from now on. so they can taste their actions and greediness
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@ Jenny community manager
I was unable to read terms unless I signed in as the link did not work. If the new terms include this update about having to pay to sit each time, I would like to not accept the new terms.
We are flabbergasted at this new rule and having been sitters for a very long time. With all 5* sits, happily sharing your platform, we will not be renewing when it is implemented.
Instead we will contact our friends/homeowners, and sit off platform, or join another group that is really about trust.
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Do we know if we can apply for sits with this new policy without incurring the charge? and message the home owner?
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Already did that, both my friend/sitter and I
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Hi everyone,
Just a quick note from me to say that I did have to remove some posts from this discussion as they were off topic and/or against our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.
Thanks,
Jenny
I’ve just read the email (and, to be honest, was so taken aback I had to read it twice!). So, now we’ll have to pay a membership fee to apply for sits, followed by a £9.00 booking fee for each one we confirm (how do you suppose they arrived at that figure, did they maybe draw numbers from a hat?).
THS sitters always advocate for transparency and full disclosure of facts to enable best fit with HOs, yet here we have THS imposing a stealth levy under the guise of improved services. Maybe they should recognise it is the sitters who ultimately provide the service, and they’ve just done us all a huge disservice, which smacks of opportunistic corporate greed!
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Here’s my question Jenny – If we upgrade to Premium on our renewal date, these fees won’t apply to us, right? But here is my real question . . . will the fees apply to Premium members as well in the future? I need some assurance that Premium will not EVER be charged this fee.
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But for the house sitter it is an additional slap in the face. We already pay petrol, flights, accomodation to get TO a sit that we then do for free. We also pay for membership. We do NOT get paid by THS and we have heard some owners think sitters do.
There are other platforms that sitters will now move to because of this.
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So…what are us full-time sitters who use THS for housing to do? (And I am in no way an unscrupulous person – I have many repeat sits going on and have built long-lasting relationships with hosts & pets.)
I was already not planning on renewing in April after my membership renews, but this just puts the final nail in the coffin. Goodbye, THS! Turning off my auto-renewal today.
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Nah, I’m done with THS. What THS has done today is beyond disrespectful, and I’m lining no more greedy pockets. AUTO-RENEW is already turned off, and my request for a refund for the remainder of my subscription has now been submitted via email. If I am not refunded, I will take action through my card company.
Furthermore, THS has locked me - like many other members - out of my account that I have already paid for under former Terms and Conditions. No clarification at all on what they are trying to force me to agree to under renewed T&Cs. Is this conduct even legal? And, if I refuse to accept these T&Cs - what then? You refund me right?
And I feel so sorry for the members who may feel forced to accept these T&Cs without any clarification - due to the fact that they must access their accounts because they have currently active sits, and suchlike.
Deplorable.
As for this additional charge to confirm a sit: - I had to read the ‘update’ several times - aghast - and then straight onto the Community Forum. Sitters/HOs being penalised for the mismanagement of the Platform in recent years: - For example, the idiotic 5 application limit (leading to rushed query letters etc) and the questionable advertising campaigns about this being a ‘free’ service. I could go on . . . although wondering whether this post will even make it past the moderators.
I only re-initiated my account earlier this year because there was a sit that interested me - which I subsequently did not accept.
I personally will not be renewing my membership. I had already made that decision, prior to THS trying to wring more money out of members. I have not taken part in any mutual exchanges since I renewed - due to the fact that there are very few sits being advertised these days that are appealing. Many are not up to standard. They also have unreasonable expectations on the part of HOs - perhaps due to THS’s advertising campaigns. Sitters are NOT staff. (For example, a cat that can be left no more than 2 hours? Really? Get your cash out mister and pay someone!)
Even the sits I have seen that kinda tick the reasonable boxes, I also keep in mind the stress and hassle involved with the often unreasonable expectations of standards of cleaning required at the end of a sit. And I say that as a sitter who has had all glowing 5-star reviews, and who spends, at the very least, the final day thoroughly cleaning the property. Granted - I also put pressure on myself at the end of a sit with regards to cleaning. However, I am also mindful of the fact that a sitter on the forum recently disclosed that she was docked a star for the HOs returning and - horror upon horrors - discovering (they claimed) a spill on the kitchen floor that did no damage at all. Of course, this was all blamed on the sitter - with no evidence produced.
For the above reasons, among others, I had already become very disillusioned with THS - and had intended not to renew my membership, anyway. The THS platform is more hassle than it is worth.
Despite misconceptions of the odd HO posting on this site - one arrogant clueless geezer who is particularly active at the moment springs to mind - the majority of sitters are NOT homeless, impoverished, and desperate for a ‘free’ place to stay. I, similar to most sitters, can happily afford to pay for hassle-free hotel accommodation. My motivation for being on this site has always been the incentive of caring for pets and ‘living like a local’. There are other, kinder, Platforms out there.
What I do enjoy about THS is the entertaining Community Forum - so I will still pop in here - unless THS starts charging for access! Hope I’ve not given them any ideas!
Also, to anyone wanting to walk away from THS - PLEASE REMEMBER TO TURN OFF YOUR AUTO-RENEW before the end of your membership period. . . . Also, a particular public review platform currently makes interesting reading - although any time I mention the review site, my posts get deleted.
You’re welcome! 
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Plenty of sitters are leaving the platform which will not lead to its death as pet parents are the ones generating the ads and liquidity.
Serious sitters will always pay Premium if they sit full-time.
But I’m more interested to know: **Are there any pet parents leaving the plaform now as well due to the booking fee?
**
If yes, this is dangerous as there won’t be as much ads (and even now the ads were barely availble in some regions).
As a sitter myself I have the right to ask pet parents to be treated better than me: I suggest they to be freed from the booking fee and only sitters to pay - IF STILL someone must pay.
Of course it’s best no one to pay but if we need to choose the least worse scenario, I prefer only sitters to pay or be forced to have Premium, than pet parents to leave the platform and we not to have any ads - because in that case there would not be any pet sitting at all.
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Hi,
I have just emailed to say I will not be renewing my subscription. Unfortunately my susbscription was renewed the day before I got this information. VERY sneaky in my view. I do not have or need Premium subscription as I do not need airport lounges or cancellation protection. To step up to Premium means I would need to complete 8 sits a year to make it worthwhile and I may not want to do that many.
Denice
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andrealoesanimals. This will discourage anybody from bookig short sits. I did quite a few three to four day ones last year and even one that was only two nights that really wasn’t worth it. But most of the short ones ran back to back. Instead I will ensure they are three weeks minimum. Owners simply looking for weekend sits will lose out.
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I reckon since you are a HO and need that insurance coverage for your home, having a premium membership makes sense for you. Sitters though? Premium membership is just us giving them 100 more per year for the same lax support and same slaving of our time.
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Done
Like what kind of posts are you removing? Where people give each other advice?
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