Hi @geekista. You’re not alone; I had this issue as well.
The short answer is that the message you drafted was lost and not sent. I thought it might be a quirky UI decision by TH, but I reported it to @Carla_C and she reported it as a bug. Until it’s fixed, here’s a workaround:
- Draft your messages outside the TH website, so the draft won’t be accidentally deleted.
- Select dates to invite your potential sitter. (This sends an invite, which is always without a message.)
- Paste your draft and send it.
As for your idea of a Sent box, I get it. But I think TH is going more for the style of texts: If it’s sent, you know because it’s right there.
More details below, with screenshots.
The UI will look slightly different depending on the following:
- Do you already have a public or private date created?
- Have you messaged this person before?
For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume there are no dates created yet. And we’re inviting someone we’ve never contacted before.
Here’s what the message window looks like:
As in your case, I’ll draft my message first:
I wrote a brief 3-line message, but I can’t send it yet. So, I’ll click “Invite to private dates,” which opens a pop-up:
Here, I’ve already picked dates from a calendar. When I click “Add,” it gives a warning:
Note that our 3-line message is still there (red box at bottom of screen). Now I’ll click “Ok.”
Pause for a quiz: What do you expect the screen will look like after this? For extra testing, ask someone who’s never used TH.
The result is basically this:
Our original, 3-line message has been lost! (lower red box) FYI, “Reply to ___” is an auto-prompt, like “Tell them why you’re perfect for their sit.”
The only message sent was “Invitation: (dates)” (upper red box).
That last pic is actually a different exchange because I didn’t want to send a test invite to an unknown sitter. But the UI is the same.
One issue with the current UI is that choosing dates resets the message box. It shouldn’t do that, and it’s unexpected.
But again, as there’s no timeline on the bug fix, just remember the workaround: Draft everything outside TH, so you have a backup.
Cheers,
–Geoff
If I click on it, it only prompts me to either cancel the dates or change them. It would be a great feature to have a Sent folder, not just an Inbox, so users can keep a record of what they send out too. I wanted to be sure I included some thoughts and now they are gone? and I didn’t cut/paste a copy of the email.
