This is my first sit through THS and tbh, it was not ‘as expected’. The HO listed that I would have my choice of 3 beds (including a queen size), use of the car if I wanted it, used of the TV/wifi (including a TV in the guest room, fire pit and gigantic soaking tub.
I arrived at the sit and was told the room with the queen bed (her room) was off limits and a ‘safety hazard’. The car was a ‘farm car’ and definitely looked dirty inside and unusable from the outside. The guest room with a twin trundle bed had been staged - the TV was on the floor and unusable when I got there. Only one sheet and 2 throw blankets with temps going down into the 20s. HO also said I needed to use my laptop if I wanted to stream things to watch - even though I was able to troubleshoot the TV and connect to it just fine.
I spent the first day unclogging all of the pipes in the house that she thought she ‘fixed’ before she left and stabilizing the dishwasher which she left unscrewed. All the dishes and cups were smelly old plastic so I had to go buy a ceramic plate, bowl and glass and a comforter for the bed.
The firepit had a dining room chair sitting in it and the giant soaking tub filled up 3” before running out of hot water. HO claimed she never actually took a bath here. ??
To the very end, it has been weird with the HO now sending her emergency contact/friend over to walk the dog as I’m trying to get out of here. (Which BTW.. I was initially given the wrong number by the HO to begin with???) And it is unclear whether or not that friend will be staying with the dog if the flight is delayed or if I’m expected to stay.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated since I’m not sure what to do here - especially since I was under the impression HO would be home by 10a on Saturday. I scheduled a delivery at my place that I need to be home for based on that info. My idea was that I could crate the dog and leave by 9a but now this friend is going to be here 8:30-9:30 and I’m not supposed to leave???
It’s not normal, apart from:
Streaming - We’ve had to use a laptop to stream in a couple of places, but if you got the TV to work in the traditional way then it’s fine anyway. For us, in both places the owners left their own laptop for us to do so, but we carry our own anyway.
Dirty car thing - that’s fine if she mentioned it before you accepted the sit by saying something like “you’re welcome to use the car, but it’s a mess, so it’s up to you if you want to use it.”
9am - If it wasn’t discussed then stay until 9.30am and remember next time to discuss it prior, neither of you are in the right/wrong. HOWEVER, if you had both agreed/chatted about you leaving at 9am, then 9am is the time you have the right to leave, the exception would be if you wanted to help her out (which you can’t do, because you need to get home), we’ve stayed for longer on many occasions with delayed flights etc, but the difference was, we had lovely kind HO’s. So message the HO (home owner) and say, you had mentioned you needed to leave by 9am, so if the friend doesn’t get their prior to you leaving, where does she want you to leave the key… ie word it in a way, so that she knows you are leaving at 9am. If it’s the friend that’s said 9am to you, then say the HO knew you had to leave by 9am, so bla bla bla.
The bedrooms - if any of the bedrooms were mentioned prior, then that should have had your choice of rooms, unless she mentioned while messaging that she’s made up ?room and asks is that okay with you.
We’ve done 40+ sits, and this isn’t normal, our experience in each has been the total opposite of yours.
Yeah.. I guess I was expecting more of an AirBnb type vibe, not “Oh it’s hard to know what people will need” when I mentioned the lack of blankets, lack of dog bags, lack of toys, lack of cleaning products. Like seriously?
And oh.. btw: there’s a nuclear power plant within walking distance of the home. As someone from south-central PA who experienced the meltdown of TMI back in the 70’s, this would’ve been an instant deal breaker! YET… something I NEVER would’ve thought to ask!
At least on my next sit, I asked if I would have a blanket. I’m learning…
But how can I save myself from experiencing more like this???
During your first conversation with a potential host be sure to ask them if there’s an active nuclear reactor within walking distance to their home. If they fail to acknowledge it, and it turns out there IS a nuclear reactor within walking distance to their home be sure to dock a star and mention it in your review to warn future sitters to bring a Geiger Counter.
This sounds like a pretty unpleasant situation, and doesn’t sound normal for the kind of sits I do.
I’m not sure I have any advice for you in this situation right now, but going forward - and to avoid this kind of thing happening again - look closely at house photos, ask questions, have a videocall and tour of the house. Use your spidey senses when chat chatting with the potential owner, and try to read between the lines.
I appreciate that doesn’t help your current position - I hope you find a good resolution to that very soon - but I do hope that it will help you find only lovely sits in the future.
Pretty sure it (radiation exposure?) could explain all of the non-sense I’ve been experiencing from the homeowner and friends. The emergency contact texted me outside of the HO’s radar saying, “Oh so, do I really need to be there in the morning?” I feel bad for the HO thinking she has a good friend who literally did not respond for 7 days the first time when I tried to connect due to ‘a wrong number’ then took 22 hr to respond the 2nd time and is now trying to get out of an hour long walk. Wow…
I’m really sorry you’ve had such a bumpy first experience — but truly, what you’ve described isn’t the norm for the majority of sits.
One thing that does take a little time to absorb is that house/pet sitting isn’t comparable to an Airbnb stay. There’s no standardisation, no guarantee of comfort levels, and no expectation that things will be “guest-ready” in the way a paid stay would be. Some homes are beautifully prepared… others, as you’ve now seen, are much more lived-in.
For the immediate situation: if you can delay your delivery even by a little, it may save you some unnecessary stress. And if the HO told you 9am, you’re within your rights to plan around that and ask where they’d like the key left if the friend doesn’t arrive before you go.
Longer term, chalk this one up as a learning curve — every sit teaches you what to look for next time. Photos, video tours, and a quick scan of how an owner communicates will go a long way to helping you work out whether this lifestyle feels right for you.
I hope your next sit is worlds better, and that you find your rhythm with it.
Thank you for providing some levity and a good belly laugh to what has been a trying situation for almost 3 weeks. I truly appreciate it and hope for the best during my next sit.
Once you have got out of there it’s important that you leave an accurate and factual review - if you want help with that there are forum members who are great at writing reviews that give all the facts without the emotion so that future sitters can make their own mind up about whether to apply .
You will also have categories to rate such as listing accuracy - which from your description it seems it wasn’t accurate about many things
We were both new to THS. That’s why it’s hard for me to fault either of us or know if this is just ‘par for the course’ or something out of the ordinary
