Having just received my first WG is it normal to be asked to:
Replace any toilet rolls used
Bring my own washing powder
Not to use certain items in the house such as gym equipment or dishes
Bring my own soap and toiletries
Have more information about how to clean the house than how to care for the pets
Being told (in welcome pack only)the pet wees by the door if not taken out (won’t go out in the rain)
Only told in the welcome pack that the dogs ‘sometimes’ need to go out in the middle of the night and will bark to wake me but I mustn’t let them bark outside!
I feel uneasy about going on this sit as the tone of the welcome pack is more unwelcoming than I would have expected. more don’ts than dos It feels mean not to provide soap and toilet rolls for someone caring for their pets for free.
You can discuss these new circumstances with the owner and decide whether or not you want to continue. Not even providing toilet paper is very odd. If it is a very long sit, I could see it beyond the rolls that are in the house, but for a normal sit, this is not hospitable.
Not being able to use “the dishes” is nonsensical. I could see if someone is concerned about broken plates or has “good” dishes not being able to use them, but you need kitchen access and things to eat on as a guest. This is unacceptable.
The toiletting and wee-wees when it rains should have been discussed prior to agreeing to the sit. I also wouldn’t trust these homeowner to have enough wee-wee pads supplied.
You can cancel. You’ll need to ask the homeowner to cancel. Just tell them given the stuff that wasn’t revealed to you till after you confirmed you now know that it would be impossible for you to do the sit. If they refuse to cancel, then you can go to THS and tell them you have a “dispute,” the guide is different than what was described and you are unable to do the sit. You might want to make some copies/screen shots of the sections of the guide that are troubling and that you didn’t know about before. The homeowner can “dispute” a cancellation which is the only way cancellations are tracked by THS. However, if you can show that the sit was different than what was described THS is not going to give you a hard time.
Even in a worst case nightmare scenario, where THS gives you a hard time, no one can force you to do this. Also no one can force the homeowner to give you toilet paper or let you use the dishes.
I would tell the owner that there are previously undisclosed issues that you would not be happy with therefore you will not be able to undertake the sit. Ask them to cancel the sit.
After reading your first few lines regarding taking your own laundry detergent and replacing toilet rolls I was thinking oh oh, this is not good.
Thankfully the undisclosed issues with the pets gives you an acceptable reason to opt out.
The more I read on this forum the more concerned I get. I have decided but I am no longer going to book flights until I get a welcome guide.
Yikes! As much as I typically will bring my own products, I would be uncomfortable with a homeowner who felt the need to include those demands. But knowing the guide is only one portion of our communication, and some people communicate very differently in writing, I would consider it along with the tone of conversations we have had and reviews from previous sitters.
I would also want clarification around dishes; are there specific dishes that are off limits, or are no dishes provided to the sitter?
But based on the welcome guide alone, I would pass.
When it already sounds like a nightmare and you’re not even at the house, I would pass. You are lucky they put this information in the WG. I once had a sit here where they had their own “special manual” only given to you once you arrived. It had things in it that I was not informed about or agreed to. I let them know this immediately.
I think tone can be misconstrued in written communication and especially something like a guide with lists of instructions, requests, rules,etc… It is easy for it to appear like the person is difficult, rigid, etc…and it may not be the case.
But it is quite possible that the feeling you are getting is accurate. Ultimately there is really no way to judge this with 100 percent certainty.
It is not unreasonable to ask the sitter to replace things they use–hosts vary in this a lot. For me, unless the house has a large stock of toilet paper, I tend to replace at least some of what I used–sometimes all– so they are not left with like one roll when they get back.
I have had sits where hosts requested we don’t use items, such as certain exercise or kitchen equipment and that personally doesn’t bother me–I can understand concerns about not wanting expensive items to be damaged. Being hospitable doesn’t necessarily mean giving the sitter access to everything in the home.
I wouldn’t expect a host to provide toiletries but I have never had a host explicitly say we couldn’t use laundry detergent–I can see how that could feel a bit unwelcoming.
My primary issue would be with the information about the dogs possibly waking me up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. As someone who has trouble falling back asleep once woken up, that would not be ideal.
If that really bothers you, and you would not have applied if noted in the listing, or accepted if mentioned prior to confirming, that alone is reasonable grounds to cancel a sit and you wouldn’t even need to make mention of anything else that concerns you.
I don’t think this is even about tone - just the information presented ranges from inhospitable (don’t touch ANYTHING in our home!) to undisclosed issues (pet behavior).
And expecting a sitter not to use the dishes is up there with demanding they iron the sheets.
Several of these things are stuff I would use to look after their pet and home. Using paper to wipe and clean pet or pet stuff, needing to wash my hands afterwards, needing to clean linen for them etc.
For a shortish sit like I usually do, up to 2 weeks, soap, detergent and loo-rolls would usually be provided, I would actually expect it unless said otherwise. If longer sits like months I would buy my own/ replace. The problem here for me wouldn’t be the odd loo-roll. The problem is that this host - or «host» - has thought well through everything you are not allowed and that they won’t offer you. It is a problem for me that that would be the emphasis in the WG. It says a lot about the (lack of) hospitality, and I would actually assume that the same would be the tone not only of the sit, but also of the review.
So that alone - a no from me.
When they in addition to this haven’t disclosed pee and nightly disruptions - a hard no!
Gosh, if they expect you to wipe and clean the pee of their pet - shouldn’t they provide paper and soap? Isn’t that the very least?!?
I have cared for a pet that pee’d indoor, fully disclosed before confirmation, and with everything needed provided. Of course! It was a lovely sit with a lovely pet and host. The pee isn’t the problem, but the attitude.
My 10 cents says that this sit will bring more issues of the same kind.
We’ve never had that on any sit, apart from dogs not going out in the rain thing, that’s quite a regular thing that HO’s forget about in their profiles.
But as for everything else eeeeek! As this is your first sit, I wonder if they’ve had a previous sitter who was new and abused their hospitality, and perhaps that’s why they’ve written all of this. It’s the only rational reason I can think of, and if that is the case, then they need to remember to treat each sitter with open arms, not be fearful because of a rubbish one in the past.
However, if they are new themselves and saying this, then I’d cancel it straight away. They need to learn that the whole platform is built upon kindness. They simply don’t realise the feel-good nature of the people on THS.
But, if the sit duration is a week or less and they’re asking you to replace loo rolls, etc, they’re just mean spirited, and that’s coming from us and we typically buy plenty of loo rolls for the owner returning! But the fact is… no one has EVER asked us to replace them, that’s the clear difference, we do it because we like them, we’ve had lovely owners.
Run, don’t walk. Those are the rudest requirements I have ever seen. And the dog behavior is something I could not put up with. I am particularly fond of my sleep.
Thank you all for your replies, they were very reassuring. I was concerned that I was expecting too much as this was my first sit. It was to be 10 days and a 3 hour drive from my house.
I recently had to put down my beloved dog and joined TH to give and get some dog love, not just to visit different places (which I may well do in the future )
If I was getting close to using up their toilet rolls, or laundry detergent or anything really I would, of course, replenish their supply but to be told to do so, after the video chat, was horrible.
Then there’s the whole pet information that wasn’t disclosed before! The idea of being woken in the night to let the dog out and then running round the garden in my nightdress trying to get the dogs to stop barking doesn’t sound like much fun! Plus my 15 year old dog hated going out in the rain but Never peed in the house even when suffering from renal failure. These dogs are 5 and 3, surely unless they have a medical issue they should have been trained to be clean in the house and go through the night?
I have cancelled this sit and am going to start with one that is 4 days.
Sorry to say, I think this will be a problematic sit in more ways than are even listed here. Definitely cancel, and encourage the HO to write up ALL of their requirements for the home and pet in detail, to put it in the WG and listing, and address it with applicants as early as possible. They know no one will apply if they do—meaning they shouldn’t really have their sit on this platform.
Totally, a few quirks are normal! But actual behavioral issues or things like “oops they may wake you up in the middle of the night whenever they want” and “sometimes they pee on things” are major, and in my experience, are always more frequent than the HO lets on.
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