Just had the sitter cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. My first sit. Less then 14 hours before I leave town. Please tell me now if this happens often. Cause I’m scrambling here
It’s a shame - and very unfortunate for you - that the cancellation has been made just hours before your departure but, if the reason was legitimate and extraordinary, then it’s a case of ‘life happens’, I’m afraid.
I don’t think it does. We’re sitters who have happily completed 49 sits and have never made a late cancellation. We’ve had to cancel when my OH had surgery scheduled but gave notice of over a month. Is the sitter claiming illness as the reason for cancellation?
You can post a last minute sit on here, in the hope a sitter reading these boards will have availability, but with just hours to go until your departure it’s likely you’ll have to resort to your plan B (necessary for both hosts and sitters, since this is a voluntary arrangement).
See here: Last Minute Sits - TrustedHousesitters Community Forum
It is not common for sitters to cancel.
There is a last-minute thread on this group, you could post your listing on there too.
Oh I’m so sorry to hear that. We’re sitters, we’ve completed 40+ sits, and we’ve never ever had a reason to cancel a sit as yet.
It would take something very major for us to cancel, ie a serious health issue or… death.
It’s now 14 hours since you posted, @tkugle , so I guess you’re now on your way? Did you manage to find another sitter?
I canceled on one host, who hid that one dog needed letting out overnight and the other was prone to diarrhea. They revealed this in their welcome guide, which I always request well ahead of a sit. (Hosts must declare at the outset if their pets have health issues, according to THS terms.)
Separately, I canceled on a host who let me know months after we’d confirmed that their grown son was unexpectedly moving home and would overlap my sit. (Third parties staying at the home during the sit are against THS terms.)
Otherwise, I’ve done 25 sits as planned and am on my 26th. To me, don’t surprise me with dealbreakers and it would otherwise take something dire for me to cancel, because I take commitments seriously.
Meanwhile, two hosts have cut short our sits, because of legit emergencies. I took those in stride, because life happens, whether with hosts or sitters.
Always have a fallback plan, so you can avoid scrambling, whether as a host or sitter.
I had a backup plan. Just disappointed this was my first sit and I confirmed and they gave no excuse just wouldn’t be coming.
It was already close to midnight. I couldn’t hope someone would reply before I hopped a plane. A little more notice would have been better
That’s awful! I’m really surprised the sitter didn’t offer some explanation (they’re not compelled to, but out of common decency it would surely be reasonable to expect).
If you’d like THS to investigate to ascertain if it genuinely was an extraordinary circumstance which necessitated the (very late) cancellation just use the words ‘Member Dispute’.
Look here: TrustedHousesitters' Member Disputes Process | TrustedHousesitters.com
It’s probably the last thing you want to be thinking about just now, but you’ve been very much let down and, in the absence of reasonable cause, this sitter really should receive a warning.
I am sorry this has happened to you. We take our sit responsibility very seriously. Please report them to member services. I believe a pattern of this behavior is grounds for removal. Sitters like this give us all a bad name.
I’ve had a sit cancel on me as well, but it’s really rare. I’ve sat for three years now and haven’t had to cancel yet so I’d hope that’s mostly true.
I had a regular sit have someone cancel and my suggestion is get the sit back out there asap. You have to respond quick. I hope it worked out for you.