Very frustrating. A listing this morning was only available for no more that five minutes. Grrrrrr
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@Oztravels what was that hack?
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If you press on the apply button (assuming it was still live) and didnât navigate from the text screen it would still submit your application regardless how long you took to complete the application.
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Ah. Ok. Just checking. How many when you started your application? @Carla put up a post a while back about what might happen if a 5th applicant hits send just as you hit apply. But if there were only 2 ir 3, that would be unlikely to occur.
Hi @Oztravels ⌠Just to say, that nothing has changed on website.
This is a quote from @Carla in another thread.
I have found some further information regarding the applications which is likely to be applicable to your previous issue.
- If you click apply when the listing has four applications and as long as you keep the application box open and do not navigate away then your application will be received and so will everyone elseâs who has followed this process. This is currently happening and tech have seen listings with multiple applications received this way.
- Make sure you apply when you see four applications and do not navigate away or close the window or let your browser time out.
- However, if you click on apply at the exact same moment that the listing receives its final 5th application and goes into reviewing then you will still see the message box but will be unable to send the application.
- So the difference is precise timing. If the 5 application is submitted as you open the application window you will not be able to reply as technically the 5 application has been received and the listing is already in reviewing.
Of course, this should never happen. And I doubt it really happens that way.
More likely explanation: internal problems in the THS software, which they do not really understand how it works anymore.
@pietkuip I think the last part helps with the context as if you click apply as the listing actually goes into reviewing, then the system closes all applications and you wonât be able to apply. As the site functions in âreal-timeâ, if you click apply the very moment the listing goes into reviewing and closes, technically the listing has already closed, so you wonât be able to apply.
Itâs the same if at the very moment you go to apply the owners confirm someone or delete their dates then you wonât be able to apply as technically there are no available dates.
How the system works is once the system sees that a listing is in review, filled or deleted dates then the system wonât let you apply to that particular listing.
Iâm not sure how likely it is for someone to apply at those exact moments but it can happen, so we let everyone know just in case.
I hope that helps clarify how it works, any more questions let me know and I can always pass them on to the product team. Thank you
The system should not do that. It should not send out the application page when it is closing the listing. That is stupid, and frustrating, and wasting membersâ effort.
I guess it is the same as with the system sending out notifications for Saved searches: âItâs a match!â But very regularly, THS sends these notifications after the listing was applied to by five, when it is already closed. Again: a pretty stupid thing for the company to do. It is just frustrating, and I have deleted such Saved searches.
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@pietkuip Thank you, I will pass that feedback on for you 
Could be the HO already had a Sitter lined up and posted the listing publicly vs sending it privately. Listing would have closed if a Sitter was confirmed.
Bad news this morning. You will be particularly interested in this @pietkuip; the workaround failed for me this morning too. I did the right stuff, opened the application in a separate window & selected date, carefully drafted my application but when I tried to paste it in, the page refreshed and I wasnât able to send it.
Just spent 
on flight tickets to Japan and THS prevented me from applying 
. Thin end of the wedge nowâŚ
My best word for situations like this is F*ckarama @Saltrams - thatâs super annoying! 
@Saltrams It is very disappointing that one cannot rely on the application to arrive. So when one is fortunate enough to get a notification of a desirable sit with only three or four applicants, the sitter needs to send a short message âMe wants!â almost reflexively.
We need a ChatTHS bot!
(While HOs lead unstressed lives, leaving my application for a Christmas sit unanswered for over two weeks now.)
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@Cuttlefish mine is âdumpster fire!â
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So someone had time to âfixâ that but not the long list of other glitches and issues. Sometimes think THS really doesnât like its customers.
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Itâs showdown moment for me, although my renewal date is a while away.
@Ben-ProductManager @Carla @Angela_L @Vanessa_A and anyone at THS reading this, please answer my question:
Has this function been blocked by THS?
The 5 application is not a well thought out or planned thing. If it was it would be better integrated into their application process. Itâs a knee-jerk reaction to some imagined problem. Probably after the CEO watched a Ted talk about choice overload or something.
Their system is built small and not planned to scale so itâs buggy when things get busy and there was never any plan for a limit that closes applications so quickly while possibly scores of people may be trying to apply.rather than that an owner would at some point close applications after several days so the alerts donât fit with that.
THS want every sitter to have one sit per membership year so they can support more sitters. If you get more than one sit youâre costing them money in the form of a sitter who didnât get one so they donât renew.
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Yet they are still aggressively advertising to get more members because every new member brings in a good wad of cash.
This is going to crash soon, I think. Possibly because of the system suddenly losing some essential functionality, and/or by frustrating the user base to the point of them fleeing to other petsitting exchanges.
If vicious hackers out there saw THSâ vulnerability they would be all over them like flies. Wait until they suffer a DNS attack or, worse still, we all lose our personal data into the Dark Web ether.
Hello @Saltrams Please be assured that nothing has changed on the website.
I am really sorry to hear that your application did not go in, you need to make sure the original page stays open, and do not navigate away or refresh the page.
Please also refer to my comment higher up, as the system is in real-time and as has always been the case, if an owner confirms a sitter or removes the dates at the time you are applying then your applications wonât go through as the sit is no longer available.