Unfortunately on rare occasions, members encounter serious problems with a sits / sitters that don’t meet THS code of conduct or break the terms of service.
I am starting this thread so that it can be referred to when someone encounters such a situation.
These issues can be reported to THS who will investigate but only if a Member Dispute is raised .
THS Member Services don’t read the forum and won’t act solely on a complaint that is made in a post on the forum. For action to be taken a Member Dispute must be raised .
Here is a link to the Help article and a brief summary of how to raise a member dispute
email the Membership Services department at [support@trustedhousesitters.com]
a detailed explanation of your complaint and include any relevant evidence that you may have.
Supporting evidence THS will accept:
Time and date stamped photos
Time and date stamped videos
Screenshot of email, texts and any other messages on our platform that is in relation to the sit (it must be a full thread conversation, not one message screenshots)
Police/Crime Reports
Vet Reports
The member dispute should be raised within 30 days of the end of the sit .
This is typical of your helpfulness @Silversitters and something that THS should be highlighting…..Very useful indeed, just hope I won’t have to use it
Many people might not know how to add a timestamp to photos or videos — but there are very simple apps that do exactly that. Maybe you’d like to include this, @Silversitters?
For Android:
Timestamp Camera Free
Completely free
Supports both photos and videos
Automatically adds a visible date and time stamp
Very easy to use
Available on Google Play
For iPhone (iOS):
Timestamp Camera Basic
Free version available
Works for both photos and videos
Adds visible date and time stamps directly on the image or video
Simple and intuitive interface
Available on the AppStore
My hosts for one sit said they raised a member dispute about a sitter and successfully had her booted off THS. (She’d driven their car without permission and they had video of her in it. This was despite them having gifted her with $200 in ride-share credits after she’d arrived and said she needed transportation.)
Can a HO member who had a sitter who has been kicked off THS due to a HO who was really out of line ask THS to review the information and possibly change their determination? Also, the TSH rep seemed to be new and really didn’t look carefully, IMO, at the facts, but seemed to be biased toward the HO.
Can I ask THS to re-open the case and review the situation again through the above process? The sitter was wonderful, to the point that even my apartment neighbors commented on how good she was with my pet and how pleasant she was to have in the building. I think the HO who had her banned is a real entitled ‘Karen’. It seems so unfair and so biased toward HO who ‘yell’ a lot!
The sitter has an opportunity to present their side of the story during an investigation. They maybe able to appeal the decision and present more evidence ( screenshots of messages, photos of any breaches )
The sitter can also raise a member dispute about a HO if they broke the terms of service ( unsafe or unhygienic home , third parties living in the home , additional responsibilities not in the listing , previously undisclosed pet behaviours etc )
There was an investigation, but as I said, I think the THS rep was inexperienced and the HO was loud and accusatory. The sitter presented facts, and the HO even criticized the sitter for presenting her evidence in a cold, corporate way. But this was the sitter’s 2nd sit, and while she followed the rules, things the HO said seemed to take precedence.
The sitter can’t do anything now because they have been banned, so they cannot dispute the HO for breaking terms of service or present more evidence. Which is why I’m trying to step in, if I can. I just think it’s very unfair that a HO, who’s loud and frankly a bit abusive to the sitter verbally, has been allowed to take control of the narrative.
I think the case should be re-opened because I don’t think the THS rep did her job well.
I’m a little upset with THS myself because I’m seeing over and over where HOs seem to get priority. I’m a HO myself, not a sitter, and I’ve had pretty good luck in the main with sitters. But I am very surprised at how this turned out, especially since the sitter did so well for me.
(I don’t work for THS - I am a sitter and avid reader of the forum )
Since the dispute is between two members and doesn’t involve you directly I would not have thought that there would be anything that you can do directly in behalf of the sitter .
However the Member Dispute process can be appealed - you can send this information to the sitter.
How to appeal a decision
You can request this to be reviewed by a senior member of our Membership Services department
You will be required to send your request via email to support@trustedhousesitters.comapplying the subject line ‘Complaint Appeal’
Your appeal will then be reviewed by a senior member of our Membership Services team who may contact you for further information if required
The ruling on you appeal will be delivered within 14 days of receipt
This decision will be final”
If the sitter did not initially raise their own member dispute and it’s still within 30 days of the end of the sit then they should still be able to do that .
It’s rare that a sitter would be banned unless they abandoned the pets .
The sitter was accused of abandoning the pets, but she did not. I’m not sure why THS took the HO’s view over the sitter’s other than the HO was very strident and accusatory.
The THS rep outlined their view of their reasoning, but what they said was not reasonable to me.
This rep’s arguments that I’ve seen make me mistrust THS. I mean, the evidence is there, but the THS rep took a very different view of them.
That being said, if @MC81 asked the sitter to join the Forum and contact me directly, I’d be happy to locate their THS account and pass any details over to Membership Services
Thank you, Jenny, but the sitter no longer has access to her THS account, so she can’t access the Forum. Also, she doesn’t know her membership ID anymore either.
I’ve seen some of the comments the THS rep made, which I think were very off the mark. For example, he said that the sitter should have mentioned when visiting before the sit started her concerns about the cleanliness of the home, but the sitter, as would any woman, I think, thought the HO, who was in the midst of departure prep, would have cleaned before actually leaving. He was blaming the sitter for not mentioning it, but I would not have either. First of all, women are less confrontational, (science not sexism), and 2nd, the sitter assumed the HO would do the cleaning, which didn’t happen. The HO just left with the sitter arriving later, and the HO was not responsive to communication during the sit. Apparently, the HO turned off her phone for many hours. Me, I travel overseas frequently, and my phone is always on because I’m away from home. Something may go wrong and I need to know ASAP. Plus, the sitter could not get through to a human at THS during the sit itself to ask for help and advice. But no consideration was given to the sitter for this fact either.
Well, I’m going on too long, but as you can see, I had such a wonderful experience with this sitter and was planning on asking her back for a long sit in the fall. I will still do that, but in that case, why do I need to keep my THS membership? I’m really not happy with how this was handled by them!
They don’t need to have an active membership to sign up to the Forum I’d just need to ask them directly for their email address for us to be able to find their details and locate any contact from Membership Services on the system.
I’m really keen that we take a look if possible, it’s just that we would need to hear from the sitter directly.
We had an experience where we had to file a member dispute. The whole process was very straight forward and THS communication was spot on.
Flashback to a year ago, we arrived to a sit where the HO had two dogs and one of which had serious serious medical conditions. It was never mentioned to us in listing, ad, welcome guide, on phone interview when asked, etc. When we arrived, we were handed an 8-page single spaced document that detailed everything we needed to know. Move forward 3 days into the sit (it was a 4 week sit and another time frame had been scheduled with that HO for another month sit in about 2 months). We had averaged 3 hours a night sleep for those first three days (not a consecutive 3 hours) and were absolutely exhausted. The dog’s bladder could only make it every 1-2 hours and diarrhea was the norm.
We had reached out to THS and were granted leave of the sit because of the undisclosed medical problems and the severity. We were told to give her 24 hours (which we gave her 60), but her son ended up coming within a couple of hours and we presume, boarded the dogs right then and there.
We were told by THS that this would be investigated and that she would be put on notice and not allowed to post her ad unless she mentioned the medical conditions. She (the HO) has seen be reinstated and lists the medical conditions, but says that they are completely fine and on a good, set routine. Absolute lies.
She has since gotten two more 1-3 star reviews and still lists active dates that she would like to travel.
Ultimately, we were really thankful for THS and their gratitude and communication. We just feel bad for those sweet pups.
Timestamp Camera Free
