I write reviews after a sit. If something was a big concern, I’d put it in a review. I would not be crazy about getting emails from sitters trying to vet sits. That’s a timesuck for me. And yes, I think if there is a WIFI issue it should be mentioned in a review – even if it’s not points off, and it probably shouldn’t be points off unless it’s a discrepency with what the homeowner said.
A lot of stuff like how early the cats wake up, you can ask owners about.
Just a thought about reviews.
I have seen lots of comments on here from people who are not confident enough to give an honest review or simply don’t know how to word it.
What about a guide ?
A sort of pic n mix sentences that could be used and ammended to fit the situation.
I know someone has put one together for HO a guide on how to advertise their home which gets lots of praise.
You know that you can cancel those sits on the basis of broken Ts & Cs @MissCatUK as those are “undisclosed issues”. #talktosupport
Including it in The welcome guide will be considered " undisclosed" by THS?
@MissCatUK This was undisclosed pet behaviour at the time you confirmed the sit .
THS T&Cs say these must be in the listing .
Inform owner and THS that you have only been made aware of xx pet behaviour via the recently received welcome guide . You wouldn’t have applied or agreed to the sit if this information had been provided in the listing. It wasn’t in the listing . You are withdrawing your application and want the sit cancelled due to undisclosed pet behaviour -“ restrictions because of dog anxiety and puppy pads.”
First Screenshot all sections of listing asap to prove that this is not disclosed in there ( owners can edit listing at anytime so do this asap)
Screenshot welcome guide section with this additional information.
Write to owner on THS inbox and whatever other channels you are using to communicate .
Advise them that you are withdrawing from the sit because they didn’t disclose xx pet behaviour/ restrictions in listing as per THS T&Cs .
that you are extremely disappointed that they did not reveal this when you met up.
State that you would not have applied or agreed to sit if these had been stated in listing or when you met up.
Request they cancel the sit immediately .
State if they haven’t done this within 24 hours you will ask THS to cancel the sit because of the undisclosed pet behaviour.
If owner doesn’t cancel the sit within 24 hours- Contact member services with screenshots
•Proof of original listing
•Welcome guide with the additional information.
•Your message to owner
Ask them to cancel the sit immediately since owner has broken T&Cs and you have already given them 24 hours to do so themselves .
State you need sit cancelled immediately so that you can look for a replacement sit.
Here are the T&Cs that apply
T&Cs .
State 5.2.5. notify a Sitter of any special requirements or behaviours relating to your pet(s) in your Home Listing and when you communicate with any Sitter and during the Handover;
5.2.7. ensure that the details of your Home Listing are accurate and up to date;
Thankyou for the advices! 1 booking HO has arranged for a friend to collect the dog for 18 hours while we go to a concert. Believe me im mentioning it in my reviews! After 6 years of housesitting im still being hoodwinked. Despite lots of questions before, during and after interviews and pre meets. 
Yes please!
That’s very kind of them .
Totally agree with @Silversitters about not allowing hosts to hide dealbreakers and spring them on sitters till the welcome guide and get away with it, for example.
I accepted a sit and then received the welcome guide and learned that one dog needed to be let out overnight to do his business and the other was prone to diarrhea. I immediately let the host know to cancel the sit, because I would’ve never accepted knowing that key info.
The host then said the info was outdated and that was no longer a problem, but I stayed on message: I wouldn’t do the sit.
From my POV, I prefer to stay matter of fact (including avoiding emotions like disappointment or anger, because that can turn people defensive or combative) when having such exchanges. I start low key at the outset, without mentioning that I’d contact THS or such. So for example, I simply messaged:
“Hi, XX. I just read the welcome guide. Thanks for sending. Unfortunately, I can’t sit if pets (need X or are prone to X), so would you please unconfirm me for sitting?”
When the host replied that X was no longer a problem, I just said: “Thanks. I don’t want to take the chance.”
At that point, the host canceled the sit.
Why I take this approach: If you raise the idea of contacting THS at the outset, that can unnecessarily trigger a host and turn the conversation threatening. Instead, I start neutral and low key and see if that works. If it does, then I’m good — I’ve quickly achieved my goal of getting the host to cancel.
If they don’t cancel in that case, I can always then say I’ll contact membership services. I’d still frame it neutrally tone wise if so. Like I’d say something like, “Unfortunately, I won’t be doing the sit. Would you please cancel it so we can save time and skip getting THS membership services involved?”
Why I’d frame it like so: When I say I won’t be doing the sit, I’m making it a nonnegotiable statement of fact. And I highlight that we can save time by not getting THS involved, because that’s also in the host’s interest, since they’re not going to be able to force me to show up for the sit.
For me, starting low key, staying polite and avoiding unnecessarily escalating awkward conversations tends to work quickly in various situations, well beyond sitting, like professionally. People tend to do what I ask without drama. If they don’t, I tend escalate only gradually, as little as possible, because I keep my goal in mind — I just want them to comply. I don’t want to unnecessarily trigger them and have them dig in their heels. That would just waste my time.
I have it in me to go scorched earth, but I rarely do something like that unless I judge it effective or necessary. That’s rarely necessary. It would usually be counter productive.
Would love to be able to message past sitters! Im sure we could back in 2018🤔
You’re right. I completely agree but your style doesn’t come to me naturally. I’ve copied pasted your suggested wording to use it as a model in case of need.
Thanks
@MissCatUK - I have been with THS since 2013 and I don’t think that has ever been possible.
@Newpetlover, it’s not natural to me, either. If I were just going with my preference or emotions, what I’d say would allow me to vent, but wouldn’t serve me best. That’s why I tend to step back and always consider my goal and think about how best to achieve it. Then I try to do that.
The advantage of training yourself to think that way is that you get better and better at it with practice and it becomes a tool you can quickly pull out.
It’s worth doing, because it gets you results and saves you needless grief in countless areas in life. Like if you went hammer and tongs all the time at say work or attempting other problem-solving in life, you’d probably wear yourself out needlessly and be much less successful. My rationale: Why do that ourselves when we always have a choice?
To me, the less wear and tear I exact on myself, the more problems I can solve with minimal effort.
We all need to be a bit more @Maggie8K #gogetemgirl 
I agree with @Maggie8K ‘s approach . Following her advice on a recent sit helped me to navigate a request/ expectation that a family member could stay overnight ( and we would hardly even know that they were there) . This request was pushed back firmly, respectfully and without any drama .
Result was that Third party didn’t stay . We still got a five star review . We have been invited back .
#respectyourboundaries
Generally, the rule is if you don’t ask for what you want, you probably won’t get it.
I can see how that attitude contributes on an individual level but not on a collective level. I think in a work scenario if multiple people were having the same issue with this same boss, it would become escalated into a scenario where workers would demand some changes be made whether it be through HR or the board or a union or whatever structure is in place for accountability measures.
This is mainly why I brought up these topics, because they seem like a collective frustration with sitters on some level not just my personal individual experience that only I am in control of. If that were the case, I would say- sure, THS shouldn’t have to change anything to make the power imbalance less stark. But as a platform/service that has paying customers, I do think THS has a responsibility to improve these things otherwise members will eventually leave (probably more sitters than HO’s in my opinion). I currently am considering leaving as I think about it longer and read the responses to this post.
The delicate dynamics I was referring to for sitters really was just the fact that because HO’s hold most of the power, sitters are afraid of a retaliation response in a review process and thus affecting their profile and ability to get other sits. This in turn gets reflected in how some people choose to word the reviews still regardless of whether it’s a blind review system or not. For example, if I was negative about certain things that bothered me with the sit in a review and I only had say three reviews total on my profile and then that person decided to respond to that review with a bunch of grievances regardless of whether they originally wrote a nice review… I’m now seen as being difficult or someone who can’t come to compromises with an HO or (insert negative assumption). It also just feels like it creates unnecessary drama. If it’s really that bad that it needs to be said, I of course include it very matter of fact but otherwise, I word things still in a way that is left for interpretation. Maybe someone likes nosy neighbors coming and taking your trash bins out to the curb for you. I don’t but I can word it like “And an especially considerate gesture from the neighbor to come over and bring the trash bins to the curb for us”-letting future sitters know that this is a behaviour to expect from neighbors letting themselves into the back yard unannounced.
When I think about the delicate dynamics of keeping a sitter profile free from drama and also maintaining good reviews, I also think about how an HO in some cases might even have an opportunity for a do-over when it comes to a profile. They may have a spouse or someone living in their house who could start a new membership if they receive enough poor reviews where an individual sitter doesn’t really have that option. There might be some kind of work around that I’m unaware of but with identity checks/background checks it makes it near impossible.
I wholeheartedly agree with this approach, especially the way THS is set up currently and it’s what I do if it’s within my control. On rare occasions I will have HO’s who leave hand written notes or old welcome guides with mismatched info printed and left on the counter with important info about the pets health/meds/behaviour that wasn’t previously disclosed but I don’t find out until I’m already at the sit. This is an example of where I would like it to just be through THS when cancelling so I don’t need to run through the mental gymnastics of getting the HO to comply with my request for cancelling.
Withholding important information to sitters until last minute feels intentional and manipulative and it’s now become the problem of the sitter to word things in such a way that it doesn’t escalate an already frustrating situation placed on the sitter by the HO. The power dynamic of the HO being the one to cancel for a sitter in those instances makes me feel uncomfortable and it creates more stress when all THS has to do is stop allowing home owners to have that control. Or only allow it within a certain time frame (say 1 month from start date of sit).
I’m lucky that I have rarely needed to contact THS about a sit but when I do I’m first talking with an AI bot via chat. Maybe that’s why they haven’t changed it? They don’t want to pay actual staff to handle these issues so they just let the users deal with them? Seems like a lazy attempt at customer service when I pay $259 a year as well as many others who have chosen to have premium memberships. Maybe it’s a matter of premium memberships having this flexibility all around? Since money talks, it would encourage more sitters to join as premium members and also actually make it worth it.
It contributes by building up and gradually strengthening that power, moving from “perceived power” to “real power” if we let people get away with abuse.
The same applies to HOs
Neither has an individual HO living on their own.
With cancellations, I can see the argument for why hosts have technical control, whether I necessarily agree with it or not. But to me, that doesn’t mean sitters don’t also have control.
Ultimately, no host or THS can force me (or other sitters) to go on any sit. So my approach is, I tell hosts during video chats that I’ll be expecting their welcome guide well before our sit. If they lag and time draws near for me to book a ticket or otherwise make plans, I send a friendly nudge, like: Our sit is drawing near and I’d appreciate your sending the welcome guide, because unfortunately I can’t go into any sits blind.
When I send such a msg, I’m prepared as a next step to cancel the sit if the host still doesn’t send the WG. (I don’t care in what format, whether via THS, PDF, Google doc, video, etc.) So far, over 17 completed sits and others booked for later this year, my hosts have followed through.
Sitting turns out best when people — whether sitters or hosts — communicate clearly and confidently, as well as set and uphold boundaries. From my experience, that’s true in many parts of life, well beyond sitting. And even if some folks want to lobby and/or hope that others (whether THS or others) will act, to me it’s more expedient to focus on what you can control.
Relatedly, sitters with backup plans (or other resources) have greater power, more so than folks without backup plans. Personally, I would never accept any sit where I couldn’t afford to leave if say I discovered that my hosts were lying weasels, exploitative or such, despite due diligence. I won’t let myself get trapped into a terrible sit. I’d rather not do any sitting than risk that.
Many sits gone wrong (as described on the forum or Facebook group, for instance) involve sitters sticking things out despite terrible conditions and horrible hosts, because they’ve left themselves without alternatives. To me, those are useful cautionary tales for other sitters.
Of course, it would be amazing if we lived in an ideal world where all sitters and hosts were honest, transparent and reasonable, but that’s not reality. So again, I think it more effective to protect yourself, rather than to hope that THS or others will — we just can’t count on that.