New Background Check Rules

@Lauraa I will tag @Paul-Head-MS for a definitive answer when the team is back online. Thank you,

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ADMIN NOTICE: - Thank you again for your feedback the team are continuing to monitor the conversation.

WE ARE PAUSING COMMENTS to give admins and moderators time to help the many other members across the forum who are contributing to a variety of topics and conversations.
This topic will be re-opened for member contributions.

In the meantime answers can be found in the updated FAQs and on Mathew’s post above:

trustedhousesitters.com

ID & Background Checks: FAQs | TrustedHousesitters.com

Read our FAQs all about TrustedHousesitters’ ID and Background checks.

Thank you for your understanding.

Angela, Vanessa and the Forum Team

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HELP
This thread is SO long and overwhelming.

What I need is the bottom line:

Are current members grand-fathered in? (does not seem so)
WHY on earth do ONLY US based sitters need to do this. Are criminals ONLY in the US?? Preposterous.
Do we get a refund if we leave in March if our membership goes beyond that.

AND FOR SITTERS LEAVING THS BECAUSE OF THIS…how do you take all your reviews with you?? Where will you all go bc I think we should stick together! I am currently on another site but do not care for their platform, design or user (non)friendliness so I’d like to know where to go.

My husband and I have had our identity stolen TWICE. There is NO WAY he would upload our SS number on ANY site. We never have and never will. Anyone in cyber security would tell you not to do this on line ever.

We have nothing to hide and I’d happily provide a HO w our passport info if requested.

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We have cut and pasted copies of our reviews here into a PDF in order to share with homeowners who come as private referrals. Seemed very easy when we did it

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The FAQs answer a lot of the questions people have.

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Hi @carpediem16 yes this thread is extremely long and is monitored closely by the team, please refer to the FAQ’s which will answer your questions, if there are any not covered please connect with the Membership Services Team.

Thank you

trustedhousesitters.com

ID & Background Checks: FAQs | TrustedHousesitters.com

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I did read the FAQ’s, thank you.
Personally I find that for what is supposed to be a ā€œwin-winā€ situation this is overstepping. The sitter, and only the sitter, needs a background check for an unpaid assignment in an unfamiliar home? If this were a JOB, a paid profession, this would be entirely understandable. Sitters come without always really knowing what they are getting into. Clean or messy house (are the sheets clean? Is there rotting food in the fridge?) Watering plants, taking in mail, caring for home and fur babies, cleaning poop, vomit, and fur…this is not a paid job, it is an exchange. Because it is an exchange both sitter AND owner should be equally accountable.
To me, this sounds insultingly biased.
I have nothing, NOTHING to hide. Not even a speeding ticket in the past 10 years or more.
But singling out the sitters as potentially untrustworthy is totally unfair.
This should be between the HO and the sitter to delve deeper into trusting - or not.

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Hi @SandC If a member has already completed the necessary checks they need do nothing and if a member chooses to leave after March 16th they will be able to apply for a pro-rated refund

It seems that my wording ā€œindividual basisā€ caused some confusion. The refund policy for those members who choose to leave is as Paul laid out in his original post.

I was told by the TH via an email that should the member wish to leave - their membership fees would be reimbursed pro-rata. This is I believe also mentioned in the postings by Mathew the CEO.

That’s not what I have been told @Angela_L

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good question. We are US and French citizens but my profile is set up as being in the US though am currently in France for an undetermined amount of time. We could easily change everything to being France-based and skip the background check…

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I have read the FAQs and as a UK based sitter am no wiser as to whether my account will still work after the March deadline.
I can see no point in individuals contacting Membership Services - we all need to know where we stand.

This hot topic has proved to be very controversial and I feel if the roll out had been more clearly communicated and with more notice a lot of this controversy, confusion and anger could have been avoided.

Sitters do their research and agree to sits (sometimes at the other side of the world and at their own expense). They place great trust in the homeowners (as do the homeowners in the sitters). I personally don’t feel the extra personal information requested will make the situation any safer.

If safety and reassurance is the real issue then checks need to be applied to sitters and homeowners in equal measure.

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They’ve used the phrase ā€˜US-registered’, which doesn’t correspond to any terminology I’m familiar with in the usa, though I could imagine its being used in countries where migrants are given a national ID number upon being accepted for official residence. One can’t ā€˜register’ in the uk, so I wonder where this uk-based company got the term.

We are pausing comments on this thread to allow admins to help other members and will re-open later.

Thank you for your understanding

Angela and the Team

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I’m not sure what you are referring to @claresitsdogs …

ā€œRefunds will be assessed on an individual basisā€ means the refund will be pro-rated based on your membership, as per Paul’s message.

@JustP I’m going to clarify this ā€œIndividual basisā€ this simply means members who choose to leave will have a pro-rater refund.

This is not a change in how members who choose to leave will be refunded and I apologise if this caused any confusion. All refunds will be pro-rated.

Regarding posting, this thread will remain active for members to post comments however it will be closed and comments paused from time to time allowing the team to manage topics and threads across the forum to the benefit of all members.

Thank you

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ADMIN NOTICE: - The Team continues to monitor this thread.

Comments will be paused to give admins and moderators time to help our many other forum members contributing to a variety of topics and conversations.

This topic will be re-opened for member contributions across all time zones.

Answers to questions can be found in the updated FAQs and on Mathew’s post above:

trustedhousesitters.com

ID & Background Checks: FAQs | TrustedHousesitters.com

Thanks everyone.

Angela, Vanessa and the Forum Team

1 Like