Most people do a video chat not a phone call prior to confirmation so they are actually seeing the person. This is actually important because THS takes no responsibility for “vetting” people. There is a verification of identity and in the US a “criminal background check” for sitters and this while this may cause some convicted felons to rule themselves out, it’s not as stringent as what most landlords would use. There is no credit check or anything like that. References which are different than reviews but might look like reviews on the app, are supplied by people the sitter knows. Reviews are from other homeowners but the review system, while getting better often involves people skipping over the negatives unless they are a very big deal.
Usually issues like use of the homeowner’s car are mentioned on a listing. Some homeowners are comfortable lending their car, especially if the sit is in a rural area not served by mass transit OR the homeowner expects the sitter to drive the pets around or drive the pets to the vet in an emergency. Homeowners can ask for driver’s licenses, or even more such as a copy of someone driving record. Some sitters might not be willing to offer that, but this is a matching site. Lending a car is not mandatory. Personally, I sit and I host and I would NOT loan my car. I would probably not be comfortable using someone else’s car as a sitter.
Sometimes sitters arrive a day early to get to know the pets, sometimes even more. This is especially true with harder to reach places, complicated responsibilities, and if a warm handover is required and the homeowner is leaving early. “A few days before” sounds unusual. Some sitters are on the road sitting and going from sit to sit traveling and may stay in paid accomodations between sits so it sounds like in this case, the sitter may have a few days between sits and is looking for a free place to stay. This is a matching site so possibly the sitter would not have accepted the sit without the accomodations, but most homeowners would probably not be so accomodating.
I have had many sitters in my home. Many of them work remotely some don’t. I have never had anyone ask to use my home computer. That would be an enormous giant shining light up red flag to me. Sitters will need to use the internet generally, so leaving them a password for the internet is common practice.
Frankly, reading this my advice to you would be to cancel the sit. Find a paid sitter with local references. Send your dog to licensed kennel or a dear friend. Trying to find another sitter with 6 days to go and do proper vetting is not a great idea. The next time you have a trip plan several weeks in advance. Read the reviews written by members. Read the reviews the sitter wrote about the sits. Rule out sitters who have “issues” in reviews. It’s fine to put in your listing that the sitter needs their own car or to provide a deposit for your deductible or driving record to borrow yours. Definitely have a video chat before confirming the sit. If the sitter asks to come days early ask why or consider just saying no.
She is not coming one day early but several days early. This is supposed to be a fair exchange. I couldn’t see getting ready for a three week trip with a stranger in the home and I still have to do all the pet duties while the pet sitter hangs around the house.
The sitter had asked to come ‘a few’ days early but the HO agreed to one day.
I’ve had HOs offer to let me use their docking station so I could plug my laptop into their desktop monitors and internet, could that be what she meant?
Hi @petmomof2,
Welcome to the TrustedHousesitters Forum!
It’s a really good question and I can see you’ve had some really good answers offering different perspectives.
To help our community, perhaps a little more context may be useful, for example, what’s normal in a major city may be less common in a rural location e.g. access to a car.
Just my opinion, but personally I would be reluctant to give some access to my computer, especially as my passwords, banking information and/or personal documents are saved there.
If there are additional last minute requests, (as well as our brilliant community) you can also reach out to our Member Service team 24/7 at support@trustedhousesitters.com
Oh, didn’t see that. Therefore, never mind, ha.
@petmomof2 I suppose it all depends on the vocabulary being used. Once favours and ordinary matters are dressed up in the language of “interview” and “references,” they can suddenly sound terribly significant.
So perhaps she’s simply, and quite politely, adopting that same terminology..and regards it as nothing more than a work computer. Much like any other employee benefit 
I did it with our last sitters, showed up 3 days early between sits (asked and agreed ahead of time). It helps me as a HO as follows: Pets have extra days to get used to sitter while we are there. Also, I know they’ve arrived and don’t have to worry about any sitter travel delays. Lastly, they get to enjoy a day or two to enjoy the area free of pet care, so they can do anything they want that is more than the 6 hours I want them to leave my dog. Fair exchange, so the sitters we had got to spend a couple of days doing touristy things, our pets still had oodles of time to get to know them, and while they are out doing touristy things we got to finish packing. For us, it was a win win, but we have a separate downstairs guest room for privacy. It may not work for a one bedroom apartment, as an example.
It’s not an a weird ask as maybe they are full time and couldn’t find a suitable 2-3 day sit in the middle. And yes they should be prepared to pay for that in between lodging, but why not ask? Some people are no, I would be cool with it.
The weird ask was the computer. That’s just not ok.
Thanks for your perspective, I now see having a sitter there and not having to worry if their plane gets delayed or canceled as is happening these days can work for all. Having a private space away from your private space is the key I think.
Yes, it won’t work for everyone for sure, for us it’s a good thing so we actually post our listing as we have flexibility for early arrival /late departures for sitters. Some sitters appreciate it and ask, others like to show up when needed and leave just when we arrive. All is good, but I don’t think that ask is bad. As I said, they may have looked for a sit nearby for that gap but not found a good one, I get that too.
That’s different. I offer that and that’s fine, to use a monitor / keyboard.
Using my actual laptop/computer? No.
That would make more sense.
Woah! That malware, viruses is a really big deal!
Definitely would not let someone use my computer. The risk is too great!
