Hi guys, I’m new to THS. It was recommended to me by several people that I should make an account because I am moving to the UK in April and am not sure where I will be living permanently yet. I do have a lot of cat-sitting and house-sitting experience, just not on THS.
I spoke with someone today who was extremely responsive and we set a date to have a video call on Sunday. I should mention that she seemed very eager to meet me, said she liked my profile, and was looking for a replacement sitter because her last one cancelled on her. Well I went to check our messages again just to verify where she lives approximately and I can’t see them at all. Her listing is also missing. I assume she took it down for whatever reason and of course I know I’m not entitled to follow-up, especially if we hadn’t even met yet. Should I assume she is no longer interested? I have an Airbnb booked that I can extend into the dates I was supposed to housesit but I don’t want to extend and then have to change it back if this person suddenly messages me again because I think that will just leave a poor taste in my AirBnB host’s mouth.
That seems to be a feature of the THS messaging system. I have also had that. The HO whom I recently was in contact with is now “Currently not active” and I cannot even access the messages. Quite annoying, yet another reason to communicate via Whatapp etc.
It could be that her subscription has come to an end and she has not renewed it, in which case she would lose access to her inbox and all messages. So even if you had exchanged personal phone numbers and email addresses, she would have no way of accessing that information, and I don’t think you would be able to see previously exchanged messages either, even though your own subscription is still active.
This unfortunately happened to me last year – I had a sit booked in for 4 or 5 months down the line, by which time my subscription had come to an end. I lost access to my inbox and previously exchanged HO details, and I’m sorry to have to say the only option offered by THS was to renew my subscription in order to access that information. I didn’t want to do this immediately, as I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make good use of it until at least a further 6 months down the line. Luckily I could remember enough information from previous messages to be able to find the HO via google searches, and was able to make contact that way.
Hello @livlovescats you could also contact member services to ensure your account doesn’t have a glitch and/or you’re using that platform correctly where you’re new…having issues with the “software” is not uncommon.
‘Is the information that I need something that I could obtain by putting in a GDPR request? ie. Can I ask that Trusted Housesitters send me a transcript of the relevant email chain, so that I can see the home-owners contact details, which they have already provided me with?’
And was told that I could not. **
I’m not in a position to comment on the legalities of it, but as a long-standing member of THS who has been lucky enough to enjoy some great experiences through the site, I can say that this wasn’t one of them! I felt as though I was being held to ransom and forced to pay for something that I neither wanted or could afford at the time.
I’m sure I’m not the only person who has ended up in this situation, so perhaps it’s something that members should be made aware of. Yes, I’m sure it’s in the Ts and Cs somewhere, but I’m talking about taking active steps to raise awareness. For example, an email one month before the end date of a member’s subscription that at least gives people a heads up that they will no longer be able to access their inbox.
(edited to remove contents of correspondence with THS as per Terms of Service - content standards)
I’m going to pop your comments over to the team and see if they can review this for you. Someone might drop you a line, or if I hear anything I’ll be in touch.
“Personal data” under GDPR (or other laws and regulations) is defined within parameters. It doesn’t mean you can export everything related to your account. That’s to protect businesses from users who buy once and want to extract longer-term value that users would normally have to pay for.
When you have confirmed a Sit, the Sitter and the Owner should immediately exchange cell phone numbers and email addresses. Take your communication off the THS site!
Repeat: Exchange cell phone numbers! Exchange email addresses! Take your communication off the THS site!
Hi @Becca, my renewal is early March and I received an email last week informing me of it, so this was giving me a month’s notice. Just check whether your notifications are on as this may be contributing to the issue.
Hi @temba, I do remember receiving an email that warned me that my subscription was coming to an end, but I don’t remember there being any mention of losing access to my inbox if I didn’t renew. Perhaps naive of me, and I unfortunately learnt the hard way. Was there anything in the email that you received that mentioned that?
I am in Malaga wait to do a sit this week . They are no longer active but this has not been a problem as all mesages have been through whatsapp and we have kept in touch . I also give them my facebook profile so they can check and see everything about us .
No @Becca that info is not included in the email. It has been raised a few times on the forum but it’s really up to members to check up on what happens if we don’t renew.
Hello @Becca Just an update for you and those interested in this thread.
We heard back from Membership Services and they have confirmed that you need to be a paid member to access your account and everything stored there, including your inbox messages.
You can as @pietkuip mentioned submit a subject access request, but this is for your personal information that THS holds and processes and does not include other people’s personal information such as phone numbers that they may have shared with you.
Please feel free to check out the THS Privacy policy as it explains this in more depth and includes a section ’ Rights in relation to your personal data’ and the subject access request form.
As @temba helpfully mentioned you do receive emails leading up to your expiry date. I am sorry that you did not realise it meant you lost access to your inbox, I have passed that feedback on. As mentioned above when your membership expires you lose access to all of your account features, so make sure you have saved any information that you might need.
I hope that helps and Membership Services are always happy to go over the Privacy policy and Subject access requests in more detail.
I didn’t think of it at the time (and it was not suggested to me in any correspondence with THS), but do you know whether I would have been able to renew my subscription in order to regain access to my inbox to retrieve details of a sit that was already confirmed whilst I was still a member , and then cancel it again within 14 days and receive a full refund? If so, would further correspondence with the HO via THS within those 14 days mean that I was not eligible for a refund?
Hello, @Becca I am not sure that you would be able to do that, but the best place to check is with Membership Services as they will know what your options are.
It might be helpful to be a paid member when your sits take place so you are covered by any insurance, can receive and leave reviews etc. Membership Services can go into more detail about this. I hope that helps and good luck on your sits!
