@Lovedogscats Please leave a factual review. Please! It’s essential to give future sitters a heads-up.
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Thank you LC. Sage words and I see that now. My nature is to give people the benefit of the doubt so after I heard back they wanted to go with me I assumed they were comfortable and all was well. I don’t remember now if I checked their prior reviews of their sitters but that see now that they either never have one to well reviewed sitters or that some of the members are no longer on TH so I can confirm what was said. My guess is they either gave no review or a bad review to their sitters and the 1 review for them was hidden because they too were a former member.
Thank you. I was naive in thinking those that use this platform are transparent and it’s unfortunate. I pride myself on being able to read people. I did not know about owner review and there is one from a former member so no idea what it said. It’s 20/20 looking back now. Thank you.
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I now realize that.
Thank you. Her friend is coming to the house to take keys, etc in 2 hours. I’m waiting for confirmation from TH and the owner and will likely ask her to walk through the property with me to inspect and confirm the home is ok. I think when TH gets an OK from the owner I am then no longer responsible or liable. Waiting to hear back.
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Thank you for your assistance Sam. I have been in communication with TH continually but can use all the help I can get.
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I heard back from her friend that she is able to take keys by 11:45am. I let TH and Chris know and waiting for confirmation.
My thought is, put a sticky over the lens of each camera. It’s an invasion of privacy and to some extent, stalker behaviour.
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My sit isn’t as bad as yours but going through some similar things. I was told there will be a guide and as I came there was no guide. They called me to explain things but it was difficult to memorize everything and I type some things down. The sit im in isn’t horrible just not what I thought. Before I came here we had a call before which made it seem like it would be a super easy sit. But once I was here and we had the second call it seemed a bit more complicated. Now I am stress that I won’t meet all that’s expected of me and worried that they won’t be happy once they are back. This sit is the longest one I’ve done about two months but I think this sit I’m in was definitely one where I should have met them in person but was unable due to the sits I was in before being further and couldn’t meet them beforehand. Definitely now I learned if the sit seems complicated and it’s not just watching over a pet to meet them beforehand
I’ve also had trouble with the keys they gave me
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Aside from looking after the pets - What else are you required to do @Justbeyou ?
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Thanks again for all your support and assistance. This forum was extremely helpful and supportive and I couldn’t have managed this without it.
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You can be sure I will. Owners like these have no consideration of the damage they are doing to the platform and the sitters they USE and will continue doing so until it is discussed. Even after everything I explained to the owner they still were unwilling to acknowledge there were serious problems with the home and said no one else had a problem. I documented the issues by video but have to continually edit them so I can send them in on the platform. Not sure if there is any other way to share my info other than Google drive. I would never recommend someone stay here with the issues at hand but more so the owners lack of honesty and willingness to follow the TH policies. Get a welcome guide no matter what and get a very clear idea of how they make you feel when you first speak with them. I see now that I could tell they were untrusting of new people and my worst fears were confirmed. They were the ones in fact that could not be trusted. 4 different sitters last year all different, either gave no review or the sitters have left the platform. I will not sit again after this experience and would hate for anyone else to have to go through this.
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I like that. I actually just unplugged the Blink device from the outlet. I also may have made some gestures to the camera letting them know I didn’t appreciate being watched. TH discussed with them and they basically shut down the WiFi and most of the cameras after that. It was really creepy and I never could relax inside their home because I could not be sure they weren’t watching me inside as well.
I’m sorry you have to deal with this. Definitely give them an honest review. My owners disregarded my request for a Welcome Manual detailing instructions, expectations, etc. and I was left to figure it out on my own and only truly made aware of their expectations when they told me I was not doing things right. What a set up. They went on 4 trips last year. I too need things in writing to refer to and keep track of everything. There are animals, house items, details that are very familiar to them but new to us and when they won’t take the time to put it in writing, I now realize they do not care about the sitter and only want their needs met. We can’t read their minds and they need to be very clear of what is reasonable, unreasonable, and expected well ahead so we can determine if this a good fit. I think it’s abusive and rude and they have no idea what they are putting us through worrying about not doing what they want!and walking on eggshells. We are not even getting paid and do this for f (with TH’s hel and for free (with TH’s he. If I were you I would now set a clear boundary with them and make sure they either resolve it or tell them you need to leave. They won’t change unless they are held accountable. Get TH on board and make sure to communicate on the platform and invite them to intercede if necessary. I’m grateful I found this forum and the support and feedback I have been getting the pst few days was my lifeline. I hope you get out of there or they resolve the issues if possible.
Yes, it’s scandalous that we hosts can’t see if sitter’s have missing reviews. This is the real scandalous thing.
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It is my impression that it was a programming accident that the app shows missing reviews of HOs.
I agree that this is essential information when selecting HOs and sitters. This transparancy is important for the safety of everybody involved, including the pets.
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For other folks, since OP has decided to not sit in the future:
It’s absolutely not necessary to do a sit without a welcome guide. When a host hasn’t sent me one within reasonable time BEFORE a sit, I send a msg like so:
Friendly nudge: Our sit is coming up and I’ve not received a welcome guide. Unfortunately, I can’t do any sits without one, because I won’t go in blind. Would love to have our sit go smoothly, so please send.
Note: If that doesn’t work and they don’t send a guide promptly, I’m prepared to cancel the sit. Sitters have power, because no host can force any sitter to show up. You just have to be prepared to use such power with hosts who might be thoughtless.
If you send such a msg and they don’t act, it’s telling. And if you proceed without one, things could turn out ugly. Personally, I see no reason as a sitter that I should care more about the success of a sit than any host — it’s supposed to be a partnership so their pets and home are well taken care of and so sitters end up feeling welcomed.
We all pay THS to find matches. My POV is, I don’t pay so I can be left dangling or in a fix because of bad hosts. THS isn’t responsible for screening hosts for me, nor for upholding boundaries at every turn. Sitting via such a platform requires sitters to screen for their own good, and to uphold boundaries. Sometimes, also to push back, because some hosts need it. And some hosts don’t deserve sitters.
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Absolutely agree here. I cancelled a sit within two days of it commencing because I still had not received the Welcome Guide or address of the property.
After officially confirming and paying for my flights, I spent months trying to cajole them into sending the guide and home address - only to always be told each time I requested these crucial things that they were “too busy” to complete and send the information. They would then give me repeated deadlines of when information would arrive, that were never met. Two days before the prospective sit, the necessary information was still not with me - and so I cancelled.
They were new HOs with no reviews - and so I had originally decided to take a chance on them, and give them the benefit of the doubt, over their tardiness to send the details.
Lesson learnt from my side. In retrospect, I should have pulled out of the mutual exchange much sooner, for my own benefit.
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@RosiePosie, so you messaged them that you wanted to cancel, and they cancelled it for you? (I’ve never had to cancel as a sitter, but I understand the cancellation can’t be technically performed by the sitter but only by the homeowner?) Did they give you any response?
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Hi there
Yes, the HO cancelled it and did not respond. The message I sent was polite but firm - I was absolutely not going to do the sit.
If they had chosen not to cancel, I would have contacted Member Services - who can officially cancel on the prospective sitter’s behalf - and explained why I was not going forward with it.
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