I have just discovered THS no longer accept any form of payment except credit cards.
8th March I received an email that there was something wrong, my card had expired. So I logged on tried to update my card, despite going through and being authorised by my bank it was rejected by THS.
I contacted THS, received an automated reply to follow a link on how to pay, and some suggestions to try, but this would be followed up by a member of the services team.
I replied I had tried all and would phone in the morning.
9th March I tried phoning but no reply so emailed again and asked them to phone me.
A member of the services team phoned yesterday evening and that is when I discovered the problem. Only credit cards allowed.
I do not have a credit card.
His suggestions were borrow from a friend! Go to my bank and apply for one, my bank does not do credit cards, so I could change banks, then apply.
Today is Friday, I have sitters arriving Monday my membership will be cancelled before the end of their stay.
Even if I wanted to apply for a credit card that could not happen before I leave Monday.
I also have 2 more sitters booked after my membership will be cancelled.
I do not understand the problem with debit cards, my understanding is a debit cards take the funds from your account, credit cards allow you access to a line of credit.
For the agents receiving the payment they get the money either way. Debit cards you get my money because I can pay.
At this point I do not know what I am going to do.
Hello @Brodie Is the card that you are trying to use a Visa, Mastercard or Amex?
Regardless of whether they are a credit or a debit card any of these cards should work.
These are the 3 card types that THS accept. Please see the attached link for more details.
thanks,
I read that too but unfortunately not true. I was just updating the same Visa debit card that had expired.
It was the chap from membership services that confirmed only credit cards. I could not find any reference to it on the site.
That’s odd, I’ve never paid with a credit card
Very odd, that they made this change without any warning/publication.
I will add worrying at this point, we have 3 other couples who have invested in flights/ferries to sit for us.
Not just ourselves but others could be affected by this, which is why I felt I had to make everyone aware, could be too late to discover for us to do anything but we should all have been notified.
@Brodie For clarification can you confirm which card type you are trying to use? I will tag @Therese and @Angela_L to also look in to this for you because you should be able to use a debit or a credit card so long as it is one of the aforementioned.
thank you.
I am using a Visa debit card, the same bank etc just a new expiry date, that I have used since joining THS
Hi @Brodie
I am so sorry you are battling with this.
To confirm that, accept all Visa, Mastercard, and Amex cards, both debit and credit.
I will follow this up with you @Brodie
this has now been resolved, not sure how. I had no issue with my card but now been updated.
Also debit cards are accepted, not as I was told only credit cards.
I have a current similar issue, I had to change my card due to security reason and omitted to realised that my membership was due to be renewed. It’s left me having no access to my current sitor upcoming sits. I’d just accepted a sit in France for next year. If they are trying to contact me and find I’m no longer active they could cancel along with the rest of my booked sits.
Surely there should be Leigh way in the system for these situations?
@Richsue, suggest pick up phone or email THS Member Services to resolve. support@trustedhousesitters.com
Hi @Richsue If you want to renew your membership immediately then you will have access to your inbox again and will be able to contact the home owners and reassure them that you would still like to complete the sit. But understandably, you may not wish to do so if you don’t intend to use your membership until your sit next year.
I had a similar problem a few years ago, and the only way I was able to contact the home owner was because she had an unusual first name and I could remember her mentioning where she worked - the powers of Google! We had agreed the sit at least 6 months ahead of the start date, and I didn’t intend to complete any other sits before then, so it seemed like a waste of money paying for membership in the meantime.
I’m sorry to say that THS really weren’t helpful at all. I hoped I may have been able to access past messages by requesting all the info and correspondence the company held for me under GDPR legislation, but sadly not. I was disappointed by their unwillingness to help and, having finally managed to make contact with the home owner independently of THS, ended up completing the sit as a non-member. They would quite happily have had me do a ‘no show’ (as I had no address to go to!) rather than allow me access to my inbox for even 24 hours to retrieve contact details.
I learnt from the experience, and now always ask for an email address and phone number as soon as a sit looks likely. You could try rejoining, and then cancelling again as soon as you have retrieved contact details?
Right now, I ran into yet another issue while trying to update my expired card. The system is forcing a renewal transaction just to update the payment information, even though my membership doesn’t expire until the end of January 2026.
I had already messaged yesterday and as I had not got access I could not access a telephone number!
I have renewed now, for some reason yesterday the process didn’t work. Checked with bank and now payment gone through.
Doesn’t seem very helpful to be suddenly kicked out of system when you are on a sit and also have planned sits well into the new year.