I had a confirmed sitter for an upcoming sit June 11-15 but have not gotten a response from them after a couple messages over the last few days. Their messages are still marked as unread in my inbox. Unfortunately I have no other way to contact them. Is this a possible issue with the app/website and messages not going through? Anyone else notice any issues? I feel like I have no choice but to repost the sit in hopes of finding someone last minute.
If it shows the messages are Unread, it’s likely the sitters have notifications turned off and don’t know you’ve sent them a message. We, for example, rarely look at our THS profile and had an occasion where we missed a message for 3 or 4 weeks. Yikes!
Once you get ahold of the sitters, open another communication channel like emails or WhatsApp. Always have a secondary channel.
Your options right now are to wait until you hear from them or until your stress level hits the time-to-contact-member-services level. The more positive reviews the sitters have on their profile, the longer I’d be okay waiting to hear from them. If they’re new sitters, I’d be in the phone to member services PDQ.
Always get an alternate contact means in place when the sit is confirmed, usually WhatsApp.
If this sitter has a solid review record you’re “probably” ok. If there’s little to no history or some black marks, I’d get that sit relisted ASAP.
Instead of jumping straight to this, I would get in touch with Support Services (email them) support@trustedhousesitters.com ASAP. Specifically, mention your issue (dates, sitter by name and all) and request in your email that they reach out to the sitter and have them reply to your message asap. It takes “support” usually 24 hours or so to reply. They will probably ask you to confirm a couple things about your membership before acting (ex. name of your pet or your last sitter or something like that) to confirm its really you. They have the sitter’s email address and hopefully can prompt the sitter to check their in box messages and get in touch with you asap. As others have said, moving forward, once you know you are going to confirm someone for a sit, exchange other means of contact immediately. The THS app is buggy and messages don’t always show up in peoples email boxes, regardless of their settings.
With that said, based on you not having another method of contact, I am guessing you did not have a video chat to check that the sitter seems the right fit “in person” as well as on paper prior to confirming your Sit. (if you had done a video chat, this would have required an email or phone #). Video chats are REALLY important in my opinion to make sure you and the sitter are a good fit. Good luck!!
This happened to me once when I was fairly new to THS and didn’t yet know what a great idea. It is to get there personal contact info. I contacted Support and they emailed the HO, who got back to me immediately and said she hadn’t checked her THS inbox after confirming me.
@Jlgrks. we support wise counsel from @MTBer. Contact THS Member Support - whether phone, chat (not Frankie) or email.
We have faced non communication with at least one pet parent. Perhaps some people disable THS notifications and never login to THS app … i.e. no idea of communication.
THS MS somehow has ability to directly contact member. Suggest not worth wasting your time on guessing reason for lack of communication. By involving THS MS then you’ll have actionable next step. Hopefully this yields reconnected communication and all good. Fingers crossed.
Suggest a learning experience that, in future, seek incremental communication methods after sit is confirmed. After sit confirmation, almost all of our communication with pet parents migrates to WhatsApp. We often also share phone numbers.
I have missed emails from THS. My last host never received an email from me which I guessed when I never heard back from her. Texting though always works. As a sitter once a sit is confirmed I get their phone number and they get mine if we don’t already have it. From the confirmation day on we try to only communicate by text. It sounds like you are both fairly new as members. Maybe they are traveling by plane and not getting your messages. I would ask THS to call them or text them, not email them.
Was the sit only confirmed via THS site? | am a sitter and a few of mine are still confirmed via messages only, but I always ensure I have another form of communication and ask for mobile/WhatsApp number and their address when confirming the sit. There can also be a delay with messages vis the site, as have occasionally had messages arrive a day later.
It would be good if THS automatically gave out alternative forms of communication such as phone number and email address when a sit is confirmed. There have been lots of topics on the forums, where one has been unable to contact the other after a confirmed sit. This would prevent or at least cut down these instances.
When YOU confirmed did they accept?
Great point! For the record, this is what it looks like to have a THS Confirmed sit (both HO and Sitter have accepted). THS can be confusing with the steps to actually get to this, especially for people new to it. I was really confused as a HO for my first Private Sit invite to get to this step, but I got there eventually with clarifications from forum members. THS has room for improvement in many ways. but overall I have been very happy with my 7-ish completed sits.
