We’re in an emergency situation and don’t know what to do. I referred my friend to THS, and she has a sitter in place who refuses to respond to her emails and calls. She was able to get her pet out of the house with a friend’s help, but now the sitter wont respond so she doesn’t know what to do. She’d like to terminate the sit but THS says they will give the sitter 72 hours before asking them to leave. 72 hours with a non responsive person? I’m shocked. What if the pet had not been rescued and no one was responding? Should we call the police? Please let us know your advice.
Indeed it’s a very long story. sadly I don’t have time to share everything that has happened. I only got involved right at the end as things escalated.
The latest is the sitter has left the house and won’t tell my friend what she’s done with the house keys.
Hello there. I am requesting my friend to post the entire story. In the meanwhile, here is the paraphrased text my friend received from this sitter. The THS moderator refused to put up this post unless I paraphrased or added explanations, so I have modified the original and added explanations to each sentence. Would love to hear what the community thinks of this message, and I hope the explanations help anyone who’s confused. Btw - her profile is still up on the site.
She said she was hugely embarrassed by the parking citation. She received it the day after she arrived at my friend’s house, when she was all stressed out, dealing with all my friend’s house and dog problems, and that my friend was not even capable of paying her the minimum. (Explanation: The sitter got a parking ticket and she is complaining that my friend is not paying for her parking ticket)
She asked my friend how many days she had stayed at her house. She exclaimed that she had not been paid anything at all, not a penny, not a cent, not a smidgen. She demanded to know how much my friend was paying the caregiver now for 3 days to take care of her miserable dog. She calculated and felt it would be much more than the citation would have cost my friend to pay her!! (Explanation: Here the sitter is complaining that my friend is not covering her parking ticket while she has the money to pay for a dog sitter. As my friend became worried about her pet she had her dog sitter pick the dog up)
She told my friend she would expose her on all social media platforms so that no one would work with my friend ever again. She told my friend that she was extremely shameless and miserable. (Explanation: Here the sitter is threatening to expose my friend on all social media platforms as a miserable person)
Finally, she told my friend to keep the money she had saved from not paying for the parking citation to buy herself new household goods, suggesting a blender, a television, and wow, almost the entire house again because it is falling apart along with its roots. (Explanation: Here the sitter is advising my friend on how to spend her money)
I like Maggie’s slogan: “your crazy is not my crazy,” this is one crazy person. So sorry your friend had to deal with her. And silversitter would advise starting a dispute to accelerate the HO’s legit complaints. She needs to be banned, obviously. So sorry!
My friend called the emergency line multiple times, we were both emailing them constantly, and sadly, there was insufficient support from THS. As far as I know no one from THS called the sitter and told her to get out and communicate clearly how she had locked the house or where she left the keys. Thank god my friend had people to lean on in her community. She is visiting her 85 year old mother in India and she was up all night dealing with this.
From THS, my friend kept getting the message to “Call the authorities.” That’s not enough.
THS has worked great for me–I have one sitter I use from them repeatedly, but I am terrified of getting a new one after my friend’s experience.
She sounds mentally ill. Is she a new member? Sounds like she expected to be paid. At least she’s out of the house now, and the dogs safe. hope your friend got the keys back. Definitely raise a member dispute and leave a review.
@Sharm, welcome to THS Forum. Sorry that your first post related to such a horrible episode. While the vast majority of Pet Parents and Housesitters seem good, honest, fair people then there are exceptions on both sides. Hopefully rare exceptions.
You asked about THS Member Dispute. There is a clear protocol and information requirement. Details below. It’s not difficult. We recently had cause to submit our first member dispute - while situation was bad then THS dispute response was quick, thoughtful and decisive. A member dispute cannot make up for historical challenges but it can help to remove bad actors and to protect the housesit community.
AWFUL!!! Omg, I hope this sitter is thrown off THS–never in a million years would I expect a homeowner to pay for any expenses my husband and I incurred sitting for someone–much less let it go to the level that this Housesitters let it go to, I am totally with the homeowners, and shocked that THS would not immediately cancel sitter after this. They need to call the police and make a report of stolen property for their keys.