Contact support, a tenant is not a good enough reason to cancel without helping you, whereas death in the family and health reasons are understandable.
We’ve done 40+ sits, and on the odd occasion where an HO has cut short a sit, they have ALWAYS invited us to stay with them, but we’ve always moved on anyway, because we were able to in all the scenarios.
It’s unacceptable to cancel for those reasons. they may be unaware of the rules, so give them an education about the THS contract, and directly ask “Could I stay if I struggle to find another sit to go to? If not, could you cover my accommodation costs and I’ll find a cheap hotel/b&b?”
Don’t make it fluffy, don’t beat around the bush, be direct/firm but stay friendly, so you get a firm answer to at least one option you give them.
@Smiley, indeed. I don’t work for THS so am uncertain of any wiggle room (or not) to upgrade membership given the seemingly term-breaching action of the pet parent and likely financial penalty to HS. But I do believe, on many topics, that if you don’t ask then you don’t get. No harm in asking.
Just to be clear: There is no legal or membership obligation on their part to pay for your accomodations even if they cancelled when they could have handled it differently. I sit and host. In any emergency scenario – a cancelled trip, a family member illness, etc, a pet illness etc – it would be a big financial stretch for me to put a person up for 10 days. There is NO financial obligation to the homeowner to pay for sittter’s accomodations on a cancelled sit just as there is no financial burden on sitters to pay for petcare if they have to cancel and leave a sit early. So I’m not sure demanding they put you up the entire vacation is the best strategy. Clearly they thought of the obligation to the tenant, but not to you. So make them aware that even though it isn’t “legal” obligation, you are both members and they should have taken your plans into consideration.
While some people may have made demands and maybe it’s worked for them, I think that could just set them off. There is a difference between an “ask” and a “demand.” An ask is an appeal to someone’s decency and most people want to do the right thing even if they don’t always know what that is.
I’m thinking of a couple I know who aren’t doing great financially but own a rental property. It was actually their old home but they left to move in with an ailing relative and rented it out. Then when the relative died they bought the condo she was renting and kept their old home as a rental. It was a stretch for them financially, but made more sense to keep the old house for income than to sell it. They are stretched thin financially. In their case the homes aren’t near each other, but not all landlords would be able to handle the problems remotely. However, they do have a guest room, and would probably be willing if the circumstances were explained to allow the sitter to stay in the guest room until they found another sit or for the duration or to work out another solution. I could easily imagine them joining THS and not thinking through exactly how it works or that the sitter would really be left in a jam.
Just as some homeowner’s assume incorrectly that sitters must be struggling financially and are grateful to have a roof over their heads, some sitters assume that anyone who can afford a home and pets and some kind of travel must be loaded.
That’s very lame. Closing a dumpster is not an emergency. Fixing a heater might be and, as a DIYer myself, I understand they do not want to incur the cost of fixing something they might fix themselves. But they are shifting the expense of that repair on you. None of this strikes me as remotely close to the kind of issue that justifies a sit cancelation
I would strongly recommend getting Member Services involved today. Reports here have included cases where MS was able to help. If not, bump it to a member dispute.
I have then a questions for everyone and please don’t judge me:
I see a lot of suggestions about raising the issue to Membership service. Thank you for that.
But if I raise this issue with Membership Service, won’t they contact the HO and let them know I’ve reported them? I worry in that case the HO could get triggered and leave me an unfair negative review, which I’m scared of receiving.
So I’ve texted them and asked if they can help me book a campsite till I find the next house sit, and their reply sounds very defensive. Basically “no, but I’m willing to give you some money for your trouble”. From the choice of words that they replied, I really think in their head they don’t see any problem returning home early and inconvenience me, that’s the only reason I want to contact Membership Service: just so they’re educated about the code of conduct. Not to get any solutions from membership. But I worry about the impact on my review.
Do you think I could possibly to get the $150 insurance if I call and tell THS what’s happening and pay for premium membership now? I thought you have to already be premium to get it, but maybe if things like this happen THS would step up?
I’m sorry to say this but they sound like they might leave you a bad review no matter what. Fortunately, you can respond to their review explaining that they returned home 10 days early with no consideration for you. Most HOs will understand that you were not to blame. And you can leave them an unemotional review stating the facts, which will haunt them. No sitter reading that this host comes home early and kicks their sitter out is going to get another (decent) sitter.
Insurance does not work retroactively I’m afraid. IMO your best bet is to have Member Services officially end the sit due to HO’s impending early return and get out before HO comes home.
@Rainaire, I simply do not know. My encouragement was to call THS MS, present situation and ask politely. If honest, I’d be surprised if THS said yes as Insurance policies typically need to be purchased prior to claim event. But don’t see downside in asking question - time and effort seem trivial. Irrespective of Sit Cancellation Insurance, perhaps THS MS could assist you in another way.
If you contact THS then they would seek to clarify facts. But that’s going to happen anyway as sit end date will require editing. So not big deal. Were we in your situation then we’d focus on the immediate problem of accommodation/plans and forget about the sit review.
Re ‘reporting them’ this would occur if you initiated a Member Dispute after the end of the housesit period. This is a formal process, raised by either party, in regards significant breach of terms. Related experiences on THS Forum seem to vary. We have raised one dispute - bad situation - and it was ruled in our favour but details not important. Notably any Member Dispute will not change your current predicament.
Understood. I already asked THS to simply change the dates, and it’s done. I will figure something out for my accommodation. So far no last-minute sits nearby. but I’ll survive:) My reason to consider raising a dispute is to let THS to inform HO officially to make HO aware they’re breaching a code, because it seems to me that the HO has no awareness about it whatsoever.
I understand why they feel they need to return early; they should not assume they are coming back to their own home though. They should either get a hotel for themselves, or offer to come home and put Rainaire up somewhere nearby, or some other alternative to his/her liking.
Yes, they will hopefully contact the hosts and likely point out that their reason for canceling does not meet THS’s Terms and Conditions. Somebody apparently needs to go at least that far.
As far as a negative review goes, whether it actually harms you depends less on what they write than what your written response is in reply. If you keep emotion out of your review of them and your response to their review and stick with what happened, a statement they effectively kicked you out 10 days early will undercut any other complaints they may or may not raise.
If you have other good reviews, you should be fine. If you are new to THS and trying to build a good reputation, I can see where you’d be nervous. Unfortunately, some people having wronged another do preemptively attack the wronged person. It’s an ugly fact of human nature. So you getting a good review may prove to be wishful thinking.
Your questions also beg whether your review of them will be all roses and sunshine or something more honest. If the former, you’re doing future sitters and THS a disservice.
Keep in mind that reviews are blind. They won’t see yours nor they yours until both are published or 14 days have passed. Your response to their review has no time limit so, ideally, wait to see how they review you and respond to your review of them. That gives you the last word. Give that last word plenty of thought before posting it.
My take would be that it’s a conversation not an text exchange for this.. You should ask the for a conversation preferably face to face so you can work this out as people’s asks and intentions can be easily misconstrued in a text conversation.
Frankly, if they are willing to pay even a few days of accomodation, then that would be fair. A dispute would probably get them a warning from THS. THS can’t force them to pay you for accomodation even if their reason for cancellation wasn’t “extraordinary.”
Whatever happens as others have said reviews are blind. No matter what stars you ultimately give in your review, how they communicate this with you should be part of it and you should be very factual so that if they “feel” like you extorted them to leave or something and they give you a bad review, it will reflect badly on them, not on you.
Again, they may not know that you aren’t being paid by THS. They may not know that you paid expenses to get there and now have a gap before your next sit or whatever your circumstances are.