I just had a scheduled pet sitter cancel due to “a change in plans.” I thought if both parties agreed and accepted a sit, that they couldn’t cancel without a consequence unless it was an extraordinary circumstance. It didn’t sound like one. I was asked if I needed an investigation. I said no. I didn’t want to get her in trouble, yet this is very upsetting to me. I’m thinking of hiring someone now. Should I have said yes?
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I am so sorry this happened. Do you have enough notice to find another (more reliable) sitter? That seems like a very casual reason given and I would report them to THS. It is bad form.
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Hi @teecee
Cancelling a sit is meant to be a last resort for both parties due to extraordinary circumstances like serious illness or god forbid a family death and agreed to by both parties. Please contact support@trustedhousesitters.com as it appears this sitter doesn’t take sitting seriously.
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Something like this happened to me. The sitter gave a reason that did sound serious, but I had a feeling that it was something else. However, I accpeted her reason and moved on. I was able to find another sitter quickly. I used the links to posting a last minute sit through this forum. (I don’t remember the steps, but if you have less than a week you can do that.) If you have more than a week, just post again and boost those dates!
In the end, I was more comfortable with the second sitter, and felt that things had worked out for the best and I’d probably dodged a bullet.
IMO, I wish rather than offering to “investigate,” THS tracked when this happened and investigated automaticlly. I hate the idea that one party is actively lodging a complaint against the other. I also wish there was some way to prevent a sitter from accepting a sit on the dates of the sit that was cancelled, so no sitter would be tempted to cancel a sit to get a “better” one – at least not a better one through this site.
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Member services don’t know about cancellations by sitters unless a HO tells them .
MS say that they will record / take action against a sitter who cancels without a good reason , but they they will need to hear both sides of the story to be fair to each side . I assume that this is what is meant by investigation .
In reality, the reasons should not matter so much. THS cannot investigate whether the reason given is really true.
And also, if there really is a good reason like health issues, when someone repeatedly needs to cancel most of their sits, that is a problem.
I actually said something similar on another topic. The problem is there could be a pattern and if pet parents don’t report because “they don’t want to get the sitter in trouble” or they believe the given reason, or they just want to move on, there could be a pattern. For example, a sitter could be dropping sits to get “better” sits. A sitter could come up with some reason he needs money for “travel” and if the pet parent doesn’t bite, the pet parent might say, “Okay since you won’t be able to get here, I’ll cancel.” Since so few pet parents are going to bother reporting, the sitter has no reason to stop the behavior. Even if there were no immediate human intervention, if whenever a sit that had been confirmed on both sides is suddenly cancelled if both sides automatically got a survey to briefly explain why it happened, then if it happened a second or third time to either the sitter or the pet parent it would go to a human who could look at the circumstances and see if there was a pattern.
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Hi @Marion
You’re right sitters with a bad record of cancelling for the HO and the long term of THS need to be reported. But as you say many HO’s won’t report sitters. I have asked 2 HO’s to report previous sitters due to serious actions of sitters during sits as these sitters need to be removed from THS but neither HO did report them.
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Exactly. The HOs shouldn’t be in that position. The company should be looking for patterns. They can do that without turning the HOs into cops. If canceling a confirmed sit triggered an email to both parties asking each to complete a short survey about what happened, then THS would be able to (1) collect data about why cancelations are happening – maybe most of them are mutually agreed and fine, maybe not (2) they’d be able to see if some HOs or some sitters are canceling a lot. (3) They’d be able to track anyone who is clearly abusing the system by canceling regularly without an “extraordinary reason.” They might even be able to uncover the unexpected. What if it turns out a lot of cancelations happen for some unexpected reason. For example, what if a lot of HOs were adding undiscusssed responsibilities or even pets and sitters didn’t find out till after the sit was agreed on? What if a number of new members are agreeing to sits and then realizing they can’t afford the travel expenses?
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I’m a sitter, yes you should have said yes. The majority of sitters on THS don’t mess people about, they are dependable and reliable. Sounds like you didn’t receive that, so YES you should have said YES. Personally I’d get back in contact with customer support.
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I did end up writing to customer support and told them the situation. I haven’t heard back. I think Trusted Pet Sitter should operate like Air BnB. If the guest cancels, they have to cancel the reservation and they get penalized for it unless it’s an emergency which they have to prove. If the guest cancels, they have to cancel the reservation. Then Air Bnb will ask them why and if it’s extraordinary circumstances, they also have to prove it. It takes it out of the host’s hands.
I did have another confirmed pet sitter who also cancelled because I told her that, while I suspected she was busy, communication was very important to me. (She had read my previous message but didn’t respond.) She immediately cancelled.
I did find a pet sitter that I will pay for. She charges a very nominal fee so I am lucky. I may be able to use her for future sits and not have to stress and worry about finding someone.
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I agree.
I work in Quality Management and I would certainly want to know how many sitters cancel before the sit but after having accepted the sit.
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I have experienced this on my very 1st use of TrustedHousesitters and it has left me very nervous about continuing.
The reason given is that the sitter ‘got her dates muddled up’ but it sounded a little flaky (although I cannot prove that).
I now risk being out of pocket as the break we had booked is not refundable at this late stage.
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If it’s soon (next 7 days) @Dipta you can put it on the last minute sits page here on the forum and also ask THS to put it on their social media feeds which might find you a replacement and fix it 
Sorry the flaky sitter cancelled. Never cool 
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Thank you for that information & the suggestion @Cuttlefish.
Fortunately, I have found a sitter through a friend & although I will be paying I feel more confident that it will no fall through.
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Hi @teecee ,
That is a disappointing situation and must be worrying for you as an owner. I think it’s nice you didn’t opt for an investigation and, to be frank, what exactly can THS do about it? My guess is not much. I don’t agree with some of the suggestions here that people get penalised for cancelling sits. I don’t support cancelling after confirmation but these things do happen sometimes. Having investigations and penalties may just create an environment of hostility and blame and generally make this site less appealing. Plus, no one should try to make a sitter go through with a sit they don’t want to do. Even if the sitter is in the wrong, no one can enforce that and it is true that sometimes people get their dates mixed up or become ill, or whatever.
I cancelled a sit once, when I first joined, because I visited the home and I just knew I wouldn’t be happy staying in that environment, with their particular rules, so I did what was right for myself and cancelled. A sitter being uncomfortable at a location is every bit as valid a reason as cancelling because of ill-health, for example. It doesn’t mean that the sitter doesn’t take house sitting seriously, as has been suggested in some of the comments. Anyway, I know that’s different to your experience, I just wanted to put the other perspective forward. I have also had an owner treat me quite appallingly, but I just made sure that I trusted my gut from then on and put in stricter rules about what I would and wouldn’t tolerate. (And I didn’t leave a review for them!)
Maybe in future you could try to keep your options open a bit longer to give more people a chance to apply, if you’re not doing that already. Ultimately, you might just have to chalk it up to experience and have faith that good experiences outweigh the bad.
Good luck!
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The same happened to me. We have 4 pets, it was a 3 week sit, during the school holidays and I had 10 days notice despite arranging the sit more than 6 months in advance. It was more than annoying! I managed to get a friend to cover thankfully as it was too short notice to advertise again. I did however leave the sit in the diary and left a poor review when I got home to warn future hosts.
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As an overly conscientious sitter @Jacqui, the thought of my having to cancel is my top joint worst HS nightmare. I fervently hope I never have to. It would take a lot, like being very ill and unable to travel.
On doing about 20 in my first year I expect that at some point I may have to. I fervently hope the HO would understand and not make me feel worse than I already would do.
Or worse still, reviewed me badly for being ill or otherwise genuinely forced to cancel. I have not yet met another human being who has never been ill, or had any mishap.
But yes, it’s far from acceptable if HSs cancel for trivial reasons or a mere preference. Goes against the whole principle of THS, right? And causes a lot of stress/work for HOs 🫶🏼
You don’t mention why you’re HS cancelled, or if it was recklessly …?
They only said they had a change of plans.
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