We recently had a sit cancelled 5 days before the start date. We have a Premium subscription, so within about 10 hours we contacted THS support to clarify what exactly we needed to provide to receive compensation under the Sit Cancellation plan.
The experience has been very frustrating so far. First, it took days (not hours) to get proper replies – we had to keep following up multiple times. Then support asked us to provide proof of timestamps, as if we, not THS, were responsible for tracking events in their own app. For example, we were told:
“To review further, would you be able to share screenshots showing that the upgrade occurred before the pet parent cancelled the sit?”
We upgraded to Premium with a Black Friday discount, and based on our own timestamps the sit was cancelled a few hours after the purchase.
Later, support admitted that their system doesn’t handle time zones properly. Quote:
“Our inbox system displays all messages in a single time zone (GMT), regardless of the member’s actual location. This is a known display issue and is due to TrustedHousesitters being a UK-based platform.”
So on one hand they acknowledge a known issue with how times are shown, but on the other hand they refuse to take this into account when reviewing our case. Despite us providing what we see as legitimate evidence, they have completely refused compensation.
After this experience, we honestly don’t see any value in paying for Premium if with this kind of attitude and ignorance from the support.
Has anyone had a similar situation where a sit was cancelled close to the start date and you did manage to get compensation?
I can understand that THS need to look a little deeper into the circumstances where a sit is cancelled on the same day that the sitter upgraded to Premium as it might appear suspicious (as if the sitter knew about the cancellation before upgrading ).
You could try appealing the decision or request that the claim is escalated to a senior manager if you can prove that THS has made an error .
@Uliana, sorry to hear about your sit cancellation. Sucks. Happens, not very often thankfully. There’s a trickle of related THS Forum threads but we don’t recall a prior thread where the timestamp of Premium membership and sit cancellation were so close as to be impacted by time differences. Heck, we’re not sure if someone could change the timezone on their device to impact timestamp. Suspect onus on you to provide proof - why not ask Pet Parent to confirm date & time (in UK timezone) that they cancelled sit?
Two Pet Parents cancelled housesits on first day of housesit. Both international with us in-country. One was denied insurance as there were unfilled sits locally, one claim was successful (~US$1000 paid). But we had purchased THS Premium membership months earlier, before related sit confirmation date nevermind cancellation date.
For our successful Sit Cancellation Insurance claim-
When PP cancelled sit, we contacted THS MS. THS MS contacted PP to confirm sit cancellation, party cancelling and reason. THS MS reviewed facts and advised us that were eligible for Sit Cancellation Insurance. We booked alternative accommodation (within policy terms). After submission of related invoice, THS made payout (less deductible) within 4-6 weeks - probably could have been less but they had issue with our first bank account.
In our case, claim eligibility was perhaps simplified by fact that there were zero active listings in same country. And we were onsite so alternative accommodation was in same city. Policy includes right of THS to find alternative unfilled local housesit (which was reason our first claim was declined).
@GotYourBack
Could you elaborate on this ? I Would like to know more about this clause which I have seen and wondered how it could be implemented? Did THS try to force you to apply for / commit to a specific replacement sit ? How does that work ? Did the pet care match the sit that had been cancelled ? THS can’t force a host to accept a sitter ( because another sit has been cancelled ) .
There are two relevant clauses in the Sit Cancellation Insurance terms (extracts & URL below).
At the outset, it’s appropriate to state that we may have misunderstood related terms or their application. Maybe.
For clarity, THS did not force us to apply for replacement sits. Housesit in question was in Greater San Francisco area and cancelled on morning of start date, before we had left prior nearby housesit.
THS did not formally state that any sit cancellation insurance claim would be ineligible but certainly gave strong encouragement that - given our 5* star ratings; experience with multiple pet types; and abundant alternative listings - we should have no trouble finding an alternative housesit … and then started to suggest specific listings.
We felt an invisible hand in a time sensitive environment. Rather than fight THS, we determined to be proactive. We reviewed alternative local-ish listings and noted that a) there were indeed many local listings, b) majority seemed high undesirable due to pets, responsibilities, property, duration or dates. We perceived - perhaps wrongly - that claim would be denied by THS. So we determined to proactively find best-of-bad-choices listings and quickly confirmed a housesit that commenced the following day. Listing had red flags and issues but there were much worse options. Sometimes you simply gotta move forwards.
We’d be delighted to know if any housesitters have different experiences.
" IV. **How can a Sitter recover costs/losses from us? … 3. Alternative House Sit - (a) Where time allows, Sitters must allow Us to recommend alternative house sits that may be of interest"
"V. Conditions … Sitters acknowledge and agree that: … (c) For any Sit cancellation, the Sitter must first allow TrustedHousesitters to attempt to source an alternative registered housesit, before seeking recourse to this Plan. "
No problem @Silversitters, happy to share experiences and to support collective learning. Stronger together.
The ideal time to learn about THS Sit Cancellation Insurance terms (and quirks) is not after PP cancels sit. But alas this may well be reality for many housesitters, such as ourselves.
If THS had appetite to enhance terms of Sit Cancellation Insurance then we’d certainly cheer loudly and provide related suggestions .
@Happypets, that is now our understanding. But we did not test the “recommend” protocol. And we don’t recall reading related experiences by other housesitters on THS Forum. Hopefully it’s a long time until we face another sit cancellation. But they do happen.
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