And yet no consideration is paid to the former while attempting to address the later.
Coming and posting this overdramatic made up tale as an attempt to justify it, and then closing off. 'We are here to listen, we are open to your feedback, but hey, btw, don’t expect anything to change, because we have spoken, and the lady’s not for turning!"
Seems to me it’s for money reasons. So that couples are forced to have two paid accounts if they want to do overlapping sits (even by a couple of days). My partner and I were forced to get two accounts for this very reason.
Sitters actually can’t cancel sits from their end, they have to communicate with the HO to cancel if they can no longer do the sit. So, I really don’t think it’s as much of an issue of “shopping around for a better sit” and more so the possibility of having travel dates change or finding an issue with the HO/pet/sit situation in general that they don’t want to deal with directly. Many HO profiles are misleading and I’ve had many pets that I’ve watched end up having more behavioral or health problems than were shown in the profile or told to me in interviews prior to a sit agreement.
Even with having a premium account, I’ve never been able to just cancel a sit or even click a button to notify the HO I need to cancel a sit. That would be a nice feature @Ben-ProductManager - in the event that the HO doesn’t check their TH messages frequently, so it gives a persistent notification via text/email to the HO that it is an urgent matter to be addressed. All sitters can do is withdraw an application if they have not confirmed a sit yet.
The new rule is already creating big problems. I recently got a text from a confirmed sit, pushing the start date back by two weeks. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal at all, I’d just find another sit to gill the gap.
I went on the site, found ONE sit in the perfect location, in the perfect timeframe, but I’m not able to apply because, according to my calendar, ‘You’re busy with another sit’.
Okay, no problem, I’m sure customer service will help me get this sorted out. Except, unfortunately, I’m only allowed to talk with robots who can’t do anything and am unable to get through to a person who can help me resolve this.
I’m new to the site, currently on my second sit, and have been absolutely loving it, but this is pretty pathetic. We’re all responsible adults here, so what’s with the unnecessary babysitting? If I can be trusted to stay in someone’s home and care for their precious pets, surely I can be trusted to manage my own calendar?!
And yes, of course, the correct answer is the homeowner ‘should’ update the dates ASAP, but she’s busy and a human and things are still in flux with her, so I have no idea when that’s going to happen and in the meantime, I’m not even able to communicate with other potential sits to get the ball rolling on finding a solution.
I understand your thought process on raising the price for two sitters but do the HO’s have a price increase for each pet they are requesting to be sat or how large the animal might be? NO. There are a lot of listings that request couples because they have 4 or more pets or a dog that is hard to handle because of their breed and would feel more comfortable with two people. I would like to see how many solo sitters truly take on these large asks of HO’s. with multiple pets I just saw one listing for 7 cats and 2 dogs. Are they paying more for their membership than someone with one cat? NO, they are not! This is not considered a win/win.
Hi @LondonUKSitter I’ve had the same experience you describe. There are occasions when pets are left with the agreement of pet parents/owners and sitters. Extra food, water, clean litter trays, when every preparation is carried out to ensure pets will be safe and happy, for the known and agreed time that they will be alone.
Emergency contacts will have been notified and available should the owners be delayed, which can and does happen. Everyone involved is fully aware and prepared and will have made absolutely sure the pets well being is the priority.
That is not what we are addressing here. This is about sitters leaving without any warning or preparation or prior knowledge of the pet parents/owners.
I’m sorry if you find the language dramatic however it’s meant to be because that is the reality when pets are left alone. Ask any pet parent/owner how they would feel if this happened to them and their pets and the narrative would be even more evocative.
@DawgsandPaws - good point made many HO select only couples and don’t pay a higher membership fee for getting a couple v solo sitter.
I was not suggesting that all couples need this option. We sit as a couple, we don’t apply for overlapping sits. We would not need this tier of membership. We would however be happy to both be ID checked if it gave Homeowners more reassurance- THS don’t give us the option to do that .
The addition +1 tier was just an idea for couples who do want to split up and do overlapping sits that they could pay for an additional ID check and have access to one overlapping sit at a time.
Currently when the couple spilt up to cover overlapping sits (which has not been prohibited until this week) - one of the sitters is not ID checked and therefore 1 homeowner is getting an unchecked sitter for at least part of their sit.
It’s been a common practice and done with both Homeowners knowledge but abruptly banned by THS this week.
Hello everyone 
We are aware that this is a new topic and everyone is very passionate about it and keen to get their voices heard. We think it is a very valuable discussion and the forum team is on hand working hard to collect all of the feedback and answer as many questions as possible.
We appreciate you bearing with us and will share as much information as we can, just a polite reminder that even when you are frustrated or unhappy with the new feature to keep everything in line with the forum posting terms - keeping it kind and respectful to each other and to the teams! We are keen to make the new product category a success and be able to share even more, so thank you for working with us 
I think this perfectly illustrates why THS shouldn’t intervene in this much detail. There’s so many questions and differences that every sit could have
Sometimes maybe HOs and Sitters are best left to figuring things out, just impossible to create a system that actually works with al this, and this update basically now means their CS are going to have to intervene in lots of these situations simply to book another sit when they know they’re free.
Hi @Els thank you and I understand why you might have concluded that member’s feedback etc., on this matter would no longer be relevant but it is of course and the team will be taking members responses back just as with any other discussion because while the main objective of an introduced change stays in place, the UX and functionality can evolve.
Disagree. While sitters do have to inform petparents, the petparents really have no choice. If the sitter says “I’m not coming,” the pet parent needs to cancel in order to find another sitter. Neither sitters nor HOs are supposed to sit for other than extraordinary reasons. Sitters who cancel to take other sits may claim reasons – a health challenge, and then once the sit is off the books, they can confirm a different sit. Miraculous recovery!
Here’s an unanticipated consequence of this change. Most of our housesits now are returns/repeats (the five app limit is the main cause of this - we are doing repeat sits that we originally did before the 5 limit was imposed, but we are deliberately excluded from getting new ones). It doesn’t make any sense now for us to do these repeat sits through the THS system. If we do them informally, we can keep applying for sits that we, as experienced sitters, decide we are interested in.
It may be true in some circumstances, but I agree with @LondonUKSitter that the language is needlessly alarmist and melodramatic. My cat wouldn’t give a rat’s a$$ if he was left alone for a day or two, once he had enough food. He goes outside to potty, so no litterbox woes. I’ve even told sitters who are from overseas and touring my country that they can go away overnight to see more of the area if they like. Does that make me a “selfish and uncaring” pet owner?
It is completely disingenuous for THS to say that the site is all about the pets (Trustpilot comment from Paul: “The safety of our members pets is at the heart of every decision we make”). The safety of pets may be important, but growth and money is foremost in most decisions, I’m sure.
The overlapping sit dates problem doesn’t affect me as a sitter and/or HO, but I understand everyone else’s concerns.
@ThePetProfessor we too now reach out to previous homeowners to see if the need us before bothering to start searching for sits. So far its worked out very well, and far less hassle. With this latest change, even more so.
I don’t understand why, if it’s so easy to make these changes immediate, why is it so difficult to change the way a HO can adjust the dates? At present it is a rather bizarre method used but so very simple and quick on other house-sitting platforms.
Half the problem, and I say half, from what I have read on this thread, is the difficulty in changing dates. I totally understand that people can reach out to MS but we are all grown adults here and shouldn’t need to ask the teacher how to go to the loo. Some HO’s may only use the site once or twice, they aren’t au fait with this stuff nor do they need to be put in a position to be educated when possibly an easy fix could resolve the issue. They want a sitter, maybe once, they don’t want to get involved in the intricacies of it all?
Why can’t this issue be modified to be quick and easy for everyone instead of how it currently stands. I have had HO’s change dates all the time and we eventually say just leave them as they are as it’s too hard to change them. Not every HO and HS is experienced and knows how to do this hence the problem begins! Easier to just leave it than try to fix it.
My question again is, why is it not been addressed to fix the change dates issue to make it much simpler when it seems so easy to fix/change other issues? Programmers must surely be able to do this in a heartbeat I would imagine and half the problems would go away.
This is a genuine question that I feel requires a genuine answer and not just one where “we will note your comments and take them back to the team”. Not trying to be anti anything, I just think it’s a good question to a problem that really is a major issue and needs addressing.
Oh, and to save writing again, another issue with the dates thing is that soooo many HO’s will often write in their ad, “not sure of the exact dates yet but maybe a day or two either side, haven’t confirmed bookings yet”. This is COMMON. I have one at present like this and have had many in the past so we just stick to the advertised dates to save the hassle of changing them. No pets were injured in the making of these scenarios 
@ziggy … it hasn’t been addressed because it doesn’t really matter to THS or HOs but it has now become incredibly important to sitters and we cannot change the dates
Not only that, to change the dates they have to relist, so other people can apply when really the sit is already filled.
They could do the following – and it’s a big favor to ask the HO and most people won’t be comfortable because it is complicated:
I. Unconfirm the sitter.
II. Do not publicly repost the date. If the sit is automatically reposting, delete it. Do not accept another sitter.
III. Create a private invitation for the correct/updated dates.
IV. Send the sitter the private invitation.
V. After the sitter accepts the private invitation, confirm the sitter.
VI. Wait for the sitter to confirm that they accept the sit.
If you miss any steps, the sit does not officially exist! Easy peasy! (Sarcasm emoji needed.)
@MaggieUU Exactly. There is no urgency for the HO to change the dates from their perspective. They’ve already confirmed their sitter. They may be willing to go in and figure out how to change the dates, but it might be a few days. Meanwhile, sitters can’t apply to other sits.
Seems like this could be a fairly quick fix, if THS cared out fixing it. But it only affects sitters so THS can’t be bothered.
I guess we can all bombard member services with requests to get dates changed. But once they get overwhelmed with the thousands of date changes, there will be a new policy stating member services can’t change the dates.
Edit to add that there is also the issue that HOs have to unconfirm the sit first to change the dates. Some may worry that they could potentially lose their sitter if they unconfirm. This really needs to be addressed ASAP. They could probably fix it within a day or two if they wanted to.
Hello @ziggy It is a genuine and important question, thank you for asking it. In case you missed it higher up the thread it has already been taken back to the Product team.
The ability for owners to change dates is part of the application and message function (the inbox) and this is a larger piece of work the team is starting to work on. There have been lots of requests for the inbox and application process to be updated, so it’s great that it is getting focused on. This will include looking at how owners can change dates more easily when the sit is already confirmed. When we have any more information we will share it on the forum. I hope that helps 