Did you get a reply as yet?
can you please change this to allow for looking for 1 or 2 days before a sit should end, homeowners change their plans ALL the time and even they lie and tell you they need you passed the dates they do just in case and you end up having to stay with them. Also, I have never encountered a problem with an owner where there was actual overlap of 1 day, it’s really, really annoying to have to deal with this and, as many have said, is collective punishment.
Also, being unable to message people at all, what is the point? I understand that you’re trying to prevent people from shopping around sits, but every change you’ve made recently is only of benefit to the sits, not the sitters.
7 Likes
Thinking this through, for couples effected, at least there is a solution. Not a great one. But the secondary person on the account can open a basic account. More expensive? Yes. But it works, especially if you have a template for an application letter that explains where the reviews are and why you are applying through the secondary account.
The bigger problem, and I think to some extent Trusted Housesitters may already be seeing it in the masses of unfilled sits, is that people can’t even check with homeowners on flexibile dates and that THS still hasn’t taken steps to make changing dates from the original listing to the actual agreed upon dates less awkward.
I completely get the issue and why “something” had to be done. But rushing this out and starting it right before Christmas, probably wasn’t the best choice. My guess is there probably are a significant number of sits where HOs would have been okay with having a friend or neighbor sit for a couple of days until the sitter would have been available, or even changed plans in order to secure a sitter. Those HOs couldn’t even be contacted by potential sitters.
3 Likes
One can say or suggest anything, apparently THS does not give a toss about it, no response at all. This forum serves the purpose of venting our frustration, that’s all.
8 Likes
Hi @steven
I’m really sorry to hear you feel that way.
The Forum team have provided as many answers and updates on this thread as possible, but as the Forum isn’t part of Membership Services, we’re limited in the kind of help we can provide, as the purpose of the Forum is to provide a place for peer-to-peer support and for our members to chat about all things THS.
Although the feedback we’ve gathered and passed along for this particular update hasn’t meant any changes were made on this specific feature, that won’t always be the case, and the Forum team will continue to use the Product Updates category to collect and pass along feedback about future updates to make sure our members voices are heard.
We know this particular update is important to many of our members, hence we’ve left the thread open to new replies so that members have somewhere to talk about it.
Jenny 
1 Like
I would be interested to know when feedback has made a difference. Clearly as Jenny says it didn’t in the case of overlap sits and it certainly didn’t with the other big issue this year - the 5 application limit. If there are any issues where it has made a difference I would really like to know about these as it seems a pretty pointless waste of time filling in surveys and/or providing other feedback if there is little, if any, chance of it being taken up.
2 Likes
I was just thinking exactly the same @LizBCN - @Jenny can you find out any specific examples of when forum member feedback has actioned actual change of any kind & tell us. That would help members feel that they are listened to sometimes at least.
#fingerscrossedtherearesome
4 Likes
An example that I am aware of is when there was a new bug in the app this summer.
Other than that, it seems just very difficult to fix things. Even trivially simple things, like there being two different links to the profile preview or not adding a legend/key to the availability calendar.
There is an explanation for that:
Sure thing @Cuttlefish - if you can give us some time we can get back to you about this. Still being relatively new, there’s a few people I want to reach out to, and everyone’s winding down for the holidays so it might take a bit longer than normal.
I can totally see how having some examples would help! Tagging @Carla for visibility and she might even have some examples from before my time!
It does happen … occasionally 
Only a week or two ago, people complained about an icon (reviewing?) being illegible due to its color. Two days later, the color was replaced
It took a while and it’s still a work in process but the new review system came about because of feedback on the forum.
3 Likes
Thanks all - @Jenny @anon47943759 @mars - we really want to believe in change for the greater good of members. Demonstrating it gives the feel good factor to all of us 
#itfeelsgoodlikeiknewitwould (just for you @mars)
5 Likes
I think too that adding the amenities buttons came from various requests.
It seems to me that the feedback on changes made, i.e., overlap sits, is the main issue of conern that the feedback falls to the wayside…
1 Like
Hello @Cuttlefish, I think this is a great point to raise and I can see that @pietkuip @anon47943759 @mars have shared a few and I will try and share a few off the top of my head, that have been added due to feedback from the forum, to Membership Services or from feedback surveys.
There are a few that will be released with the new inbox redesign, which will be announced when we know more.
From this thread, the team will be looking at flexible dates for owners and stopping owners from being able to invite sitters if they are already confirmed on a sit. Also looking into how they can make date changes easier. This was mentioned higher up the thread as coming from members feedback here.
As part of the new reviews the owner’s categories are being worked on due to feedback that sitters would like those, the word feedback (for owners) was replaced with the word review, which was requested here on a few threads. Check out the post here
The amenities section was added, the public transport tag, the emergency contact, and being able to remove inactive members from your inbox (which is currently available on the app and watch this space for the new inbox) were other member suggestions.
There were a few help desk FAQ updated as suggested here on the forum.
If I come across any more I will share them, but you’re right we want to make sure we are giving kudos and sharing with members what has been worked on or added because of their direct feedback.
In the first quarter of the new year the forum team have some behind-the-scenes plans to be able to share more things that have been actioned due to member’s feedback, so please keep an eye on the Product Category! Thank you for bearing with us, we know it’s important to feedback to members. The Product category is just one area of the forum and as a small team, we will do our best, but also need to make sure we are also supporting all areas of the forum.
In the meantime, we will continue to mention on any Product threads such as this one and the new reviews thread if any suggestions will be turned into a feature. We will be looking at how best to share this, including tagging the member/s who suggested it.
I hope these few examples help, thank you for supporting the forum team while we get some of these things in place! 
1 Like
I’d be more interested to know if anyone is paying attention to the number of unfilled sits! HOs must be clogging the phones with complaints. Wonder if anyone is putting things together and even thinking that the product update might be part of the problem.
3 Likes
I doubt it. The sitters on THS that want to sit during the holidays have booked. I confirmed a month before my sit started a week ago and I will be here two more weeks. The shy cat is slowly getting more at ease with me.
I do not quite understand the listings now showing up for just the Christmas days. That is very unlikely to work.
Last-minute listings do seem odd unless it is owners who are already on THS and are just ‘taking a punt’ last-minute before they consider paid sitters or kennel or not going away at all.
I arranged my sit months ago partly because of the cost or travel right now. If you want a last-minute holiday sitter now you’re probably only fishing from a pool of people who are in the area. I have to say I may leave my holiday sit next year until later as there were some more preferable ones this time that appeared in November or early December in the areas I was more interested in.
1 Like
I totally agree with this view.
We also use another UK housesitting website, where communications are still possible despite booked sits. We recently contacted pet parents regarding a sit advertised for the period 15 Feb - 01 March, asking if there was any flexibility as we are only available from 17 Feb - 01 March. No problem, we were told, as a friend could have the dogs for the first 2 days (but couldn’t cover the full period required). The pet parent changed the dates required and offered us the sit. They’re very happy to have found a workable solution and so are we.
This flexibility has been negated by the recent THS change, which no longer facilitates communication between a pet parent and sitter where there’s any apparent overlap of dates on paper. It’s doing both sitters and pet parents a huge disservice and, without doubt, will result in unfilled sits.
We prefer to fill sits via THS but, as full-time sitters, find it’s necessary to utilise another website now there’s no option to discuss flexibility with pet parents.
3 Likes
What a fantastic platform that sounds like @Happypets . If only THS could see this flexibility and incorporate it to show what is possible for pets and pet parents.
@Carla can you please pass this onto the THS team as part of the new ideas thread please to show what can be possible. Many thanks and Merry Christmas to all pet parents and sitters and form team.
1 Like
@Cat_Lover This WAS how THS was before the new overlap policy came into play! They know exactly what they are doing. Thie policy was brought in to address the issues created by a few unscrupulous sitters but it now affects all of us negatively especially full timers. I doubt THS will change anything. From recent experience it appears all new changes seem to be set in stone (e.g the 5 app +pause) despite a great deal of negative feedback.
1 Like