As a sitter, I am appalled. I just came here to say that. If I had a sit starting in two weeks, I wouldn’t shake up the HO by saying my car “sounds rough” - if that were the case, I would be at the mechanic to see what might be wrong and get it fixed! You have had a terrible intro to THS and I hope from here on out it goes much more smoothly. I am shocked at anyone having such lack of decency to cancel a meeting five minutes before it started when you had to drive 1-1/2 hours!!! I sure hope however you proceed your luck improves!
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You need to pay attention to your gut instinct here and act now as it’s screaming at you very loudly.
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This sitter sounds flaky; why isn’t she focussed on getting her car fixed, rather than causing you uncertainty like this?
@Crookie is absolutely right:
Red flags are sometimes just gut feelings, and it’s never wise to ignore them. I’m of the opinion that good sitters would focus on resolving their own problems, not making their issues the concern of hosts.
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Thank you so much for your response and I appreciate your feedback.
It definitely has been unsettling with uncertainty. I’ve been communicating with the sitter today and of course expressed our concerns, and we are going to somehow put a plan B and plan C together, somehow.
Thank you, once again.
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Thank you so much for your response! With the sitter responding to me with a message like this, both my husband felt an unsettling feeling and felt as though the confirmed sit was not solid.
Thank you for giving me this feedback in knowing that this is not the norm.
We have a confirmed sit for February 2025 and the couple has been in contact with my husband and I and it’s a positive experience thus far.
Thank you once again for your message.
Have a good rest of your weekend.
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No worried at all. I have misread things many times before. lol 
I have been communicating with the sitter today and am a bit more hopeful and on Monday I will work on a plan B and do my best and hope for the best too!
Thank you so much. 
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Thank you for your feedback. It is an unsettling feeling and am working on alternate plans.
I wrote here in the forum to begin with as being new to THS I was very concerned with the communication with the confirmed sitter and wasn’t feeling confident with the worry that she may not show up.
I appreciate your feedback.
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Thank you so much for your input. I appreciate it very much!
Our sit is in a couple weeks, therefore, I communicated with the sitter to express our concerns and we did indeed ask her to arrive a couple days earlier. I’m also working on a plan B just in case. I’m
hoping it all works out.
Thank you, once again!
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Depending on where you are the Oct/Nov school hol dates are different. In the UK nowadays there are 3 potentially weeks that it involves (it was always the same week when I was a kid), so perhaps you could be right if someone was only sitting now and again, but there are so many sitters on THS, where school holidays doesn’t enter into things at all, like us.
With the sitter you have coming shortly, it sounds like she was trying to keep you up date in telling you about the car, so she’s doing that possibly because she’s good on the communication front, so it may well be that she’s great, or it could be the total opposite, but don’t let the other poor non-responsive ones cloud your mind where she is concerned, they are not the normal calibre of sitters on THS. I am saying that because on Trustpilot THS gets 4.5 out of 5 with 19000 reviews which are both home owners and sitters, so those stats speak for themselves. So treat her as a fresh person, who is possibly trying to figure out how and when she can get her car sorted. We sit full time, so we pop it into a garage when we start a sit where we know we don’t have to go anywhere for a fortnight, just in case it takes a while.
Your sitters in Feb sound great.
Have a great break.
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Thank you so much for your feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to give me this useful information.
Thank you once again!
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Thank you so much for your input! This is an unexpected travel during the holidays that is something of importance that we have to do, otherwise, we originally were staying at home for the holidays.
I’m sure it will work out. I’m working on a plan B just in case. I’ve been communicating with the sitter and am being positive in hoping it works out.
In addition, I’m sure that it will be easier in February with our confirmed sit being after the holidays.
My husband and I were really excited about THS and with being new on here and experiencing what we’ve experienced with this specific sit, I thought to get feedback from experienced Homeowners to diffuse my frustration and to see what could be done and for me to stay positive.
Have a great rest of your weekend.
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I absolutely agree with you. That’s exactly how I have been feeling. I thought to myself that if she knew her vehicle could possibly not make, then why submit an application in the first place.
Personally, I wouldn’t do that. I have been very unsettled.
We’re working on a plan B in the meantime. It’s not easy as we’re leaving in two weeks.
I’m hoping for all good things!
Yesterday once of the responses to me from the sitter when I asked her about her commitment to be here is that “I’m planning on it” That was it.
Thank you for your input as it really helps to validate what I’m feeling.
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I appreciate you giving me all this feedback! This helps me so much! Thank you!!
I’m hoping it works out and am working on a plan B as well, as time is of the essence.
Thank you again for all your positive and insightful information!
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!
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For some perspective from another sitter who drives to sits, I have a 14 year old car which is well maintained and functions great for its age. In the 3 years I’ve had it, I’ve only had a couple minor issues that only took a couple hours to fix total. But, things happen with cars that you can’t always predict. I recently drove @ 3000 km across Europe from Bulgaria to England for a sit and as the days got close to sit time, I developed plans in the back of my head for what I’d do if something happened to my car and I couldn’t drive it to the sit. I looked and bus, train, and flight options I could take from along my route so if something happened I could get my car taken to a local mechanic and I could get to the sit and then figure out next steps.
So the fact that this person is complaining about car issues but has no backup plan in place is understandably worrying.
I hope it all works out well.
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Just to put in my two pence, “I’m planning on” is not a “Yes” - planning on & yes (in my view) mean different things. A planning on, is not a definite.
As a sitter myself, I would never answer in that way.
If I were you, I’d be cancelling her before you are inevitably going to be let down by her.
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Thank you for sharing your own sits of how you think things through in the event something did occur.
I appreciate your input and I hope for the best. I’m working on a backup plan as well.
This is definitely worrisome, and hope all will work out!! I’m thinking positive!!
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Thank you so much for your input. It is so unsettling to me and my husband and am working on a plan B. I agree with you that saying “ I’m planning on it” and that was the only verbiage in her last response is not a definite yes at all.
Thank you again for your input, I appreciate it si much.
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Hi @Rabbitluv
Welcome to the Forum - I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been having some issues with your sitter.
I hope that all the support and advice has helped you - thank you for coming back to engage with our members - as you can see there’s a wealth of knowledge on this Forum thanks to them!
Please do contact Member Services as outlined by @Silversitters - and pop back to let us know how you get on.
Fingers crossed you can get a plan B sorted out ASAP.
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Hi Jenny, I appreciate you reaching out to me and am grateful for the THS forum which has giving me a wealth of feedback and information that helps me.
I spoke with customer service yesterday which also was very helpful. I am putting together a plan B and am going to reach out to the sitter today via a phone call and make a decision to cancel the sit or to move forward with the sit.
The customer service person was able to take a look at my communication with the sitter including our listing. In the event I cancel the sit after communication with the sitter today, the customer service rep will help to boost our listing in hopes of securing another sit.
I will keep you informed, including this thread of messages from the THS that are so kind to give there wonderful feedback.
Thank you Jenny for your message of encouragement!
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UPDATE POST TO YOU ALL!
I wanted to take the time to update you all regarding my initial concerns with our first sit and the lack of commitment and uncertainty with our original confirmed sitter.
I contacted a THS team member, we spoke and she could see the correspondence back and forth with the sitter and fully understood my husband and my concerns. Therefore, we went ahead to cancel the sit and a weight lifted right off my shoulders.
We placed the listing active last night, received 3 applications and confirmed a sitter that my husband and I feel very comfortable with and we all connected in a positive communicative way!
I want to thank all of you who took the time and effort with giving me your feedback as it was very helpful with our decision making to do the right thing for us.
I also want to thank THS for being by our side in boosting our last minute sit and for taking the time to help in any way they could!
Yeah!!! We have a confirmed sit we are happy with and we’re leaving in 11 days!! What a miracle!!
Thank you again and have a wonderful rest of your week! 
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