Five months ago (in April 2023), I confirmed a cat sit for mid-October 2023. For the past month, my messages to the host have gone unanswered. I have been asking them to confirm whether my planned arrival time suits them or not (I travel by train), how I will get the house key, what is their address is, etc. They have not given me the link to their Welcome Guide yet and while that is not crucial, it means that I do not have their home address or other contact details. The only way I can contact them is via THS website. They replied to my messages up to 18 August but other messages sent on 18 August and after that have remained unread and unanswered by them.
Tbh I am starting to feel nervous. Has the host fallen ill? Maybe this sit will be cancelled? Should I start to look for alternate sits during those dates? Dear fellow pet sitters, what would you do in this scenario?
I would ask membership services to get in touch with them, as they have their contact in file (email, phone number, etc.) so can reach them asap. If nothing happened and they just were busy, Iād definitely get their phone numbers and emails when next talking to them. If they donāt get back to membership services, it might be time for you to look for another sit as thereās still time.
Hi @cat.tails sorry to hear that you are having difficulty contacting the homeowner. Hopefully there is a simple explanation for this. I would suggest as @Nadia111 has already mentioned, that you email Membership Services at support@membershipservices.com and they can make contact for you.
I would also suggest in future to always ask for a contact number to communicate on WhatsApp or similar and an email address when you initially make contact or at least before confirming the sit.
Hi @Jenny27 and a very warm welcome to the community Forum and thank you for joining in with this thread and I am sorry to hear that you had a communication issue with a sitter.
For reference, as a member, you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback and will also give your listing extra exposure!
If you are unsure how to do this, or if you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to ask, we are all more than happy to help.
Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask!
There is a U.K. house sitting website that has a reply rating system for its members. It is intended to make communication a faster experience for all members. A reply rating appears on a memberās home owner ad or sitter profile. This rates the memberās responsiveness to first contact messages. This would be a good way to āenforce ā the THS respond in 72 hours policy .
Are HOs obliged to respond to messages within 72 hours? I recently heard nothing from a HO I sent an application to, even though they had read my message.
A week later, I received an automated message announcing that I had been āchosenā (woop) - without a single word from them, let alone a conversation. I declined the offer.
@RosiePosie The 72 hours applies to all members, both sitters and owners, but is not enforced with many members being completely unaware of it in the T & C.
Thanks Temba, for clarifying. I wasnāt aware of the specific time deadline. I just recall reading in the Code of Conduct that communication had to be timely and responsive (or words to that effect.)
Couchsurfing also has information about typical reply times - not quite a rating system, but when searching for hosts you can see ābelluca typically responds within x amount of timeā. I would find that more helpful than yet another rating system.
@Silversitters we have the same policy on a site here in Oz and itās great. If I see a 3* response rate from 5* for example, I move on. Donāt want to get caught up in the waiting game.
Iām just thinking that the domain name does not reference THS in any wayā¦
That is the email address that was given to me here on this thread, and tbh I am having trouble finding the THS support email address mentioned anywhere on THS site - it is perhaps very well hidden?
