Sit cancellation and Premium membership

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Rant ahead lol!
TLDR: Premium membership NOT recommended!

I had a pet-parent cancel my sit less than 2 weeks ahead of time.

I have the premium membership and submitted a claim on Wednesday.
It is now the next Tuesday and I haven’t heard anything back!

The guide says they’ll get back to me in 24 business hours, and it’s been longer than that.

Meanwhile, I’ve been unable to find another sit during that time, and have another sit scheduled right after in Scotland, which generally only has a few opportunities, and there’s nothing anywhere close to there or on the way, so I’m in limbo right now…

I have 2 appointments and event tickets for the place that cancelled.

And, since you have to prepay for the alternative accomodation before you make the claim, I have a lot of money (7 days accomodation) tied up, with tomorrow being the cancellation date for the hotel. Plus, I have to “contribute” $150 even if it does get approved!

I’m starting to panic and have sent daily emails to THS to no avail.

I guess I cancel the Scotland sit? I feel bad - it’s in 13 days! But I can’t find an inexpensive place to stay at the last minute in the UK - I’ve looked! I might have to go back to Portugal or anywhere else I can find less expensive housing…

Ugh! Not sure that premium membership was worth the extra money. If their window for a claim is less than 14 days, they should resolve claims in just a few days before members run out of options!

Needless to say, I’m stressed out, not sleeping and definitely not happy!

And certainly not recommending premium membership for anyone1

1 Like
2

I would suggest you ring the emergency telephone number on your dashboard as you have had no response to your messages/emails.

3 Likes
3

Did they give a reason for their cancellation? We have just had a cancellation for a sit that starts in 6 weeks but with no explanation. In the past the hosts usually gave us a reason but radio silence from this one. It was in Scotland as well and now we are scrambling around trying to find alternative accommodation as my husband is going up to Aboyne to glide in the Autumn Wave.
Re premium membership. We stuck with our original membership plan. When we go abroad we make sure everything is refundable and when sitting in UK we always can either find something else or stay at home or Airbnb is our friend. The T and Cs were too wooly for me. Too many get out from paying clauses so I saved my money.

4

When a sit gets cancelled, THS will just tell you to look for another sit or get alternative accommodations. They don’t provide any other kind of support, so hearing back from them isn’t going to change anything in your current situation. You are supposed to notify them within 24 hours of the cancellation for the insurance claim (it sounds like you have done that through the chat). You won’t be able to actually submit the claim until you have a receipt for the paid accommodations. Then it may take a couple months to be reimbursed.

If you really want to talk with someone at THS, I recommend calling the emergency line.

3 Likes
5

@Lizz
Speak to member services on the Urgent 24/7 hour Support Phone Line as shown on your dashboard .

Have you already supplied member services with all the proof of your cancelled sit ?
Is the alternative accommodation within 20 miles of the cancelled sit ?
You will have to pay upfront, submit your claim and receipts to member services .
If sucessful you will get the money back in a month or so.

Has the host cancelled the sit from your dashboard so that you can apply for other sits in the area ?

@Jenny @Maeve can you ask member services to help OP urgently and reply to the email they sent a week ago?

6

Hello @Lizz

Just to let you know I have passed this across to Membership Services so please do keep a look out for an email from them.

2 Likes
7

Hello @Silversitters

Thank you for tagging the team and this is already in hand so hopefully someone will be in touch with @Lizz very soon.

2 Likes
8

A lot of experienced sitters mention they always back up plans in place.
It’ll be interesting to see if any have experienced situations like this and how they handled it.
How you get sorted.

9

Travelodge is one of the cheapest places in both England and Scotland if you get stuck.

You could also try sofa surfing websites for free.

1 Like
10

It has been a few years since I used the Premium membership for a claim, but my experience was that I was reimbursed many weeks after the fact. I think it was more like 2-3 months.

2 Likes
11

We’ve had a sit cancelled & claimed recently and it all went to plan. Sit cancelled only 3 days out as HO bust his knee. Contacted MS on the chat bot and they said look for a sit, if you can’t find one then start looking for accomm asap and then book it and submit paperwork. Couldn’t find a sit as rural Turkey! Took screenshots of HO cancellation message, no sits showing nearby, distance of accomm to sit destination on the map (it has to be under 20 miles and it was 16 :roll_eyes:), a copy of the hotel bill for 6 days (expensive as it was Bayram holidays so just over the $150 a night limit) and emailed it all over. Chased after a few days, told in the system, contacted by THS 10 days later with bank info and paid back in full minus $150 excess within 14 days. It worked!! Yes you have to pay out first (that’s insurance for you), yes 20 miles of within the sit is a very odd rule (but we made it work even though we had come from 4 hours down the Turkish coast!), the excess is annoying (again all insurance policies) and so on. BUT for the $45 upgrade cost well worth it. #wowthatwasalotoftalking

8 Likes
12

@Lizz

This post also inspires confidence in the claim process . HO Cxld International Sit One Day Before Start!

Live chat or the urgent support phone line seem to be the best way to contact member services and get to speak to someone promptly.

All the best . Please report back to the forum on the outcome .

2 Likes
13

Premier Inn is also cheap in most places

2 Likes
14

Update: I did all the things and even went into my 3rd chat with member services.

I finally got an email from someone on the claims team, but it just said it could take up to 30 days for the evaluation. And then a couple months for the reimbursement?

Well, today is the last day for a refund from the hotel, so I guess I’ll find an alternative.
I hate to cancel my next sit in just 12 days.

I looked at the last minute sits, and there’s one for 4 days that I applied for, although with travel costs and 3 days alternative accomodation, it’ll still cost more than the $150, but I don’t want to risk being out $800 or waiting months for a refund.

Fingers crossed I get that sit, and can find maybe a hostel or something for the 3 other nights. I’m still not sure what I’ll do if I don’t get it…I guess then I’ll have to go outside the UK and cancel the Scotland sit. It’s difficult to find any place with 5 days notice!

I wish I could get the extra cost of the premium membership refunded as it is pretty much useless to me.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the premium membership or even THS as a reliable way to travel unless you have extra money to cover cancellations!

Needless to say, I will be sharing my experience with all those who have expressed interest in THS, including those I know personally and in all the travel Facebook groups I’m in.

I’m beyond stressed and very disappointed…

15

Thanks for the update @Lizz

Agreed sitters and hosts need to be aware and have a plan B to deal with cancellations for emergencies which unfortunately can happen to anyone at anytime .

Any member thinking of upgrading to Premium membership for the Sit Cancellation Plan would be wise to read the fine print to understand what it covers and what it doesn’t cover before making a decision to pay to upgrade.

We have Premium membership and have had two sits curtailed . For both we were able to make our own arrangements

  1. extended a private sit so it started earlier
  2. returned home early .

This meant we didn’t need to pay anything upfront or claim from THS .

Although we haven’t made a claim , we have decided to keep the Premium membership . It gives us peace of mind that if a sit was cancelled last minute we would have some cover ( albeit we would have to pay upfront first ) .
We have also made use of the 2 free lounge passes.

THS haven’t said that you aren’t covered so I can’t see that you would be entitled to a refund for your decision not to claim .

2 Likes
16

Can’t say Premier Inn was cheaper when we were looking a couple of weeks ago! May depend on location and which night though. Ended up at a hotel which included breakfast for basically the same price as PI and it was great. Excellent central location too.

17

I ended up finding a last minute sit on a farm, which is not something I’d usually apply for. My claim did get approved after all, after a few weeks, but who knows how long the refund would have taken, so I’m glad I found something else. I was out some money for the extra travel and for the tickets I’d purchased, but I would have been out the $150 co-payment if I’d fotten the refund…I still don’t think the premium membership is worth it.

18

Cuttlefish: THANK you so much for this well-documented Post! We switched to Premium Membership after having a sit over a holiday in an expensive city cancelled last minute. Haven’t used any of the Premium extras yet, but wanted the peace of mind. I don’t think I’d really paid attention to the details: $150/nt limit, 20 miles or less distance from sit even with the $150 kicked in would have made a HUGE diff to us.

2 Likes
19

I’m with you re peace of mind!

1 Like
20

No problem. Sorry if any forum members are bored of me saying this but, we also ALWAYS use the lounge passes so for the $45 annual upgrade we had two in Istanbul at $120 and two in Bangkok at $150 two years consecutively so it has been a no brainer for us. The 20 mile restriction thing is beyond odd and the Ts & Cs are cagey but so far so good for us especially with all the international sits. #happytohelp

4 Likes