My sitter canceled yesterday for a 2-week sit starting in 2 weeks and I’m not in a position to dedicate the time to finding someone new - the reason I set this up months ago was because I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle a last minute sit.
The sit has been reposted but unsurprisingly, I’ve gotten 2 very weak applications. Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to reach THS - I have a premium account, and they have advertised both support and insurance, since I am going to end up sending the dogs to a kennel and finding someone to stay with the cat. (The dogs are fairly complicated, which is one of the things that makes me very selective).
Does anyone have advice for how to proceed? I’m outrageously disappointed in this entire THS experience.
This must be really stressful to deal with, but it’s reassuring that you at least have the Sit cancellation cover that comes with Premium membership.
You have to notify THS of the cancellation within 24 hours in order to make a claim . You can call the Urgent Support Phone Number it’s a 24/7 phone line .
Calls are recorded and you can request a transcript which may be useful when you make your sit cancellation claim .
Did the sitter give a reason for cancelling ? Did they notify you directly or did you receive a notification that the sit was cancelled from THS ?
It will be interesting to hear what advice member services give about the claim as you have now received two applications .
If these applications are obviously unsatisfactory for your sit you can decline them -
THS is a matching site so there is not much the company can or will do. If you have premium and it’s clear from the messages that the sitter cancelled against your wishes within the two week period, you should be able to make your claim but it’s only I believe $150 a day minus a $150 deductible so not sure if it cover two dogs in a kennel and someone feeding the cat. You’d still have to start your claim and then pay upfront before you are reimbursed, so it’s worth looking to see if you can find a last minute THS sitter.
You could also try the last minute sit thread which is for sits with less than a week, but maybe they’ll let you post? And facebook has a THS group as well.
THS is not a work performance site, nor should anyone on here be offering advice on how to tip. It might work in the US but certainly not in other countries and sets a very bad precedent. Work performance? It’s a mutual exchange. Tips? No money should change hands unless offered privately between parties, preferably not at all and definitely not advice to give on this forum. If it works for you then do it but please don’t suggest such a thing on here. And definitely not offering tips on a sliding scale! I find this offensive to all responsible and respectful sitters and shows you in more of an employer/employee light. Some sitters will always cancel for some reason just as some homeowners will always cancel for some reason, you don’t BUY loyalty.
Thanks folks. Because of where I live, usually last minute people seem to be 20 year olds wanting to come and party. It’s a really tough pet-sitter market and people cancel all the time - in fact, I recently organized a sit outside of THS and she canceled 10 days out, so I went back to THS for this one because it didn’t occur to me that someone would do this.
Anyways I’m fine to pay upfront and have no issues with the deductible. I just can’t believe how incredibly unresponsive THS has been. I called the urgent line today, was told someone would call me back at 17h, so I made sure to be available, and of course no call. This is the pattern now.
I wonder with fuel costs going up both for cars and aviation how many sitters will be cancelling because they can no longer afford to travel. It’s feeling harder all round.
show all round.