Hello, my sitter has today cancelled for the sit they were supposed to be doing starting tomorrow (17-20th) - because the sit they were doing after mine (over the Christmas period) was cancelled by the owner, and my sitter wants to have the flexibility to choose a new Christmas sit that starts at any date, rather than being restricted to start after the 20th. This leave me in the very difficult position of trying to find a sitter for 4 days from tomorrow. I emailed support and have had no reply. Any suggestions? this is my first trusted housesitters experience and I am beyond disappointed!
Thatās awful. That is an unacceptable reason to cancel. Iām sure Membership Services via @Angela_L will be in touch with you. I hope things work out!
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I am so sorry to hear that Isteon. I hate hearing that for your very first sit. It is not a common thing. Rather poor form from the sitters. I would quickly re-list your sit first thing. It will get marked ālast minuteā which will be very helpful. There are many of us who look for those sorts of bridging sits. And where are you located? If you can share that perhaps someone here is available. Hope that Angela or @Vanessa_A can be of help.
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Thanks both - I am based in Cambridge, UK. As it is only a long weekend I am asking my local friends and a hoping to find someone who can at least drop in on each of the days (luckily my pet is a cat so this is an option for me, but for many people with pets requiring more attention it wouldnāt be!). Iām more just frustrated with the situation really - I appreciate that my sitter is in a difficult position themselves having to rearrange their Christmas sit due to no fault of their own, but ultimately I am just disappointed that they have put my in a difficult situation for their own convenience in having more flexibility about the dates they choose for their new sit. Does this kind of thing happen often? I was really hoping to love this website and the exchange model, but itās left me frustrated and scrabbling around to find a solution during an already stressful time of year!
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Hello @Isteon Iām so sorry to hear about your sitterās cancellation. I am going to pass this over directly to the Membership Services Team. I also apologise for the delay in their response we are experiencing a higher than usual volume of incoming due to the current travel situation. I will get a team member to connect with you and meanwhile will take a look at your listing.
I can share across our social media channels however I will need your permission to do this, we do have success with this sharing, although there are no guarantees of course ā¦
I have checked you listing and it is still showing as no sitter needed, you will need to unconfirm your sitter and post the dates again.
I have passed this onto the team via our internal comms and someone will connect with you, I will also post on our last minute sit channel here on the forum
Welcome to our community forum, I am sorry to know your first post was one of disappointment, this really is not indicative of our members actions or experiences.
Angela and The Team
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Hi Angela, Thank you - I am not sure why the dates arenāt showing as earlier I did unconfirm the sit and clicked āboostā, but in any case, I have fortunately now found a local friend who will cover for me last minute so I will survive for this weekend. I am hoping to try again in February, covid dependent! I appreciate the offer of support, in any case.
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Iām sorry that has happened. It seems unusual.
Hi @Isteon I happy to hear you have found care for your kitten and once again so very sorry for the cancellation and any stress that this caused ā¦ please let me know when you will be posting again and if you need any assistance.
Stay safe and well and have a good trip.
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Iām so sorry that happened, @Isteon!
I would consider that very bad behavior on the part of that sitter.
Most of us would only consider cancelling (let alone at the last minute!) if we had a true emergency.
I think to most of us, āthis is no longer ideally convenient for meā is absolutely not a valid reason to back out of a sit.
Iām so glad you pieced together coverage! So stressful, ugh!
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Hiā¦we are so sorry to hear that. Unfortunately this is one of the downsides of what is otherwise a great thing to be involved in
Hope everything works out.
Warm regards
John and Caroline
Hi @Isteon I can only say how disappointing it is to hear stories like that. There is no way most reputable sitters on THS would cancel on you under those circumstances with such short notice.
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So sad to hear, definitely not acceptable (speaking as a sitter) :(.
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Unacceptable for a sitter to cancel in that manner. I wish as a HO you could leave a review of 1 star and be able to let other HO why they cancelled on you.
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@Isteon as a new sitter to THS, I canāt even imagine canceling at such a late date, unless the circumstances were emergency related. Pleased to hear your found a solution so quickly. I do hope that you are open to trying again, as there are so many reliable members here ready to apply for sits in the future. Safe travels!
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Sorry to hear about your sitter cancelling. Like most other people here, I would only ever cancel if it was a dire emergency. We have had cancellations during this year because of COVID but the HO have done everything possible to help us, even staying with relatives until we got sorted out. We do love our pet owners.
Maybe THS should implement a ānaughty stepā for people who cancel without good reason. A months ban from using the site perhaps.
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@ElsieDownie great feedback ā¦ watch this space 
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@ElsieDownie Yes, Iām totally down for this. I donāt know about a months ban, but maybe some type of infraction for people who just cancel a sit without good reason. After 2 violations/infractions in a short time, there should be some type of penalty.
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So sorry to read this, but very glad you have got sorted out. It seems you may have had a sitter newer to the concept?As long time sitters (since 2008) we have never and would never cancel a sit for the reason given by a sitter. A commitment to sit is a commitment. We cancelled once in all this time this last year, as Covid restrictions put in place after we committed made us unable to cross provincial borders. Luckily the HO was completely understanding as they were subject to the same restrictions. We can foresee cancelling due to an emergency medical situation but as there are two of us we would hope one of us could continue with the commitment.
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Penalties are necessary in many situations in life as unfortunately human beings will always break rules and behave in non-community ways. Starting down the āpenaltyā track seems draconian however to me. I think what will happen naturally is that this information (ie. the cancellation) will be noted somewhere on the interaction between HS and HO and new HO will be more cautious about offering a sit to this individual.
We all make mistakes in life and I personally would not want to see TH start down a road of āpenalizingā us for infractions. The individual might be well aware at this point and feel badly. Let nature take its course. We all learn in our own ways. There is enough āpenalizingā in the world we live in already IMHO.
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It isnāt noted anywhere if a House Sitter or Home Owner canceled a sit. So if a HS canceled a sit 6 times in the past month, I canāt see that information. I certainly wouldnāt invite a sitter if I could see their record of flakiness. Unfortunately, Iāve dealt with 3 sitters on TH who have canceled with a poor excuse. Thankfully, I was able to get replacements. Canceling is something that shouldnāt be taken lightly.
And Iām sure that you certainly know that a HS (or HO) wouldnāt volunteer that information as it doesnāt make them look good. Hence, the accountability of tracking.
Yes, things happen and Iām sure no one is talking about emergency reasons including travel restrictions. However, when HO and HS are canceling sits especially at the last minute because a better opportunity came their way or some other poor excuseā¦ Thatās not cool.
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