I’m 5 days away from my vacation. The sitter I booked last November let her membership expire last week and didn’t say a word.
Today when I went to message Patti I find a warning: “This sitter’s membership has lapsed. Don’t put your pets and home at risk. The sitter must renew their membership before the sit can go ahead. Any sit taking place outside of either the pet parent or sitters membership is not covered by our terms and conditions.”
I texted her and she said oops! Just email me the welcome guide.
I told her that since she was no longer a member, that leaves us both in a vulnerable place that I’m not comfortable with.
She told me to get someone else since she has so much going on and she doesn’t want that to affect me. And let her know as she doesn’t want to leave me hanging. IS SHE KIDDING ME? I leave in 5 days! It’s not easy finding and vetting someone in just 5 days. I reserve a sitter in advance so that I can take care of the many other things leading up to my trip.
I don’t think there’s anything I can do about this, so thanks for letting me vent.
It would be great if THS showed membership expiration dates for botht the owner and the sitter.
Really sorry to hear about this experience.
Have you contacted THS member services about this ? It’s not acceptable for a sitter to let you down but also there should have been a warning notification sent to you from THS to you so that you would have known earlier .
THS have previously stated that it’s not possible to confirm a sit beyond membership expiry date - unless you selected into the auto renewal option .
So clearly something has gone wrong with the THS platform that needs addressing.
How is that even possible? I find this absolutely unbelievable. THS should have a system in place that makes it impossible for members to let their membership lapse if they have a confirmed sit, on both sides.
What’s so hard about implementing a notification that either prevents the sitter/HO from canceling their membership or requires both parties to agree to cancel the sit? That would be the normal, logical approach!
@KallyMayzy Really sorry for you that this happened. Probably you want to post your sit as a last minute sit here in the forum?
Not on.
That sounds strategic on the sitter’s part - she either no longer wanted to do the sit and it offered an easy (and selfish) way out, or was perhaps hoping that you’d be panicked into offering to cover the cost of renewing her membership for her.
Showing expiry dates is a good idea, although it could also cause a lot of unnecessary concern, as most people are better behaved than what you’ve experienced. And for those that aren’t, there’d still be nothing to stop them from doing what your sitter has just done.
It sounds as though you may have dodged a bullet. I think you will be able to post your listing in a section for last minute sits here on the forum.
I should also add that I once did a sit after my membership had expired, when it was still possible to do so. I had to go to great lengths to make contact with the home owner, as I lost access to my THS inbox when my membership lapsed. I didn’t renew, but we were both aware of the situation and were happy to proceed.
That would not be helpful at all as we all have membership expiry dates, but most are renewed
According to this post in Nov 2023 - this shouldn’t be possible- a sitter can’t confirm a sit unless that have selected auto- renew .
If they try to cancel auto- renew they won’t be able to unless they cancel the sit .
This didn’t happen for @KallyMayzy
so clearly something wrong with THS platform .
@Jenny can you find out from member services if something has changed that allows sitters to opt out of auto renew without first contacting owner to cancel the sit ? This seems a backward step if it is so ?
How irresponsible! She obviously has no sense of decency, her answer should have been “Whoops, I’ll renew it straight away”.
I would think yourself lucky that you found out what type of person she is now, before she’s caring for your pets.
You’re in an in-demand area, so post your dates again quickly, I’m sure there’ll be someone that would love to visit your place last minute. Worst case scenario you could go back to her… but I wouldn’t.
So sorry this happened to you, @KallyMayzy !
Membership is renewed yearly, so I agree that disclosing it for all would be unneccessary stressful as I can imagine most with confirmed sits will indeed renew, but you should get a warning when sit date is approaching in my opinion. If for nothing else, to nudge to renew.
You’re lucky to get out of this sit, so just post your dates. I’m sure in your area you will quickly have applicants. As it is less than 7 days to sit you can also post it here on forum in the Last minute-section as suggested over.
@KallyMayzy That’s dreadful, and as @Silversitters has said, shouldn’t have been able to happen (so I’d be interested to know how it has!). Was the sit officially confirmed?
Do relist your dates, and there’s a facility on these boards for last-minute sits. I hope you will quickly find a lovely sitter, but appreciate you could do without this last minute stress!
Here’s wishing you a great holiday.
Wait, so first she advised you to send her the welcome guide, but then said she wasn’t prepared to do the sit? She clearly does not want to pay for membership renewal. I’d advise reporting this situation to Membership Services as clearly this sitter isn’t as honourable as you’d assumed her to be when you confirmed the sit last November! She possibly shouldn’t be allowed to renew her membership at some future date, after this kind of conduct.
She sounds like a total flake! Her response to you is unprofessional and childish. She is the type that would leave in the middle of a sit for no real reason besides that she wants to. I don’t think she should be allowed to renew her membership unless she does so now and honors her commitment. Flakes give the rest of us bad names.
It would be nice if TH would let homeowners know that the sitters membership expired and has not been renewed if they have a sit with the pet parent scheduled. To think you booked last November and now it is 5 days before your sit.
I know you are in panic mode but I think you dodged a bullet with this irresponsible person. Good luck with your search.
This! Completely agree. Count your blessings.
The sitter is a jerk. Sucks that you have to deal with this situation, but I wouldn’t want her in my home or with my pets, knowing how she’s behaved.
Well, sitters can’t cancel sits in the system. Possibly the CC on file expired. There are definitely ways around it.
Unfortunately, the only way to really ensure a sitter’s/HO’s membership will be active would be to charge the renewal when a sit outside the current membership is confirmed (or in the case of an HO, goes live). I would support that, but I think a lot of people would be upset about it. Maybe THS could prorate the amount of extra months or something to the sit - that seems more complex though.
I’m sorry this has happened @KallyMayzy Very poor behavior on the sitter’s part.
Thank you all for your supportive responses.
I agree, I think I dodged a bullet as she now seems like a total flake.
And no, I don’t have time to find another sitter. There are reasons that I procure a sitter months in advance. I have a lot of work to do this week before I leave Saturday.
My neighbor, who recently lost her old cat and comes over often to get her kitty fix, has agreed to come over a few times each day while I’m gone. So the kitties will be in good hands.
As I’ve thought about it, it makes sense that expiry dates aren’t posted. But a notice from THS should go out to all confirmed sits when a membership expires.
VERY much agree with this. There should also be a deadline for reinstatement or the sit gets automatically cancelled.
@KallyMayzy, while a horrible situation then we applaud sound advice by @Becca.
The problem that you’re trying to solve is care for your pets and property while absent. Given housesitter conduct then perhaps bizarre developments may (hopefully) ultimately be a good thing. Seek THS member services support. List the last minute opportunity.
In some situations, cancellations do occur as stuff happens in life. We’ve faced two last-minute cancellations by Pet Parents on international sits. While stressful, gulp, then we pivoted and progressed a Plan B. Time to find your Plan B (or C). Good luck!