Is there anyone else here who experienced a confirmed sitter to not arrive? Our sitter simply didn’t come. She didn’t cancel, she just didn’t show up. It was our first time using THS. I haven’t seen a topic about this here nor when googling, so I wonder if it is common? We don’t know if we dare to use THS again and trust someone unknown. This happened 3 weeks ago, and we are back from our holiday now. It was a stressful start to have to ask friends in the last minute, but in the end we found a solution. The sitter wrote back 4 days later so we know that nothing serious had happened to her. And her answer and reason not coming didn’t comply with the THS code of conduct. We have asked for a refund for THS for this, but didn’t recieve an answer either, which is very disappointing.
Sadly this is happening more and more. The original ethos of THS has changed.
It used to be for pet and homeowners who could depend on travelling sitters whose main reason for using the site was to care for pets and homes while travelling.
Now it has turned into a travel agency and unfortunately so many new members think nothing of cancelling a booking for no reason.
I doubt very much if this reply will be passed by the mods, but sadly that is the truth about the way THS is heading.
That’s appalling! How incredibly stressful. Was this a sitter with previous good reviews?
@Cawagi this is certainly not the norm. What a stressed situation for you. Apart from being involved a terrible accident on their journey to you and ending up unconscious in hospital, I can’t think of a good reason why a sitter wouldn’t turn up or contact you ?
Was it definitely a confirmed sit that showed on your dashboard ? ( Had the sitter accepted the sit )
Had you been in regular contact with the sitter prior to the sit ?
What was the reason that the sitters gave you for not turning up?
If this was a confirmed sit , Member services can investigate the circumstances and if appropriate ban the sitter from the THS platform.
If you do decide to give THS another chance , choose a sitter with lots of 
reviews .
It is why one needs to communicate. Things can happen. Right now for example, there are hundreds of cars stuck in the snow in Southern Sweden. And in the North, trains have been cancelled because of very low temperatures.
So do not rely on THS messaging alone, make sure you have a phone number (or Whatsapp) so that you can make a voice call. Then you do not need to wait for four days to get an answer.
And communicate in the days before the sit.
How horrible, one would think that sitter should be banned from THS at that point, end of story, no debate. Sorry, I’m a tough cookie!
Don’t cancel the sit on THS. That’s so you can review them for not having shown up. If you cancel the sit, you won’t be able to review them and warn other hosts.
Someone who doesn’t show up without a legit reason — such as a serious medical emergency or accident — should be kicked off THS, IMO. Unfortunately, THS doesn’t seem to kick many sitters or hosts off.
I’d report them AFTER reviewing them, in hopes that a one-star review (indicating that they didn’t show up and offered a lame reason) sticks on their record.
@Maggie8K I think you meant “Someone who doesn’t show up without a legit reason — such as …”, but ITA and keeping the dates in there so that a review is possible is a good idea.
Been on this forum for a while and on THS for several years and NEVER heard of this happening!!
How horrific for your first experience. I have to wonder, like others, did this sitter have lots of good reviews? Did you actually speak in person (on video), did you exchange phone numbers and stay in touch leading up to the sit?
We are always in contact with our HO’s as the sit approaches, making sure everything is still good to go and keeping them updated with our travels.
I cannot imagine just not showing up!!
Wowww, that’s so frustrating! You hear about sitters canceling all the time but usually there’s atleast communication… this is the first I’ve heard of one basically just ghosting a homeowner, how stressful! I assume it’s too late for you to leave then a review since it’s past the 14 days? It’d be nice for other homeowners to be able to see that they no-showed before choosing them.
This is such a distressing situation, @Cawagi. I have the same question as @Silversitters in that was the sit actually confirmed on the site? Once an owner confirms a sitter, the sitter completes the final step which is Agree to the Sit. Then it will appear on both the owner’s and sitter’s dashboard.
I’ve heard of sitters cancelling at the last moment but never heard of them just not showing up.
Where are you getting your information from?
I look at this forum every day and browse through others occasionally yet this is the first time I have ever read anything like this happening before.
Are you confusing sitters cancelling with sitters not showing up with no prior notification (which is the topic of this thread)?
@springy literally never ever heard of this happening.
@Cawagi This is not common at all and I have so many questions
Were you in contact before the sit?
How were plans finalised for arrival and departure?
Did you just agree the sit and never spoke again or did you ever reach out?
What was the response you say they responded 4 days later?
Were they new sitters too as you mention this was your first time using the platform?
I’m confused as well. It’s terrible if this was a confirmed sit that a sitter didn’t show but never heard of a sitter just not showing up. Cancelling last minute yes.
The sitter had just started with THS this fall, but had done about 3 sits with good reviews, they didn’t seem like international sits though. She also had her link to her linkedin and page on Rover. There was nothing that could suggest that she would behave like she did. When we wrote to each other around the time we were discussing before confirming the sit, and also after, she always replied within a day.
The response she wrote was a real “bla bla” reply. It was quite long but didn’t really explain anything. But basically she wrote that she was physical unwell, that it was the 2nd time that her travels to Europe were delayed this year (I have no interest in this information) and also that she was not able to contact me nor ask a 2nd person to contact me (but no explanation why this was so difficult suddenly in the time of internet and smart phones). Honestly I was surprised that she wrote at all. We thought we never hear from her again. But as I wrote initially I’m happy we got this message, even if it didn’t explain why she ghosted us, because then we knew that nothing serious had happened.
Hi everyone and thank you all for your support. There were so many questions from different people so I try to answer everything here:
Yes, it was a confirmed sitter and we were in frequent contact before. Less than a week before I asked if she had any special diet we should consider as we wanted to invite her for lunch when she arrived, which she answered. The day before I wrote again to tell our plans for the day (She arrives, we have lunch together, we show her around the house and introduce her to our cats, then we leave). I also wrote my phone number so she could contact me by whats app if there was a need. The day she was supposed to arrive I saw in the morning that the flight she said she would take had landed on the airport website (even earlier than expected). We also saw that she had read the message I sent the day before, but she never answered. During the day she was supposed to arrive we sent 2 messages but no answer, and they were not read. And then we heard from her 4 days after (as I wrote in my first post). As the sit was never cancelled I have left a review explaining that she didn’t show up nor complied with the code of conduct. In her message she wrote 4 days later she mentioned something that she was trying to prove to THS that she was a real person. I was in contact with THS when all this happened, and they also tried to call her on the emergency phone number and THS said they left a voicemail when she didn’t answer. So they are informed about all this. I find it strange though about having to “prove that she was a real person”. Was/is not the ID-check enough for this? Anyway, what I see so far no one has had a similar experience with the sitter not showing up. It seems that we were very unlucky!
The whole situation is very unfortunate and strange indeed.
Very irresponsible Sitter. Lots of possibilities, but to leave an Owner in the dark is completely unacceptable.
When Sitters are taking flights just before arriving to your home, it is understandable that they might not be able to respond to a message from you.
As a Sitter, I make sure to connect with the Owner via WhatsApp if that is what we are going to be using during the Sit. I send a “test message” just to connect and make sure the numbers are working correctly. Hopefully this builds confidence and another avenue to contact each other. I don’t like to rely on the THS message system.
@Cawagi have you raised a member dispute with member services ?
It seems like a clear cut case of sitter abandoning a sit (by not turning up and falling to contact you or answer THS at the time ) . THS say they take such actions by sitters seriously and unless there was a genuine reason they are banned for life from the platform.
If you’ve not heard back from member services, I would chase them up and ask them to confirm that the sitter is either suspended from the platform whilst being investigated or that they have been banned from the platform.