Has anyone had a sitter steal items from your home while they sat.
What I do not like is the owner must first review the sitter before the sitter reviews, so ALL the power is in the sitter’s hands.
Would love to hear anyone’s experiences.
I’m a HO and the reviews are blind. The sitter doesn’t see your review until they have written theirs or 14 days have gone by. They have no power over you and you have no power over them.
I’ve not had a sitter steal anything from me, other than eating everything in the freezer.
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Was the item missing breakable?
I’m one of these people who always try to think the best of people. The item could have been broken and the sitter didn’t own up.
I have never stolen anything. However, I have admired a few kitchen gadgets and bought them for my own kitchen.
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@travelinglady51 you seem to have misunderstood how the review process works.
Neither party can see the others review until they have both written their reviews, or until 14 days have passed. Once the 14 day deadline has passed, no review can be left. Both parties can respond to the review of them, just once, and there is no deadline for this.
Neither party has any advantage or “power”.
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I’m wondering if you have not used THS for over 12 months @travelinglady51 as that is how the review system used to be. However, since Feb 2024, THS made changes to the system whereby, as mentioned by other members, reviews are now blind and neither party can see the other review until both are completed within 14 days of the date the sit finished, or after the 14 days if only one review has been done. Owners are also now star-rated in 5 categories.
Stealing is a very serious accusation so I am assuming you have absolute proof that it did occur with your sitter.
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That could be quite a defamatory accusation @travelinglady51. Are you sure that the items haven’t just been mislaid/put back in the wrong place/broken/thrown out by mistake?
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As far as I know, it has never been like that. Reviews didn’t use to be blind but no party had to write the review first or even write a review at all.
There must be some kind of connection with something that has disappeared during a sit but I am not able to understand it from your post.
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An item could have been misplaced or if it was breakable, the item might be broken and the sitter forgot or omitted to tell you.
Have you asked the sitter in that case - like «I can’t seem to find «item», do you know where it is?»
If it was valuables that were in a place a sitter wouldn’t have reason to to, then that is something else and serious.
I wouldn’t necessarily accuse them of stealing it, if I didn’t know that for sure, but I might know for sure for instance «a piece of jewellery in my drawer was nowhere to be found when I returned». But wouldn’t mention unless I was absolutely sure. There has been incidents where someone put things away themselves «for safety» and forgot.
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As a sitter, I’ve misplaced items when putting them back — usually kitchen stuff — and had the HO contact me to ask where it was. I would think this happens quite often given everyone organizes things differently so if I were you, I’d ask the sitter where the item might be first before assuming there was theft.
I think the second most likely possibility is that they broke something. This is where you need to tell us what the item was and its value. If the sitter broke something they thought had no value, they might forget to mention it and just throw it away.
Sometimes people have experiences with being shamed or abused for breaking things as kids and might be reluctant to say anything.
Finally, when I go on vacation, I hide valuables and sometimes forget that I did that and/or where I put them. Is it possible you did that?
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The owner is under no obligation to “review first.” Either party has 2 weeks to review. First, of all if you believe a sitter stole from you, please start by reporting it to THS. Call. Speak to a human. This is important because they can track the sitter for other complaints and kick them off the platform.
The reviews are blind. So a sitter will get an email that you posted a review. They won’t know what you said on the review or how many stars you gave. They can see the review after they post their own review OR after 2 weeks when they can no longer post a review. If a sitter reviews you first, you also won’t be able to see the review until after yours is posted or after two weeks.
Let’s assume that you are correct and a sitter stole something. The sitter may not realize you notice and might think you wrote a lovely review. The sitter might not care and respond. The sitter has no way of knowing if your review is bad or good.
Let’s assume you are not correct just for arguments sake. Have you been in touch with the sitter about the missing item(s)? Do they have an explanation? It might be worth it to reach out before you make a public accusation.
But if it did happen, you really need to call THS and let them know. You also need to write a review to warn other people like you and keep them from becoming victims.
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Have you asked the sitters where the item is?
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@travelinglady51, your understanding of THS reviews is inaccurate. THS introduced blind review system in November 2023. Pet Parent and Housesitter concurrently have the opportunity, but not the requirement, to write. review within 14 days from the end of the housesit. Neither party sees the inbound review until the earlier of the end of the 14 day period or the review submission by both parties. So both parties write their reviews on a ‘blind’ basis, i.e. without having first seen the inbound review.
I have had over 19 sits since 8/2023 and this has only happened once.
Majority of the sits have been great.
The mentioned item has been in clear view for over 10yrs and when I asked the sitter if she saw it, “No, I never saw it”.
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No, it did not get broken, if it did the sitter could have said something when I asked if she saw it, instead of “I never saw it”.
It has been in clear view for over 10yrs.
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I have 19 sits since August 2023. Most have been great.
I would not make accusations lightly.
The item has been in clear view for over 10yrs, when I asked if she saw it, reply was, “I never saw it”.
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Not an accusation, the item has been in clear view for over 10yrs. When I asked the sitter, the responde was. “I did not see it”.
I have had over 19 sits since August 2023 and most have been great.
The item has been in clear view for over 10yrs, when I asked the sitter the response was, “I did not see it” clearly not correct.
There was no “misplaced” occurance. It has been in the same place in the guest bedroom for over 10yrs.
I asked it they had seen it, response, “did not see it”
I do lock up valuables, if it was broken then inform me, I have no problem with someone telling the truth.
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Could have been broken, however, when asked, “I never saw it”
The item has been on display in the guestroom for 10yrs
You’re so right that people can feel shame at breaking things as children. When I was a teenager and home from school first, I broke a small plate when making a snack. I hid it in my locker at school and never owned up since I didn’t want to face my mother’s silent look of disapproval.
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