Hello, a newbie here, so any advice most welcome.
The sitter raised a hygiene issue at home that makes him want to leave. Then he said he will stay, and it is not bad. I am not at all sure it is an actual problem, but I am worried if he still takes care of my animals. I have no more confidence in him.
I need to visit my home and see what’s happening, am I breaching the policy if I visit?
What is the fastest way to cancel with him? Already contacted the help center, no fast response though.
thank you
Use the live chat and ask to speak to a human.
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thank you Twitcher, but no agents available for live chat…they will respnd through email.
I appreciate any help, it is my first hosting and not going well, the sitter messed my vacation, had to catch an lastminute flight of 3 hours back, but I am not sure if I should go immediately in or not at my home.
It’s your home, do as you see fit.
Having lost confidence in your sitter must be very stressful. Your dogs deserve you to check up on them if you feel things are not going well. Now you have made the decision to fly home, I think it would be wise to go to see them immediately to set your mind at rest.
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There is also a 24hr emergency telephone number on your dashboard.
Hope all goes well 
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This number does reply, but it does not help much in the end. The sitter communicates erratically with me, does not give me actual updates, raised this issue that endagered his health, then he says all fine, he asked to cancel in the middle of night, now he will stay, and still he does not get cancelled by the site.
I can only cancel on my part, lose all possible cancelation refund, stick with the probability no sitter will be found fast, all is understandable by homesitters, and nothing else to do? No measures to avoid this rehappening?
Is it really trusted this site this way? Will this sitter be able to book another sit after me without problems? I am extremely confused and sad. On my way to my house to verify my animals health. Thynk you all for the support and answers
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Sorry, does anyone know If I ask this sitter to leave (and he leaves), who takes the fault of cancelling for the site?
This must be a very confusing and stressful situation for you.
I think you need to get urgent advice in writing from Membership Services about your position.
If the sit isn’t completed then you will be unable to review each other.
Keep all communications with the sitter as evidence.
Once things have settled down please come back and let us know how things went.
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@sitter23 ask THS on the Urgent Support Phone line that @meow posted. Explain the full circumstances as you have on this forum . THS don’t read the forum so you need to contact them directly .
You can raise a member dispute but first you need to ascertain all the facts of the situation.
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Yes, you can visit and terminate, it is your home and pet after all.
THS has guidelines but since they have no part of the actual contract between you and your sitter… (read the Terms of Service). Yes there could be consequences from THS, and the sitter could give you a negative review… but which would you rather have… in the meantime, link your listing to your forum profile… and add a post to Last Minute Thread… perhaps you can find a last minute sitter to take over and you can finish your vacation
No the sitter can not book another sit with you. You control that.
Please let us know how it goes…
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Forget policy !!
Your home, your pet
Do whatever you feel is the right thing to do.
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I’m sorry that you have what appears to be an erratic and, possibly, irresponsbile sitter.
Your home. Your animals. Your decision.Period.
I hope that your animals weathered this well.
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Also, what “cancellation refund” ? Your relationship with this sitter should not have involved money .
If there is a hygiene issue it would be perfectly alright for the sitter to adress it in my opinion.
And even better to adress it straight away.
He has, as it seems, also agreed to stay, so that would be very responsible one would think.
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@sitter23 Hope everything worked out .
What was the outcome - can you update the helpful forum members who provided advice ?
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I had to reach a stricter agreement with him because of reasons I prefer to write only after the sit is terminated. Thanks again to all that helped but I can only give a full update after it ends, hopefully well.
The phone line does work during daytime, unfortunately not much of actual help on my case though. I definitely fell in a huge hole in ths policy in my sit.
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Has the sit ended? Was everything OK?
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Hello everyone, I am very thankful for all you that tried to help and offer an opinion. It really helped in a very difficult time. So here is my experience as it happened:
My sitter sent a message in the middle of the 3rd night that he wants to cancel immediately proposing to me to find someone else to takeover the home in the morning.
During night time the phone assistance of THS is not easily accessible and invites you to write an email. Obviously they will read the email, then possibly contact the sitter and you may receive some help in the next morning, by emails. You can wait for all this, or if you imagine the sitter is actually leaving and the pets are in danger, you act.
In my case by next morning I had already flown back home. Which includes: book the first flight back, cancel all my other plans, car rentals, leave the rest of family to continue, to run back home, evaluate the situation and keep the animals safe, in case the sitter really left, or discuss with him and find a solution.
In my case the sitter woke up in a different mood and changed his mind about cancelling…
THS cannot offer more help, they can only contact both members and discuss.
THS does not cancel immediately even if the sitter leaves.
THS does not publish again your ad or help you find fast another sitter through the ad. They will require the sitter to agree to some sort of mutual cancellation. Even if the sitter stalls/does not reply/is travelling back home without internet access/ is angry, or even if he quits your home and pets.
After some time (days?), and even if THS agrees to the cancellation (on your end) by the time this is official and your ad is live again and someone else comes along, your vacations are probably over. This was the actual advice from THS helpdesk: in such a case it will not be easy to find a sitter on time, probably impossible. Which did make sense and actually did help me to realise the situation I had to deal with.
I have no more words.
No it was not a good experience for me, and no, not everything went well.
A very positive aspect is the opinions and the help of all the people in the forum here.
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Thank you @sitter23 for updating us on how you got on. It certainly was not a good experience for you in all respects from the sitter’s behaviour to the lack of help available from THS. So very sorry you have had to go through this and that your holiday with family was spoilt at much expense to you. We’re all definitely not like this sitter.
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