It works, or it certainly did a year or two back. I’ve had a HO send me photos via the inbox!
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You may want to google WhatsApp privacy policy, when they updated it, and how many people jumped ship. If you have a company phone, some companies may list WhatsApp as a not recommended app.
I usually use Signal, but will use WhatsApp if that’s what a homeowner prefers. But if a homeowner asked for any info, such as a drivers license because I was going to drive their car, I would not send it by WhatsApp.
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I would go back to the sitter and ask her what she suggests can be done about sending info/pictures etc. I use WhatsApp but my son refused to use it along with Google because of privacy issues. If you and the sitter cannot come to a comfortable agreement then best to cancel the sit.
Back to topic please - and thank you for your answers.
Her suggestion was that we continue to communicate via video conference on the notebook and with email.
I then said that I found it a bit difficult if there are emergencies during the day, she could not contact me via video conference while I’m working.
Her answer was that she didn’t have a smartphone and that one wouldn’t come into her house either. And that WhatsApp, Google and co. would make her feel controlled and manipulated and that she was a free person.
I immediately had the impression that I would not like to delve deeper in this discussion. We didn’t do the sit, but it still stuck in my mind. Above all, it was a bit scary to me that such a radical opinion suddenly came up about free people, manipulation and control. I then asked myself what it would be like if we had a conflict or if she didn’t agree with me on something regarding the care of the house and the pets. Would she then suddenly express a radical opinion too?
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I think that HS is welcome to continue to live freely and if they’re flat out refusing to use the tools required for the “job”, this isn’t the “job” for them. No hard feelings but this makes me super uncomfortable.
And I get that ppl don’t like technology, but it’s not about them, it’s about my dog and home. This to me does not indicate that they are truly putting the needs of the sit first and again, totally ok but it would not be a good fit for me unless they could demonstrate they have workable alternatives proven successful. It sounds like they clammed up and got defensive as opposed to saying, “so I don’t use x, but here’s what I typically do utilising y and z. Here’s an a example of what that looks like, and here are the common concerns I hear and how I’ve worked to resolve them in order to ensure your needs are met and I still feel safe.”…they didn’t do that and I’m not here to teach someone how to troubleshoot when they’re coming with that energy right from that start. And completely agree, anyone who’s response is “I’m not doing that because I don’t like to do it that way” as opposed to “I’m not comfortable with that but let’s figure out a solution that works for both of us”…seems to me to be flirting with uncomfortable interactions in future when you’re in a vulnerable and reliant position away from your loved one.
Ultimately your choice ofc but it would be a no for me.
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Our sitters just text us with daily updates and pics. And when we sit, we text daily updates and pics to the homeowners.
We have not traveled outside the U.S., and our homeowners (when we’ve been sitters) traveled within the U.S. also. Hence, no need for WhatsApp.
Homeowners and sitters alike should discuss this (among many other issues) before confirming a sit.
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Even when I’ve sat abroad and used WhatsApp, I found it useful to have a backup. Like I was sitting in London and my hosts went to Italy and WhatsApp unexpectedly stopped working for me. Because we were both on Signal, we quickly switched over.
This also is why I avoid hosts who aren’t comfortable with tech. In our case, we had tight windows to communicate, given that they were constantly on the go and often out of pocket, and I telecommute. The last thing I’d want to do is hassle with providing tech support for someone. And what if there were an emergency? I was sitting a cat who’d nearly died of colitis a year earlier. What if he’d had a relapse and I was stuck with only one way of communicating and it crapped out or it was slow?
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We have house sat for homeowners on a six week Pacific cruise starting in Australia . They were mostly out of phone signal but using WhatsApp over wi-fi we were able to communicate including dealing with an emergency medical situation ( their end ) and their need to come home early for follow up medical treatment. The logistics of finding out when they would be medi vacced off the ship at which port and when they would be flown back home would have been impossible to communicate any other way and it would have added to the stress of the situation.
It would have been very difficult for both parties had we not been able to communicate via WhatsApp and without it we would have been unprepared when they arrived home several days early .
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