@J0e have you considered copying and pasting your OP to the “feedback” thread as well?
If you’re saying that you have sits that didn’t happen because of the pandemic, you might want to check whether membership services can delete them from your history. I’ve seen on the forum that some sitters did that in the past. I don’t know if that still happens. I wasn’t a member then, so it’s not a topic I’ve followed closely.
1 Like
@Maggie8K I had three that didn’t happen because of the pandemic. THS advised me that I had that grace period to have them deleted before the blind review system began. I had to still show proof that they didn’t happen (thankfully I still had all the emails/texts/comms between the two parties) and they were deleted once that was confirmed. But it had to happen then or it couldn’t happen down the track was the feedback. Whether they would still do that now, I’m not sure.
1 Like
Thanks, Ziggy. Yes, I would automatically expect that you’d have to prove that the sit didn’t happen for a legit reason. They couldn’t just let people randomly ask for deletions.
There are so many shades of grey when it comes to this issue. There is flat out cancellation months ahead of time or days before the sit but there is also leaving early (the sitter) or coming back early (the HO) for a valid reason or for a reason that might seem valid to that person but not to someone else. I have seen so many posts on here where sitters have left sits for various reasons from aggressive animals, cameras, to fleas and smells. Equally lots of reasons owners don’t stick to the ageed dates. Where would anyone draw the line. If you tracked cancellations without also looking at the other ways in which commitments aren’t kept you’d miss half the story but let’s be honest doing that would be an administrative nightmare. I can’t imagine THS would take that on unless it was as some convenient in-app one size fits all sledgehammer like the overlap ‘fix’ which ultimately benefits their bottom line and brand. Good luck to the product person who gets to come up with this one.
2 Likes
@Maggie8K bad phrasing on my part sorry. My main point was, I was told if I wanted the three old sits removed, I only had that short window of time in which to do it and after that, it wasn’t possible.
1 Like
That is not a cancellation, that’s an edit to an existing sit. You can already give feedback on that kind of change in the existing review process because a sit has actually happened.
What we are talking about is when the sit didn’t happen at all. The only lines I think would be drawn is if the sit cancellation happened really far out (timeframe of which TBD) that it was whatever AND if it was a mutual cancellation (…maybe a few more criteria that could be reflected on), then cool, don’t bother capturing it.
If not, we should see the cancellation history.
Eventually, there would be a normal curve of cancellations/ppl would normalise in terms of getting an understanding of when cancellations happen and from there, people could provide context for cancellations when discussing sits or flat out clarify then in the notes on the cancellation or in their profile.
One implementation of this could actually just be that even a sit is cancelled (per whatever logic is put in place), it still shows up in the review feed and even for a cancelled sit, people are able to give feedback on the experience with that other party, I.e. service not rendered as it was stopped partway through the process. No rating on it but you’re able to add your notes of what happened and the other party can reply once as we now do for the current review system. This would work within the existing system and design that is already there.
The question that would be for TH to share is how often do cancellations happen? I can’t tell if it’s a lot or a little.
1 Like
This was suggested as an alternative to what @J03 suggested. There was no suggestion of following every programming choice Airbnb makes, such as a blanket message, but to consider what other companies may do for ideas.
@J03 begged THS to have coffee and bagels to address her perceived issue. With the recent announcement of a $100M investment in THS, this usually means teams of employees, lawyers, etc. doing due diligence on THS before they made this kind of investment. If there is the scale of a problem by sitters that the OP suggested, then after doing their due diligence, they likely know. If it is a problem, they likely have people they pay money to, who know everything we don’t, and have probably already developed a solution. There also may not be a problem. Yet some sitters, who have no actual knowledge of anything except what they may hear, are wanting to banish sitters from the site, calling them parasites, without knowing any of the circumstances. Self sabotage.
There are plenty of reasons for people to be removed from this site. THS probably already handles these based on what their policies are, which are probably also developed with the advice of legal counsel. It seems unlikely that THS would allow a person to continue with THS if they put any persons or any animals at risk.
1 Like
What a strange post. Canceled sits should have consequences, yes. It matters not one bit whether it’s the sitter or the HO who cancels without verified cause. But you’ve specifically excluded them.
3 Likes
I’ve not met any sitters who have had someone cancel. If it is happening a lot then obviously it needs addressing but cancelling by sitters or by HOs, both are equally as bad. I am a committed sitter and would only cancel for very good reason, such as serious illness or a death. I was involved in a collision, not my fault, on the way to a sit once, in which both cars were written off and still got to the sit the next day. The best way does seem to be putting cancellations on profiles although this would not be without it’s problems.
1 Like
We have just had our 2 and a half month sit cancelled, in what I think was a really underhand way. First the sitter said could we change the dates on the site, as after we’d confirmed her she asked to come a day later, which I agreed to. Then today she asked if I could formally change the date on TH as the system wouldn’t accept an overlap, as she was applying for another sit, so needed firm dates. So I basically unconfirmed her, at her request. She then messaged me to say she wanted to decline the sit, as she’d decided to travel with her husband. What was so sneaky was that I think she had tricked me into unconfirming her so it appears I cancelled the sit. Am completely stressed, angry and now have to find someone else. Have complained to TH, but yes, people who behave in this way should be taken off the site. Or at least a note should be posted to warn other potential owners.
3 Likes
This was a really awful of this sitter to do to you, especially for such a long sit, and in an underhanded way. There should definitely be something on their profile about their cancellation history so pet owners know. Those kind of people should be marked as not trustworthy and a pet owner can take their chances, or not.
Woooooow, that is so underhanded!
Interesting as well because if sitters were allowed to initiate a cancellation and there was evidential history around it, I bet that hs would not have pulled sth like that.
Definitely.
Yes I think I’m more upset at the way she did it, though obviously having to start again to find someone is a real issue. We do still have a while yet to find someone, but I consider myself very flexible as an owner looking for sitters, and so feel really let down by this one. All my other sitters have been fantastic.
Edited to meet posting guidelines.
Absolutely
I see you’re Reviewing Applications @Pushkina so I do hope you have some lovely and committed applicants after the way you have been treated by this other sitter.
2 Likes
You sound like a great pet owner. I hope that you can find another excellent sitter soon. The majority of us take the responsibility of being reliable very seriously. We strive to earn and receive those five star reviews, but if we cancel a sit, that should be on there too. I don’t know the specific solution to this, but THS now has a new major investor, so it’s possible we may see many changes in the future. Hopefully this is addressed.
1 Like
@Pushkina , that’s very crafty and underhand, I wonder how many times she’s pulled that trick.