It’s the one she already rejected 17 days ago that are now saying they want money to sit for her. We just wouldn’t sit for anyone that rejected us in favour of someone else, so while it’s not inline with THS rules and should be reported, at least they gave her a lifeline if she gets stuck, if it were us, we wouldn’t of given any lifeline.
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• THS terms don’t allow sitters to ask for money.
• The terms don’t mention exceptions.
• We don’t know whether this sitter has been reported before for asking for money.
• THS has employees who can sort this kind of thing out, so why not let them? It’s in the interest of the ecosystem to weed out sitters and hosts who breach terms.
• Making exceptions for technicalities isn’t feasible when running a business at scale. If a company did that, abusers could just game the system. That’s especially dicey with terms such as no asking for money.
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Yup. Thanks. This made me go back and look. I think your policy of not sitting for people who declined you earlier is a choice, but it’s not one I would make. I live in NYC. I get an unlimited number of applicants. Ultimately, only one person can get a sit. I don’t choose by kismet. Sometimes my first choice takes another sit and the sitter I chose has no idea they weren’t the first choice. Sometimes my first choice is based on logistics and a kind of point system for that sit which might include stuff like looking for that magical sitter who is “between sits” and much less likely to cancel on me because of how the dates align. It’s not personal.
As a sitter, I only do sits for fun and the opportunity to travel to places I want to visit where the accomodation fees would make it impractical. Probably about a 1/4 of the sits told me they had someone else in mind or even declined me and then offered me the sit. I was happy to take those sits. A couple more declined me and then offered the sit too late for me to take it. But I told those homeowners to think of me next time.
We are all strangers until we meet, so I don’t think it’s personal.
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Got it and agree. But I feel I rushed to judgement when I misread the OP, and I think there are degrees, so THS should sort it out. If the sitter has asked for money before and been reported, they would know. We also don’t know exactly what the sitter said. We have one side of the story. That’s why I ultimately come down on report what happened and let the company decide.
Yup, we always get one side. We all can have opinions based on that.
That’s why for something serious like asking for money, THS employees are better positioned to enquire and judge based on a fuller picture. Not charging is key to THS.
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We don’t give a second chance, because we’ve only been turned down once in the whole of 2024, and we only sit in two areas only (one particular area in one country, and one particular area overseas), and we return to those same places time after time, plus we come with a property and cleaning business background too, not just pet experience. So that’s why if someone thinks there’s someone better, it must be that they feel more connected to someone else, and that’s fine, but we want HO’s that instinctively feel WE are the right fit for them.
Obviously, there’s been others we’ve applied for whereby we just missed-the-boat and applied too late after they’d made their choice, that’s totally different, because they respond straight away, and we’ve had plenty of those ask to sit again and we’re totally open to those, that’s different, we know they’ve genuinely made their selection already by the quick response they give us.
Each to their own, we’re all different, that’s what makes the whole THS system work so well.
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Speculations because we haven’t seen the emails, but it sounds like they applied to the same sit through THS, and were declined and then when the host asked they said they’d only do it for pay. So to some extent it sounds like they were willing to do the sit before through THS presumably without asking for $, but when offered the sit the second time changed the terms. They should have simply said not available, but again we haven’t seen exactly what they said.
Typically, I would say sitters asking for compensation for a THS sit should be reported. However, this case sounds different. If I’m reading this correctly, the sitters applied through THS and were declined. There is no THS application anymore, so it’s no longer part of the conversation. During the time between the decline and the HO reaching back out to them, the sitter could have decided that they prefer to do only paid sits at the holidays. It’s possible they have other offers for paid sits and were letting the HO know they would consider it as a paid sit. Given that they do not have a THS application for this sit and the HO contacted them, I don’t think they are really violating any rules. Unless, they requested that the sit go through THS and involve compensation, then it would be a violation, but it’s unclear if that’s the case.
I personally don’t do paid sits, I just do it for fun. But there is nothing wrong with people getting paid for the work they do. THS is an exchange model, but outside of THS there are many people who make their living caring for other people’s pets.
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I read it the same way and I agree. It’s entirely possible for their circumstances to have changed in 17 days. Whether that’s other sits, social engagements, paid work or just an increase in the cost of travel. If this sit is no longer as apealing to them without payment, I don’t think they’re wrong to say so.
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Si las normas de la plataforma es no cobrar no es normal que una niñera quiera cobrar aunque sea Navidad
———
Translation by Forum team:
If the platform’s rules are not to charge, it is not normal for a nanny [sitter] to want to charge even if it is Christmas
It is possible she text them. ( off of the site ) and you don’t really know both sides of the story. to call them extortionists, is a bit far.
How would you like it if you get passed up for a sit, are making other plans, and the owner calls you back? There is an art to this communication. The HO can just say no.
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Perhaps they should have said “no, thank you”.
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You’re entitled to your opinion, as am I. To me, on a platform where people are matched based on no money, that’s not up to individuals to interpret as they like. And I consider it extortionist, because everyone knows how hard it is to get holiday sitters.
As for me, I have actually been passed up or withdrawn in the past and then been asked to sit. My approach was to either say no, thanks, or to pursue the sit if I wanted it (did that a couple of times early days) for free, because that’s how THS operates.
Just today, I received a message from a host I’d withdrawn my application from earlier. Does that mean I should extort them for money, because I know they’re more desperate now?
To me, it makes no difference whether they texted them or used the platform. Sitters and hosts use texting, WhatsApp and other platforms and apps all the time. That doesn’t suddenly turn a THS sit into a non-THS sit.
Generally, when people have to split hairs so much, it’s not in the spirit of the thing. To me, that’s just gaming things.
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a HO sent me an invite and they suggested the dog could come to my place, if it were easier. Are you going to say they are extorting also? or maybe they just don’t know the Rules, and also there is more pressure when looking for holiday sits.
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Since it didn’t involve money, I’m not sure how that’s related. Sounds like they’re either entitled or clueless about what THS is about.
Looking over this thread and the upvoted “solution” I’m surprised at what people chose. (That happens to me a lot lately – being surprised at the outcome of a vote.) I don’t think we can judge “why” the sitters asked for money and I don’t think most sitters would ask for money out of resentment because they weren’t first choice. We are only hearing one person’s side. That person can report the request for $ to THS. THS will find out exactly who said what to whom when and either reprimand the sitters and “watch” for further violations or act if there are previous ones OR they will determine some reason why this was not a violaton. In either case, the sitters who are now doing some sits for pay will have a clearer understanding of where the line is and how to avoid it. Nobody gets a bad review. Noboday pays. Meantie the host can continue to look for a sitter through THS and/or make other plans.
Maybe that sitter that got invited after first having been declined had made arrangements to travel somewhere else. The only phrase in quotation marks is “due to various reasons”, we don’t now how the rest was phrased. Maybe they wrote that it would be a considerable extra expense for them to take this sit now. That would be just stating facts, and not extortionist in any way.
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It’s true that we don’t know all the specifics. THS terms don’t mention exceptions for sitters asking for money, though. If they can’t reasonably do the sit without hosts’ money, they should’ve just turned it down, given THS terms.
The solution is chosen by the OP by ticking a box,not voted I believe. That means also that I can tick the Solution box and then it might come even better solutions later, or I can tick it because it is an answer I like at any given point.
having a dog at my house? in exchange for What… not money, but not the terms of THS