That’s very helpful to know the process thank you @Carla
Seems strange that member service’s didn’t advice @desiderata of this process when they contact them .
@Silversitters You are most welcome 
I think as the forum is not the place to comment on individual cases, the best bet is for members to go back to Membership Services and go from there 
@meow sorry this happened to you .
HO or sitters cancelling without an extraordinary circumstance is not acceptable.
See reply below from @Carla
about the correct process for raising this with member services .
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There’s no repercussions for the HOs either. I only started applying for sits end of Feb.this year and was excited to get confirmed sits throughout the summer but 2 have already cancelled on me. I did reach out to membership services and other than “sorry to hear that but you should just apply to more listings” they didn’t help me. The annoying thing is, there were better sits that came up but I would never ditch a confirmed sit. Luckily I was able to replace one of the cancelled sit but still trying to replace the other one
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@IHeartAnimals what were the reasons that the HO gave for cancelling the sit ?
There will be occasions when there’s a genuine reason why a sit is cancelled. However sit should only be cancelled by HO or sitters when there’s an extraordinary circumstance.
THS say that they do investigate these issues but you have to raise a dispute with THS member services for this to happen.
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One stated that she couldn’t afford to go on their vacation. The other stated she broke her hip but then I saw a posting looking for another sitter for the same dates and now shows it’s in the review process. Maybe she didn’t want a family after all. Both times I reached out to member services and they just told me to look for new sits which I have been doing. The first cancellation did give me $500 because she felt bad I would have to incur costs for other lodging
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@IHeartAnimals 2 HOs cancelling in your first few months of THS is not a good statistic 
It’s great that you were able to resolve one of these cancellations between the HO and yourself . With the HO’s acknowledgment of the impact of cancelling the sit and making a gesture of compensation.
However for the second confirmed sit where the HO stated that there was an extraordinary circumstance necessitating them to cancel and then to re- advertise for same dates -something seems very wrong about that . Especially since you have contacted THS who say that they do investigate all cancellations .
I would go back to THS member services about this issue .
I did reach out to member services and they said, “sorry the homeowners cancelled on you” but since there was alot of time to try to look for a replacement sit, that’s what they recommended I do. I asked if they were going to contact and homeowners to investigate and they said no. I did feel a little let down and no I wasn’t interested in fighting to stay in their home. People either want my family or don’t. Luckily, I found another sit in the area with similar dates and I was able to replace that one.
@IHeartAnimals 
hmm does seem to be a disconnect between the what the THS policy says they will do in the case of a complaint and what member services actually do ?
I am relieved to say that we are on our 5th THS sit this year and so far they have all been fantastic . But reading the replies on this thread it does make me nervous about whether this might happen to us on future sits .
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I have just started a house sit in Northamptonshire after my sit in Dublin was cancelled. I am an international sitter so I prefer listings with dates far ahead so that I can plan logistics. In this case I had to fly in to Dublin then buy a ticket to Birmingham. Definitely loss in opportunity as well as time too but thankful I managed to find a sit in the timeframe even though not in the same country.
This experience has made me edgy as I have confirmed sits in EU as well ending in November which I had confirmed logistics even for gap days. I stand to lose a lot if any got cancelled. I have 8 more sits in line.
That is much more stressful than what I went through. At least mine didn’t involve flights. I’m now gunshy about these back to back sits. We just started a new one today and when I met the HOs, they said their original plans changed but felt bad about cancelling on us at the last minute so they found a place to go just to keep the confirmation. Now I feel guilty being here now that I know they didn’t need us. I’m thankful they were dedicated to the confirmation though
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@IHeartAnimals that’s the sign of a great HO. Honouring their commitment to you- as it should be!
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@Anne.323 in over 4 years sitting (70 sits in 10 countries) we have never yet had a sit cancelled on us. So the chance of another host cancelling on you is probably very low. Ofcourse you often hear about cancellations here on the forum so it may seem to be much more common that it really is. So try not to worry. The vast majority of hosts and sitters do appear to be reliable and committed. Long may that trend continue…as we have 4 more sits in France & Spain lined up till late September. Happy sitting!
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I really understand why the Dublin HO cancelled. Their circumstances was tragic so I did not seek any help from them to maneuver the changes. It was my first time in Ireland and I came so far from Malaysia. I am glad everything turned out all right now.
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Aaw I’m really sorry to hear that. That’s an absolutely genuine reason to cancel… I’m glad you got sorted elsewhere.
My comment was to reassure you that this is a rare occurence and most people- from either side- would not cancel casually.
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Oh wow that’s a great track record to have no cancellations in that amount of time! In one year of part time sitting I’ve had at least 4 cancellations or significant postponements. All were 100% justified and understandable and didn’t end up causing me problems, other than a bit of fleeting disappointment (and sometimes not even that when the new dates worked just as well). Luck of the draw I guess.
Hi @DeeKay I’m sorry you’ve had 4 cancellations that is really unlucky and not the norm, @Lokstar’s track record really isn’t unusual in 14 years and over 200+ sits across numerous locations/countries, I’ve only had one PP/Owner cancel and it was under the most difficult personal circumstances and yet they were more concerned about cancelling on their sitters than what they were going through.
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That’s amazing - I’m not really put out by it, I just think of it as “life happens” and as practice at being adaptable 
I should say though that one of the cancellations was due to the death of the pet and the homeowners invited me to stay anyway. But even though they were still going away they didn’t actually need just a housesitter so I declined. However it shows how lovely and committed people generally are, and if my circumstances had been different (bought a plane ticket or full-time nomad who needed the place to stay) they would have honoured the commitment.
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What about sitters who leave the sit halfway through and leave the HO to incur costs and their pets at risk? How can we make sure that sitter is flagged?
We also have only had one cancellation, when the pet sadly passed away a week before we were due to arrive.
The home host, knowing that we are full-time sitters said that she was happy for us to stay anyway whilst they were away. As it was this wasn’t necessary as we had managed to pick up another sit to cover the dates but what an incredibly kind gesture!
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