Sometimes the HO's Mother Will Be at Home

Perfect!!

THS for the love of sitters, please implement this.

Why aren’t THS following up on these listings? If they’ve already been flagged you’d think they would make doubly sure they are compliant.

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manpower and lack of motivation. either the sit will be filled by a sitter who doesn’t know any better or it won’t be filled at all.

The latest review gives 1 stars :star2: throughout @CreatureCuddler and details all the nightmares with the continual airbnb guests and her concerns about the chained dogs. (The sitter is experienced and has loads of other good reviews). THS have ignored it and reinstated the listing :flushed::flushed::flushed: #sittersbeware

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At least the sitter left an appropriate review. That should KO any other sitters who are smart enough to DYODD

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This is abominable and poses serious questions around what THS is willing to overlook.

I saw a listing the other day where a HO had a lodger, but said the lodger doesn’t want to care for the pet in their absence.

I notified THS, they said they’d contacted the HO, and the listing was gone. But then reappeared a day later. I highly doubt the HO’s lodger had moved out in a day or the material circumstances had changed, the HO had just removed that information from the listing.

This site could become rogue quickly it it continues to expand without being regulated properly.

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They’ve made it pretty clear that they’re much more interested in keeping HOs happy than keeping sitters happy. I believe HOs are harder to get to sign up than sitters so they want to retain them. If that means overlooking them breaking the rules, so be it. I think they won’t do anything about listings like that if the HOs pretend to comply or unless/until a sitter who actually did the sit complains.

Hopefully which ever poor sitter ends up getting conned into doing that sit will walk out immediately and the HO will learn a lesson.

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Hi @Cuttlefish

This was upsetting to read.

THS removed and put back a listing in which Airbnb guests are permitted to share the home with the sitter. Although the sitter won’t have any Airbnb guest responsibility, somehow, it is fine for sitters to share the same space as Airbnb guests?

And reading this was even more upsetting:

Dogs being chained for 12 hours straight is beyond cruel. This HO should not even be allowed to have dogs much less be a THS member.

Again, how are these listings approved by THS?

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Hi @CreatureCuddler

It does seem that THS caters more to HOs.

Does this mean that HOs have to abide by a different set of rules than sitters?

THS is quick to turn a blind eye when HOs have broken a rule, but if sitters break a rule, then they get lectured, chastised, or their accounts get suspended. Has anyone ever heard of a HO getting suspended?

Where is the equalness? Where is the fairness?

Is THS really sacrificing quality HO listings for financial gain?

If THS does not police up HO listings or do not enforce the 3rd party policy, then why have it?

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All valid questions that I don’t really have answers to. But, most businesses are willing to sacrifice quality for financial gain.

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I am just venting out questions, pardon me … :thinking:

There is nothing wrong with financial gain and wanting to exceed in being a successful business. But if it comes at the expense of sacrificing quality and not following one’s own set of rules, then where is the integrity in the product?

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Yikes to all of the horrendous circumstances mentioned on this thread. @Jenny, is it possible to get membership services to look into these cases? They seem to be in direct violation of THS terms.

Personally, hearing about THS not intervening in such cases makes it likely that I won’t renew once my current membership expires. I’m a five-star sitter and get that businesses must balance user needs with profits, but I won’t support any business that repeatedly lets egregious violations of terms go with a blind eye. Meanwhile, if I encounter any sits where animals are being treated cruelly, I’ll report them to animal welfare officials.

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Hi @Maggie8K

I’m sorry that this is making you question renewing your membership. :frowning:

While we can sometimes pass things over to the team, we can’t guarantee any reply or outcome. Because we’re not a formal branch of Membership Services, we don’t have the same ability to take any action like MS can.

The best thing in any situation where a listing is discovered to have something that doesn’t look right would be to contact Membership Services with a link and a note of any concerns, and if you’re not happy with how the enquiry is handled, escalate your concerns within MS and the complaints procedure.

I know that’s not what you’ll want to hear, and I’m so sorry, as I know the feedback in this thread mentions listings being reinstated after review with MS, but what I can do, is pass along this thread, to see if the team can take a look at everyone’s feedback and see if that can make a difference.

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Thanks, Jenny. Totally get it.

Would just like to add that like Maggie8K this is a serious concern also for me, and something I have in mind concidering whether I want a renewal or not. After joining I have found out several topics where sitters have responsibilities that are really outragious in my opinion, like the duties in THS terms to pay for the homeowners repairs and vet.-bills. In addition to what seems to be an unfairness on how THS treat their paying members. I would like to see that resolved before a renewal.

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Sorry to bombard you @Jenny but exactly that has happened with a sit we’ve reported twice. The HO has been questioned, they lie, MS reinstates. And repeat. @Maeve has tried to tackle MS about it too and is getting the party line. “HO promises this isn’t the case” (airbnb guests in the house and chained dogs for 12 hours) When we know for a fact that it is. What can be done? We are reporting it to MS and they’re not fixing it by simply removing the HO. And it’s absolutely not our job to do any of this. The rant isn’t at you as you know but unless someone high up does something significant to both monitor and report bad sits then these instances are going to increase and the good reputation of THS is only going to decrease and many of the really good sitters will leave! #someonehastodosomething

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@Silversitters

At a second glance, I had not applied to the sit I originally posted about.

So, if the HO had confirmed a sitter, I would not know the status of whether the HO secured a sitter or not. In this case, the listing would not be visible to someone who had not applied.

But had I applied, and the HO confirmed a sitter, and if the listing had not been taken down, then I would have been able to see that the listing showed “currently no sitter needed”.

I can also see this on sits I haven’t previously applied for.

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@Cuttlefish

I agree. It is not our job as sitters to police up listings that violate THS’ rules. We report them because we care enough not to turn a blind eye on listings that violate THS’ rules. We report them to Membership Services because we are trying to do the right thing.

The sad part is that there will be sitters who don’t know any better or not care and apply for these sits. And the cycle of listings that break THS’ rules will keep repeating itself…wash, rinse, repeat.

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Just to chime in here, we report them even though they make it difficult when it should be easy. We’re HELPING them do their jobs and make the site better and 1) they refuse to even add a flag option should should be a basic feature on any site like this and 2) they then don’t actually take action. It’s disheartening and, like the others, I’m contemplating my future with the site.

I used to be an advocate for it to the point that I earned 5 YEARS worth of referral months because I got so many people to join. Now I no longer recommend the site and, while I don’t actively advocate against it, I tell people that it’s changed and not the same as it used to be. My membership is up in January and I’m debating my renewal. The only reason it’s even a debate is that I’ll be in the middle of a long-term sit and I worry that if something happens to happen after my membership expires, it would be much more problematic.

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