Hey Folks! Looking for a little help with THS support as we had a disastrous experience with a sitter a few weeks back. Despite the sitter having several positive reviews, she never showed up to take care of our cat. We made numerous attempts to contact her via text and phone call and she only responded a few times with very vague indications that she missed her flight and was rebooking a flight at an undisclosed arrival time. Our cat had just gotten surgery and went unfed and uncared for for over 24 hours due to this. Eventually we were able to get in contact with THS support and they helped us cancel her sit as we could not get a new sitter without her cancelling via the app. All this to say, we would like to report this sitter as we feel she is not a suitable participant in this platform. We cannot give her a rating because the sit was cancelled. Has anyone had similar experiences and/or success with reporting a sitter? We are trying to work with THS support with little success.
Hi. @rcergo, welcome to the forum. I’m sorry you had such a bad experience.
I think the key word is “member dispute”. You have to say you want to raise a member dispute. This link may be useful
https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/pages/member-dispute-resolution-procedure/
As a sitter, one cannot cancel a confirmed sit on the system oneself. Only the HO can do this, but not after a sit has started. Then one needs to ask Membership Services (if my understanding is correct).
In general, one would like to be in touch on the days before the sit. I would always tell the HO if I had booked transportation, when I had started out, etc. When a sitter does not do that, it is probably good to ask. But it sounds like you had done that.
Others will say it’s always a good idea to have a backup plan as things can go wrong on the sitter’s journey, whether by car, plane or train.
I’m surprised that you left your cat, especially when recovering from surgery, knowing the sitter might not show up tbh.
Yeah, this is why I personally prefer to arrive the day before - unless I’m already in the country - and stay until after the HO has returned - or has told me they’ve landed and are en route. Things happen and I would never want a pet to be left alone due to travel issues on either side. I know that won’t work for everyone, for various reasons, but it works for me.
Hi @rcergo
I just wanted to pop on and confirm that the concerns you raised with Membership Services have been logged. You should hear back from someone today.
Im sorry to hear this. As a sitter once i have booked my flights i send a copy to the HO to show my itinerary with times, stops, etc. To help put them at ease that I am coming . Maybe for your next sit ask for a copy of the flight information. I don’t think thats to much to ask .
Thank you!
For sure. For added context, we did have a backup plan-- we had a friend who was able to come check on our cat the morning after the no show. She was pretty much recovered she just needed to be fed a special type of food.
If it was a no show, shouldn’t you be able to write a review?
I thought if a sit is canceled once it has “started” they would just cut it short but it would be registered as one day sit in the system.
Am I wrong?
Yup. I would ask THS to not cancel the sit, but abbreviate it to the reflect the day that the sitter didn’t show and review them accordingly, to warn off other hosts.
THS allows overlap of one day (on the presumption that you can wrap a sit and start another), so cancellation shouldn’t be needed and you can preserve the right to review.
Yikes! What a scary scenario. I’m following to learn how it works out!
Majority of our housesits involve arrival one day prior to Pet Parent departure. This is often requested by Pet Parent. Perhaps as they are taking a long flight; have pet complexities; have property/community complexities; seek comfort that housesitter arrive as scheduled; want to optimize pet experience (show favoured walks); or frankly simply enjoy meeting and chatting with housesitters. All good reasons. Not always possible, but we try hard to accommodate reasonable requests. And we really enjoy meeting Pet Parents - lovely people! For context, our housesits are longer-than-average duration.