I am a sitter who owns a home and is a retiree. They did accept my survey. But my friend who is also a retiree/homeowner and has been with THS longer than me and has done many more sits got the same message as you did, so who knows what they are looking for. I don’t think that I have ever seen a company work so hard to alienate their existing customers/members. I used to be just about evangelical about THS and now I have to have long conversations regarding pros and cons and “work-arounds” before giving out my referral code.
11 Likes
I have to say I’ve actually never seen a survey, which based on the survey results already gives you the feedback that you’re not what they’re looking for. Particularly keeping in mind that this survey only goes to members!
Which member of any platform wants to take part in a survey, only to be told once concluding it…?!
3 Likes
A post was merged into an existing topic: Product update to avoid overbooking sits
This is a fascinating thread, especially because (1) we weren’t even aware of the new overlapping rule until I read the previous thread and (2) we did not receive the survey. It sounds awful. Not only does it appear to be very intrusive, it appears to have been very poorly designed (a personal bugbear of mine). As well, how many of the questions were worded in such a way that your answers could only be interpreted the way THS wants them to be?
4 Likes
Hi @Crookie
I know that some THS emails are only sent when a member is opted into Marketing, so that could be why. That being said, I’ve asked the team that sent the survey for a definitive answer.
Tagging @Gretch as you commented on not receiving the survey either. I also wanted to link you to the product update that @Carla shared about overlapping sits at the start of the month. The overlapping sits update was also mentioned in the Trusted Times which went out via email on Monday. I’d recommend keeping an eye on the Forum’s product update category, as that’s where the Forum team will share any important updates moving forward 
.
Jenny
There is definite truth in what you’re saying here.
Even though I don’t like to generalise and stereotype people since there are good and not so honourable folk across every economic demographic, I have recently experienced exactly what you’re describing.
Somebody I have never met in person who I happen to know is from a very affluent background, randomly asked me if they could stay with me for a fortnight during the Edinburgh festival. I need to know a person very well before I share my home environment with them and this person was more or less a stranger to me.
This person offered me a Spanish lesson in exchange for me providing them with a place to stay for two weeks. Whilst I think Spanish is a really beautiful language, it’s just not something I’m particularly interested in pursuing at this time in my life and is hardly an equitable exchange even if I was interested. Hope I won’t get slammed for going too far off topic but just wanted to say I know exactly what you’re talking about here.
@Chatsetchiens that was a very weird request you received! I would have been rather shocked, and also refused. I am sure you do know where I was coming from in my post, without trying to generalise 
1 Like
I totally know you’re not generalising. I do have a tendency though to sometimes generalise myself so I was calling myself out in advance! 
I found it a very bizarre request from this person I barely knew and had never even met. Their offering in exchange was not even remotely of the same value they were trying to get from me. I really felt this person was trying to exploit me so I cut all ties after that.
Hi @Crookie,
Wow. You’ve totally stumped me there. I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
‘A member is opted into Marketing’? I’ve never heard of any Marketing aspect into which one can opt.
What product update at the start of the month? Why would I have to watch all the threads on the Forum in order to become aware of product updates? Why aren’t product updates being communicated directly to the membership by TH itself?
What Trusted Times that went out via email on Monday? I certainly didn’t receive any emails from THS on Monday.
Wouldn’t you say there’s a real problem with communication within THS???
Very curious to hear more,
@Gretch
1 Like
Hi @Gretch - I see you’ve tagged @Crookie but your reply seems to be directed to what I’ve told you hence why I’m replying!
By marketing, I mean marketing emails, as all members have the ability to opt out of receiving any non-essential contact from THS. This is a pretty standard thing for companies to offer as many people don’t like to receive emails that aren’t 100% relevant to them. I believe that a company newsletter and a survey may fall under the category of non-essential contact but I’m checking that with the team to confirm for sure. Any confusion around your understanding of this is my fault for the clunky wording - apologies for that!
As you haven’t received Trusted Times or the survey, it sounds like you may have opted out of receiving marketing emails, so if these are something you’d like to receive I’d recommend opting back in.
If you hover over the word “product update” in green on my last post, you can click on it and it’ll take you to the update that I mentioned.
There’s no requirement for you to watch all of the threads on the Forum to become aware of product updates, as any updates we’re made aware of are added to the product category. It’s up to individual members to decide how and when they access any information on the Forum - but my recommendation as Community Manager is that members take a quick look at the product category to see if there are any new posts whenever it suits them to.
The product update category is a way in which THS communicates updates to its members, as the purpose of the Forum is to provide a place for THS members to provide peer-to-peer support and to discuss all things THS. If you want to communicate your feelings on how THS shares updates with its members, I suggest dropping Membership Services a line, though I’m happy to pass along your feedback.
If I receive any further information from the team, I’ll be happy to come back and share that with everyone here on the thread.
Jenny
Hi everyone,
Sorry to double-post!
The Marketing team have confirmed that to receive any surveys, Trusted Times, special offers etc, you need to be opted into receiving marketing emails.
I popped onto the website to understand how to update marketing permissions, and all you need to do is head to the drop down beside the circle with your profile in it, go to “settings”, and tick the box as detailed in this screenshot.
Hope this helps!
Jenny
Hi Jenny,
Thanks for getting back to me. While you have somewhat explained why I might not be aware of product updates, you haven’t in any way allayed my concerns about communication within THS.
Why aren’t product updates communicated directly to all members? I would think these rate as ‘essential’. Members are missing important information. To wit, if I hadn’t commented within the Forum about the new ‘overlap’ policy and therefore you had not replied, we’d still be unaware of it. Similarly, the membership at large was not informed of the ‘five applications’ policy until it had been in place for almost a year. (We found out about it by accident on the Forum.)
Why does THS make it so hard for members to keep abreast of changes? It rather smacks of THS not wanting their members to know about these things. Do they fear an extremely negative pushback from members such as occurred with the ‘five applications’ policy? Since THS simply ignores any negative feedback (and hence there’s no point in my dropping Membership Services), why would they worry?
Sorry if I sound cynical and disillusioned. When we began with THS, it seemed a much friendlier, more responsive organization. Its post-COVID behaviour - poor communication, ignoring massive negative feedback, frequent unsolicited policies. etc. - has us seriously considering letting our membership lapse and joining some other platform.
Gretchen
6 Likes
Hi @Gretch
Thanks for getting back to me.
I hear you. I can’t promise I’ll be able to get all the answers for you, but I’m happy to try.
Leave this with me and I’ll tag you in any reply I’m able to give.
Thanks
Jenny
1 Like
@Gretch @Jenny
I agree. I was under the impression that only a small percentage of members are in the forum .
I don’t think the forum is the only place changes in membership features should be mentioned. We shouldn’t have to hunt for them. The newsletter isn’t the place either because it only comes out occasionally and long after changes have been implemented.
When there is a change of a feature about how I use my membership or how my profile appears I would like to get an email.
6 Likes
Thank you!
@Gretch
There’s only a fraction (<5%?) of members reading the forum and only a fraction of those members know about or take a look at “product updates”. I think any change that’s made to the way the members use the platform should be communicated directly through email or some other wide distribution method well before being implemented.
The best job of communication that I’ve seen so far is the change to the review procedure but this was still only by newsletter and forum. I note that the review change communication was made at least a week prior to the change, so I think THS can be proactive if the management wants to be.
Actually, in thinking about it, I guess Carla came out with her overlap change announcement one day before it occurred. To me, this was an abrupt announcement of a significant change and does not count as sufficient notice.
5 Likes
Hi @Jenny we have that box checked, but we receive only some updates. We did receive the rebranding email and can you recommend us on trustpilot, but didn’t receive the latest survey or the overlapping sits email.
1 Like
I just double checked ours and we did not either.
1 Like
Hello @Gretch @AnnieNai @ExploreDreamDiscover @BunnyCat @Expat6 - I hope I have tagged everyone!
Jenny is now out of the office until the end of the week so I am happy to help in the meantime.
Just to reassure you that THS uses different mediums to share information and updates with members, the forum is just one of those, but we also have email, blog posts, surveys, newsletters, platform pop-ups, FAQs and Membership services.
For example, the new review system was announced on the forum, in the newsletter, in a blog post and sent out in emails to target audiences (eg reviews from over a year ago, reviews from under a year ago, sitters and owners with a current sit). Then there was a member awareness (new review system) email sent.
I am sharing this as I understand that you might not have seen all of these touchpoints for sharing the information, but hopefully to help reassure you that we do share the information across several different mediums and are always striving to improve this.
TrustedHousesitters is of course happy to receive feedback and suggestions about how you would like the information shared.
As the forum team only oversees the posts on the forum, if you have any questions about the other methods of communication or suggestions of how you would like to see things communicated differently, please do reach out to the Membership Services team
The forum team will always try and announce updates with as much notice as possible. We are working with various teams across the company to produce these updates, and they all work really hard behind the scenes to get these updates in place and share information with us. As soon as we have that information we will share it with you in the Product category.
To help you further, if any member is not sure about the email settings in their account or is not receiving the emails that they should be, then the best place to get help is always Membership Services as they can check if you are correctly subscribed with our email provider and troubleshoot any email issues.
As @Jenny mentioned, please feel free to keep an eye on the Product Category when using the forum, as that’s the part the forum team can help with, including passing on any feedback that you leave on the Product update threads.
A quick reminder that product updates are just one part of the forum and you can mute any topics that don’t suit you (if you need any help just let the team know), so feel free to check out different categories as well 
Hi @Jenny I am opted in for marketing as I get the Trusted Times.