Panama! I think you’ll find them 
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I have also had “surprise tasks” listed once I arrived. If not informed before my sit I don’t feel obliged to take them on if they are unreasonable. I Think this sit should be removed. It is absolutely crazy! If not removed I really think TH should make it mandatory that all pet parents list the exact responsibilities expected on their profile. That way sitters could decide if this sit is for them or not. Really not fair to a sitter who traveled a long way.
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I’m curious why you gave 1 star for pet behaviour as I don’t see anything in your review about problems with the cats. Any heads up on the cats?
I’m curious: what are they talking about here?
Swimming pool maintenance.
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I too want a stickybeak!
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Sitters beware, this listing is still alive and well and now the only one for Panama. Interestingly enough, they’ve given rave reviews to some of their past Sitters, but have slammed other Sitters with lengthly, bad reviews. Personnally, I wouldn’t even think of applying for this sit…although I’d love to visit Panama some day…
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Why isn’t the listing removed by THS? This is clearly a not mentally stable HO?!
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Well, clearly the past HS “messed things up”
I will say I have always been worried I asked too much or expected to much as a HO, fretted about creature comforts etc… but no longer worry about my own listing after reading this sit request.
Oh good lord. This person need a paid life personal attendant… and potentially 
“ mentally stable”
Ooof.
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Hmmm
Not sure that could be promised…. 
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“remove tiny blood spots from linen”
Dexter is that you?!!! This is an absolute no. How is this ok?!
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I am going into the lion’s den. I just looked at the sit. In context, I don’t think it is that crazy. In fact if it was two weeks in April AND there was some way around the transportation issue either a car to loan or local driver whose prices weren’t outrageous and maybe an allowance for the local driver, I’d consider it. I’m thinking of retiring to Panama or semi-retiring to Panama so this could be ideal in some ways.
The salt pump thing in context refers to the pool and not leaving it on 24 hours.
I think they took off the a/c business but even if it is on if the house is in the mountains it should be pretty temperate.
The linen thing is weird and WAY too specific. It’s self-defeating for the homeowners as it makes it seem like there are fleas or bedbugs. That would be a big turn off. They could have put laundering your linens as a responsibity and discussed further during chat.
The mental stability thing also too specific and may refer to a previous bad sitter experience, so again a turn off.
It would be nice if THS had someone working for them or a great algorhythm AI that could catch this kind of ridiculousness and/or help some hosts to write better listings.
I see no evidence from the listing that the hosts are terrible hosts. But I didn’t read the reviews so maybe they are. I don’t think the responsibilities are ridiculous but some of them are stated in a way that sounds nonsensical.
Watering the gardener also doesn’t sound great. Does he get paid or just watered?
Updated: Have since read reviews and responses. Still will argue that the headline of the post regarding “ridiculous responisibilities” is off. The responsibilities as described sound ridiculous because of how they are communicated. The issue with the sit based on the reviews and responses is that the hosts were in violation of third party rules and had ongoing construction in one case, and in another were also non-responsive to sitter concerns and made bizarre pet-care demands duirng the sit, and generally communicated in a a harrassing manner and then (spoiler alert) the pipe burst. Both of these sits involved sitters contacting THS before leaving.So the review system worked. But why hasn’t THS suspended the account after 2 strikes?
If you look closely… another version of same HOs, same place, same pets listing only male owner are in a separate listing that’s not active, with a slightly shorter laundry to do list
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Good points….
And re reading - currently listing maybe a misguided effort to describe need.
The consequence may be limited application. Having been to Central America many time- certainly flexibility about infrastructure is a thing to be pretty candid about…
Something went on though, with sitters being bombarded with texts, things not as described, leading to total breakdown of sit ending early. Sit description sounds a little wacky now.
Yeah. Reading through the one bad review, it’s understandable they got a formal warning from THS and I’d avoid because the construction was an unacceptable surprise/violation of third party and communication is wacky. But I don’t think the duties themselves sound too bad.
To me this is a case where sitters need to read the reviews and the review system worked because the sitters left a thorough review that didn’t read like a personal grudge and also responded to a bad review on their page with facts.
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I’m a little bit curious as to how often window washing and removing blood from sheets comes up?
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Good eye @Halifax23
I cannot think of one above board reason for these homeowners to have 2 accounts.
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@Marion: for the most recent sitter (who left no review) did you read the response to the HO review?
I think that might require more research (going to the app) then I’m up to. But again, my point was that the posted requirements are written in a way that is off-putting, and hint at issues that might dissaude a sitter from applying, but the real kicker is the reviews and sitters able to say “what happened” in a very clear way. Those sitters are my heros.
1 Like