As a sitter I recently belatedly noticed after a sit reading the fine print that the home owner had internal security cameras which made me feel very uncomfortable in retrospect feeling my privacy had been breached in relation to waking around the house in a state of undress at various times en route to pool or shower and a lengthy zoom business call I needed to make whilst on the sit which was private business the homeowner should not have been privy to Judging by the home owners distant response and lack of proper acknowledgement at the end of the sit I wondered if the owner had a problem with the fact I went into their office a couple of times once looking for paper and pen to leave them a note and once looking for their address which I could give to the uber driver coming to pick me up.As well as listing the fact they have internal security cameras in the fine print I beleive HO should actively make a point about conveying thee fact they have internal security cameras in a pre sit chat I consider myself an extremely trustworthy sitter with my own strict personal ethics about not going through peoples personal stuff or invading their privacy However I personally prefer not to take on jobs with internal security cameras .I just dont like the idea of being in a big brotherish environment where my every move is being spied on Seems creepy to me Wondering how other sitters feel about this
Against ths policies not allowed internal cameras report them
Hello @wendywindow It is clear that owners are not allowed to have any indoor monitoring equipment in use during the sit. The onus is on the owner to comply. However, take it upon yourself to confirm that the owner will be complying.
I would suggest you:
- read the listing carefully, looking for any mention (yes or no) about cameras
- have good communication with the owners in whatever style works for you both (email, phone, video - not for me to judge)
- if the question has not been addressed by then, before you confirm acceptance of a sit (if it is offered to you), email the owner via the TrustedHousesitters site to have them verify that there are no interior monitoring devices
- then accept the sit, if you are satisfied.
If you get to the sit and you find otherwise, immediately contact membership services and take steps to cover or deactivate the devices.
You are not at the mercy of an owner’s actions. Stand up for your right to privacy.
Well answered Snowbird thankyou !! I will make a point of definately asking future owners I sit for whether there are internal security cameras in the initial chat and take your point that I can follow up with management if the HO is not honest about this.Thats a good point too to ask about internal security cameras via the Trusted Housesitters site
Thanks for your good advice
Wendy
Thankyou Genevere for your advice and I will definately do better surveillance myself in the matter of internal security cameras before accepting future sits
Same for me on a prior sit–both walking in a state of undress from BR to bathroom (later found a camera fixed on that hallway–hope they liked my Ts) and having had Zoom work meetings that were confidential and involved national security issues. Great.
Yes I am definately honing in doing my own surveillance on internal security camera set ups before accepting any further sits Forewarned is for fore armed I can only think that a lot of that footage to watch back on a sitter involved in their daily domestics must be terribly boring unless one is something of a voyeur :
@wendywindow Internal camera issue aside, which should be reported to THS, how is it you didn’t know the address when you were already there? You should have got the address details when the sit was confirmed and in the Welcome Guide.
NO actually It was a short two day sit and the owner picked me up from the station and there was never any need for me to have the exact street address ahead of time
@wendywindow - this is against the code of conduct - by “fine print” do you mean it was written in the listing ?
It’s not too late to report to member services - they can remind the HOs of the code of conduct where internal cameras are not permitted to be on during the stay . ( THS should have picked this up when approving the listing but often things slip through or are added later by HO ) You should report this to THS for the benefit of future sitters .
Support@TrustedHouseSitters.com
Had the owner said the office was out of bounds ? If not then there is no reason why you should not go there especially if you were working from home . All our sits HOs know we work from home from our profile - all have cleared a space for us to work in their home office. One had their office room locked ( which we knew before the sit ) and provided a desk & workspace set up in another room for us .
Have they given you a review yet ?
@wendywindow you sound like a trustworthy AND trusting person, which is lovely. And we all learn through experience.
This is a slightly different point, I know, but related to your post and experience….
As a mostly solo sitter, I always ask for their full name and address details, for my personal safety & security reasons, in any event. Ahead of attending the sit.
I’m thinking it’s best that someone back home has that info and knows where I am and who I am meeting, for my personal safety and security. I first let the HO know that is what I will be doing and why. No one has minded or objected so far. And if they objected, I would not go ahead with the sit, as that would raise alarm bells for me.
Best wishes and travel safely.
Yes that does seem like a good idea This sit was pretty rushed The Home Owner had had a last minute cancellatiion from a sitter and I agreed to step in at the last minute with perhaps a days notice I was actually enroute to another sit and could just fit her in so not too much time to think about or premeditate anything
I am put in mind though of a very amusing incident which happened in one of the earlies sits I ever did .I had again been picked up at the station and taken to the sit and had not taken note of the address .Later when the homeowners had left I went shopping at the local plaza and caught a taxi home suddenly realizing once I was in the cab I didnt know the exact address of the place I was staying at. I thought I might be able to direct the driver but everything looks different in the dark and we ended up riding around in the dark not really sure where we were going and luckily I was able to ring the homeowners to ask them for their address .
Thats a great idea I do a lot of work on my computer and have never thought to ask to use their office although one homeowner recently did set up a large screen on his office desk for me to use which I appreciated
This latest home owner did have a beautiful home lovely animals and was very generous in her provisioning and I felt her job had all the ingredients of a good sit .I noticed she only had one review on her profile though and asked her if she had just started to use the service .She told me no she had used the service many times but wasnt worried about reviews .She said she never usually checked to see if she had any reviews so I’m presuming she probably didnt give any and she said the only thing of interest to her was that the sitter had a police clearance check
I must add this sit was not through Trusted Housesitters After the sit I never heard from her again so needless to say I wont be leaving her a review though I have written to her with my feedback . If she treats her sitters thus she is probably doing herself out of some good reviews .