I requested one from the HO but she did not oblige. I suspect she knew that if she went first with a review then she’d be in a vulnerable position. I did not leave a review as I did not want to wreck my reputation as I daresay somebody that lacking in integrity and manners would play nasty in her review. I’m afraid I didn’t want to risk that. I’m sure I’ll be judged very harshly for that by some but that was the reality of what we were dealing with on the previous review system.
Not long after that whole incident, her membership lapsed. She appeared to have rejoined recently which is when she contacted me to invite me to look after her pets again.
There needs to be some protection for sitters. THS is completely disrespectful of sitters. We are taking a big risk going to a complete stranger’s home and counting on them to uphold their side of the agreement. If they break that agreement there is no reason a sitter should be expected to just do the sit anyway. But THS’s stance is that the HOs can do absolutely anything they want including breaking the T&Cs. Of course, we want the pets to be taken care of. But if the HO breaks their side of the agreement, that’s on them, not on the sitter. If they have to scramble to make other arrangements, that’s their fault, not the sitter’s.
I’ve done about 30 sits and the vast majority have been absolutely wonderful. I’m on a great sit right now. Most HOs are fantastic, as are most sitters. But, just as there are some bad sitters, there are also some bad homeowners and THS completely ignores it.
THS needs to support sitters too. I feel like THS has forgotten that this is supposed to be an equal exchange and sitters are just as important as homeowners. Unfortunately, we are treated like errant employees rather than valued customers.
That’s the end of my rant. Time to get back to work and cuddle up with a super sweet cat.
I can see that you’re understandably concerned about the presence of a third party at a sit, and a few of you have mentioned experiences of it happening, which should never have been the case.
The property should be vacant during the sit (pets and sitters aside, obviously!)
People such as cleaners, gardeners, and potentially maintenance employees should be allowed to enter the property periodically to carry out work, but this must be agreed with the sitter before confirming the sit with them
As you know, the Forum team can’t help with Membership Services enquiries directly (although we do our best to help out where we can!) but if any of those who mentioned their experience in this discussion would like us to query how a third party turning up at a sit was handled, feel free to drop us a DM and we can ask MS to take a look.
Although I know some of you have voiced concerns about how specific incidents were handled, I’d always recommend contacting MS to report if a third party turns up at a sit where it’s not been agreed before confirming the sit, and now that our blind review system has gone live, I would hope that anyone this happens to would feel a bit more comfortable in being open about an uncomfortable situation like this.
@Jenny thankyou.
It is quite concerning that I reported a third party living at an address only this week to be told by MS it was fine. It was only when an admin on here saw it that she went back to MS, who are finally investigating. I still await their reply. If MS don’t know the rules, that is very troubling.
Everything does seem far too skewed in favour of pet owners, surely owners and sitters both pay and should be treated equally. I have had cleaners let themselves in, and once an adult son nearly did but I headed him off at the front door. Now I tend to keep the key in the locked front door so no one can open from the outside.
Hello @MarieHuggins I followed this up for you and can see you had a reply from the Membership Services team yesterday, please check your inbox and if you need more help please do get back to them. The team are now reaching out to the owners and will make sure that the owner is aware that the third party can not be present during the sit. They will need to either update their listing so that it meets the terms (the third party be away for the sit) or remove it.
I have also passed your feedback back to the team regarding the original misinformation, at times there can be human error, especially if someone is new to the team. The Membership Services team are aware and will put things in place to help support and prevent this in the future. Thank you for raising this and sharing awareness of third parties in homes.
For anyone concerned about third parties please do speak to the owners and reach out to the Membership Services team.
Hi @Carla , yes i saw the reply. Im awaiting feedback regarding the HO reply as MS said,
“We have also gone ahead reached out to the Home Owner on your behalf in order to get the situation clarified”
So im waiting for clarification
I am on a sit at the moment where the adult son who lives nearby has let himself in 3 times now to my knowledge. There are no keys, just a key code on all external doors, so if I go out one door has to be accessible by the code so I can get back in. I have no idea whether people are letting themselves in while I’m out or not!
Tell the HO it has to stop immediately @Wildcolonialgirl . If it doesn’t you will leave the sit. Report if for breaking THS Ts & Cs. Put it in your review at the end of the sit. Do it asap. #yougotthisgirl
I have had one bad sit with several third parties staying/ visiting, and essentially minimal upside for me (there was a bed, in a separate but unsecured room. No other benefits.)
I have had several sits with cameras.
THS should survey sitters to understand how often this rule breaking occurs
Hopefully you reported all these - I have suggested time and time again that there should be a check list for owners to go through and then acknowledge that they have read, understood and agree to abide by the conditions of the sit. This should appear as a drop down each time a sit is listed. If they then don’t follow this protocol and a sitter decides to leave a sit then they have only themselves to blame. I am not, course, suggesting abandoning animals but contacting THS immediately for them to resolve this with the owner. I know this sounds a bit draconian but there is no way sitters should be expected to share the place with third parties nor have cameras watching their movements.
@Jenny and @Carla We under that Membership Services doesn’t monitor these postings, and that each incidence of a third party entering while the sitter is present should be reported. But I would suggest that this needs to be brought to the attention of senior management and that a process change is needed.
It is unsafe to have third parties entering the properties like this. I had an adult male enter the property without notice while I was sleeping. It was frightening. It’s clear from these posts that this issue isn’t getting any better. These posts occur almost daily. Following the same policy which clearly isn’t working will not fix this.
What needs to happen is to change the way homeowners can list. They should have to agree, again, to each key sitter safety policy by initialing it individually. If violated, they should be permanently banned from the platform.
@Jenny Thank you! My incident was some time ago, and was the adult son of my HO who was sent to “check on things”. I was napping when he came through the door. I had quite the start. They meant no harm but it was still frightening.
But I think we can all see how badly this could go. Imagine a neighbor who sees the sitter with his neighbors dogs and decides on his own accord to go check things out.
It would not be technically hard to reinforce the sitter safety rules. I understand that all already agree to the broader terms of service when joining. But what I’m suggesting is that EACH individual safety and privacy rule (not the entire TOS) pop up individually asking for a check to confirm before the listing can go live.
Thanks, Jenny, I don’t feel unsafe at all, it is just an invasion of my privacy. No intervention required from Member Services necessary at this stage.
