Full time sitter here for 3+ years, have completed over 50 sits. This is the first time I am considering not renewing my trusted membership and moving to a different platform. I don’t know if there needs to be money put into the IT department or if Trusted is actively trying to manipulate the amount of sits on the site but there is something wrong….
I have talked to other full time sitters considering the same, the price of the membership is to expensive and there are to many members to continue to have these very basic issues in your IT department. For 3 years the search by date has never worked and I have contacted trusted multiple times. If I sort by only 1month plus for example there will be numerous sits that are less then a week! Now it’s even worse. If you search by date range, there will be hundreds of sits that come up that have no dates but are listed in your date range. Making it impossible to sort through thousands of sits if the date range feature does not work at all. Again, either the IT department is not capable or more then likely trusted is trying to make it look like there are way more sits posted then there are at a given time not caring that this ploy is at the expense of there members satisfaction. For all of you homeowners wondering why your not getting enough apps trust me, as a full time sitter who knows many others it is because we are migrating to different platforms because of how bad this one has become when it comes to searching for a sit. Trusted is 4x the cost of its competitors and easily has the worst search options and the most technical issues. As customers we should demand better, at the very least a working site even if minimal.
If a potential sitter cannot search for your dates and find your sit then you won’t get applicants. If these issues are not addressed trusted is going to see a lot of full time sitters leaving and the lack of sitters is going to get even worse.
I’m sad that the current software issues look to be driving you away. Your post made me wonder where one might go elsewhere & Google showed me that although the pet-sitting platforms are many & varied (I’m +/- in UK) they all seem to be paid services. Is there truly anything as quid pro quo as THS?
There is a lot of negativity about. Is it post-lockdowns? Is it because people type when they’re disappointed & not when they’re happy? It’s harder for the proactive partner (sitters) when things don’t go smoothly; most of the time HOs post their ad & then “sit back” and wait for responses so sitters’ displeasure gets more exposure. I agree that there are a lot of reported software/tech issues at the moment & things really need attention but could you really find the ethos of trust and mutual support elsewhere?
I agree the search function doesn’t work effectively for duration, dates or types of pets. Whilst personally I don’t consider the service too expensive for a whole years membership the service does have to function properly to justify this fee. The number of search ‘glitches’, the poor introduction of the 5 application pause system and the number of listings that don’t meet THS rules (some are not overnight, some indicating someone will be at the house) This week we discover - only because someone asked - about a test/trial of 50% of the membership seeing sits with low applications at the top of the listings). it really too difficult to put out an advance notice about this? I really do think THS needs to reflect on who makes this business successful as without members there is no business.
I tend to agree there has to be better search functions. I’ve been a sitter on here for seven years and have 35 reviews. I used to spend a lot of time searching for sits but I’m now feeling it’s just too time consuming. I especially would like to see a filter in place to filter out the U.K. sits which are the bulk of the sits, in order to search for other countries. I’d like to do a sit in South America, but I’ve noticed I can’t search for “South America”. I can only search for each country individually in South America. I’ve started just picking the countries and cities I’m interested in sitting rather than weeding through every sit. I don’t have any plans on canceling my membership though due to this. I think the platform is still very good value. To spend one night in a desirable city covers the cost of the membership but it would be nice to see more sophisticated search features.
Or another pesky bug.
We never had all these problems when homeowners simply listed and sitters applied. Oh for those halcyon days before the ‘benefits’ and ‘improvements’.
I am a sitter. I must be in a group where some other type of test is going on, unless of course everyone has this new filter. I noticed this filter on my search page this morning:
Hi @Snowbird - I guess ‘recommended’ is there to push sits with few or no applications. When I look through them many are way in advance for a country I am not interested in going to.
I realise that what doesn’t appeal to me would be someone’s ideal sit.
If the current filters worked correctly I am quite capable of finding my own sits to apply for. There is no way I am going to apply for a sit that does not appeal to me - recommended or not.
Hi @Globetrotter - how interesting that you say the UK makes up the bulk of the sits.
I feel that when searching it should be renamed Housesitters USA or Housesitters Australia. I do realise they are far larger countries so take that into consideration.
No, I don’t get these so there must be different iterations of the ‘test’. I seem to be in a test group with all “low application” sits being at the start of the list. This means looking at London sits requires scrolling through 6 or 7 pages of “low application” sits mos t of which are actually way out of the city of London which is my search zone. Not best pleased!
Replying to @SandC; you make a valid point, it is the members whose behaviours encourage trust. However, I meant that I didn’t know/couldn’t find other companies where exchange was the basis. All the others were paid services.
I’m also at a disadvantage because I was inactive for >2 years and didn’t see the changes over the last 6 months. I returned to the forum assuming everything is as it was before.
I can only speak for myself, but my trust in THS has vanished. Their poor handling of the 5-applicant pause is one thing—as much as I and other members dislike that “feature,” it’s a business decision and within THS’ right to implement such a change. What’s not okay is how opaque and underhanded they’ve been about it.
Once the testing period ended, THS should have sent out an email informing all members of such a major change in the process, and that information should also be clearly presented and easily found on their website. The action that truly crosses the line into deceptive territory is THS’ decision to deliberately present free members with different search results than paid members—free members see results with paused (unavailable) listings mixed in with available listings, thus making it seem like there are many more available sits in a city than there actually are. Members don’t learn the truth until they become a paid subscriber and all of a sudden, say, 100+ search results in New York City vanish to leave only four results.
I think most people who’ve worked in a corporate setting realize that these terrible decisions could be the doing of just one or two power players within THS—for all we know, the majority of THS employees are unhappy with these changes. If that’s the case, let’s hope that the decision-making person(s) reverses course or leaves the company. As much as my opinion of THS has plummeted, I have months left in my paid subscription, so I’ll be sticking it out until it runs out and hold out hope that the ship can be righted.
Hi @IfItFitsISits - I hear you and have said the same thing many times.
These comments will be buried in the Pausing Applications thread which is being read by more and more members so hopefully the message is getting out.
Hi @Snowbird I don’t know what test you are in but I don’t see whay you see on either the app or the website. Yet again another THS inequality. @Ben-ProductManager can you please explain this?
Hi @Globetrotter Just a quick thought with regards to when you are looking for sits in certain global regions like South America. If you go on a laptop and log in and click on Find A House Sit you should then see a world map on the right hand side of the screen which will then enable you to see where the current sits are and then click on different parts of the world according to where you might be interested in sitting.
I appreciate this doesn’t work for a mobile or iPad but hope this helps
