That’s what we’ve all been missing @MissisE … furry paw holding with a relaxed and happy pet and in your case a gorgeous RagDoll?
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Wow - you’re a wonderful example to other homeowners and as a sitter we really appreciate that!
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We couldn’t agree more, Annette … thank you @ShirleyE from me also as a sitter, an owner and a member of #TeamTrusted
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I am new to the site as a HO. I recently posted my first sit and upon replying to the first applicant I found we had several things in common and I liked her. I then wrote to the others who had replied and said I was waiting on the first applicant to firm up her dates. I also put my ad on hold. I was surprised to receive a condescending, bordering on rude, reply from an applicant who had hoped to set up a steady gig with us as his brother lives right near us. This gave me a bit of a hesitancy about THS. Our first sit is next week so I will (hopefully) have a better impression of this site after the sit. And the first sitter did work out dates so I was very happy about that.
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It’s interesting that this has come up now. After 5 years of house sitting, with good communication with house owners, I have recently had 2 experiences of no response applications. One was where the owner didn’t read the application, I eventually sent a message to say I wouldn’t be available after all, that too was unread. I am still waiting for a response from an application that’s now over a month old, I’ve sent another message asking if they are still looking for a sitter, still no response although my messages have been read. Are people just becoming less courteous? I know that THS will intervene if there are problems with communication, but if this is happening more frequently, that will become difficult.
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Hello @ntrlvr I’m so sorry that you had this response I have sent you a DM.
Thank you for your response Angela. I am good. I can handle condescending bordering on rude 
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As an owner I make sure to reply to every application and read every profile for a potential sitter. I also make sure to put the ad on pause if we’ve received a few applications and are meeting with possible sitters to make a decision. We try our hardest to make a decision within a week and keep everyone informed. We want to make sure we pick the best person who will take good care of our babies. Recently we’ve had a few sitters we spoke to that we would love to invite to sit for us but we have to pick one. We hope the other ones can sit for us at a later date! But I think it’s only right to respond to every applicant!
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Thank you @HaitianSpartan for your feedback on how you manage and keep applicants involved and informed throughout the process, which as a sitter is always so appreciated (but works both ways). As Angela says, we really hope that others will learn from and be encouraged by experienced members like yourself who maintain communication, read replies and thereby foster respect and trust.
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Here’s one example about how it “could” happen. A friend of mine in No Calif. joined TH on my referral. When they planned a Sept trip, they personally reached out to me first. They then posted it and I immediately accepted but there was still enough time that others who had the location saved, may have responded too. They, like me, reach out to all who respond as you never know who you might want in the future. Mutual respect is key.
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I agree it is frustrating and rude of the HO. We had a last-minute cancellation for next week so last week I applied for 4 sits all due to start 3rd&4th July. one application replied thanking us for our application and saying he would contact us again the next day ( he didn’t). The remaining three applications remain unread and all are still listed encouraging more applications( today is 2nd July) !
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@MissisE , that picture of you with the kitty is so great. You should include it as one of your profile pics.
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Thanks mars, he was a real sweetie, trailed around after me all week 
I’m a sitter too but would just like to throw this into the mix.
I applied for a sit and and the lady responded ‘Thank you but I have already secured a sitter. Such a shame because I really would have liked to have met you…maybe next time’
I replied ‘thank you for letting me know so quickly’ and moved on. A day or so later the lady came back to me said her arranged sitter had pulled out and offered me the sit.
Great, BUT in the interim the whole world had responded to her listing and she really didn’t/doesn’t have the tech skills to navigate through and reply to so many messages. In responding to me she managed to delete her own message four times and eventually also managed to delete the listing.
Thankfully she had sent her home number so I chatted to her over the phone and confirmed dates and start times and put her at ease. All was then well except that the listing was deleted before she hit the confirm sit option!
Enter THS support JAMES on his shining white charger 
… ok no horse but you get the idea…He went through the messages, translated where he had to and finally when he was sure every thing was in order confirmed the sit on her behalf.
My world (and HO’s) is in balance again.
So a very long winded way of saying that sometimes it simply becomes too difficult for some people to navigate the site easily enough to answer every message and it’s not always because the HO is lacking in manners.
A big shout out to James for resolving the issue 
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Julia thank you for sharing your experience and for giving James, who has been helping our members for six years, a big shout out. He’s amazing, as are all of our Membership Services Team who are passionate about helping our members, they are our front line staff and not only provide membership support, help and advice but also tech support and at the moment working with much reduced numbers.
Thank you also for recognising in a very understanding and empathetic way that not all of our members find the world of digital communication easy, I have also known owners who in their preferred method of communication, telephone or pen and paper, would answer every message in a timely manner but can find emailing and online messaging challenging.
Thank you again for helping a fellow member in need and recognising the great assistance by James … I will pass this on, he will be really chuffed!!
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Hi @KeithG - so pleased to hear that you have 3 sits already booked! We look forward to hearing more about these on the forum. In the meantime, I 'm moving your question onto a fairly long thread that has a lot of feedback around the topic of unread applications, or non responses. Good communication is something that we encourage all our members to adopt, but as you’ll read on this thread, there are some explanations as to why this doesn’t always occur as quickly as we’d like.
Enjoy connecting here in the forum 
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We have applied for a couple of pet sits but have had no reply. We are new to this and interested in other ‘sitters’ experiences.
We have been accepted for three sits though so it’s not all negative.
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Like many concerns posted here, while understandably frustrating and what not, it speaks to the importance of not getting attached to any opportunities.
I am a sitter and if I was an owner, I would probably move pretty quickly on applications but for those that don’t, it is anybody’s guess. While some sitters are in a real rush to lock down jobs, owners may not feel the need to check applications and pick someone the same day they post their listing, especially if the sit is some time away. It’s not really necessary to act with such urgency.
I don’t think any of them are deliberately being inconsiderate regarding the time you took to reach out. If a sitter is impatient, nervous about getting sits, really attached to a particular location or assignment, has limited time frames for which they are available, that’s the sitter’s issue.
The owner’s don’t owe anyone a response in any time frame, nor are they required to read every application they get. Of course they may run the risk of losing potential good matches who are no longer available, but that’s par for the course.
Send in an application, let it go and apply to multiple opportunities, since you never know with any given listing, how long it may be before the owner moves on filling it. You are not committing to that one owner by merely applying.
I try to be easy going about the process, knowing I’ll end up somewhere, especially since we do it full time, and are very flexible on locations and time frames. And this has worked for us.
Letting go of the idea that anyone owed me anything in any form–including responding to a housesitting application–made for a much more peaceful life!
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@KC1102 - I think you are being far too kind to the thankfully relatively very few home hosts that do not have the decency to respond to , or even worse can’t be bothered to read applications that they have advertised a need for.
It takes minutes to send a short, polite message to the sitters declining their applications.
I completely disagree with your quote -
Whilst not breaking any laws, If I have spent time writing an application in response to an advert a home host has published requesting the services of a sitter then they absolutely should, at the very minimum be required to spend a couple of minutes reading it and they definitely do owe me a response to the application that I wrote in response to them asking me to do so.
I agree, some choose not to. As I said they are in the minority and the vast majority of home hosts reply to sitters correctly, but those that do not respond are the ones in the wrong, not the sitters that spend time applying for sits in good faith.
Good manners cost nothing
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Unfortunately there is rudeness on both sides of the coin. Ignore them and make a note not to accept their applications. I find this is the best way to deal with these sort of people.
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