Unresponsive sitter members

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Hi,

I am asking this question to everyone.

Kind of new with this issue, never had it before.
We have an applicant which is not responsive to our messages, and we are inclined to reject his application.
We asked the applicant to talk a little about stuff, to try to know more about his person, before we make a decision about accepting or rejecting his application, but we got absolutely no response to that. This was happening about 48 hours ago, still no answer.

We are wrong? What would you do, in our place?

Thank you

3

Can you see if they’ve read your messages?

I guess if it’s been 48 hours, I just send them a final message saying since you haven’t had a response, you’ve decided to move on.

However, if you have no other applicants and their profile looks strong, maybe hang on a bit more. There could be a reason for the non-response.

4

I sent two messages, last one not seen, yet.
I don’t know what to think, but I am sure I don’t like this.

I might move on, I guess this is the best move.

Thank you

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5

Never ignore red flags. I hope you find someone soon!

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6

That is a very good advice, @Kelownagurl, and I guess is the right move to do.

I am sure we’ll find the right person, eventually.
Plenty of time for that.

I think this is what I wanted to hear, thank you all for your thoughts.

I consider this topic resolved.
Cheers

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7

Move on from this sitter! They clearly aren’t interested or polite enough to engage with you.

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8

I often am out of service and wifi because I spend a lot of time outside, hiking, camping, biking, etc. I also sail, and during those times can be off the grid for 5 days or more.

There are certainly times when I am not checking my messages from THS. As a sitter, I have no idea when a host will respond. It could be right away and I could never hear back. It’s hard to make all your plans around so many variables.

I think a 24-hour window is a normal time to not respond. Usually, I would say that most people’s lives do not revolve around the THS website. The majority of people have dynamic lives with many moving parts.

I suppose the answer lies in what type of sitter you would like. If you feel it is important to find a homebody who is always connected, even though there is no pre-arranged appointment then you have your answer.

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9

I really haven’t read much about unresponsive house sitters on here.
It has usually been the home owner who reads an application and it sits there for days and doesn’t have the courtesy to simply send a generic “thanks but no thanks”.

I have learnt my lesson about mistakes I have made with being a house sitter, sending applications, waiting, even attending house sits I wish I never signed up for but I know that I move on if a home owner doesn’t respond to me after the 24 hour period after applying, especially when I see the application has been read. I know there are reasons why people don’t reply - life issues, being tied up and all that but I am not going to sit around waiting when I can keep applying for others. In this case, I do hope you can consider other applicants!

I agree with Kelownagurl about a follow up message after around 48 hours and if there is no response, move on. It does sound like you have some red flags already about this person. Hope you find someone else for the sit :slight_smile:

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10

Well, thank you very much for your answer, @REMOVED .

You do have a point.

But my point is that we don’t need that kind of sitter.

We have two pets, and our dog has special needs, medications to take, loneliness anxiety, etc… somebody has to be there for him 24 / 7.
Even is not us.

If we needed someone to just take care of our house, we have a neighbor which could come along every other day, just to water the flowers and to empty the mail box for us.

This is what we do whenever we can travel with our pets.

But we can’t do that all the time, especially when this includes flights. Sometimes we do.

That’s the reason an unresponsive sitter doesn’t fit our request.

Maybe you are a different kind of sitter and I respect that.
For us, is good to know every day what is happening with our kids. More than once a day, actually. With details, pictures, even videos taken regularly.

A 24 hour window of communication is already too long, I imagine ourselves getting out of the plane and already checking if we have any messages from our sitter, if our dog or cat are fine.

I am sure you understand that.

I hope my answer made you understand that not all hosts are happy with unresponsive sitters, just because they go off grid, or else.

We are not, and we are trying to avoid them from start.

I wish you great travels.

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11

I agree that when a sitter agrees to a commitment and they are in your house sitting for you, they should be available. But it is a different story when you are in the application process and there are no commitments made.

In any regard, you asked a question in the community. I answered you honestly. I realize my answer is coming from a different perspective but at the time I was under the impression you were asking for perspective. Thank you for telling me you are not happy with unresponsive sitters. I will keep this in mind.

I agree with Happy Sunflower in that it is not uncommon for a sitter to put in an application and not hear anything for a very long time, if not at all.

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12

Ive realised that there are times when either sitters or HOs are unaware they have messages. Its happened to me both as sent messages to a HO, theyve been unaware of & also myself have received an odd message that ive missed.
On the other hand if i apply for a sit im abit more conscientious to checking my inbox for a while after applying.
So as removed says many people can be off line, thats fine but i probably wouldnt apply for a sit immediatley before i knew id be offline for a number of days after applying.
Please give the benfit of doubt if messages are unread, the recipient may be unaware. But i do understand as a HO, you can only wait so long and its absolutely right to trust your gut instincts. If theres alot you need to discuss, you possibly do need someone more easily connectable, even just to put your mindcat rest

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13

As a sitter that has been on this site since early this year, I have been struggling a bit to understand responsiveness (or lack of it). I have had the experience that I apply for a sit and after some days or a week, I get a polite reply that they have selected someone else. Disappointing but correct communication. But I have also had far too many HO that simply takes weeks to decide, that then select someone else and don’t even have the decency (my viewpoint) to inform other applicants that they are not selected. I am now considering adding to the message I write when applying for a sit, that I expect to hear (something) from them within X time. I am interested to learn what others think about this.

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14

We normally say in our applications that we hope to hear from the HO soon as we have applied for other sits that may affect our availability (which is true). If we haven’t had a response in 48 hours we send a message asking if they would like to do a video call and reiterating our earlier message. If we still don’t hear anything, we withdraw our application and move on as the poor communication is a red flag for us.

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15

Hi @robertosch,

I want to mirror what others have said: if you are getting red flags at this early stage, they’re probably telling you to choose another course of action! As a sitter, I feel similarly about non-responsive home owners. Communication and mutual respect are so pivotal to a successful sit, that if I am not getting a response after several days, it’s not for me. If communication isn’t forthcoming before the sit begins, it doesn’t bode well for me. Especially as a home owner, you need to feel comfortable that your home and animals are in good hands, and that your sitter is accessible and communicative.

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16

I rarely hear things on here about unresponsive sitters either, yet as a HO when I have taken the time to look for sitters and invite them to look at my listing to see if it might be suitable for them, I rarely get a response. It does seem to be that the HO is the bad guy when they don’t respond in a timely fashion to an application, but the element of a HO asking a sitter seems to be something that isn’t focussed on.

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17

I am sad to hear that that happened to you.

It should work both ways with communication.

That is not good to hear Boodie
I had a look at your profile and I would jump at house sitting for you guys! (I own a bengal cat too downunder!)

It is not good when you don’t get some communication!

18

Thank you! It is normal though, i would say for me only about 25% of sitters have ever responded to an invite. I don’t know if that is normal across the board but I am always pleasantly surprised when someone does! It was your comment that made me realise that its something that is never referenced.

It is a shame you are down under as i am still looking for a sitter! My two bengal boys have just had breakfast and one is snuggled back in his bed, while the other is outside in the garden hunting mice!

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19

Hi Boodie,
Just a head’s up - I had a peek at your listing and it says “reviewing sitters”. Hope you’ve had 5 applications and this isn’t a glitch…

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20

May I ask if you check that your message was actually delivered? If you look at my thread titled “Disappearing messages” you can see whether this applies to you.

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21

It is a glitch. I have had no applicants. I contacted admin a few days back and raised it on the thread about the paused applications, but nothing yet.