Verbally Abused By Sitter

I completely agree with you!

Would love to hear the other side from someone who is offended! There have been other threads on this forum, same subject.

Ouch ! I add to the chorus of, ā€œYou did nothing wrong hereā€.

This doesn’t sound like bannable behaviour but it is certainly frustrating, angering ……and not worthy of any more time and energy on your part.

Consider it a dodged bullet and I hope that you find an EXTRA wonderful sitter for your pets !

3 Likes

You seem to be having a bit of a tough go at this @Frances00. I see that you also created the ā€˜Sitter Applied Then Said Not Sure If I’m Available’ thread. Hopefully, it all comes together for you.

4 Likes

Hi Franceso00. i think you dodged a bullet there. If she is this bad before the sit just think how much worse she masy have been on the sit. Likely you would never have recieved any updates as her time. And she may have done the bare minimum if that with ragards to your pet/pets. I frequently have at least a few messages with owners after a confirmed sit. Tey have even sent me photos of days out with their pets.But if having an evening meal with them prior to departure they will always send messages asking what foods I like etc. It does not take to respond with a few messages, or phone call if needed. I hope you find somebody a lot nicer, more easy going and friendly. Good luck.

Insisting that THS needs to take action won’t lead us anywhere in most cases.

They don’t do much hand holding and not even when sits go very wrong, do they seem to do much. It’s a matching platform and we all need to look after ourselves.

It’s of course understandable and legitimate to wish for more help, or emotional support, but not what usually happens in reality. Emotional support might come from members of the forum, like here in this thread :slight_smile:

2 Likes

I know I come from a different universe, but I can think of very few situations in which someone would be totally incommunicado for 36 hours. And if you really and truly are, surely the first word you fire off when you do finally respond is ā€œSorryā€. And you explain your recent situation, in a polite and friendly manner.

What this sitter chooses to dignify with the supposedly-unanswerable term ā€œsetting boundariesā€ in my universe is called ā€œbeing rudeā€. Then to ice the cake with abusive messages… ā€œProtecting her mental healthā€, no doubt.

Gah!

You were well out of that one.

5 Likes

@fledermaus I didn’t say the sitter’s behavior was acceptable, in fact I said the OP should file a dispute. I said generally, when communicating in between confirmation and the actual sit, I think it would be appropriate to give a little more leeway on response time since you don’t know what other people are doing. I would at least give someone 2 days before getting upset when it’s not an active sit. I typically respond to messages immediately, but I’ve had times where HOs haven’t responded to a question about a future sit for a couple days and I haven’t been concerned at all. I would just assume they are busy and give them 2-3 days to respond since it’s not an active sit.

3 Likes

Just on communication time we are sometimes between data and relying on wifi where we are staying, occasionally problems can arise with this. Recently a host on his way home sent a message I didn’t see until the next morning. Not crucial but altered our take on the situation as he had tried to contact us, I hadn’t seen it. Thankfully we hadn’t responded badly, but our non response would have been frustrating for the HO.

we always ask for their full name and photo ID with their picture…never been a problem. If you explain upfront that you won’t leave your house to a stranger if you don’t even know their name and address then they should understand….they will know your name and your address and how to get in and out of your house….if they aren’t happy with this, that’s fine, but we would just move on to a sitter who was happy to provide

2 Likes

The sitter said she received my communications timely. She just chose not to respond because she doesn’t feel she needs to be available until the sit starts.

1 Like

If you have enough time, I would cancel the sit and notify THS.

1 Like

Combined with your earlier thread and how you misunderstood how THS works, I wonder whether you came across as employer-like. And you have not clarified whether you discussed the renter’s coverage and cleaner during the video chat, or whether you popped up after with those and then contacted THS within 36 hours of no reply.

I say that, because it would be odd for a sitter to expect no communications before a sit and then to randomly say they needed to set boundaries and to be verbally abusive. I wonder what their account of your interactions would be.

6 Likes

I hear this word from a younger generation. As I’m speaking because I have a son who uses this word constantly.

ā€œYou’re crossing my boundaries ā€œ I first have to know what your boundaries are to cross them. If the sitter told you not to call her and you called her, you then crossed her boundary. The first thing is you need some form of communication with the sitters to establish the arrangements. If she is mad cause you called her, well to bad. You wouldn’t have had to call her if she would have answered your emails. I think by canceling you did yourself a service. Good luck to you.

3 Likes

I was thinking the exact same thing @Maggie8K sounds like pieces of this story is missing.

1 Like

@reggie1978 I’ve completed sits in Europe, Asia, Australia and the UAE. I was only asked for a copy of my ID (which was my passport) once for my Philippines sit because the HO had to register me with her building security. Other than that I’ve never been asked outright to present ID, home address and such. Maybe that’s required from HOs in the U.S. ??

In don’t think it’s a question of HOs requiring it in the US because it seems so few HOs actually require some identification. I think it’s more an issue of HOs not thinking things through completely. I know in my case that I did not initially require full sitter ID but have since realized how incredibly unwise that MIGHT prove to be one day.

1 Like

I am in the uk and it’s not a requirement as such. Just a requirement for us to let a stranger into our house. If anything went wrong and the police said ā€œwho was your sitter?ā€ and all you could tell them was that it was John and Sarah from America you’d look petty stupid.

6 Likes

I agree with @OnTheRoadAgain . They became defensive when you said you needed personal information. I suggest you put on your profile, once we both agree to the sit I will need the following information for insurance purposes. Please be prepared to answer the following questions. Then those that are not comfortable with that will not apply. Also if you say you want the cleaners to clean for them then have them before they arrive or on their last day.

1 Like

@reggie1978 you made me think of my cat sit in Bangkok when the HOs partner, well ex-partner turned up during the sit and let himself into the flat with his set of keys. I’m was screaming in fear spraying him with cooking spray (that was the only ā€œweaponā€ I could get to) he called the police I called the HO. She said he was not supposed to be there he told the police I broke in. I’m crying trying to explain I’m the cat sitter. The HO is on WhatsApp video chat trying to explain to the Thai police. Long story short I left the sit that night and the HO left the platform voluntarily as she knew there was no way she could justify what happened. That was the first and last time I did a cat sit in Thailand.

5 Likes

I think many didn’t understand this sentence. She simply messaged her through THS, she didn’t contact THS to intervene. This was not ā€œgetting panicked, etc.

1 Like