Yearly auto-renewal of membership failed on first day of this particular sit. That means: THS pauses your membership and locks you out of all messages, the sit details and the welcome guide. Basically, you loose communication and access to the crucial information you need to start the pet and house sit.
Here is where it gets interesting. I tried to renew with a different card, but the system kept tripping with an error regardless of payment method (card, PayPal or Apple Pay). Support is offline. 24 hours later the automated payment eventually went through with this new card by itself and I was “unlocked” so to speak.
Here is the issue: I had no idea what I was doing for 24 hours. No idea where the dog food was, no idea where the guest towels were, no idea what the wifi password was so I could get on work calls (had to spend $10 burning my phone data). Of course, I had established a secondary means of communication with the owner over text so I could get in the house that day, but after that they were airborne for the majority of this “outage” that is totally preventable and shouldn’t be in place for confirmed sitters.
Is it me or is the company going too far trying to retain their yearly recurring revenues by implementing “dark design patterns” (a term used when a digital product is designed in a way to deceive the user into taking actions that benefit the company financially, often ignoring ethical implications). I’m not out of pocket by much, but was this an emergency situation or a pet that had clear instructions from the owner on medication it had to take, I would not have been able to do much as the information and features are “safeguarded” by the platform behind a subscription that must be active at all times.
Not being able to access a WG because you are no longer a member is a safeguard to hosts who wouldn’t want non members having access to these details ( Wi-Fi code , emergency numbers , alarm codes etc ) .This is a good idea and protects host for example if a confirmed sitter is suspended from the platform they no longer can access this information.
It would be unethical and a breach of trust for a company to share a hosts information with non- members .
It’s just an unfortunate consequence that because your registered card payment didn’t go through ( had it expired ? ) your auto renewal couldn’t be processed on this occasion . So you were (for 24 hours ) no longer a THS member. Unfortunate timing for you that this coincided with the start of a sit .
There is the Urgent Support Phone 24/7 Number that you could have called for assistance in getting your auto renew issue resolved promptly.
Aside from your situation there are other more common reasons why a sitter may not be able to access the online Welcome Guide temporarily . For example no internet access or mobile data ( when arriving in a different country or in a rural location with no mobile signal or because of a power cut at the location )
This is why is good for sitters to have a back up plan for accessing this information . Many hosts choose to print out a welcome guide for a sitter to reference and many sitters have chosen to screen shot the welcome guide or at least the most important bits like access information, Wi-Fi code / emergency contact and vet details .
I say this from personal experience . I read through the WG as soon as I receive it but then also used to rely on accessing the WG through the App . When I arrived at one sit (that wasn’t in a particularly rural location ) I discovered that I had no mobile phone signal - therefore I couldn’t access the WG on the App and so didn’t have the number for the key safe to get into the house and also didn’t have the wi-fi code to connect to their internet . I had to drive 5 mins up the road until I got a signal and then could get the WG and the information I needed to get into the house .
It only took 5 mins to resolve but since that experience, I always take a screenshot these essential details as a back up in case I can’t access the online version.
Many of us screenshot the important parts of the Welcome Guide and read the Welcome Guide when we receive it and then again just prior to beginning the sit @MCollins.
It’s an unfortunate situation you have found yourself in but hopefully a lesson can be learnt from it. THS is safeguarding its members by this action. Just a pity it seems your credit card wasn’t accepted the first time.
Your payment failed, leading to logical protections by a company where you’re no longer a member / customer (unless you renew). Nothing “dark” about that. From what I’ve experienced as a customer, there’s plenty of notice before renewal / expiration happens. If you didn’t act in time and/or your payment failed, that’s your responsibility.
Separately, as mentioned above, some of us take precautions that include getting alternative contact info and doing screen grabs of the welcome guide. And that’s even for customers who keep up with renewals / payments, because tech hiccups can happen.
How have you not read the instructions and welcome guide before arriving for the sit? How do you not have contact details for the owner that you can access and use outside of having both internet access and a working app?
Maybe spend a few minutes preparing for a sit rather than starting figuring out what it requires from you only after you’ve arrived?
@Ray2 that’s a bit harsh… @MCollins as others have said and do: read the welcome guide as soon as you receive it. Screenshot phone numbers, address, vet info, wifi code and feeding instructions. Like that, if technology fails or you can’t reach the owners, you have a back-up.
I’m not sure if you’ve done many sits, but we all learn for the next time. After we had a massive water leak and didn’t know how to turn the main water tap off, we now ask this info in advance
So, no I wouldn’t call what THS does ‘unethical’, but it is annyoing nevertheless.
Related to asking about the water main turnoff location, check whether it can be turned off simply by hand or if you’d need a wrench or such — hunting in an emergency could lead to unnecessary damages. Likewise, I ask about the gas mains turnoff and the fusebox if the host hasn’t included such info in their welcome guide.
With something like gas leaks, knowing where turnoffs are could help avoid damages and save lives. If there’s an earthquake or such, you don’t want to be suddenly hunting around for the turnoff.
Is it? I would think having some clue how to to feed the dogs on a sit would be the most basic requirement as far as prep goes. Can’t find the dog food without the welcome guide? Is it buried in the back yard and the treasure map is in the guide?
Is it possible that the OP is trying to catastrophise what is essentially a minor inconvenience that left them looking stupid by having to contact the owners because they waited until they got to the house to look up the entry instructions?
If mobile data is costing you $10 per day then have the details you need to get in, get on the wifi and look after the animals to hand. Don’t try and make out this is some sort of massive ethical failure on the part of THS because you had an expired or non-working credit card in for your renewal. If their phone had died or been stolen or lost would that be THS’s fault as well?
Like others I screenshot and I put the relevant contact details into my phone so they are ready in case I need them. I also print out directions as I am often driving in rural areas and the normally efficient sat nav says 'you have arrived ’ when you obviously haven’t. Be prepared, for any eventuality.
Sorry meant to reply to OP!
While I don’t disagree with your conclusion that this was not a failing of THS, and preparation is always best, your tone and message have a lot to be desired. Hopefully this is just a bad day and not how you talk to people in real life. I also hope the OP can look past you tone and has learned a lesson from the other advice more kindly given.
I’m afraid this one is on you. You should have followed the scout motto: be prepared.
Could you have been more proactive in renewing the membership before its expiry date? For instance, checking whether the credit card on file hadn’t expired; taking screenshots of the WG or writing down important info, etc.
I think the tone may be in your head. Unless you think forthright and honest are bad qualities?
OP created an account and post to create drama and accusations of unethical behaviour and devious intentions on the part of THS (their words not mine) and I called them on it. I’m not an uncritical fan of THS but blaming them and creating phantom intentions to distract from your own failings seems like something asking for an honest response. Especially since they asked for thoughts. They just didn’t only get the ones they wanted..
When I got my new replacement credit card last summer, the included documents advised to update any vendor automated payments. Which I did and this included THS. My payment went through in March without incident (and I got email reminders from THS well in advance of the charge). So I agree with several others that the blame lies with the OP.
You have to accept that the “company” is mostly just a matching system that collects a yearly memebership and manages a website.
It took me a second to understand what you were saying becaue usually I make sure there are printed instructions at the home. I usually ask for the PDF of the Welcome Guide to be sent to me in advance. I ALWAYS use whatsapp or text/phone to contact homeowners and would insist that we have each other’s numbers on our phones.
Sitters and homeowners have to figure out workarounds. The company is going to do what it can based on data and metrics to make the most money. That includes stuff like policies that are just dumb like automatically locking people out because they credit card they had in auto-renew is no longer working, or they chose not to use auto-renew and forgot to renew. The “ethics” of these policies are not important to the company as these are “accepted” practices. They aren’t likely to change the policies.
I’d stay away from the ethics argument, because it’s also unethical to not pay people for their livelihoods — that’s what membership fees support at THS, for example. Regular people go to work every day at THS and they don’t do it just for enjoyment’s sake.
The title may sound harsh, so let me clarify: pausing an account isn’t unethical. What is unethical is locking users out of information they’ve already exchanged—messages, current sit welcome guides, med instructions—just because a payment hiccup occurs. Hiding that data behind a paywall is a textbook “dark pattern.”
I’ve watched this platform evolve, and the upsell has grown steadily more aggressive. It’s normal to refine the design of a product so free users convert faster and paid users stick around for longer. But the conversations and history we create belongs to us until we delete our accounts or get suspended. A pause should block new bookings or new messages, not hide the entire inbox.
These choices aren’t accidents; they’re A/B-tested to maximise recurring revenue that appease company stakeholders. The screenshot I posted shows nearly every function greyed out until you pay. That’s not about privacy—it’s about keeping the subscriptions running. In tech circles, that’s a big red flag.
Yes, I should have taken screenshots and set a calendar reminder for renewal—lesson learned. But the larger point stands: your data should remain accessible during a billing issue or a 3-month pause. No one should lose critical info or put a sit at risk over a failed auto-renewal.
If they continued to allow you access, you could carry on your sit uninterrupted, as if you were a paying member of the site. Your host probably wouldn’t even know that you weren’t paying and their sit was no longer covered by THS. That would be unethical as well.
Given the long lead time for you to have addressed payment, why should anyone assume that you’d pay going forward and cover your sit as if you were a paying member?
