Hi All, this is my first year and I have lined up several sits while crossing the USA. What happens if I need to cancel a sit, a month in advance, and schedule a different one during the same time period but in a different location?
Is that permissible?
@Maria-LOVES-Animals You agreed to the Terms & Conditions when you joined. In section 5.1.15 you agree to only cancel a sit if there are extraordinary circumstances.
Most dedicated sitters and owners interpret that to mean a medical emergency or condition of themselves or their immediate family that should take priority over a sit. In those circumstances, owners are generally understanding and sympathetic.
Reverse the situation. How would you feel if an owner chose to cancel you because they’d changed their mind for some reason that suited them better but was not an extraordinary circumstance?
That’s not cricket! If you’re not sure on your route then don’t book the sits. Hosts will have booked flights, committed to trips and family and made plans. If they cancel on you then how would you feel if there are no sits around. Tell them now or stick to your commitment. #emergenciesonly
It’s not really a question of whether it’s “permissible.” You can cancel a confirmed sit and accept another one for the same dates, but it’s worth considering the reason for doing so.
If your circumstances have genuinely changed, cancelling a month in advance is far better than cancelling at the last minute because it gives the homeowner a reasonable chance of finding another sitter.
If it’s simply because you’ve found a sit you prefer, I’d think carefully before doing it. As a new sitter, your reliability is one of the biggest factors in building trust, earning great reviews, and establishing a strong reputation on the platform. If you do need to cancel, communicate promptly, apologise, and use the official cancellation process rather than just messaging.
Here are the rules
“A sit must only be cancelled if both you and the other member agree, or if there are any extraordinary circumstances. If this is not the case and you cancel outside of these terms, an investigation may take place that could result in disciplinary action against your membership.”
https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360001746237-Can-I-cancel-a-sit
The fact that you are coming to the forum for guidance, I suspect your need to cancel is legit. So, cancel sooner than later so the HO has as much time as possible to find someone else.
Now, If you want to cancel because of convenience or preference, then you are definitely not the kind of sitter that is wanted or needed on THS. Prople canceling for these reasons will totally erode trust in using THS. Problem is, would someone canceling for selfish reason ever admit it?
I know it has been discussed in length, but I really do think a profile should show if a HO or petsitter has cancelled. Once would be understandable, twice a concern, and 3+ a red flag.
Very scary if people just start canceling simply because they find something “better”.
The length of the sit you want to cancel could make a very big difference. As pet owners if you wanted to cancel our sit only a month in advance only to accept one that suits you more we would be very displeased. As our sits are usually 8 or 9 weeks long it would make it all but impossible for us to find another sitter only a month in advance. If you wanted to cancel 4 or 5 months out for the same reason, we would be more understanding. Our sitter last year cancelled 7 weeks in advance but it was for a medical emergency and we totally understood but it made the following weeks very stressful to say the least and added costs. As we couldn’t find another sitter on THS we had to pay memberships on two other sites and we eventually found another sitter a few weeks before our trip.
I’ve seen a few people admitting it; of course, they didn’t admit it was selfish, they claimed it was legit, but the explanations they gave were not. It was this kind of reasoning selfish people do, like: it’s not fair that I can’t take something that suits me better, I am not being paid for this, HOs can afford paying for pet care, I would be silly not to accept a paid sit instead…
How would you feel if a HO cancelled on you because they changed their minds about their travel dates? After you’d confirmed your plans?
Treat others as you want to be treated. Permissible, not really as it’s supposed to be extraordinary circumstances. Possible, yes, as you’ll leave a HO in limbo and they won’t be able to review you. Though THS says they are working on something to track cancellations, so it may come back to bite you. As it should.
It is not permissible if the reason for canceling is not legitimate. Permissible or not, it is quite doable without likely consequence. At worst, THS might investigate and might go so far as to send you a nastygram. It’s highly unlikely TGS will do anything unless a pattern of cancellations emerges.
In the past, only hosts or member services were able to cancel a scheduled sit. That has been recently changed to allow either party to cancel with or without any discussion. That change makes it possible for THS to detect problematic cancellation patterns by individual members. I hope in time that THS includes a cancellation stat on each members profile, something that would be quite valuable to each member’s reputation. But I think that won’t be coming along any time soon considering that THS only just started collecting that kind of data.
I agree that the number of cancellations should be displayed on the sitters and hosts profile. I know for a fact that two different hosts did not renew their membership because of sitters canceling last minute. I also think they should have the three times you’re out law.
For some sitters one medical emergency or death in the family could mean cancelling multiple sits depending on timing. Same for some HOs. Less common, but I have seen listings where HOs travel very frequently and may have several short sits close together.
Doesn’t sound to me like you NEED to cancel, just that you WANT to.
I hope these wouldn’t be penalized, as it’s extraordinary circumstances. Life happens.
At least that would be my interpretation…
I would be happy to see the number of sits cancelled without a valid reason on profiles. Not sure what numbers we are talking about though… I would even agree with some consequences for your profile, if you just randomly cancel (not defined extraordinary circumstances).
Then if we would need to deal with their support team to have a cancelation “forgiven”, maybe this is not the best idea. They don’t seem to be the easiest to reach, based on how many people come here to get their issues solved.
Am I the only one picturing the titles of future forum threads here?
'Help! THS says the reason for my cancellation is invalid! What do I do?’
There will always be legit reasons to cancel, to include multiple sits. I’ve read stories of the HO’s pet dying…pretty good reason. Getting sick, requiring surgery, death in the family…could all result in the cancelation of multiple sits. The issue is, canceling sits at different times. Sure, stuff happens, but happening, say, 3 different times many months apart from one another, that’d be very questionable.
Some will say there are people with chronic conditions. I get that, but should you really be pet sitting if canceling will be a regular occurrence?
Thanks for all the replies everyone - I’m sure Maria-LOVES-Animals has all the info they need.
Just show the total number of sits cancelled and leave it to future hosts and sitters to determine whether the cancellations were valid. There’s no way THS is going to review all cancellations for validity.
This is the perfect solution.
Actually they have some wording in the booking fee refund info that makes one wonder…
If a sit is cancelled, the booking fee may be refunded depending on the reason for the cancellation and who initiated it.
All too messy though, isn’t it, as a Premium Member won’t have paid a booking fee to start
Sigh