I think that’s a great point. But I think at least with some of the incidents risk could have been predicted based on previous reviews and behavior. It’s not like a job flying a plane or something where there are going to be all kinds of checks going in. In some cases, like a solo sitter on the road a lot there may be fewer social contacts and family who are actually noting behavior and trying to figure out what’s going on with the person.
I just can’t help thinking that there is room for improvement with this in terms of prevention.
Homeowners and sitters go a lot by gut but sometimes sitters take “risky” sits because they “need” the sit and homeowners take “risky” sitters because the previous person cancelled and they are desperate. I don’t know how you disrupt that behavior.
While sometimes people do “snap” and it seems unpredictable, often there are signs before hand. And when a crisis happens there may be quicker ways to respond.
I would also like to see background checks for all … I mention that every time I get one of those “how did we do” type surveys. I agree that “something” should be done to better vet members, but I don’t know what the answer is. Also agree a criminal record check isn’t going to turn up the mental health problem that’s about to go bang. I remind myself that this forum and the problems discussed on it are from the subset of members that had problems, and [hopefully] there are many more for whom everything went great.
I also have zero expectation of THS taking any meaningful action. They aren’t even keeping abreast of “listings slipping through the net” with simple photos, as we all know.
I don’t think there is anything THS can do to prevent the terrible occurrences discussed on the platform. Anytime we deal with unknown individuals, we take a chance that they may be a thief, not be honest, be mentally unstable… But such occurrences tend to be very rare, thankfully.
I believe the best way to address negative issues is through the members providing really honest reviews. Seems like so many are fearful of retribution if they provide a critical review, and especially when less than 5-stars are given. This is the best way to help weed out the poor sitters and HOs.
Maybe better guidelines need to be established on what should be considered lessbthan 5-stars for each of the categories. Thisbway we are all equally judged.
@anon9376833, we applaud suggests on this thread (and other threads) for a ‘Report’ button - for both pet parents and housesitters. It would seem highly valuable that THS members may voluntarily help THS efforts by identifying questionable listings/profiles for THS review. Any ‘report’ submission could easily categorize/state perceived reason. Such efforts would appear to significantly save THS staff time and effort; reduce the probability of bad outcomes; and perhaps aid members with inadvertently woeful listings/profiles.
@Mark_B, has THS ever considered such a ‘Report’ button functionality?
There will be a page coming soon which will include this and some other changes which are on their way - I’ll update the Higher Standards discussion when it’s available.
However, we don’t want to keep this news to ourselves and you should expect to see the report button to be highlighted in emails from TrustedHousesitters.
