I recently returned from a 6 week trip where we had to engage a sitter at the last minute due to two unforeseen cancellations. This sitter incorrectly listed his home address close to where we live, when in fact, he was homeless and used TrustedHouseSitters to provide his accommodation. Our sit had to be cancelled 2/3 of the way through due to a family medical emergency although we did not return until the original ending date. Family members filled in for us and used our house as a base to deal with the emergency. Of note: the sitter used our vehicle without permission, violating the insurance policy and entered our house after the sit had ended. As we returned more than 14 days from when the sit had ended, we were not able to leave a review of this individual. How do we warn others about him? There were many more factors involved regarding our negative review.
@KJMPJM
You can raise a member dispute by e-mailing support@trustedhousesitters.com
State your membership ID number, a detailed explanation of your complaint and include any relevant evidence that you may have.
- Time and date stamped photos
- Time and date stamped videos
- Screenshot of email, texts and any other messages on the THS platform that is in relation to the sit (it must be a full thread conversation, not one message screenshots)
- Police/Crime Reports
There is a lot that needs further explaination about your post.
This is quite a common thing for nomadic sitters to do. We do it all the time to encourage private invitations from areas we want to be and to discourage private invitations from where we used to live 4 years ago.
These two comments conflict with each other?
How do you know the sitter entered your house after the sit had ended, why did they do this?
I feel for you, but he didnât incorrectly list his home address, the sitters home address is NOT displayed, the sitter is asked âWhere Are You Located?â but Iâm sure the wording of it has changed, because I could be wrong but Iâm sure the last time I looked it was worded as something along the lines of âWhere Would You Like To Sit?â, I could be wrong, anyway, now it is worded âWhere Are You Locatedâ, it doesnât disclose our home town at all. For us personally, we have it as the place we want sits in, not our home town, because we have enough repeat sit pets in our home town via THS, we donât need anymore fresh sits there necessarily.
Iâm a little confused by a few things, why you didnât leave them a review while you were away, your neighbours/family must have told you things werenât right for you to know about all of these things. There is no way to warn others, thatâs why the review system is in place, so why hadnât you given them a poor review straight away while you were away?
For the future, please please please if you know you are going to be away for the 14 days following the end date, you need a way of reviewing your sitter while you are away. If you had an amazing sitter, theyâd be distraught if you didnât leave them a review because THS is built on reviews, plus they are highly unlikely to return to you, so youâd miss out on having an amazing sitter who already knows your pets return. Itâs so easy to do these things while you are away nowadays.
They took your car and entered your home after the end date. Contact THS support and contact the police.
They apparently had the house key and the car key. I donât think the police would bother. It is all a bit strange.
I did contact TrustedHouseSitters upon my return. I was told that I needed videographic proof of the sitter entering our house and using our vehicle. Iâm not sure how I was to provide that kind of information while we were away. I asked THS if they would like to speak with my children about the sitter driving our vehicle, but they did not respond.
My daughter was alone in the house with her baby when the sitter entered the house after the sit had ended, making her fearful. She was also willing to speak with THS about this.
How can people provide video or photographic evidence of sitters using their vehicle while they are away?
Given that this sitter has entered without permission, Iâd suggest changing your locks.
A pair of my former hosts were able to get the sitter before me kicked off THS, because she had used their car without permission and their external security camera had recorded it. Of course, not everyone has such cameras, but THS canât act without evidence.
THS canât act without evidence .
If you have reported it to the police and your daughter gave the police a witness statement then copies of these Police reports should be sufficient.
From what I gather, it was a six week sit and the sitter did 2/3 of it, hence four weeks. The HO came home at the end of the six week period (two weeks after the person had left).
To the OP: Please be mindful not to call a person who appears not have a fixed address âhomelessâ here on THS as some people might take offence on that. There are plenty of digital nomads in this group who have been doing it for many years so donât have their own home-base anymore.
There was a discussion about this a while ago.
The neighbours Ring doorbells may have picked something up, as it may have covered the car being drove on the road too. Theyâre great like that.
Youâve gone from them disrespecting the rules, being homeless, and taking your car, to now making your daughter fearful⌠yet still no police being involved as far as I can tell, and you didnât give them a poor review within the 14 days??? Why didnât you give them a poor review?
This was an unfortunate set of circumstances for us. We were on a ship in the middle of the North Pacific, over the International Date Line. It was an incredibly stressful time for my entire family. I did suggest to my daughter that she call the police but it was over a day later that I heard about the situation and she elected to have her brother come change the lock codes instead. My children and family knew we were not able to return home until after the sitter had left (and the review time limit had expired). Everyone was far more concerned about our sick family member.
I did contact THS about the situation. They were somewhat helpful but firm that they had to had photographic evidence. The only reason the sitter had our vehicle keys was because he had kindly driven us to the airport the morning we left - a 5 minute drive. My husband told him where to hang the keys and park the vehicle and said that the vehicle was not to be used. As the sitter had his own vehicle parked in our driveway (no rear seats which is why his vehicle wasnât used to take us to the airport) we did not expect he would try to use our vehicle. Lesson learnedâŚnext time we will take a cab to the airport and hide the keys!
I did ask THS to issue the sitter a warning about illegally entering a house after the sit had finished and improper usage of sit vehicles. I hope that happens.
Thank you to everyone who responded to my post with their suggestions and support. THS did get back to me and told me that they have sent a disciplinary warning to the sitter, as well as placing him on a watch list concerning his behaviour. While I may not be able to leave a review, this does make me feel as if I have done something to warn people about him. I will continue to use THS as until this point, I have had nothing but good experiences using this organization.
Good to hear. You were unlucky with this sitter, the majority of sitters donât behave like this.
So to clarify, @KJMPJM , your sit was for 6 weeks duration and your sitter drove you to the airport in your vehicle at your request. You had a family emergency so asked the sitter to leave 4 weeks into the sit so that your relatives could occupy the house, but you did not return until 2 weeks later? You have been informed the sitter returned to the property after he had vacated, and you learned he had used your vehicle, without permission? You did not leave a review.
When you ended your sit early, did you amend the sit dates with THS?
How much notice did you give the sitter to vacate the property?
Was a handover done when the sitter left the property, or what was the arrangement with the pets and keys?
When, and why did the sitter return to your property?
When, and how did he use your vehicle, if (presumably) the keys were returned?
It all sounds a bit odd, to be honest. After complying with your wishes, caring for your pets and home and vacating the sit 2 weeks early, why would the sitter return (other than perhaps to collect his belongings)? If your relatives were then occupying the property (presumably the sitter knew this?) how did he get to keep the keys to your home and vehicle?
Were your pets well cared for? Up until the family emergency, were you receiving regular updates from the sitter? At what point did things change?
I can hear that youâre upset and angry, but itâs diffifcult to fathom what exactly has happened here and it sounds as if the sitter was put into an awkward position in being told to leave the sit early. What happened to communications after that time? Did this sitter leave you a review?
To be fair to @KJMPJM , he/she has reported this to THS, THS have reacted to it and it would appear to be the end of the situation.
I respectfully donât feel that @KJMPJM needs to answer your questions
Hi @KJMPJM
I was popping back on to see if I could help with passing this over to the team again, but it sounds like youâve got the help you need! Iâm really glad that Membership Services are taking action.
I hope that the advice and support youâve received in the Forum has been helpful, and fingers crossed that this has just been a difficult one-off.
Youâre welcome to stick around and let us know how any future sits go 
Take care
Jenny