Hi everyone. I was wondering if this has happened to anyone. I had a sit confimed for over Xmas and now the owner has just gone inactive and the listing as disappeared. I had tried to message her after I accepted the sit but she never replied which I thought was odd.
Does anyone ever get sits confirmed without even a reply message?
This has happened on another 2 month sit I have accepted but she hasn’t messaged me at all. I am so used to at least a few messages before they accept me or once they have accepted mutually to then send a message.
It makes it quite nerve racking especially as I’m travelling over to the UK from Australia and I already have one confirmed sit who I have video chatted with and feel confident with, but one in Scotland and now this one over Xmas it seems odd.
Thanks for listening - I hope this makes sense. Kessie
When you say owner has gone inactive & the listing disappeared from your sits, it means that he/she hasn’t renewed their membership.
Do you have another way of contacting the owner?
We had a similar thing & when we managed to contact the owners, they said oh yes, we changed our mind and the sit wasn’t happening anymore. We even had our flights booked!
That doesn’t mean that it’s the same for you, but I would advise you to contact them asap.
Thank you! That could be the reason. I don’t have any other way of contacting her because she never replied to my messages. It blows me away that people could be so inconsiderate to not notify you, especially when you had booked your flights.
Good morning @Kessie and I’m going to tag @Lucy-B who will be online in a couple of hours so that she can check this out for you. As Els mentions, if the owner is “inactive” that means their account has expired, so Lucy can look into this for you.
In answer to your question, generally you will see on the forum that most of us don’t finally accept a sit until we’ve had a conversation with the owner, messaging at least, video or phone chat at best. Something you might try in the future is to send a message saying that you would like to chat before accepting the sit when you get the invite. That’s worked for us when owners try to confirm with no messaging. Some have been new and just not even realized that’s part of the process. If they don’t want to open a discussion we don’t accept the sit. But it sounds like most of the time you’ve had the more normal experience where messaging / video chats happen.
As you say, it’s always a little odd if there’s no conversation about the sit, especially if you are travelling internationally to meet that commitment. Again, Lucy may be able to help with this to get that conversation happening on your Scottish sit.
Good luck and I hope you get these two sits sorted.
All the best
Vanessa and The Forum Team
@Kessie I only accept sits after I have a video chat and get at least a mobile number. I set up a whatsapp group for each sit if possible and chat before, during and after sits this way.
We always get their contact details as soon as possible, I think a lot of HOs don’t use the app or take a look at their Email attached to their account. We also set up a WhatsApp group straight away (after the confirmation).
Kessie, were the sits definitely confirmed as opposed to the owners inviting you to a sit and you accepting? That scenario can be very confusing and does not mean the sit has been confirmed just that you have accepted their invite to apply and they could have invited another 50 people ‘to apply’
No it said “Sit Agreed” like the other 2 that I have confirmed. And it’s still sitting in my confirmed housesit folder but can’t click on the link now as she’s inactive.
Thank you Vanessa! I have now been in contact with the Scottish sit and all is well there which is great! I will definately video chat now before I accept the sit. Great to know all these things!
Hi @Kessie, depending on your communication with @Lucy-B, you would be within your right to not proceed with that sit where the owner is inactive and not renewed their membership. You will have plenty of choice for alternative sits for Christmas.
We had a sit where they went totally radio silent for a month and then came back to us. Was a bit stressful as we had no what’s app no in between. We had four months in hand but also international so yes, definitely try and get some comms going
Oh yes that would have been so stressful! Yes a great lesson learnt for me! The team on here have been so helpful I’m very impressed!! And everyone in this community is so lovely!!
Thank you! Yes Lucy has been amazing and I’m going to withdraw the application. There’s plenty of housesits to apply for over Christmas so that’s wonderful. My Scottish sit has actually been in contact now and may even have me come earlier so this may solve my issue. Thank you for your message!
As a homeowner I always want to at least have a phone conversation before I accept someone. I’ve learned to rely on my instincts from that conversation and the sitter can get a feeling about me. I recently had an applicant, that initially was the one I wanted to accept, but she was so unresponsive to communication that I went with someone else.
