But THS are not interested in a random sample. They’re interested in marketing stats that sell the brand. We’ve just been told that “97% of you say we have improved your lifestyle by being part of THS” #codswallop that’s a sample they want for PR @anon42826925 - am sure you’re an amazing researcher just as I am a multi award winning marketing consultant. But prove the methodology properly? No. I don’t think so……
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Stats are a whole other interesting topic.
97% of THAT QUESTION surveyed said improved. That’s cool.
I think what would be more interesting to know is of that 97 %… how many members had to contact MS with “specifc scenarios” were satisfied…somewhat satisfied…not at all satisfied with the outcome.
I shop at a particular market. I am 97% satisfied shopping there but if I was asked about the “hot bar/to go” food…I’m about 45% satisfied.
How companies deal with “problems” is a real test of satisfaction.
Things should go well / according to plan a strong majority of the time.
But if you’re the THsitter or HO with a “problem” regarding a “sit”… you’re not really keen to hear, “well keep in mind…most members don’t have problems with sits and are 97% satisfied.”
Surveying a random sample isn’t hard. Have a computer generate a random sample and send out communication to those people. It’s far more credible to use a random sample even in marketing. Guarantee that the example you mention from Nike and L’Oreal is a random sample. Otherwise you certainly can’t conclude that those 2000 people represent the larger population.
Those who care to speak out on an Internet forum only represent those who care to speak out on an Internet forum.
@anon42826925 Yes, it would be super easy to randomly sample members. However, THS does not want to. I’ve previously complained about them making policy decisions based on anecdotes (such as the overlapping sit policy). It would be very easy to survey members with some well-designed surveys and get actual data to improve THS, but they don’t seem to be interested in quality data.
I recently had a sit get shortened from 2 months to 1 month, at the last minute.
Not for a particularly good reason, and with no apology or thanks.
I have premium membership for the cancellation insurance, but THS told me they won’t cover this.
I turned down dozens of sits because of this sit.
I would not have applied for the sit if it had been listed as only a month in length.
Quite a costly inconvenience for me, in terms of time and money.
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@luckycat what reason did member services give for the “ sit cancellation guarantee “not covering this ?
@Silversitters
The member services person I emailed with said that the part of the sit that was cancelled was more than 14 days after the date of cancellation. (and therefore not covered)
I don’t know if this is correct, but this is what I was told a couple days ago.
From the wording of the terms and conditions, I thought that the fact that the 2nd half of the sit was cancelled less than a week before the beginning of the sit, that meant that I would be covered.
I’ve done everything correctly; let them know less than 24 hrs after the cancellation happened, I’m looking for replacement sits, etc.
It sounds like, if I hadn’t agreed to still do the first month of the sit because the changes were too disruptive, and I had let the HOs cancel the whole sit, I might have been covered by the “guarantee.”
But I did what I thought was the right thing, and agreed to still do the first half of the sit, which was starting in a few days… and I’m told that because the 2nd half of the sit was more than 14 days after the cancellation, I’m out of luck.
[If anyone has any insight into this, please do message me… because I was very surprised to hear this new-to-me interpretation of the terms and conditions.]
I think that’s rubbish @luckycat - if the sit is in one piece and some of it is cancelled then the insurance should apply if it’s within 14 days of starting. I’d ask another member of support for a second opinion if it was us 
Maybe they’re trying to wriggle out of it because you agreed to part 1 before claiming for part 2 and by then it looked like two sits. If you have the trail of comms then worth fighting this one. A friend of mine in insurance says it’s common practice to refuse claims 3 times on average - that’s how they make the risk assessments and payouts balance.
In the last four months (not sure how many sits that was, maybe 7) two came back a day earlier than planned and agreed to, no actual reason, just because it worked better for them. And one started a day late (flight cancellation). In all three cases that actually worked out much better for me and while there were halfhearted offers to make arrangements or let me stay in a spare room for the night I declined in these instances but would normally not have an issue taking someone up on that offer (just like if I arrived a night early). When I was sitting in London I used to avoid sits where the HO was driving somewhere as it’s too easy to change your plans when you don’t have booked tickets for something but where I am based now that approach would probably eliminate 50% of the available sits.
@luckycat No that wrong advice from member services.
If a sit gets cut short it is called “curtailed” and it’s covered .
Go back to member services again and use the word “curtailed” rather than cancelled.
This is what the terms of the sit guarantee say
We will reimburse sitters up to $1500…………, in respect of loss from having to source Alternative Accommodation due to a pet parent cancelling Unexpectedly.
“Unexpectedly” means a cancellation that occurs 14 days or less before the agreed Sit start date or during the Sit, but before the agreed end date.
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Hope this thread helps @luckycat …
Thanks for taking the time to post replies!
Is this across all membership types? I couldn’t tell on mobile.
@bakindoki , sit cancellation insurance is only included with a Premium Membership.
I’ve only been on THS for less than a half year and have about a dozen sits. I had one who gave me a heads up a couple days before that they would likely have to cancel. I had released my backup plan since the sit was confirmed, we had a call, and had been texting. I contacted support and thought I’d have to file a claim, which I dreaded. But the HO’s were so lovely. Turned out they have a guest house and let me stay there. Totally surprised by their graciousness. I feel like they should get some sort of bonus points or THS gold star for integrity.
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Hi @HelloOutThere. Sorry for the delay. Holidays, ya know? =)
I thought I might be able to copy-paste the thread text into ChatGPT and see if it could analyze it for us and give us stats. That’s the future/present. However, my web skills aren’t enough right now to do that efficiently.
But from my own sitting, I’ve had 8 confirmed sits. 1 of those was cancelled (in Dec '22), because the HO had a car wreck and could no longer go on their trip. So really, understandable.
We had cancellations due to Covid so that was out of everyone’s hands.
Some of sits, they change the dates by a few days and forget to update the THS website so our sits often listed a few days shorter ie it’s listed for 7-10days and really we are at the sit 14-16days, if I another sit lined up for straight after, I would ask them to log on change it.
If it a new HO I always ask them do they have a back up plan (as 99% of our sits the HO is flying) that if something happened on their Holiday and we could not stay on, who can look after the Pets? I only ask if we have another sit lined up or we have other things going on in our lives and can’t stay on. We had this happen early on in our Sitter days, I always ask now. It’s not something ppl think about, IDK what the HO side is like on the THS website when they are signing up and loading in their information etc, however if it does not ask them (if you are delayed is there someone else who can stay on or attend to your Pets if your sitters can’t stay on?)
Happy sitting and travelling all. x
Hello!
I was more tongue and cheek about it actually.
More about the attention of TPTB.
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I had four sits cancelled as covid was starting. It was going to be an around the world sit - starting in Hong Kong, then to Stockholm, then north of Goteborg, and ending up in Seattle. Which was fine because I couldn’t have gotten to them anyhow. The Goteborg sit offered to let me come anyhow if I wanted to - the HO’s boyfriend would have moved in with her and I could have his apartment.
Four other cancellations - 1 about 2 weeks out as the HO was just tired out after returning from a long work trip, one because the HO tested + for covid, one because the HO posted the dates wrong and it was between 2 other sits that I’d booked and couldn’t change (fortunately I was able to find a fill-in for that one), and one because the dog gave birth early and the HO wasn’t comfortable traveling - that worked out very well as the HO had me sit for her parents who lived a few miles away. This is out of a total of 70+ sits.