I’m thinking of this post thread as a thread where HO’s can list confirmed sits that got cancelled.
Perhaps this can be a very informal stats thread that we and hopefully TPTB can see for a trend. Not really meant as a b**** thread.
I know the forum is a silver of membership but there seems to be a lot of cancelling and new members posting.
9 listings, 2 cancelled and had to be refilled.
1 due to valid medical concerns
1 decided to change their plans, which was frustrating
@bakindoki did you report the sitter who cancelled because of a change of plans to member services ?
To be honest, I don’t remember. It was a year ago and I was stressed from life and just focused on finding someone new. Maybe?
@Silversitters are you an admin or just a power user? Cause the way you always come correct with these receipts is impressive! 
love your posts and responses.
@bakindoki … not admin … I guess that makes me a power user ? 
I just had a sitter cancel on me 12 hours before he was supposed to arrive. I told him that my son would be coming late tonight he’s driving home from Christmas and this is about half way for him. He would leave very early tomorrow.
The sitter went nuts quoting the TH policy that no external people, including family, will come into the house while the sit is in process. He then just flat out cancelled on me. I have flights to the UK I had to cancel and am missing New Years with my family,
He stated that he needs quiet during his work sessions during the day. One, my son said he would leave very early tomorrow morning. And Two, I have two shepherds whose primarily job is protecting me so they do bark. There’s no such thing as quiet in my house LOL,
My inclination is that he wanted to cancel because his kids weren’t coming and found this situation with my son (who it’s his home too) as an excuse to get out of the sit.
(Edited to remove personal information)
If I were scheduled for your sit I would have either canceled or insisted your son stay elsewhere. You don’t get to pick and choose which rules you think are appropriate.
Welcome @kimberlykalkhoven just to clarify are you saying that your son would be staying during the sitters stay (which is against THS T&Cs ) ?
If this is the case then the sitter can certainly decide not to continue with the sit since it’s against the agreed code of conduct .
I think most sitters would done the same if you insisted that your son would be staying . How much notice did you give the sitter that your son would be staying ?
I looked at your listing, and then I get a very different impression of the dogs. It sounds like they are quite calm. But then it mentions “electric fence collars”.
So I would be upset too when I heard “There’s no such thing as quiet in my house LOL.” I want to be able to sleep at night, and peace and quiet.
11 sits total since joining one year ago.
1 cancellation. It was definitately hinky. I’ve detailed previously on the forum. The sitter did give an “excuse” so if I had disputed it wouldn’t have gone anywhere. But they also made an offer to do paid dropins to “help” as it was less than a week till the sit. I didn’t report but did find another sitter. Months later saw the review of the longer sit the sitter took that started a day before mine and extended a few days beyond it. (I absolutely dodged a bullet.)
I believe the new product update preventing overlaps, was started in part to prevent this. But I think it would be more beneficial for everyone to actually track cancellations, and understand the reasons they happen.
I learned that THS does NOT in any way track cancelled sits. They only look at “disputes”
I’m afraid the blame for your canceled trip lies solely in your own hands. Planning to have your son stay at the house while the sitter was there is a violation of your agreement with THS and the sitter.
It’d be cool to mark on HO and sitter profiles how many times they’ve canceled
I agree family / friends / fur babies first.
Sounds like a cardinal rule for you.
Sounds like NBD…your son may not have even been in the/his home for a full 24 hrs, it seems…
If the sitter was looking for an out, you gave them the perfect semario since no thrird parties should be in the home during a sit, which is also a cardinal rule.
I do hope you figure out how THS
can work for you, as it is a great commity of people whom most have a story to tell of things not going to plan but finding a way…
Adding a third party to a sit even for an overnight is not cool. I’d give you the option of having your son stay elsewhere or I’d cancel on you — and the situation would be of your own making.
Months after we’d agreed on a sit, a host told me their grown son had moved back home and would overlap part of my sit. I offered them a choice in a friendly way: I could do the sit alone or they could have him do it, but we weren’t staying at the home together.
To me, if you can’t abide by THS terms, whether as a host or sitter, then don’t use THS. You can always pay for sitting, get friends or family to sit, take your pet with you or not travel.
Well if you’d looked more closely at my listing you would have seen that I live across the street from a ski lift. So yes during the day my front door is ‘shepherd tv’ they greet all of the skiers and let them know they’re on patrol their mom is recently widowed and now lives on her own up here. I have no problem with them letting people know or they’re on duty.
Nights they’re in my room and only bark when there’s an invader like a coyote or a bear outside. I’m 100% ok with that.
I live in Northstar where the hoa doesn’t allow fences so most dog owners have e-fences. Not sure how that makes my dogs sound vicious?
And your comment has no relevance to my post about the sitter who cancelled on me.
This sitter did not offer a solution I’m a friendly way. He wanted out of the sit and he used this an excuse. As I stated he had no problem with my niece coming back from boarding today and collecting her things. Not a peep. But once his kids weren’t coming on the what was a family trip he used the 3rd party clause as an escape clause.
The problem is @kimberlykalkhoven that you gave him that excuse by breaking a crucial T&C. Your niece “popping in to collect belongings” isn’t the same thing at all. It’s far from ideal but he is in the right even if highly irritating and inconvenient. Sitters don’t like “surprises” sprung on them and presented as a fait accompli they have to suck up because you’ve changed the plan to suit yourself not BOTH parties.
@kimberlykalkhoven - If you can see this situation from a sitter’s perspective it will help you with arranging successful sits in the future and avoid the disappointment of a last-minute cancellation.
The sitter has clearly communicated to you that the third party staying was the reason for the cancellation.
I do not see any acknowledgment from you that your decision to allow a third party to stay (and only inform the sitter at the last minute) has impacted on the sitter’s decision to cancel.
Sitters POV- first I am told a niece will pop in
on first day to collect her belongings . Now at the last minute, I am informed ( not asked ) that a son will be staying for the first night . This is against the THS Third party policy that we both signed up to and is part of the sit agreement. I need to make a decision now about whether to start my journey to this sit which starts in 12 hours time . What other interruptions to my stay might happen since this owner does not respect the third party rule or even consider my viewpoint?
You said
It’s not up to the sitter to offer a solution to the change of plans that you made to the sit at the very last minute. By telling the sitter , it doesn’t read as if you gave the sitter any options to say please make alternative arrangements for your son .
Going forward , if a similar situation arose you could ask a sitter giving plenty of notice “my son would like to stay on the first night , he will only be here for x hours and will leave by x. I understand that there shouldn’t be any third parties during the stay so I first wanted to check with you if that will be ok ? If not, that’s no problem at all as I’ll arrange for him to stay elsewhere “
With this approach you are likely to resolve the situation with mutual agreement and understanding and therefore less likely to have a cancellation since you are respectful of the sitter and their plans and commitment to travel to your home and take care of your pets for the agreed dates of the sit.
If you decided that your son would stay regardless of the THS third party policy and the sitters wishes, then you must accept that the cancellation of the sit was highly likely / inevitable . That being the result, it was because you broke the agreement of the sit and the sitter is not at fault in this instance.
If I offer something in a friendly way, it’s at my discretion. I’m not obligated to if a host unilaterally makes a decision that violates THS terms. I could just cancel outright, as your sitter did.
You’re couching things as the sitter making an excuse, but he didn’t need an excuse. He was completely within his rights to cancel outright based on your announcing that your son was going to stay.