r/trustedhousesitters

Now that I'm finishing my 4th sit from the site in just over a month, I'm not sure if I think it's worth it.
Maybe I'm trying too hard? Walked these dogs for 3 hours yesterday... yes, they're high energy.. but between that and packing, learning the routines, cleaning, taking all the trash cans out, yada yada.. it's a lot to get used to for just a few days and I feel like I barely start enjoying the house on the 3rd day.

The owner gets someone taking care of their pets, home and garden while they're on vacation, and I thought this would be a semi vacation for me, but it really just feels like somewhere to sleep while I work.

Maybe it's not for me? Or maybe I just need to only book longer sits. I'm tired. Any advice to not get burnt out so quickly?

I recently applied and was chosen for an exchange and I think the homeowner accidentally put in the wrong start date. When I messaged them to confirm my arrival time on the original start date that we had spoken about they asked how I was going to get the keys and see the apartment since I wasn’t coming in a day early.

This is for a cat and in over a dozen Trusted house sitter exchanges so far we have only met the homeowner once. All other times there have been detailed instructions on how to enter and I have typically been given a tour of the Home or apartment in the initial video call interview.

I am feeling a little stressed right now because before I went back to double check our conversation and verify that I had not told them I would be in the day before or that I would even be able to do that, I was eager to appease and offered to even have a relative pick up the key.

but then I realised I had never committed to a specific arrival time, even though they thought I had. Our last conversation said that we would discuss the arrival details later..

The homeowner already checked with their regular paid to see if they were available after our conversation , but they also said that they would prefer to work things out with me.

Have I just sat for unusual Cat people/homeowners? In that they aren’t concerned about in person hand off /meeting?

Isn’t it the responsibility to think about how to safely get the key to sitter if they don’t meet ahead of time?

I have learned over the years that I am happiest when I have a relaxed homeowner- Whether that be in my professional life as a house and petsitter or in the exchanges we have done. I feel some stress about this now because I don’t want to jump through hoops to try to figure out the key situation and I really am not able to arrive a day earlier.

I also am very proud of not cancelling any confirmed exchanges and I want to keep it that way. At this point though I feel like maybe I should just get a couple days in an Airbnb and skip the exchange, (it’s 5 days so I would shorten my trip, which is fine ) especially if she has a professional Sitter That can take care of her cat.

your thoughts and perspectives are appreciated!

In my heart I feel like this would be a wonderful sit. The homeowner has great reviews and she has given other sitters great reviews but we have also had a very stressful few weeks at home and I am tired . I need to ensure that there will be no hard feelings and selfishly that this will be a relaxing and ”easy” exchange .

We have another exchange booked to start the evening that this one ends (both sits within driving distance) and the homeowner is exactly like all the others in which she does not feel like she needs to meet us in advance and has a code to enter her home instead of a more complicated system.

Thank you for helping me sort through the standard protocol and figure out the best way to proceed.

frankly, if the miscommunication is causing some anxiety for the homeowner, I also fear a negative review. I work hard for my good reviews!

My spouse and I plan to do some slow traveling around the world when we eventually retire. I heard about THS on a podcast and I thought that being sitters might be perfect for us in the future. We both love animals and have had multiple cats and dogs over the years.

Lately, this subreddit has almost been exclusively about negative THS experiences. I’d like to hear the stories of some people that have had limited or no negative experiences. Can we share some positive stories in this thread?

The heat seems to be getting to people.

What are your favorite condiments and basics? Which ones do you prefer to bring yourself to a sit (if practical)?

I'm on a long house-only sit. The HO has graciously offered me use of everything I need. I drove here, so I've brought my box o'spices, salt and pepper grinders, and extra virgin olive oil. It's also easier at the end of a sit to know I haven't touched XYZ and need to replace with a whole new bottle when I've been using someone's old, rancid oil (for example).

Hi this was my first time on the site and booked a Cat sitter last minute. Cat was well looked after which was my main priority. But when I returned my apartment was completely depleted of my consumables no toilet paper left, salt and pepper grinders gone (just purchased).

Washing machine broken due to overloading. His “excuse” was the machine got “stuck” I came back to find I couldn’t open the door needed it fixed as I had no clean sheets or towels Technician confirmed it broke due to overloading Now it will cost the same to repair as a new one? Who covers this. Obviously the sitter is not as he lied and is clearly irresponsible. Shower not cleaned he made some excuse about water pressure. I thought they are supposed to leave your place in the exact state they found it. Is this normal behaviour?

So I’m on a sit right now where I quickly discovered that the dog barks at every single passer by. I was misled by the HO and told that the dog only does so in very specific circumstances, and that it’s not much of an issue at all, when in reality the dog will bark even at night if there’s someone passing by.

I’m still here for another 2 weeks. What can I do to make them bearable? I can deal with it during the days, but I haven’t been getting much sleep, and it’s starting to take a toll.

I’ve tried obstructing her view of the outside but she still barks when she hears things. I also tried putting her in an area of the house where she can’t see or hear as much, like a ground floor basement of sorts (overnight only), but she hates it there and refuses to go in once she figured out what’s happening. I don’t want to traumatize her by fording her in and sequestering her either, even though it seemed to help a lot with the barking. She started to get nervous around the time she knew she’d be going in that room so I didn’t want to force it (she’s also a rescue dog so a bit nervous as is)

Really at a loss here.

This was my first time using TrustedHousesitters, and I'm genuinely wondering if my expectations were unreasonable.
I have a one-year-old Pomeranian. In my listing, I was very upfront that he's young, energetic, and still acts like a puppy. Since the sitter was flying in from Boston the day the sit started, we couldn't meet in person beforehand, so we did a FaceTime call instead. She had several great reviews, seemed experienced, said she loved animals, and came across as very competent.
When she arrived, though, she immediately seemed uncomfortable around my dog. He was excited, jumped up a bit, and whined (which is normal for him when meeting someone new). She kept asking whether he'd settle down, asked us multiple times if we could cut his nails even though he'd just been groomed, and overall seemed nervous around him from the beginning.
My dad lives in an in-law unit on our property. Before the sit, I explained that he could help for short periods if necessary, but the entire reason I used TrustedHousesitters was because he couldn't be responsible for my dog while I was away. He has Parkinson’s and has trouble bending down and properly caring for my dog.
On the first day, she said my dog was whining during her work calls and asked if he could stay with my dad overnight. Then she had friends sleepover and needed my dog to stay with my dad again. That gradually became the routine. My dad had him every night and for large parts of many days, while she stayed in my house. She still walked and fed him at times, but my dad ended up doing much more of the care than I had expected.
After a few days, I called her from vacation and said that if my dad was essentially caring for my dog most of the time, maybe it made more sense for her to leave the sit. I wasn't trying to kick her out—I was suggesting that it didn't seem like a good fit anymore.
She became very upset and defensive. She told me I hadn't been clear about my dog's behavior, even though I felt I had been upfront that he was a young puppy. She also said she had nowhere else to stay, which I understood because she'd flown in from Boston specifically for this sit.
In the end, she stayed, and my dad continued doing much of the pet care for the rest of our trip.
There were also a few smaller things that added to my frustration. We let her use my dad's car while she was here, and she returned it after using about three-quarters of a tank of gas without replacing it. She also asked for several additional accommodations after arriving. None of those things alone would have bothered me, but together they made me feel like the exchange had become one-sided.
I understand not every pet is the right fit for every sitter, and I appreciate that she was honest that she was struggling. At the same time, I felt like if my dad was providing most of the care, then the arrangement wasn't really serving the purpose of TrustedHousesitters anymore.
For those of you who have used TrustedHousesitters, was I expecting too much, or was this simply a bad match?

I have been a full-time sitter on THS for about four years now. I currently have the standard membership, which is the “medium” one. I just got a notification from one of my saved searches. I checked it out as soon as it popped up and they are already reviewing applications. Do I need to upgrade to the premier membership to get quicker notifications of new housesits? Anyone have any definitive experience with this?

Hi,

I’ve been a THS member for about 2.5 years now, (I’m based in England). I’m looking to transition into paid cat-sitting, and I’m wondering if any of you have tips or platforms you’ve used to make that switch efficiently. I don’t want to spend too much upfront, but I’d love to hear what’s worked best for you to get started right away. Thanks 😊

I recently scheduled a sit that has only received one reply from someone who has no experience. I’m not really comfortable with that for this sit, so I am actively searching for a sitter myself. When I go to “find a sitter” and put in my dates and location, I get a list from TH that supposedly includes sitters who are available for my dates. However, when I look at availability, most of them are showing what looks like just a regular calendar with some dates X’d out, but without any green. Should I be contacting people who do not have their dates in green or is this a waste of time? Not sure why TH is giving me these listings if the sitters are not actually available.

Note: Since it’s coming up, yes, I have reviews, although not a lot. I have three 5-star reviews. Two of those are from very experienced sitters and one is from a brand new sitter to whom I gave her first sit. My house does not look cluttered at all in the pictures and I have two small, low maintenance dogs without any extra requests. But no, there is no public transport in my area. This is for a week long sit about six weeks from now and the listing has been up maybe three days.

But my question is not so much why am I not getting offers, but should I bother with reaching out to people.

This story made the official forum recently: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/conwoman-stole-house-sitting-sentencing-snb8s0jfs Summary: A con woman in England signed up for Trusted Housesitters and I guess passed the ID check, and did her thing for a while and is finally be brought to justice.

I know people have a lot of "feelings" about these incidents including the feeling that the company somehow isn't resonsible, or that the "free housesitting" model itself is. I beg to differ given their advertising, recruitment, and the fact that they do no real vetting of memebers either sitters or hosts and yeah I'm including the US-background check for sitters in that. While incidents might always happen, I think there are various ways the number of incidents could be lowered/ These changes would involve both some kind of vetting for membership (both sitters and homeowners), getting more private feedback to the company since so many are reluctant to say things in reviews, maybe using AI to aggregate reviews an private feedback reported to the company to look for problems, clearer advertising that the site is a matching site so users really need to vet, and tools to help them do this.

So posting this maybe because I think existing members and potential ones -- both sitters and hosts need to know what's happening.

Has anyone had an issue where the power went out during a sit (completely out, not flickering) during a heat wave (100+ degree f temperatures and 110 with the heat index)?

Wondering if TSH will provide another accommodation for the sitter and pets. 👀

Has anybody ever dealt with a cruel character assassination in a review after a distressing housesit? I had a horrific experience recently with anxious and controlling homeowners. Their cats were perfectly healthy and happy under my care, and nothing actually happened, no harm was done to their home or pets and in fact the cats were happy and bonded to me within a week. I acted professionally the whole way through, even though they kicked me out with 24 hours notice. These people violated policies and refused to even write a Welcome Guide with vital rules and contacts and when I made a couple of mistakes (i used the wrong coffee pot), I was lectured... and also received other intense hostile messages from them throughout my time there. I am now facing trying to remove a massively humiliating and false review involving private information about my complicated relationship with my Mother, my partner and my personal life (which are partial truths I shared in confidence as we were bonding over pizza and wine the night before the sit - they invited the convo, asked me numerous questions about my life and I have a habit of being an open book), labeled as a security risk and "unstable" - despite no proof that I actually did anything wrong or damaging- because I didn't. TH doesn't seem promising when it comes to having this taken down "because it's the homeowner's experience". It directly violates their policies however, but more than that, is libel and illegal according to the law where we are located. I worry that such private matters are so humiliating and damaging to my reputation that I will lose work/future housesit placements. It is upsetting and many of the claims they make are lies by omission or half-truths. I've sent an email to TH support demanding the removal, and have already reported the homeowners. I have proof of everything in screenshots and text threads. I'm unsure how to deal with the distress of this very cruel and violating review being online for anyone to read. Wwyd???

If my membership renews this week and I have a housesit booked in August, then I definitely have to pay for another year now, correct?

I tried to cancel auto-renewal awhile ago. It said that I would have to cancel my August housesit. Is there any way around this?

Hey all! I just had a bunch of sits that I thought went great but not sure if the HOs left reviews for me. Some of the sits had issues I’d have rather known about (ie: knowing in advance that the dogs bark a lot) but in all I’d rather leave a good review. I just started on this app and wondering what the dynamic with reviews is. Do HOs wait until sitters leave a review? Does the Request a Review option mean they haven’t yet? Did they not like something and just didn’t want to say anything to avoid their own bad rating? I’m so confused. I deep clean after myself (for real, it’s always as clean or cleaner after I leave), send lots of updates and pics. I’ve been told I’m an ideal sitter but somehow on these apps I’m just not sure. One person had me do all this extra stuff and I obliged and she thanked me, but when I directly requested a great review she left me on read. Anyone else relate? Any advice?

i'm asking about this in here before i resort to contacting support in case i can figure it out with yall's help. also i'm new to ths so i don't fully get how the site works

the number of sits in my favorites list is going down even though i didn't do unfavorite them myself. i took a screenrecording last week of the list to make sure i wasnt going crazy, and when i compared it to the list today there are indeed sits missing that i can't find in the normal search anymore either (both the one that had an active date & the other 2 without active dates). i'm assuming this means the host deleted their profile or canceled/expired their membership?? is that why they're disappearing??

if you’ve had to leave a sit because it’s disgusting and unlivable (I just found a rat and mouse droppings in two different rooms and I’m not staying here with an active rodent infestation) were you ever punished by the platform for leaving?

thankfully, the homeowner has an emergency contact so I think I should be within my right to leave, but I’m not happy about this. I would rather just stay. If it was just a little grimy and gross, I would just stay, but I can’t stay somewhere where there a rodent infestation

I’ve actually never canceled this before so I’m wondering if anyone has actually had to cancel a sit, how did it go and what should I look out for? The homeowner is already gone on the plane and they provided me their emergency contact who lives nearby & could take over care of the pet. I have pictures of everything.

Title basically describes it.

Im a “newer” homeowner. One 5 star review thus far - have another sitter staying at my home currently.

Im needing a sitter for over the holidays for 6-8 weeks. End dates are adjustable, start date isnt (going for surgery).

Ive already listed my listing for a few weeks now, not sure if its because its too early? Or if its because its over the Christmas season. I took it down and listed it again and still no dice.

My summer dates got max applications within an hour, so im just maybe a little nervy😅

* edited to add listing!
Listing