“There is absolutely NO support if one of the side (both owners and sitters) gets in troubles. This website has nothing to do with the original idea and does not work at all. Have done about 10 sits over some years and we are done as have had to deal with dishonest owners, dirty and cluttered houses, noisy places (no previous warning), aggressive pets,... When you complain or ask for help they block your access to the website even if you just paid an annual fee of 100 GBP!”
“STAY AWAY FROM TRUSTED HOUSE SITTERS!!!!! "TRUSTED", what a joke. They make sure the person that shows up has matching id's. Schenley Brown showed up and was to stay a week. 2 days in she deactivated her account, but stayed the week. Had a party, drank all the alcohol in the house. Went through every room, and there are things missing, including credit cards. The cards were hidden where we thought no one would find them. I could go on and on. Schenley Brown you are a real POS. Trusted House Sitters are doing nothing, told us to call the cops. What a joke. So now talking to the police. If you are looking to go on a holiday and want to come back to a complete nightmare, then ok.”
“People - Use Housesitters UK instead. Its free as an owner, only £30 as a sitter and I have had a much better experience using it. I used Trusted Housesitters for about 3 years and it worked fine. Then I took a chance one holiday and used a new sitter with no reviews as she sounded nice and it's nice to help people get started. 2 days in to my holiday she made claims about the house not being clean etc (a cleaner was in my house when she arrived and she had ample opportunity to say then!). Our house is large, by the sea, has a hot tub and sauna and is a preferred listing on Air BNB. Yet Trusted Housesitters didnt even contact me, I had to come back from my holiday because she wanted to leave ( I think she wasn't interested in the dog and just wanted an easy holiday) and then they froze my account despite numerous attempts to contact them. I sent lots of pictures of the house etc but nothing. They just immediately believed her despite my 5 star reviews and being on the site several years. They would literally just hang up. The most unhelpful company ever. They ruined my holiday. As I am a lawyer I contemplated suing them. But I find its better to wait and let karma have its way.”
“I have been using Trustedhousesitters for over 3 years. But be aware if you run into a problem you are on own. I wanted to cancel a sit because getting a weird feeling about the woman. Did change the new dates we agreed upon. I'll do it later. Or I forget. Then friend was going to stay a week at the beginning and end to show me the house. Granted it was a separate unit.But originally she was going to have her mother me meet. Then it was all FaceTime you show the house..which I hate and don't have find for. This sit was way to complicated for me. Tired of the back and forth and no follow through on new dates.This sit is two months out. But trustedhousers doesnt care. They will answer an email. But phone call forget it. Only the owner can cancel and she's not because she told me..I'm not the one who canceled. If you are going out of the country for a long sit the sitter needs to feel comfortable. I have done several very successful housesits with excellent reviews. No they don't go perfectly. My last sit I had a boil water order for 8 days with 5 long haired cats. The owners were lovely and knew I could count on them for communication. This is key when doing a sit. I could go on and on about the many experiences I have had. This site doesn't value the sitter. Owner over the sitter. Company is not what it was when I joined. I travel all over US and used to tell people sign up for your pets. But not now. I don't know what is going to happen as I am done communicating with this woman. She has premium membership so possibly she will get money . I know she mentioned one sitter leaving early. Wish I had never thought it's probably ok. I have enough repeats on housesits I can go on my own or join another housesit company
For now I will continue on knowing I will get no support.”
“I have been using Trustedhousesitters for over 3 years. But be aware if you run into a problem you are on own. I wanted to cancel a sit because getting a weird feeling about the woman. Did change the new dates we agreed upon. I'll do it later. Or I forget. Then friend was going to stay a week at the beginning and end to show me the house. Granted it was a separate unit.But originally she was going to have her mother me meet. Then it was all FaceTime you show the house..which I hate and don't have find for. This sit was way to complicated for me. Tired of the back and forth and no follow through on new dates.This sit is two months out. But trustedhousers doesnt care. They will answer an email. But phone call forget it. Only the owner can cancel and she's not because she told me..I'm not the one who canceled. If you are going out of the country for a long sit the sitter needs to feel comfortable. I have done several very successful housesits with excellent reviews. No they don't go perfectly. My last sit I had a boil water order for 8 days with 5 long haired cats. The owners were lovely and knew I could count on them for communication. This is key when doing a sit. I could go on and on about the many experiences I have had. This site doesn't value the sitter. Owner over the sitter. Company is not what it was when I joined. I travel all over US and used to tell people sign up for your pets. But not now. I don't know what is going to happen as I am done communicating with this woman. She has premium membership so possibly she will get money . I know she mentioned one sitter leaving early. Wish I had never thought it's probably ok. I have enough repeats on housesits I can go on my own or join another housesit company
For now I will continue on knowing I will get no support.”
“No one answers the phone. Ive had a had time with home owners being dishonest about their pets and walking into worst case scenarios. There is no one on your side or even willing to help”
“As is true for any of these P2P sites, if everything works, it's great.
That was my thought upon coming home and finding my dog safe. I was so relieved I wrote a 5 star review for the house sitter (despite some earlier issues).
With that said, I found substantial damage in my house. I contacted Trusted House Sitters to see if I could change the review + to file a claim. (Something supposedly that I could do as I paid for the premium membership.) After a day, I got a message saying I could NOT change the review (why????) and that provided no help with the claim. I've tried to call 3 times and have been hung up on each time (after a lengthy wait). I've contacted them 4 more times (including through chat, which only provides chatbot links to the website which...tell me to contact them.)
The role (and the reason I paid nearly $300 for this...) of a site is to interact with the members and solve these problems. But Trusted House Sitters does none of this. I would have been as well off posting a "want to stay in my house for free ;)" ad on Craigslist. Better, really, because at least that wouldn't have cost me nearly $300.”
“Great website/concept until I got DEPORTED for using it. US immigration, even though I was on my way to Canada, consider it a form of employment. I tried telling them it's an unpaid exchange, but US immigration didn't want to hear it.
TrustedHousesitters refuses to issue a statement informing sitters they, too, risk being deported from the USA if they're found to be travelling on the app. The TrustedHousesitters website says members are fine to travel on a tourist visa because TrustedHousesitters "don’t regard house sitting as work". And, yet, here we are...”
“Not happy. I paid a fee but I'm unable to upload pictures to my profile. No one ever picks up the phone and communication via email is a pain because there's a 24h delay between replies and the HD comes back explaining how to upload a picture. I know how to upload pictures... It just doesn't work.”
“The website is cool and looks great. Problem is that the "good" sits have 10-20 applications. If you thought that you could travel and spend some time with a nice cat or dog you find that the pickings are slim. Most sits that don't have lots of applicants were places you need a car or required you to walk the dog 3 times a day. The sites forum allows you to identify issues so check it out before buying. Problems like: cameras all over the home, dirty sitters, homeowners coming back early and having to vacate. My favorite was all the people shopping for and making dinner for the homeowners to return to....that is what they are doing to get the 5 stars you need to book anything. On top of COVID affecting travel as well. No refund given, not even a partial offered. "You don't deserve one unless you have been complaining for the whole time.". At least the volunteered to cancel the auto renewal...but that was all.”
“When things go smoothly, TrustedHouseSitters is a brilliant application. When they don't, THS offers absolutely no support. I had an issue with a host who not only went on a racist tirade while showing me around the place, but continually surveilled her house and texted me each any every time somebody walked by her house, accusing me of having strangers over when I did no such thing. This owner was absolutely insane and made my life a living hell. She left a negative review on my profile that had absolutely no basis in reality. TrustedHouseSitters has done nothing to rectify this or support me whatsoever. Nobody ever picks up the phone and emails are rarely answered. When they are answered, they contain stock verbiage that doesn't address the issue at hand. Worst of all, they removed part of my response to the review, that part discussing the racist tirade. I see where their priorities are.”
“Homeowners beware. Beware that this service is all about facilitating a lifestyle for people who want to vacation for free or may not have homes at all and just move from sit to sit. They will take care of your pets, but they are NOT housesitters. If you are a homeowner and expect that your sitter will actually take care of your needs (like deliveries) while you are gone, forget it. God forbid if your needs interfere with their planned activities. You have no recourse and the company will side with the pet sitter. We provided a weekly cleaning service, and had weekly pool and garden maintenance. This sitter had to do nothing except care for our pets and be there occasionally to accept few deliveries while we were away. we even paid for a driver to bring this person to and from our home from the train station €60 per ride. The sitter has the absolute right to plan their days as they wish. As long they are there to feed your pets, it’s all about them. You don’t matter.”
“I did not have the best experience with Trusted House Sitters. I had a simple request – take care of one adorable cat for 3 weeks. I had three responses to that request and within days all of them declined because they got ‘better offers.’ One didn’t want to travel across borders due to corona which I understood. So I lost all three and then started doing research on profiles and inviting people to apply. Everyone turned me down. One of the people who accepted told me she was positive that she would come so I bought my flights. The next day she declined. A stressful emotional roller coaster. THS has a guarantee which I was counting on if this didn’t work: ‘If you do not receive any sitter applications within 14 days of posting your first listing, you’ll receive your money back with no strings attached.’ While I did receive applications, all of them cancelled their applications so in effect there were no valid applications. I finally found a cat sitter through friends and contacted THS for a refund since I met the criteria of no valid application during the first two weeks. They refused my request for a refund. This coronavirus has given companies the opportunity to take advantage of their customers. I’ve been fighting two airlines for 6 months to get refunds on flights they cancelled. Ive had hotels with free cancellation policies refuse to refund me, and now this. I hope everyone remembers who treated them right and who didn’t during this crisis and that we make sure those companies who were greedy are not patronized when things get better.”
“I've used TrustedHousesitters many times to look after my two dogs. One is a rescue and a little tricky and I know that an experience dog lover is the sort of sitter I will find using TrustedHousesitters. I've never been disappointed.
The community is great and the sitters who have come to us have often become friends. As a passionate animal lover, I could never put my dogs into kennels and in the past it was a big stress finding someone to look after them amongst friends and family. That stress is now gone!”
“Let's be honest here.. if you ever had a problem with a house sit or a homeowner, they won't help you at all. Vicky, the manager, doesn't know how to deal with any complaints you may have. She lies to you saying that she spoke to the houseowner about that, but she didn't. Some houseowners can be quite demanding (let's not forget you are doing this for free!) and they won't tell you if their pets are agressive. If you are looking for free accomodation, let me tell you, there is no such a thing. You pay a price, but it's not money wise. They expect you to clean their houses (I got many unpleasant messages from a houseowner after I left her house, when I told her the vaccum cleaner was not working... and I was not even living alone in the house, she had a tenant) and they also expect you to stay in the house most part of the day (so, no life outside hun!). Overall, I've been doing this only for accomodation, but I do pay a price and I did have bad experiences. And you will have it.. if you use this website for more than 6 months.”
