Trusted House Sitters

Web site easy to access & navigate. Daily new sit/sitters oppurtunities. Technical help very responsive.

The challenge for TrustedHouseSitters users is that it is very difficult for sitters to ascertain whether the description of the duties is accurate and/or deflated. Our experience has been that all of the pet owners have loved their animals so much that they have not been able to see them realistically. An eighty-pound dog snapping at other dogs, and pulling, does not "walk well on a leash." Cats that use rugs for litter boxes are not well trained. Pets in the kitchen during cooking time endanger themselves and others.

On our last sit, the owner told us specifically that we were not to allow her dog to eat anything but his regulated food. We did that, and she appeared angry when she got home and he had actually lost a few of his ten overweight pounds. She had what appeared to be a great little housesitting instruction book; but, she did not mean what she said.

Owners also have problems estimating the time involved in the household chores that they expect. Some expect you to handle toxic pool chemicals. Some leave a dirty house for you to clean. We encountered one hoarding situation. It is hit and miss. The system is slanted away from housesitters toward house-owners. I can imagine the tables can turn the other way, too. Sitters can overinflate their experience or abilities because they are not really vetted, either.

When parties enter into this sort of arrangement, they both need to carefully consider the consequences of their agreement. We developed a list of questions that we thought would help to mitigate the problems we have encountered but, to date, we haven't been too successful. Perhaps THS could come up with a better system for evaluating both sitters and owners.

There are definite pros and cons to this site. I've been using it for 2 years and it does come down to the people that you choose, mostly.
Pros: You don't have to pay for the sitters and the yearly fee is reasonable. You can find some amazing, dedicated, responsible people so you don't have to bother family or neighbors. If you have trouble finding a sitter, customer support is very attentive and willing to help to make sure you get someone. I've always had applicants. This is a lot cheaper and affordable than other sites.

Cons: Some sitters fishing for money from you even though they aren't supposed to.
I plan my trips well in advance and I have had quite a few sitters cancel after committing. Customer support is not helpful in these situations. There are no consequences for sitters quiting after a commitment and no review or rating or score on a sitters profile showing if they have canceled on people previously. I want to see that option! When I mention this to customer support, they blow me off. That score would go into my decision because the stress created is horrible when the sitters cancel last minute and you've had everything planned already for 5 months. Of you can't commit to a date 5 months in the future, don't apply for the sit.
They used to have the option to select sitters that have had background checks but they removed that option. Now they only verify documents and emails. I want the option for the background checks.
Otherwise it is up to you to diligently review the applicants, talk to them, look at their references and reviews. I had a couple bad sitters (one endangered my dog and had to go to the vet, the sitter offered to pay for the visit as well as things she broke in the home but she never did) but mostly good sitters. Enough to make it worth it to continue with the membership.

We joined Trusted Housesitters (TH) on recommendation from a friend who landed some amazing international housesitting gigs.

We joined this fall and were as booked as we wanted to be and feel like we made friends with the homeowners while getting in some great pet-love as our nomadic lifestyle doesn't lend itself well to pet ownership.

I like that TH homeowners and the housesitters have an equal amount of skin in the game for membership. Membership fees seem to be at high enough but not hideously high price point that encourages more qualified membership on both sides. I've found that most of the housesitting queries I make are answered with encouragement even when we don't end up housesitting because some else excellent got their query in before ours.

As a former pet owner, I appreciate that TH does a great job of creating a welcome packet outline that back in the day I had to create from scratch.

I would like to see major improvements made in the TH interface (it's pretty clumsy in a lot of ways), application uptime and faster followup on customer assistance. The application is so unreliable I offer my contact phone number and email and immediately copy and paste the welcome guide into a Word document because the TH system has gone down at inopportune times, sometimes for hours.

That aside, I have found the quality of resolution (ex. When there were challenges figuring out how to change the date of a house sit, or to give reviews on a housesit that ended prematurely because of coronavirus) was good. Issues took a couple of days to resolve and it's something that a better-designed system wouldn't require customer assistance to resolve.

While I don't expect a whole lot of action until coronavirus has rn its course, I heartily recommend TH despite its flaws to both homeowners and prospective housesitters.

I just hired a sitter from this site and it was a nightmare of epic proportions.

She left my 4 month old kittens (one who was sick and had been at the vet) home for hours and hours alone with no food or water in a heatwave in syndey on the first day, after promising she would not be out for more than an hour or two at a time.

By 11 pm that evening she still had not returned and I had no update and was beside myself with anxiety knowing the kittens were home alone.

A friend went over and let herself in to feed them and water them (with the keys that the sitter had left in the letterbox ALL day and night because she hadn't been back.

While my friend was in the apartment, this girl sent me a message saying she was home with them, they were well and hiding under the bed so she couldn't get a pic (she wasn't as my friend was there) and so I asked her to leave.

The sitter showed up at 1 am buzzing the intercom and trying to break in the back door despite being asked to come home at 11.30 pm to collect her belongings.

Completely out of control.

She deleted her message where she had lied being home with the cats out of WhatsApp obviously realising she had Been caught and yet even wirh screen shots of everything and very clear communication on our agreements this site terminated me.

The site not only immediately blocked my account preventing me from communicating with other sitters whilst I was interstate but following very clear evidence of neglectful behaviour they then refused to let me back on.

Please note that this was the FIRST day of the sit and my time using the site,

Their customer service is slow and unprofessional.

I do not recommend this site and would never trust them with your animals.

Although the owners pays for the pleasure of using it they clearly favour the sitters.

I had very clear evidence of this sitter lying about the state of the kittens hours before she was actually home and they honestly did not remotely care.

I would use anyone else

As a pet lover, it was early in 2016 that an associate suggested I consider House Sitting.

After subscribing to various websites, I was introduced to Trusted House Sitters by a friend. Their website simply provides a very effective platform with a means for pet owners and pet sitters alike, from all over the world, to be introduced and connect with each other for mutual benefit.

Trusted House Sitters introduced me to my very first house sit opportunity in the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Australia. It was then that my life truly changed in ways that I would never have previously imagined!

Since that very first house sit through Trusted House Sitters, I have met many amazing pet owners (many of whom are now my closest friends). I have stayed in wonderful homes and experienced incredible hospitality, places and cities that I would not have ordinarily had the opportunity to visit.

With over 30 house sits now under my belt (and many more booked in advance for 2018), I have travelled through Australia, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Austria and am currently writing this review from an assignment in Spain. It's no wonder that I am an avid fan and supporter of Trusted House Sitters. Their vision to provide pet owners with more freedom to spend time away as well as an option for pets to enjoy staying in the comfort of their own home whilst their owners are absent is a great idea.

The thing I love most about Trusted House Sitters and my experiences is that for a modest annual fee they provide a unique "Win Win" opportunity for both pet owners and sitters alike!

Be aware, though, this incredible opportunity is NOT for everyone.

If you are the kind of person who expects pet owners to cue up and open their hearts and homes just to give you an opportunity for free accomodation and a sight seeing holiday... think again!

Like anything worthwhile in life, nothing is for free! But if you have the right attitude, the world via Trusted House Sitters is literally at your fingertips.

Importantly, for those who are considering undertaking this wonderful Pet Sitting opportunity with Trusted House Sitters, (or any other organisation for that matter) my advice is simple. To enjoy the many rewards, you must ensure that your primary commitment is for the utmost welfare of the pets and animals you will have the privilege to care for.

If you put your heart and soul into caring for the pets as your primary objective the rewards that await will be the icing on your cake and, like me, you will truly enjoy many valuable and highly memorable travel experiences in the process.

Remember, this house sitting opportunity only exists because pet owners seek someone in whom they can ultimately trust to dedicate time looking after their home during their absence and someone to provide the same love, attention, walks and hugs for their beloved pets as they would.

Thank you Trusted House Sitters!

I signed up to be a house sitter thinking that the high price of membership must mean it would be worth the cost. IT WAS NOT! This is a fraudulent and ineffective site with the worst customer service I have ever experienced. If I at least got 3 or 4 days out of it I would have been breaking even compared to the cost of a hostel so I decided to give it a shot. I lived in Sydney for six months and traveled for another five months and in that time I never once found an available house sit where I was going despite my consistent searching. When I did find house sits that matched my availability, they were always impacted with 15+ applicants or I did not meet the pet owners' discriminatory requirements since I had a job and was under the age of 50. I honestly thought that because it had been so long into my membership and I had not successfully acquired a house or pet sit in that time that any good business would give me a refund. I have worked in customer service myself for a VERY long time and I have the good sense to know that when someone is not just unsatisfied but ANGRY with their experience, you do what you need to in order to make it right. It took them at least a week to even respond to me and when they did they had no satisfactory solutions and basically told ME to be more flexible in order to procure one of their "many house sits all over the world". BULLCRAP! If someone with a perfectly legitimate profile who travels for nearly a year to 7 different countries cannot obtain a single house sit, there is something wrong with the service not the person. I demanded a refund (even a partial refund would have been enough for me) but because I had used their website to search and apply to house sits I was already "benefitting from my membership". THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS! When customers leave a restaurant without ordering you don't charge them just for looking at the menu by telling them they've already benefitted from your service. That is no way to do business and you all should be ASHAMED of yourselves for this marketing scam. I would NEVER recommend this site to any of my friends young or old, wealthy or poor because of the unjust way they do business and lack of tact when handling customer complaints.

My 9yr old daughter Lili and I had a wonderful stay at Fiona's and she was a great communicator, we had a good chat before the trip, orientation and welcome was great, they showed me the dog walking spots and we shared a lunch before they headed off on holidays. Fiona and Martin made sure we were up to speed with everything and how to lock up / where the local amenities were and gave some great sightseeing suggestions. Their home is wonderfully comfortable and there is plenty of room to run around / do yoga / throw the ball for Meg in the very spacious garden. Meg is a sweet girl who loves nothing more than playing fetch - she is certainly persistent! Flo is around a year old and needs a slightly firmer hand/reminding of her manners. Being still a pup, she gets excited and jumps or pretends to nibble your arm. She is the most affectionate of the two and I loved how she curled up in my lap when I sat on the grass in the garden! Both are very entertaining to watch and have great recall. Their regular walk trail was very picturesque, I really enjoyed watching them run through the fields and apple orchards - a great way to start and finish the day. Lili was delighted to have some 90s DVDs and Lego/Duplo/Puzzles from Fiona's (now grown up) children to play with and we loved cosying up in the lounge in the evenings. We enjoyed local trips to Royal Tunbridge Wells, Igntham Mote, Pooh Corner in Hartfield, Sissinghurst and Canterbury. The only tricky bit for me (as a freelancer) was the strength of the internet connection, which was poor (like many areas I visited in Kent) - but the upside was that I visited the nearby coffee shops and ate lots of cake while catching up on my work and using their WiFi! Looking after Fiona and Martin's home and dogs was a memorable experience and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other pet sitters. Miss those sweet Spaniel faces already!

I am having just the worst experience ever. We have the membership that allows us to host sitters as well as to sit ourselves too. We had a sitter over during Memorial Day weekend and she was great. My husband provided a housesit stay for a week not long ago and it was also great.

On the other hand... I have a trip that starts today and I had a confirmed sitter with "great reviews". I confirmed with her and she ALWAYS took her sweet time to reply but hey, people are busy, right? Well, that until she started to completely ghost me - three days to the start of the sit.

Concerned that something had happened to her, I decided to call her the last night - to see if she was okay and still coming over. She rejected three of my calls. Then she suddenly called me back - I suspect "by accident" since the phone rang once and she quickly dropped the call. Knowing that she can obviously saw my calls I called her once again. She picked up the call and said "hi". I said hi back and asked her if we were still on for the sit. She hung up on me. No kidding. Absolutely disrespectful. I immediately tried to call the phone number provided ------- WHY DO YOU HAVE A PHONE NUMBER LISTED ON YOUR WEBSITE THAT NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU TRY TO CALL NOBODY EVER ANSWERS? The automated message tells you to go to the website. When you do, you try to "chat" with someone but it is a bot. Then I emailed them. Got one general email reply. No one has resolved the issue. No one has told me what the consequences will be for this girl. I am not allowed to leave a review...

This is truly disappointing and from here I am going straight to Better Business Bureau since the phone number on the website is a scam.

My husband and I rehomed a dog from an animal rescue in August 2017 knowing that we were going away on a two week holiday at the end of September. It was our plan for our new addition to the family to go and stay with a friend and her family where he would have been well look after.

However it became very clear that our dear little Max was not going to like going from one home to another as he had become so settled in our home that occasionally resisted going out for walks. It was clear that he was happiest in our house, with his toys and routines.

I must admit I was thrown and considered cancelling our holiday. However a friend at work suggested TrustedHouseSitters. I was very unsure but enquired and from the moment I stared the process I felt I was in safe hands. One I had found sitters who were free I started preparing my guide to my home. I had to put in an amazing amount of information about Max which I found reassuring.

Our sitters arrived the night before and we were immediately impressed by their friendliness and professionalism. They were also clearly experienced with dogs and within minutes Max had taken to them both.

While we were away I received regular updates and photos via Whats App and all my questions about Max's welfare were answered in full. I felt so reassured and because I knew Max was happy I was able to enjoy my holiday.

The arrangements for our return were exceptional. My house-sitter ensured that they stay with Max until an our before we arrived home. She had been checking the status of our flight and we spoke as soon as we landed.

We were delighted to see how happy Max was. He greeted us as if we had only been out for ten minutes and he was clearly a very happy and contented dog. He was still enamoured with his routine and we felt we had done the right thing by him.

My husband and I were also amazed at how beautifully clean and tidy our house was with fresh flowers in the kitchen and a loaf of fresh bread in the kitchen and milk and other fresh items in the fridge. Our sheets had been changed and all the towels and linen were freshly changed. Everything was perfect. All our mail had been left in the order it had arrived and there were notes about phone calls etc.

I was so pleased with our experience of Trusted HouseSitters that I wrote quite a long blog which they have posted on their website. TrustHouseSitters really are an incredible and responsible organisation and they don't take the trust you put in them lightly.

Think twice before signing up with and using this service! THS was recommended to me by a client and I signed up, interviewed a sitter, arranged a meeting with her and her dog the night before our departure, and left hoping for the best. It is an ongoing nightmare. The sitter abandoned our 2 dogs for 42+ hours, without AC (the AC had gone out) in the desert, with days still reaching well above 100, before friends rescued them while we were traveling overseas. She lied when I reached out to ask her if everything was ok as I had started to worry about her lack of communication. We had to hire a boarder to take them for the remainder of our vacation and hoped that she would not cause further harm when we asked her to collect her things and leave our home. When we returned we were overwhelmed by the stench of urine and heat. We spent our first night back in a hotel. A large wool area rug was ruined by urine, baseboards were chewed by her small dog, which she brought with our permission, when she promised she was housebroken. Other minor things were also damaged by her dog. We also had to have our AC repairman come check our unit because she cranked the temperature down very low. I had to start a case with THS following their guidelines. First I had to try to resolve the issue with the sitter who remains unresponsive, and also remains a listed sitter on the site! Then I had to try to use my own homeowner's insurance policy, which was denied. This, according to THS, after supplying proof of denial, will allow them to activate the coverage they promise the homeowners when you pay extra for Standard or Premium Pet Parent membership. This is a scam! Without even receiving my actual documentation, in an email exchange with the company, I was denied. This is what they wrote: "I am sorry that I told you initially that you may be eligible to make a claim but I am sorry I was not aware at that time that you are not eligible to claim our home and content protection if damages were caused by the sitter's pet." Nowhere in their Home and Contents Protection Terms and Conditions does it make such a statement. In fact if you read the policy you will come away with the opposite impression. THS will not back you up even if you follow all the rules! Caveat Emptor!