I posted a job for August 4, 2024, Thandiwe M. applied, interviewed, and accepted it one week prior to start. Six days came and went, I made plans believing that I had a sitter for my child. 14 hours before the start of the job, Thandiwe contacted me after 8:30 pm, to ask me to change the schedule so that she can go to therapy. I said no, and to let me know if she can’t make it so that I can try to find someone else. Thandiwe then said that she will leave at 4:45 pm on the day of the job. I reminded her that my job post stated that I may need her to stay longer than that and sent a screenshot of the job post. After 8am, 2.5 hours prior to the job start time, Thandiwe sent two text messages stating that she will be at my home for the job. Thandiwe followed up with two voice notes after 9 am, that I didn't see or listen to until after I started to wait for her around 10:40 am. In those voice notes she did not cancel, did not indicate that she would not be here. 10:45 am comes, no Thandiwe. 10:50 am arrives, I text Thandiwe asking where she is. No response. I called Thandiwe, no response. Then I followed up with more texts, no response. After 11 am I logged onto UrbanSitter, cancelled the job and blocked Thandiwe from my phone (she still hadn't called or texted). Later that day I wrote my review of her. I contacted UrbanSitter and sent screenshots of the conversation. Dan from UrbanSitter responded by sending me a coupon code for 30 percent off the membership renewal or for jobs paid with a credit card, whichever came first (understandably, these sitters take cash! No matter what their profile says; they prefer cash in hand or sent electronically and will tell parents the same. I don't blame them, either because I would too). Dan from UrbanSitter also said that next time I should check for the Low Cancellation Rate badge on their profile. Guess what? The badge was there even after Thandiwe was a no-show for this job, it was there after Thandiwe officially cancelled the job on UrbanSitter.com, it was there when Dan sent that thoughtless response, and I bet it is still on her profile as I write this review. Then UrbanSitter permitted Thandiwe to respond to my review with lies, and of course I edited my review of her to say that, reminding everyone that I gave her the chance to cancel and she promised to show up only to NOT show, and I notified UrbanSitter. Malcolm from UrbanSitter sent an email response stating that they'll employ some technology in re the Low Cancellation Rate badge and just a whole bunch of insincere boilerplate, taking the roundabout way of saying they won’t do anything about this and blaming me for trusting UrbanSitter’s profile of Thandiwe on their website in my choice to hire her (silly me for trusting the service they promised to provide and that I paid for!) and told me to HIDE Thandiwe’s profile. What good will that do?! Especially after her no-show harmed me and as they allow her to remain on the app to accept jobs and to be a no-show at her will?! Then I checked my UrbanSitter account and saw that Thandiwe M. sent messages to my UrbanSitter inbox, wherein she proceeded to gaslight me with her revisions of the truth and faking concern for me when SHE was in the wrong, and AFTER I made it clear in my review and by blocking her on my phone that I want nothing to do with her!!! Unbelievable. If Thandiwe truly cared she would’ve cancelled in time for me to find a sitter or she would’ve shown up as she’d promised several times to do. Even worse, Thandiwe has my address. UrbanSitter has shown that it doesn't care about the integrity, professionalism and safety of its members and users, and that's been made apparent in how this incident has been mishandled from the start. Thandiwe was a no-show in retaliation to my NO response to her request to change the times of the job SHE applied for, interviewed for and accepted, then I get an insincere response from URBANSITTER automatically telling me that I should've checked for a low cancellation rate badge that was on her profile, then that's followed with more nonsensical promises, more unhelpful advice and boilerplate from UrbanSitter AS SHE IS STILL PERMITTED TO ACCEPT JOBS AND HARASS ME ON THE URBANSITTER WEBSITE. I have one job on August 30th with a reliable sitter we love and that job was scheduled off the website prior to Thandiwe M's incident (then booked on UrbanSitter.com) and that'll be the last time I use this site. I am DONE. No, my rating is 0, it's not at all likely that I'd recommend this website to anyone.So URBANSITTER has the audacity to request that I edit my review, but NOT to properly address Thandiwe’s retaliation so that there'd be no need for an honest review of this type to be shared online in the first place?! Unbelievable!!! First names do not go against Trustpilot's guidelines. Do better UrbanSitter.
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