When we started house sitting, our first ever sit was cancelled. We had opted for a Premium Membership and figured we could use the TrustedHousesitters Insurance. We would get compensated for the accommodation we then needed. Here’s how it went.
We arrived in the UK a few days before our first sit. A few days to adjust to the new time zone would come in handy. We were really looking forward to meeting a cat and some rabbits in the countryside, just north of London.
Then I g0t a phone call two days before our first ever sit was about to start. The homeowner has COVID and therefore cannot travel. Given the global situation, we sort of expected this. And we had Sit Cancellation coverage with the Premium Membership of TrustedHousesitters Insurance available.
Sit cancellation covers our accommodation up to a certain amount per day if the homeowner cancels. We felt a tad worried. Our first ever sit was cancelled! But decided to put a brave positive spin on it!
So we thought: it’s only a 4 day sit, so let’s find an AirBnB in a location we’d like to see that we don’t have a sit lined up for and is within the insurance amount in cost! Yay! So off to BEAUTIFUL Scarborough we went!
We actually found a wonderful AirBnB that had just opened close to the beach. Fabulous location with all the amenities. Happy days!
Two days later we received a reply to our insurance claim email. Well, more like an enquiry: why stay so far (3 hours) away from our canceled sit???
???? The accommodation in the same area where our canceled sit was would have been far pricier! In the end, despite our protestations, our claim through TrustedHousesitters Insurance was denied.
Great … luckily we were in a position to pay out of pocket without too much hardship, but others might not have that luxury. I don’t know what we would have done if we couldn’t have afforded the AirBnB. The personal outlays could stretch many sitters too far.
If you’re thinking of housesitting you should definitely have enough in the bank or a credit card that could help in this type of situation.
But Scarborough and Whitby were beautiful and our next sit turned out to be an example of a dream housesitting job! And we actually ended up returning to the cancelled sit later in the summer.
More on our time with Oscar nest time …
2 responses to “COVID Strikes & TrustedHousesitters Insurance Fine Print Snafu”
Hmmm. Was your claim denied because you didn’t stay in the same locale? It makes the claim insurance questionable.
Yes, that was the reason we were given. We did have another sit cancel (on the day!) and had learned our lesson – the sit was in the Cotswolds so we got an Airbnb IN the Cotswolds. That one they paid on the claim no problem.