TABLE OF CONTENTS
- How do I contact a seller?
- How do I know if my messages are sending?
- Phone number reveal limits
- Can I delete chat conversations?
- How do I block a user in chat?
- Reasons why messages may not be sent
- Spam and Abuse
- Common Issues
How do I contact a seller?
There are two ways you can contact a seller regarding their advert:
- Contact via the Pets4Homes Chat
This is option is available for all users.
This is the recommended way to contact sellers and the only way to use Pet Payments. Many sellers prefer chat intros before exchanging contact details. You will be able to see all your conversations with sellers by clicking the mail icon in the top right corner:
- Contact via Phone
This options is only available to council licensed or KC Assured Breeders listed in the Pets4Homes Breeder Directory. These users may choose to display their phone number on their advert, which can be revealed using the “Call” button on the listing.
How do I know if my messages are sending?
A tick under your message indicates that your message has been sent to the other person but not read yet. The date and time say when the message was sent. You can tap the message to see whether it has been delivered or not.
A profile picture under your latest message indicates that your message has been read by the receiver.
You can also look in the list of chat messages.
- One tick indicates your message has been sent
- Two grey ticks indicates your message has been delivered but not read
- Two green ticks indicates your message has been read by the receiver.
Phone number reveal limits
Each Pets4Homes account has limits on the number of phone numbers you can reveal per day and per month. This is to keep our sellers safe from spam and scams.
Daily limit
You can reveal 12 phone numbers a day.
Monthly limit
You can reveal 15 phone numbers a month.
This limit will reset 30 days after your first phone number reveal.
What happens if I hit a phone number reveal limit?
You will see a warning message when you have 1 daily or monthly phone number reveal left. You will then see an error message when you have hit your daily or monthly limit and won’t be able to reveal any more seller phone numbers. If this happens you can either use Pets4Homes chat or wait for the limits to reset.
Can I delete chat conversations?
If you have used Pet Payments with another user you won’t be able to delete the conversation.
Sometimes you may wish to tidy up your chat list and remove conversations that aren’t going to go anywhere. For example, if you decided someone wasn’t able to offer a suitable home for your pet or you’ve found out that a breeder no longer has any pets available. You can remove a conversation from your inbox by following these steps:
Go to the relevant chat thread
Click the cog and select "Delete conversation" and confirm you wish to delete the thread.
Refresh the page, and you will find that the conversation has been removed from your list. It will, however, still appear in the other person's chat list. If the other person sends you another message, you will still receive it but you won’t be able to see the previous chat history from before you deleted the message.
How do I block a user in chat?
We have many measures in place to ensure our chat is a pleasant, safe, and happy space where people can discuss the rehoming of a pet. However, you may wish to block a particular person from contacting you.
You can do this in the following way:
Go to the chat thread between you and the user you wish to block
Click the block cog and select ‘Block user’
Confirm you wish to block the user
You will see a ‘blocked’ sign on that user and you will no longer receive messages from them
If you are blocking someone due to a suspected scam, abuse, or because of a pet welfare issue, please also report the user to Pets4Homes so we can help protect other people and pets. You can do this by clicking the person icon and selecting report user.
Does the user know I blocked them?
No, they will not know that they have been blocked by you.
Can I unblock a user?
No, you can not do this yourself right now but this feature is coming soon. You can submit a ticket to us if you need to unblock a user for now. This won’t be an instant process, so we recommend not blocking anyone to manage your chat list. Instead, we recommend deleting the conversation so you can still receive new messages from them.
Reasons why messages may not be sent
There are a few reasons why your message may not have been sent. Here are a few examples:
- The details in your message contain blacklisted information.
- Your IP location is on a blacklist, for example if your country has been identified as a common place from where scams are usually sent.
Spam and Abuse
If you have received spam or abusive messages in regards to your interactions with users on Pets4Homes, we are sorry to hear about this. Please follow the instructions below so that we can ensure it will not happen again.
Report the sender to us
In order to review the details of the spam/abusive message you have received, we would be grateful if you could report the user who sent you the messages using the report button in the chat. If you have received spam messages from someone claiming to be representing Pets4Homes, please see this article.
Block the sender
As described above, you can block any user to stop receiving their messages.
Contact your local police
If you have serious concerns to your safety after receiving threatening and abusive messages, we advise that you contact your local police. We are able to liaise with the police and provide any data we can to assist with their enquiries.
Common Issues
Please see our designated page for chat issues.
If you are reporting a bug, please see the related article.