You just gotta refine your picker. There are really lovely homes with very clean hosts. Also, it’s definitely a flag to pick up a sit from a previous sitter - they are not going to leave it as nice for you as the home owner would. I wouldn’t do that again.
In January, we had a solo return thsitter hand off our home to first time sitters.
All went perfectly.
In the Fall, we will have another split sit. I spoke candidly about the hand off with each. All were very agreeable.
We will have a joint call to meet and greet to discuss the hand off when the sit draws near. All were agreeable.
I believe we lucked out with some great sitters and I am excited to welcome them into our home!
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It’s called Leadership 
I had a sit split before and I cleaned the house meticulously, left everything as it should be, and then video taped everything during a walk though and sent it to the owners to show the state of the house in case the next sitters left it messy. So it helps if the owners ask the first sitter to do that. Still no idea what to do about messy homeowners though!
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And it was a 5 star 
for the double ended split sit @Lokstar. Not to be repeated anytime soon but super happy with the result. #whoopwhoop
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Yay!!! Congratulations! 
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I feel you. I do think the platform not offer much support to sitters; if you are in a situation like this or worse there is not much you can really do than suck it up and be stuck till the end of the agreement. HO can choose pictures to post in profiles and a video call is helpful but you can miss unpleasant surprises. Still this is a great platform to connect with honest people. I’ve had good and bad experiences and over time I’m learning what to look for when applying for sittings like the front of the house, the decoration, the colors, if they had a prior sitting with no review, when I write my review I always make sure to note “the house was clean”. Again, I wish the platform would give some alternatives to the sitters if they find themselves in a place that is unacceptable clean.
Hi all!
So… I couldn’t figure out which thread to add this to, but this one seemed most appropriate…
I am working on leaving a review for my 1st sit. It was less than ideal but it was my 1st sit. After my meeting with the HO, I had confidence I was the right person for the job. And, I missed the very red flags: 1. The HO had never left their dogs alone before. 2. They had only started using potty training pads in the house 2 weeks before our pre-match meeting (4 weeks before I sat). Let me clarify… these are red flags because this was my 1st sit and I sit with local HO’s bc I work full time. So, but this one was much closer to work and gym so it seemed like a good trade off. Anyway - neither here nor there… IT was a sit meant for either a remote worker and or a couple and not a single person with a 9-5 and I didn’t have that revelation until I was in it!
What I don’t want to do is set the next sitter up for failure by leaving out pertinent details about the dogs or the house. I’m a wordy person and don’t want it to be too long of a review. (The HO’s were nice people). I’ve taken the emotion out of the details and just want to leave the facts, but I’m afraid it’s still going to be very lengthy. I’m currently on a sit that is going spectacularly. If I were to compare apples to apples, the 1st sit would have been a horrible experience. Any suggestions for what to say? when the HO’s returned - they messaged stating that the house was sooo clean and they really appreciated me, which leaves me to believe they will leave a great review - not worried there…)
And might I mention that the prompts we get as sitter on the HO or the sit itself isn’t sufficient - some of those prompts ask a different question than the question associated with that prompt and it doesn’t allow you to answer both questions, just - seems incomplete, but maybe that’s what the last prompt is for where you add all additional details?
Any assistance on how to move forward is helpful. Thanks!
Countess
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You could try bullet points
- Dogs not house trained
- Dogs never left alone
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I think you can say in your review as stated by you that it would suit “either a remote worker and or a couple and not a single person with a 9-5 job.” It’s been a learning experience @TheCountOnMeSitter and hopefully other sitters will not have to deal with toilet training of these puppies, as I’m assuming they are young pups.
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@TheCountOnMeSitter. First mention the genuine positives - nice hosts/ home / pets etc
Add a comment along the lines of
I was not aware before I started this sit that the dogs can not be left alone for longer than x hours / never left alone * ( as appropriate) had I know this information I would not have accepted this sit .
I was also not informed that dogs are / not fully house trained / have accidents / have medical condition causing them to pee indoors * ( as appropriate)
You may decide ( with hindsight) that it was your responsibility to ask more questions about how long the pets could be left alone for . If so you could acknowledge this in the review .
Consider if it’s appropriate to deduct a star from “accurate listing “ & or “communication “ and “pet behaviour “ category if these things were not mentioned in listing or welcome guide or discussions with homeowner prior to confirming the sit.
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When I was looking at sits recently, I saw a review from a previous sitter and it seemed very well done to me. It didn’t seem like he loved the sit, but he gave a review in an informative way, without being offensive. The review began with thanking the hosts, mentioned they were very nice, some other positives. Then, similar to what @Newt mentioned using bullet points, wrote (my words used for an example):
This is the sit for you if:
o you enjoy a peaceful setting
o you are a couple
o you like getting exercise with multiple dogs
o you like a clean home with space in the fridge and the guest room
o you are a remote worker and can be home with the dogs all the time
o you have experience with training
This sit may not be for you if:
o you work and can’t be home with the dogs all the time
o you prefer not cleaning up training pads frequently
o you are a single person
o you don’t have experience training dogs
o
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In my opinion, first off, you have to make sure that these details were not mentioned at all on the listing. You wouldn’t want to write “as I started the sit, I learned that the dog cannot be left home alone/was being trained to use pee pads”, if indeed this was already specified.
HO’s (and sitters) can reply to reviews/feedbacks—you wouldn’t want them to say “all these details are on the listing!”.
Second, I am not sure if you’re aware that you only have a 14 day window after the end of the Sit before you can leave a review, so time is of the essence.
On a different note: you can always start your own threads, we’d be happy to read you. 
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Mention in your review the factual points that the HO left out of the listing……and maybe the Welcome Guide. This way sitters have full not partial information to make a decision on.
I have read in the forum, frequently, not to accept a sit without a welcome guide. I have always received the welcome guide after the sit has been accepted. So, my question to other sitters is how do you get the welcome guide prior accepting a sit? I have had sits that frequently have “ oh, by the way…” when I arrive! Small things , so it’s been alright. I sit to experience other parts of the country and world,so,do like to know how many hours ok to leave pet alone. So many posts do not say . How do others ask without risk of losing the sit? Thanks for you advise!!
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You can say, “I know that when you filled out your listing you were asked how many hours your pet can be left alone. That information is just asked by THS for their own data and it’s not shared with sitters. Would you mind telling me how you answered that question?”
Do you mean asking how long the pets can be left alone or asking the owner to share the welcome guide before confirming the sitting?
In my opinion, asking about the time the pet can be a straightforward question. I don’t think it’s an awkward question to ask.
Totally different is asking for the WG if the sit has not been offered. Even after confirmation, sometimes you have to insist, some owners prefer to leave printed information in the house, but relevant information about requirements and routine should be shared ASAP after confirmation so that the sitter can ask for cancellation if there are requirements not included in the listing which are not acceptable for them.
I’m sorry but I’d refuse to arrive without a Welcome Guide….
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It is not really possible. Yes, I know there are cumbersome workarounds by transferring content to other formats, but there is no option within the system to share the WG before the sit is confirmed.
It may be complicated to receive a version of the WG before accepting a sit, but you can always ask to receive it as soon as you confirm the sit. If you find some red flags, you’ll still have time to have a conversation about them, or understand if they are dealbreakers.
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