Hello
I’ve received 24/25 stars in the category breakdown but receive a headline score of 4 stars - this seems bizarre and unfair.
Mark
Hey, @markinbath! Sorry you got a 4 star overall – it could be that the category is extremely important to your sitter, or that they didn’t want to give you a 2-star in a category. What category was it?
For instance, for me cleanliness is super important, but giving less than 4 stars would be hard because it feels insulting. So I might give a 4-star for cleanliness, even if the cleanliness of the place was really problematic for me, and give a 4-star overall even if everything else was great.
Hi @markinbath - I understand that homeowners actually choose the overall star rating and it is not an average of the categories. Strange but true.
I am unsure if it is the same for sitters reviewing homeowners.
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It’s really subjective and up to the HS…what they score you in each specific area doesn’t mathematically correlate to the overall score.
TBF, I’m about to score an HO low in one area, but they will still have an overall score of a 5 for me because everything else was really good.
That’s a bummer tho for them to score you like that. If it helps, when I look at a rating, I look at everything so would probably wonder why 24/25 equated to a 4 star unless they said something specific about the sit in the copy.
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Hi @markinbath and welcome.
I am not following.
Can you send an edited screen shot?
I am a combined member. If I see a four star review among five stars in a sitters profile I stop and read it carefully. Then again I read all the reviews carefully. I see if there are any red flags or if it was simply that the HO doesn’t give five stars or was a little miffed because the sitter missed something small (and debatable). A lot of sitters have convinced themselves that 4 stars means they won’t get more sits. This does not seem to be true.
What has turned me away from sitters is some responses to 4 star reviews that are very harsh. That’s drama and I’d prefer to avoid it.
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Same. I had an applicant recently who left a ridiculously harsh reply to a 4-star. It was enough for me to rule them out.
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tbh, if I see an HS has a 4 star amongst a bunch of 5’s, I will also take it a step further and look at the HO profile who wrote the reviews so as to see what type of person/people they are as well. I find that to be helpful in determining what’s up and how they rate others, etc.
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We recently rated a pet parent 4 stars overall, deducted 2 stars from the cleanliness rating and quantified that decision in the review, using factual rather than emotive language.
This will hopefully allow other sitters to make an informed choice. If pet parents read that review, they’ll hopefully realise that it’s not okay to leave a filthy home for us. If any PPs take offence at that, they’re not the kind of hosts we want to sit for.
Honest reviews arent sabotaging sitters, but rather are providing opportunities for us to highlight the standards we value.
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True in both directions. I finally left a 4* for a HO and their response was venomous. Think future S/G will be less detoured from my review than from the HO response to it.
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Ooo, sorry that happened to you. It’s a good reminder to step away from the keyboard if you’re feeling emotional.
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That makes sense, thanks.
Hi Val.
Yes, it was cleanliness - although I had cleaned the stove I must have missed some spots.
M.
I did contact the owners and they agreed to change two of the ratings - they weren’t able to identify any reason for having marked me down. I am irritated since I believe I did a very good job whilst there, even making a special trip beforehand to meet everyone.
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I don’t think THS will let them change their ratings, but if they do, it would be great to hear an update from you here.
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@markinbath if it was an error or a glitch member services will amend it if contacted by the member who wrote the review .
E-Mail Support@trustedhousesitters. com
It has been frequently reported on the forum that it’s easy for the wrong number of stars to be given . THS haven’t confirmed if it’s an error by the HO or a glitch in the system but they do correct it if it wasn’t the intended number of stars .
@Maggie8K It IS possible to get a rating changed. We once had a HO who rated us 4* on cleaning and we were incensed! We had actually needed to clean the apartment thoroughly for 2/3 hours before we could settle in and we even deep cleaned their oven & oven hood which was thick with grease & dust. We insisted they change it. The HO apologised- said the husband had done the review quickly…not only did she manage to get the rating changed to 5* she also rewrote the whole review- made it much more appreciative and even said we’d left the place cleaner than we found it!!
Sitters! Stand up for yourselves when its needed!! 
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Terrific to hear that, @Lokstar!
Coincidentally, I just heard from THS that they were able to fix star ratings I’d fat fingered on my phone. When I initially contacted them, they said it wasn’t changeable, but that the tech folks knew and were working on it. Today, they said they were able to change, because the techs had fixed that, yippee!
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