Hi all, I am wondering, I have an upcoming sit & the owner has had 2 previous sitters (owner has left the sitters reviews) but neither sitter has left any review.
I am a little concerned that this sit is more than we bargained for. Any advice? My sit starts in 3 weeks. Thanks!
Hi @Stephie - just wondering if the two previous sitters were recent. A few years ago (if I remember correctly) feedback from the sitter to the homeowner wasnât an option.
As you have three weeks before the sit I would bring up the subject of missing/lack of feedback with the homeowner and perhaps mention it could cause concern for future sitters.
Hope all goes well.
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i would ask the HO about this. Did the sitters leave a reply to the HOâs review? i think some people that this is enough, without realizing that there is a separate review process.
Thanks for the questions Twitcher, yes one sit was lengthy over this past summer and the other ended 8 days ago. In reading thru the forum I see a few references to no feedback is the sitters way of flagging it without actually doing so⌠I hope not but either way, I will fulfill the agreed to sit. Maybe thatâs my starting point in the future-no review with past sits on record I may just skip to the next.
Thanks Lassie,
The first sitter had not replied or posted feedback but owner said she thought the sitter was no longer active-I back traced her and see that she is still active- the second sit had not occurred when I accepted this sit.
I wouldnât immediately dismiss a good-looking sit because 2 reviews were missing. If there were 10 prior sits with no reviews- major red flag, but it is very possible that 2 sitters forgot or couldnât figure out the review system. Iâd ask the HO about it.
I donât have a review from my last sitter (one week ago) because she lied about staying overnight at my house. I discovered this when I saw that she had a concurrent sit for my dates. She has now been suspended from THS. Iâll probably put a mention of the reason for no review when I next list a sit, since so many sitters consider that a lack of reviews is a bad sign.
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Iâve had four sits, and the last one did not leave me feedback. I looked through her reviews and saw that she didnât leave any of her eight or so sits any feedback.
I had a zoom call call with another sitter who had a handful of reviews - but left no feedback for any of them. I asked her about it and she said âoh, yeah, I havenât figured out how to do that.â
I actually think that a lot of sitters probably just donât bother. I mean, other than helping the community, whatâs their incentive?
I hope this assumption that no feedback = a bad sit doesnât do too much harm. Iâve had to request feedback from four out of six sitters even though all were great experiences. The most recent sitter still has only responded to my review of him despite my sending a link and text requesting feedback. Sometimes itâs the review system thatâs faulty, not the sit. As always, communication with the HO and a healthy dose of optimism are your best bet 
Good luck, hope itâs a great sit!
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I have a practice where I send the formal request for feedback from the website, after I have left my feedback and I mention this in my request. Only once did I not get feedback and that was fine!
@Shafofo I think the onus is on the host to request feedback, same as sitters request reviews. As sitters we ALWAYS send a request for a review the day after the Sit ends. In all our 57 sits so far we have only received one or two spontaneous reviews- all the rest were requested and we often have to send reminders too. For a sitter reviews are super important- as the only reward going forwards (in lieu of payment) and also to build our reputation. Hosts almost never send us a feedback request so it seems to be less important to them.
However if a host does not request feedback and has too many missing feedbacks it is a definite red flag for us. We usually assume something went wrong. The review system is flawed and many sitters would rather leave no feedback at all than a bad one- either for fear of a- perhaps unfair- retaliatory review or in order not to damage a hosts chance of getting future sitters. E.g if a host house is not clean enough (for my standards) it might be acceptable for someone else etc. I would love to be honest in all cases but sometimes its just not possible.
For example we had one sit over the summer for first time hosts. Lovely people- on first impression- but several things went wrong- eg bedding not fresh!!! And a terrible worn out mattress (Only discovered after they left!) and a very problematic dog (not revealed to us before) amongst several other things⌠We were initially very upset but chose to remain professional and pushed it through without complaining during the (week-long) Sit so as not to disturb their holiday or risk our 5* review. We sent enthusiastic daily reports and did everything we could to make it a success⌠For them it was the perfect Sit and we got a wonderful review. We decided to write to them privately and told them everything- in a respectful manner. But they chose to ignore us completely despite resending. Eventually they just told us to direct all complaints to THS! Which we had already done anyway. We had wanted to guide them a little as to what is OK/not OK and how to do it better fir the next sitters. We did not want to spoil their profile with a bad feedback on their first Sit. We are still- 3 months later- debating if we should go ahead and write that feedback after all. To protect our fellow sitters. Since they have not reacted to our valid complaints in a positive wayâŚ
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I finished my first ever sitting last Thursday and the owner still has not left any feedback. I am surprised as I think I was a very good sitter. I was punctual, hoovered, changed the bedding before leaving, and took great care of the pets. Is there a way to chase her via the site, or would I need to text her? the app just says âawaiting feedbackâ. I am getting a bit worried, as it was my first sitting, and of course, It would help my profile to have some reviews.
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I usually allow a week to receive a review before prompting the homeowner via the website.
Just to be clear - the sitter requests and receives a review.
Feedback is what the sitter leaves for the homeowner.
You could also send the homeowner a message saying hope all is well and would you mind leaving a review on the THS website.
If the homeowner is also new they could have easily been misdirected by THS to leave a review on Trust Pilot rather than the sitter. It happens!
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I agree that itâs too early to worry about not getting a review. Most people are really busy when they first return from a trip, especially at this busy time of year, so itâs easy to get distracted. After a week, I would send a reminder.
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Thank you. I will be patient then. The HO is not new, and sheâs left reviews for many sitters before. Hopefully she will leave me one soon.
@SalomeL Did you actually send a formal Review Request via the site? If not then thatâs the first step. Donât expect the host to spontaneously write a review without prompting- although some occasionally do⌠As back up we always send a WhatsApp message directly afterwards to notify the host weâve sent a request for a review on the site. Sometimes they donât look at the website again - after all the sit is now over for them!- so an extra msg prompt helps nudge them to do so! We always follow up after 3/4 days with a gentle reminder if needed. If it goes more than a week we start to feel disrespected- having put our heart & soul into a sit and sent lively daily reports & pics and left the home beautifulâŚits not really a lot to ask for a host to spend a few minutes writing our review!
A great 5* review is so important for sitters and, for us at least, feels like the formal completion of the Sit. (Like getting paid after completing a job) Therefore we also always wait to receive our review before giving the host feedback.
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Giving feedback and reviews should not be hard! It should be called the same thing for both parties. It should be the first thing that prompts you on the dashboard on the LAST day of the sit, not the next day when people have moved on already. Of course, once we figured out how to do it, itâs not that hard, but it IS hard for people that donât do it often, or havenât done it before.
Also, when I receive an email to say: âCongratulations on your reviewâ - I want to read the review there and then!! Immediately! It would be great if itâs in the email, but okay, I assume THS wants more clicks for their website. So take me there with one click then. It annoys me so much, to be taken to some other place (canât remember, sorry). Then I have to go and look for my review section. Then Iâm still not there, Iâm only at ârequest reviewsâ. Then I have to click on Reviews about me, still not there. Then I have to click on the Dropdown to actually read what they said. Honestly, every time I go through this, I think what a joke this is. And then I want to write something here, but just leave it. Until today. Really team, this needs to be easier!
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Yes, I did send a review request via the website to both hosts the day after the sitting finished. I also gave them both feedback. I am going to send them a gentle reminder now via Whatsapp. As you say, it is so important, especially for someone who is new to this! Thank you for your response
I had this situation very recently. The owner had had two sitters within the last three months, he left very brief reviews for them and had nothing from either. He ended up declining my application without a message which I find quite rude although I do understand thereâs not always time to reply to all. Iâd ask the home owners about that. A lot more people than you think seem to simply just forget - I saw one the other day for London and this guy had HIGH PRAISE from a good handful of previous sitters but a fair few who didnât leave a word. I find that bizarre and lacking in any care for the hospitality youâve just had. Good luck, hope all works out!
I wouldnât worry yet. They may just be waiting foir more time at the weekend. I once received a review well over a month after I did the sit.
We once had a sit where there was a few problems. The host was lovely but there was few things lacking as in no vacuum or lawnmower. All doors were glass and see through and yes we did spend two nights while she was home. Awkward! There were also lots of dangly crystals and fairy lights everywhere which we had to remove in order to get around. There were 4 cats that basically lived in the hallway because of all the glassware and trinkets that could be knocked off in each room so all doors were closed. We discovered it is very hard to remove kitty litter from carpet. We did see the sit through and as we talked to her at the end she mentioned that she had a neighbour who would come, feed, inject and clean kitty litter. So we encouraged her that this might be a better option. No reviews were left and she cancelled her membership with Trusted House sitters. But we remained friends.