A Very Poor Review

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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Two sides to every story and this is mine. After communicating with the HO by email I almost cancelled. Two reasons why I didn’t. One, I had already booked the ferry and two, if i had cancelled the HO would have had difficulty finding replacements.

I did not have a good feeling about this sit and as it turns out, I was proved correct. In our initial contact by email the HO said that we were not really what they wanted as a sitter as they would have preferred a single person who would not have cost too much on the utility bills. This I found off putting. The HO explained the wood situation and said that they would leave enough wood for the duration of our stay. The wood only lasted until the end of February. We were then reduced to keeping, as far as possible to the small TV room with a fan heater to try to keep warm in a cold wet spring, only using the air conditioning when we were in the main kitchen and dining area, trying to keep the costs down.

All the reviews we have had in the many sits we have completed have been five star ones. The HO gave us three stars for organised. Can’t understand that one. Three stars for reliable. We managed everything required, and more without depending on any other outside help. The only thing we did was to leave a few hours early, leaving the cats with plenty of food and water. Self-sufficient, three stars. Why? When the washing machine door broke, I organised an engineer to come out and repair the door at a cost to me of 50 Euros. When the door lock broke, instead of calling out a locksmith at a cost of 150 Euros, I took the lock apart, bought a new barrel and repaired the lock at a cost to me of 15 Euros. I also changed a gas cylinder, another 34 Euros. I would suggest that that looks pretty self sufficient. No offer of reimbursement for my expenditure. The HO said that I had not been in touch enough.Through Whatsapp. I sent photographs and information twenty three times. how much more did they want? Clean and tidy. three stars. We left the house at least as clean and tidy as when we arrived if not more so. It was nice at least to get five stars for looking after the two cats. It was a joy and pleasure to do so and they made up for the other problems.

I think what upset the HO the most was our leaving early. Two reasons for leaving a few hours early. One we really wanted to meet our Portuguese friends and this was our only opportunity. The cats were left with plenty of food and water and I am sure that the HO has left them on occasions for a few hours. Two, we did not really want to meet the HO again as after our experiences, there would almost certainly have been an argument which I preferred to avoid. In all the years we have been members of Trusted Houssitters, our worst sit by a long way. One I would not like to repeat.

Also I do feel that when it comes to costs and seeing that the HO can ask for a contribution towards costs but the sitters cannot, this is very slanted in favour of the HO. This sit in Portugal cost over £2000 for fuel, ferries, and hotels en route which I willingly spent. Why then should the HO be able to ask for a contribution towards costs?

Edited to fix formatting.

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Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. To give some context, can you tell us how long the sit was?

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mates I don’t ever accept sits with contribution towards utilities. I feel the value propsition is equal free housing in a pricey region for pet and house sitting. check prices and see how much boarding a pet costs …

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About 9 weeks

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Homeowners do have to make it clear in the listing if they want a contribution to utilities.

If this wasn’t in the listing when you applied then you could have cancelled the sit with a valid reason at the point that the owner mentioned it .

Is it the firewood that you were expected to purchase ? Just trying to understand the whole story .

The only one who can tell you why they deducted stars would be the owner - have you asked them ? It could be that it’s a system glitch ( this has happened to many members and reported on the forum) in which case they can contact THS member services to have it corrected .

What was the overall rating that they gave you ?

For future applications- owners will be able to see that this review doesn’t align with all your previous ones and make their own mind up about who the issue is with - you or the owner .

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I do feel for you @lochness as it does seem very unfair the review they have given you. How did you review them?
You have acknowledged though that you had reservations about this sit and could have cancelled prior to it. Much as it rankles now, the best thing is to put it behind you and look forward to your upcoming sits which I hope you already have. That review will then not be as visible. You can also do a response to it but keep it factual and non-emotional.

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Hello
I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. AS someone who has been sitting for a decade, and has never really had any truly bad experiences, or problematic HO’s, I can’t overstate the importance of trusting your gut instincts.

You noted the exchange about the utilities gave you pause–I would not have done the sit for someone who said something like this. Having your initial reservations prove correct is a good thing in that it will give you more confidence in trusting those feelings moving forward.

In some cases, such as your experience, the nudge will be triggered by something very specific the person says in the listing or the initial exchanges. But sometimes you may not be able to pinpoint anything in particular giving you the feeling to take a pass, and it is in these cases it will be even more important to have that trust this isn’t the opportunity, and a better fit will come along.

You mention that they seemed annoyed you left early, and one of the reasons you wanted to leave was because you didn’t want to see them. This , plus your saying you assume they leave the cats alone for longer periods, makes it sound like you didn’t mutually agree on your departure time, and you simply informed them that you were leaving at X time, or left ,and messaged them after you had already left the house?

While most HOs are okay with sitters departing before they get home, and even perhaps well before they are due back when there are only cats, it is always good to discuss this beforehand. And if you did happen to inform them beforehand, and they said they were okay with it, but didn’t actually mean it, then there is really nothing you could have done differently.

Also I agree that I don’t think HOs should really ask for utility costs, but it is not totally unreasonable for them to do so in certain circumstances. I, and I imagine most sitters, pass on such opportunities because you can easily find ones that do not require you to cover such expenses.

But I really don’t think the fact that that the sitters incur costs to get there is really relevant in that housesitting is totally voluntary, and if a sitter chooses to take a sit that comes with higher travel costs, that is their choice.

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@lochness sending hugs. There’s really nothing to add, just that I feel for you and that time will heal.

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Terrible situation. Always follow your gut instinct, it is very rarely wrong.

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Ugh that sounds frustrating and unfair. I know that at some point something like this will happen to our family too. Hope you can shake it off and find better sits and pet parents in the future. Did you review them honestly?

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Hello @lochness that sit & HO doesn’t sound like much fun or very fair. You didn’t gel with them and the leaving early as @KC1102 said, could have irritated them. Perhaps a response to their review that says “As long time 5 star sitters we took outstanding care of the pets & home, fixed several broken items at our own time and cost & contributed to the “unexpected” additional utilities. We will leave it to the savvy THS reader to draw their own conclusions on this experience.” Or similar. It’s not rude or derogatory but says it all with a measured and calm response. They cannot reply either. Anyone with half a brain will see it’s a bad apple :apple: in a great sitting history & happens to many of us. #onwardsandupwards :raised_hands:t3:

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@lochness This is a real example of knowing when to trust your gut! The fact the host openly admitted you weren’t ideal and they’d prefer a single sitter as it would cost less- would have been an immediate turn off to me- (i want to be first choice) and also asking you to keep utlity costs down would have been a red flag for me. (Not caring enough for your comfort).
Your reasoning to go ahead- the costs you’d already incurred- fair enough- you decided to take the risk. But the concern for them not finding sitters easily? Not your problem!!
Personally I would have requested compensation for all those things you fixed (which ultimately benefitted them)

I do feel for you though and also relate to your experience. We once had- what turned out to be- a horror sit in Spain. Also long- like yours- (10 weeks but we managed to get out at 6 weeks) The difference for us was we saw no red flags in advance and we flew in from Mexico especially for that sit.
Everything went wrong from day one!! Too much to go into here but it included heating drama like you had. Wood provided for the duration was (in reality) only enough for 2 weeks, central heating packed up after 2 weeks (and host did not help in any way) in the end we were reduced to the use of one reverse AC unit in the living room to heat everywhere. This was a winter sit in a north facing villa with no sun. Etc etc
Endless exhausting drama!!
Eventually had to get THS involved to mediate and we agreed no reviews either way- they would have both been too damaging!
Later we read between the lines of previous sitter reviews & lack of reviews & also the host reviews/lack of- and saw red flags we’d missed…
Sometimes the enthusiasm for a particular sit can blind you to the reality! But you live and learn and these days we are MUCH more thorough in our research, our cross referencing and in our questioning. Its SO much easier and more comfortable to back out in time than try to escape later!!!

I love the response offered by @Cuttlefish That’s a great way to protect & defend yourself with diginity!
Other than that- onwards and upwards! :star_struck:

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I didn’t review them but responded through messages on the site putting my side. Now this bad one is behind us. We have another three sits, two of them are repeats, on being the fifth time. Thanks for your input.

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@lochness The situation you describe is beyond infuriating. The fact that you endured 9 weeks is commendable! I would write a complaint to TH with screenshots of the messages on WhatsApp, the HO review, a description of the incidents, and if you have any pictures taken before/after leaving the place. A lot of work went into this housesit and it’s reasonable to ask for justification from the HO - even if it’s TH who need to be in touch with him/her. I would ensure that you also write an appropriate review of the housesit on the HO’s profile. TH needs to be aware of this person’s behavior and conduct towards people who not only took care of the HO’s pets, but the repairs of their house. I would tally a bill and seek reimbursement for the services you provided that were outside of the scope of a housesitter - fixing the doorlock for example, and charge for the rate it would cost to fix it if you had to call a service repair - especially if the homeowner didn’t offer to call a repair person.
It’s an expensive lesson, and quite frankly, if I was in your situation, I would have given a week notice to TH to negotiate an improvement of the house conditions with the HO, and if no improvements were made, I would have left. The HO can certainly come back and put in the effort to take care of their pets, just as they put effort into making the place so miserable to bear. It’s the HO’s responsibility to make the property inhabitable, which they certainly didn’t do by the lack of heating you described.
Thank you for sharing you story!

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Expected to buy the firewood. No system glych. Just a mean review. Only reason I didn’t cancel was because they would not have been able to get a new sitter. Silly me!

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If it happens again, you’ll cancel :grinning:

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Although you didn’t review them @lochness, I would definitely respond to their review of you, sticking to the facts. I know many members check both sitter and owner reviews when deciding to apply for a sit or consider a sitter for their listing so your response would be noted plus your lack of giving them a review. @Cuttlefish wrote a good response you could consider.

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@lochness you say you did not review them and now its too late anyway. But you should definitely respond to their review of you. Put your side of the story in a factual/non emotional way. You owe it to yourself. That host is plain mean and does not deserve good sitters. Your response will be on your own page and gives others (especially future hosts) the chance to see both sides. If you do not defend yourself it could confuse future hosts to see such a poor review- out of the blue- with no explanation…
Also if you have not done so already do question the HO directly on his reasoning behind all the 3*. What was the overall rating they gave?
You’ve worked hard to build your profile up to now so protect your reputation!

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Oh dear! Again, oh dear! Please just put it in your personal ‘delete’ box as otherwise you’ll stew over it and waste your energy on something you now can’t change. I’m commenting from experience… we had a 4* Review given (only time in 55+ 5* House Sit reviews!) which was actually so ridiculous. Host did so because we left the morning after, yes after, they arrived home from a horrid holiday they had in the UK; they not only wanted to tell us every sordid detail but they knew we were going on to another Sit and wanted us to delay by a day plus (?) to have our company.
It’s just personalities, not all people cope well let alone are ‘nice’ individuals. You, certainly as Sitters, sound fantastic! Congratulations for being so thoughtful (and competent)! F.

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As a HO I always read all, or atleast all the most recent, reviews of a sitter. If there’s just one ‘bad’ review amongst good ones, it’s often easy to conclude that the HO is the problematic one. So, I don’t think you’d need to worry too much.

This one though, if mentioned by theHO in their review, would make me to ask some questions. If you agreed with them, that you’d leave earlier than planned, that’s of course ok. If you did not agree on it, that would not be ok, even if I would understand your reasons and it was ‘only’ cats.

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