We’ve had half a dozen positive experiences as a HO but the last house-sit didn’t go well. Nothing horrible, but the sitter didn’t walk the dog as promised, left him alone way longer than was agreed to and brought other dogs over to our house without letting us know. I didn’t learn of these things until after the sit was over and I reviewed the outdoor cameras.
I plan to leave a mixed review - mentioning the positives but also the negatives.
THS suggested I contact the sitter first (before submitting our review), to let them know we weren’t happy with the sit … but if I do that, I’m afraid of retaliation (i.e. them giving me a horrible review). On the other hand, I feel like it would be rude for me to not let them know about these issues directly.
How have others handled this type of situation?
1 Like
I’m not a HO, I’m a sitter. So far I only have five star reviews across but I think one day I may not fulfill all the expectations a HO may have and I would appreciate some private feedback if that is the case, even if the review still reflects the shortcomings.
However, I think this is something different. It is them who have not followed what was agreed it’s not that they have forgotten to take out the garbage on the right day or done something wrong involuntarily, so I don’t feel you owe them any explanation. So I would just write an honest review and be open to discuss it if they want, once they have written theirs or the deadline has been reached.
8 Likes
The whole point of the review system is that it is blind. When it is things that could be forgotten etc I think it is a good idea to take it directly - forgot to take out the trash etc. Not following agreement on several points for pet care is something else.
A factual review where you adress pros and cons is the best in my opinion.
6 Likes
It is but doesn’t surprise me at all; they just want to keep as many customers as possible and make it look as a perfect world to attract even more customers.
It could also be a misunderstanding. Maybe what the agent meant was that they should talk before making a complaint instead of writing the review.
2 Likes
Telling you to talk to the sitters first is HORRIBLE advice and you can tell it comes from people who don’t have to worry about getting reviews. Be honest but fair in your review. Mention anything good they did but also the bad stuff. Don’t be emotional, just factual.
If it was something subjective or small, then I can see maybe asking them about it. But these are egregious violations of your agreement and breaks in your trust. Warning them that you’re aware of and not happy about it will virtually guarantee a bad review for you because anyone who is willing to do something like bring a random dog into your space without permission isn’t going to be fussed about trashing you in a review.
7 Likes
I’m both a ho and sometimes do sits. I prefer the HO reach out to me for private issues to hear my side. It depends as for bringing in other pets without permission and not following through with walks I would give them a negative review without messaging. I find that rude. If it was there first sit it could be they were unaware. Depending on what was done I’ll message them just to hear there side. Contemplate than give my review. I don’t think a sitter would retaliate but if they did. That would show immaturity levels and I would know they just didn’t care
people absolutely retaliate. it’s why the blind reviews were implemented. before you could never be honest in a review because if you were, the other person would leave you a bad one (HO or sitter). even with the blind reviews, people still retaliate. I left a bad review for a recent sit and even though the HO gave me 5* in their review, once they read mine they suddenly had all these things that they accused me of including flooding their kitchen, breaking their cabinets, stealing their keys, etc. we took almost the entire review period and they said nothing to me or member services until they read my review.
1 Like
I wouldn’t recommend taking the advice from THS. I’m actually not sure what could be resolved at this point, so reaching out to discuss this with the sitter is moot, other than making them aware that you have reviewed the outdoor cameras (which could get their back up and result in a negative review from their side). It’s always possible to have a discussion with the sitter after the fact, but whether they would be open to this is another matter.
I agree with others who have said to leave a fair but honest review. I am curious as to why they would bring other dogs back to your house, which I find especially odd. Was she a local sitter (which might indicate she had contacts in the area)? I’d want to know where are these dogs coming from. For example, the sitter could have been running some kind of Rover-style boarding business from your home.
4 Likes
Definitely don’t contact the sitters before writing your review, and getting theirs, that practically guarantees you getting a bad review from them. Strange advice from THS.
6 Likes
I have had the same or similar experience. But I normally don’t mention it because the sitter took good care of him and didnt damage our home, but ring outdoorcameras (which sitters are always made aware of) showed the person being gone over 6 hrs sometimes and walked him pretty late in the mornings. However, my dog seemed healthy and happy to see us and she sent plenty of pictures and videos of him being a happy dog.
I think the sitter was aware of being away longer than we agreed on and knew that I eventually would find out via our outdoor camera, so in her review called oour petsitting high maintenance, when its pretty obvious in our profile that he needs attention and how long he can be left alone (we also agreed on this verbally). She also put the dishwasher detergent tabs in the rinse/drying dispenser which is only for liquid formulas, this clogged up the dishwasher and took us several cleanings to remove the gunks of soap. I’m not one of those there is a perfect way to load a dishwasher people but if you saw what I came to, you’d think “there is definitely a wrong way to”. 
Additionally we had a cleaning person came in a couple of days before her departure, which the sitter was very excited about since she wouldn’t need to do much cleaning herself, but our cleaning person tends to move things sometimes (which I’ve talked to her about), like one of the plants was removed from its drainer and put directly unto the fireplace counter, which stained the counter because the sitter watered it without the drainer. I asked our sitter if she had noticed since she was also watering the plants and she acted like it wasnt her problem or something she would need to pay attention to. I didn’t hold it against her because it wasn’t her fault but I did tell her that in the future she might want to pay attention to things like plants since it was part of house sitting, I told her I wouldnt take off stars or mention in my review to her. It was just some constructive feedback.
There’s a lot of more things that made me very weary of ever agreeing to have a young sitter again. I consider myself pretty open minded and give people the benefit of the doubt but in my own personal experience so far, it seems like young people are only looking for a free place to crash more than they care about the well being of the pet and taking care of the home.
1 Like
Definitely wouldn’t follow THS advice either. We know that THS is just trying to keep the lines of communication open between HO and sitters to prevent disputes and false information being posted. That being said, we would recommend writing them a 100% factual review. Don’t get emotional or speculative. Just state facts.
“While X took good care of our dog in terms of feeding and care, they left them alone for longer than we had agreed upon. They also failed to walk our dog which is something we had talked about prior to the sit. The final thing that was worrisome was the fact they brought other dogs to our home without consulting us prior. We are thankful that they watched our dog, just wished they would have followed our instructions better and been more upfront about bringing others to our home.”
We have learned that THS will be completely fine with reviews if they are 100% factual and you leave yourself in a position that if they respond…it would be of their shortcomings as a sitter…not refuting your emotions or thoughts.
3 Likes
Side note, but I’m always curious what people here refer to as ‘young people’. I am in my late 30s, have been house sitting for 6 years and treat house sitting like a second job. However, based on the stories I read here, it seems that people in their twenties often don’t approach house sitting with the same conscientiousness and wonder why this is the case.
I remember my landlord (who lived next door to me) was going on a trip and needed someone to look after her three dogs. I offered to do it as I am an experienced sitter and the dogs were already very familiar with me, but she felt it would blur the tenant/ landlord dynamic, and so hired a young man (I believe he was 19) whose mother was an acquaintance. She paid him £400 to look after her home and dogs for 2 weeks.
Living next door, I was able to see that he rarely walked the dogs and had random people coming and going pretty much every day, often staying overnight. Indeed, she returned home to find her hob completely smashed (as if something had been thrown at it) and other damage to her home, including cracks in her bath (which was in a room she had explicitly asked not to be used). If I remember correctly, her dogs were distressed upon her return. It completely shocked me that someone could treat a home and animals in this way, especially when they were being paid. I don’t know if it’s a generational thing (I hate to generalise and am sure there are some amazing sitters in their twenties) or a sense of entitlement that some sitters feel they have free reign to do whatever they like in someone else’s home.
1 Like
I meant people under 30. I’m in my early 40s and have had great experiences with mature adults in their 30s and older. I am not a fan of ageism and generalizing, but the young people I’ve had don’t seem to care as much or have different priorities. The things I mentioned above didn’t tick me off enough to take off stars. In my experience so far it is only the younger people under 30s who have left my dog alone for longer than we agreed on.
This last one I felt like it wasn’t too bad. Although after we confirmed her she asked if she could go to a party that would start at 9pm and she would be back before the sun came out. I told her no. Not part of the deal to leave my dog alone for that long, specially overnight. In the past, we had someone in their mid 20s who was leading her own startup leaving my dog alone overnight and didn’t coming back until noon the next day (he was alone for 12 hrs and had to use the peepad for #2 business in the morning). This was all because she went to a party (that we didn’t know about until we woke up) and got too drunk to come back earlier the same night.
I agree with you that it is definitely a generational thing. It comes across as entitlement and not wanting to take accountability.
1 Like
Thank you, I agree with you. The stories on here are very often about poor experiences with younger sitters, and I wonder if the recent bout of THS advertising has resulted in a proliferation of sitters that do it for the wrong reasons. It’s kind of you to address the things you experienced with your recent sitter rather than deducting stars, since you weren’t overly affected by them.
I certainly wouldn’t be leaving a dog alone to go to an all-night party and am surprised that someone would even ask this of you (or not ask, in the case of the first sitter). I think, when house sitting, you have to approach it differently to how you might behave in your own home. Leaving animals to attend a party and get drunk is irresponsible in my opinion, especially when you have been entrusted by someone to look after their animals.
1 Like
I definitely took a star off from the one that left him alone all night and didn’t tell us any plans of going partying until she had left and we had gone to sleep. The anxiety that brought on us when we couldn’t get a hold of her all morning really made us uneasy but even then I didn’t associated it with her age but more of her character and integrity. I mentioned the ordeal in the review because I was ready to fly back early to care of my pet. Luckily we have good neighbors who came to feed our dog and make sure he had water and was ok. And the sitter was also ok, just irresponsible.
Then when we had this new person ask if she could try to pull the same, it made me uneasy because I had initially trusted her and told her about this experience it was as if I had talked to a gold fish or given her the idea that my dog was okay with it.
I had a lot of stuff going on in my personal life that I made her aware of as well so she could empathize and not add stress to my life but like you said… the fact that she would even ask when we made that very clear as a no in our profile. I get this is a mutual exchange for us but also, young sitters need to understand this isn’t just a free place to crash and come and go as you please.
5 Likes
@donteatmydog, great name btw!
Irrespective of direction then clear, specific, honest reviews seem valuable. Toss in some kindness too. We’d never discuss draft review with counterparty - THS two-way blind structure is deliberate.
Suggest ensure facts - and underlying cause - are accurate. e.g. clarity of written/oral instructions re dog walks (Welcome Guide, onsite dialogue)? clarity of other expectations? Was the underlying issue a communications disconnect (unclear expectations) or negligent sitter (consciously broke expectations)?
Suggest any negative comments are proportional. e.g. what was the magnitude of under-walked dog (e.g. big difference if expect walk 6 hours/day vs actual 15 mins/day compared to expect 60 mins/day vs actual 50 mins/day).
Finally, are you aware of any credible reason why housesitter walked dog less than expected? Maybe it was hurt? Or tired? We find that Pet Parents often overstate the amount of exercise to which their dog is accustomed.
2 Likes
I’m both a HO and sitter. I appreciate honest reviews. I can address an issue in the call if it is something minor.
I prefer someone who has experience with their own home. Something that is obvious to us (mopping up water on the floor from over watered plants) might not occur to someone else.
What is the point of a review if one can’t be honest?
Please leave a detailed review.
4 Likes
I notice things like plant watering and any leaks or drips and whether they might do damage — I’ve made sure to wipe say a window sill or floor when sitting and watering — but that’s the sort of thing I would’ve noticed when renting in my early 20s, too.
Some things, experience can help with. But sometimes, it’s just a matter of how careful someone is about details, and that often depends more on personality than age. For example, my husband doesn’t notice such things, and he’s in his 50s and we’ve owned homes together over decades. (Fortunately, he never sits with me and would be super stressed minding someone else’s home, so his lack of attention to detail isn’t their problem.)
I do a lot of hiring work wise and have hired people of all ages. We test for attention to detail for what we do. It’s harder to discern for sits whether someone has that, especially if they lack previous reviews.
Personally, I had someone (not via THS) sit my home and she was 20-something. That’s because I’d interacted with her enough to tell that she was more responsible than most people, no matter how old, and had terrific attention to detail.
And for someone to not notice something and then blow it off even when it’s called to their attention is a characteristic that’s incompatible with responsible sitting. A conscientious person would apologize and take note for future sits.
4 Likes