Hi there. I am new to this forum and am looking for advice with regards to 2 issues if that’s OK.
This is the second time using THS with our sitters having left last week. Our first experience was incredible but unfortunately on this occasion we have felt very let down.
We met with our most recent house sitters when they were in our area in April and they had the opportunity to look around the house, we explained a few things and specifically asked for the lawn to be mowed once a week. That was the only request we made. We said they had the use of the house but not the kids bedrooms, we are pretty easy going usually. A few weeks before the sit, they asked if their Neice could joint them which we were fine with and set up a spare room for her to stay.
On the night of their arrival, they arrived 4 hours later than planned (11:30pm) and had no interest in us explaining how things worked, or alarm system or ring door bell or Charlie’s feeding regime, to be fair it was in the welcome guide. We left the next morning at 5am with 3 kids and a caravan on a 10 hour drive.
We were away for 3.5 weeks and came home to a dirty house, evidence of drawers been gone through and my daughters personal items used that were in the main bathroom main which both my daughters use. There was also hair that did not belong to our family in on of my drawers so that drawer has been opened. The house hadn’t been hoovered, bins not emptied and upstairs bathroom bin was filled with used sanitary products and disposable razors. Our toilet was in a state that looked like it had not been flushed in weeks and dirty scum in the shower. Dirty towels in the bathroom, bedding not washed. The washing machine was still running when I got home with navy blue pillow cases in with pure white ones, the latter is now the colour of sky blue and the auto dispensers were filled with both fabric softener so everything had to be washed again. The tumble dryer water container was fit to bursting. In our welcome guide, we had given detailed instructions on how to use each appliance if they wanted to use them and also information on where to find cleaning products, towels and toilet roll.
The lawn was very heavily overgrown when we came back with a WhatsApp message saying sorry we didn’t get round to it, we were either out or it was raining. My outside plants were dead with dry soil so I don’t think it had been raining that much. My husband spent hours trimming it first then cutting it. The mower really struggled due to the density. We had spent a long time getting the garden in order so they could spend time in the patio with a nice view.
I have a border collie and we had mentioned in the welcome guide that he usually gets walked for at least an hour a day but preferably twice a day. My husband needed to remove 2 carrier backs of dog excriment from the garden and there was a bare strip at the back of the garden where he has been running up and down the back fence watching the kids over the back play football. When they visited he was trying to do that and I mentioned that I call him in as he is ball obsessed and it can be distressing for him.
Our neighbour on our arrival (who is also a dog owner and works for a dog rescue charity) popped in with concerns that our dog had been left in the house for large amounts of time during the day. The car was hardly in the driveway and when he did go out it was not for very long. She was so concerned at one point that she went in to check on him. He had clearly put on weight and with the state of the garden it suggested that he had spent large amounts of time in the garden with that as his toilet.
Prior to their arrival, I spend a long time deep cleaning the house to make sure it was perfect for them. I feel that they have used our home as an air BNB and their main priority was to get out and about and our collie had to fit round that. I also feel like our privacy has been violated with the use of personal products and knowledge that they have been through personal drawers and used products that have not been replaced.
- I am going to put in an honest factual review as we felt let down by how our house and as it appears our dog but I was wanting to give them some feedback (I have photos) but I am wanting to email them feedback as I am not sure if they are aware of the code of conduct with THS. We took a chance with them as they didn’t have any reviews at the time we booked the sit but did have recommendations. I am confused as since we came home, they have completed to other house sits with 5* reviews within the past month or so. WOULD IT BE RECOMMENDED I DO THIS?
- We have a ring door bell but forgot to disclose it in the welcome guide. We didn’t get a chance to explain it to them as our mutual plan to go through everything on their arrival didn’t happen. Our plan was to do a walk through the night before we left. We had to stop all notifications on it a long time ago as we live at the edge of the estate and it used to ping constantly with cars going by so we pretty much only use it as a door bell now so it didnt even enter our minds. We may also have forgotten to mention it during the walk through if Im honest. Unfortunately since my neighbour spoke to us with her concerns about our dog, we had to go through the history and it pretty much confirmed that in the last week of our holiday he only left the house 3 times. I had also asked for our dog to have a good run before they left on their last day as we would not return home until that evening, and he had not been out at all that day. Im not sure where this leaves us as we haven’t disclosed the camera but there is information on it which is very concerning and correlates with what my neighbour has told us about the care of our dog. Any advice would be appreciated. I wouldn’t mention it in the review but would like to in my email.
- Expectations - We told them that food in kitchen cupboards etc was fair game and we didn’t expect them to be replaced but didn’t specifically mention not going into personal drawers etc. Is this something that should be mentioned or as a housesitter, is it implied? We only mentioned that the 3 kids bedrooms were out of bounds to ensure their privacy. I was also under the impression that a house should be left in a state that they found it. I am not pernickety but my bathroom has never been in the state I found it in and resulted in me having to do a lot of work to reclean when I came home.
We got on very well with our house sitters from before the sit. During the house sit, we had no concerns at all with regular updates in the first 2 weeks but not very much apart from them planning their ongoing trip afterwards. I don’t want to put a negative review in and no explanation. I would have given them a heads-up first but I suspect that may result in a retaliatory negative review from them.
Sorry for the long message but we have never been in this situation before. The house was certainly not in the state some owners have been left in, but my husband and I have very busy jobs, 3 kids and having to reclean the house and garden on our return was very stressful. Im actually not sure if we would do this again.
