Welcome to the Forum @furrysmith21
I’m so sorry this happened to you - it’s certainly not the experience we’d want or expect for any of our members.
Please keep us updated on how things are - and if you need a hand linking up with Membership Services let me know.
Thanks to everyone that’s popped on with such kind advice!
Jenny
That would be great actually. The reviews came out last night. Feel terrible as they gave us a raving review. They did reply to ours with comments that were not true which I was expecting. I haven’t been in contact with them since nor shared photos with anyone
i have ADHD and very much a type A personality. I tend to have extreme reactions criticism so when I have a sitter in I literally gut the house from top to bottom to make sure there is no question on how I left it. Now I’m questioning myself did I forget this or that and did I respond appropriately, I suppose this is why I posted.
My husband has said I should just leave reporting it and put it behind me but I also don’t want anyone in this position. It’s not that they damaged anything or completely wrecked my house, but it took quite a few days amongst work to get it right again which I was not expecting to do. We have a touring caravan so that all needed unpacked as well. Just feel a bit let down
@furrysmith21 I’m sorry their response has been inaccurate and you are feeling down. Just know you did the right thing by highlighting where they did not fulfill their responsibilities. Remember, their response shows on THEIR profile and not yours. Any owners who cross-check reviews will read their glowing review of you and will see the inconsistency in their response to the review given by you. Just put it behind you as you won’t be dealing with them again.
I would feel the same way. I agree with @temba to just put this behind you and don’t worry about it. The sitters were wrong, not you.
When I enter a home to sit for 3 weeks, I feel elated when it is very clean, as it is pretty easy to keep a clean home clean! These sitters were very disrespectful to leave your home and garden the way they did. Ridiculous. And their treatment of your dog is even worse! It is hard to understand how people can walk away with a clear conscience. 
This is at least the third post I’ve read about sitters leaving the house in a state and the pets not being looked after properly, dog poo all over the garden, etc. It seems it’s usually new sitters with no reviews that get chosen a) because the HO doesn’t have any other applicants b) they want to give a new sitter a chance. THS needs to get a lot stricter with the vetting process and when an HO flags issues such as the ones in this post the sitter needs to have their membership cancelled and not be allowed to rejoin. I would suggest before anyone is allowed to join THS as a sitter THS should issue a standard email giving all rules that must be adhered to by the sitter and the prospective member should have to sign and return it to say that they have read and understood the rules (I get that a lot of people will sign without bothering to read it!). If I was a HO and this happened to me I would be devastated and would not risk using THS again. HOs MUST leave honest reviews, these kinds of sitters tarnish the reputation of THS and spoil the concept for the rest of us (reliable, honest, trustworthy, caring sitters).
They’ll never do that, the cost and logistics are prohibitive and give the company no added benefit. THS is simply a matching service and it’s for hosts and sitters to do their due diligence with a video call and close reading of listings, reviews and profiles. The skewed marketing of “have a free holiday” and “choose from 100s of pet sitters waiting to help you out” is also likely to be causing many of these issues. You’ll always hear about the bad situations as that’s when members need help and support. There are also 1000s of sits every week that go off without a hitch. It’s unfortunate but a rarity. #duediligence
That’s true. No need to worry about the impact that their reply might have.
On a more personal note,
If it makes you feel better, you can answer to their review, just thanking them for the review and showing your glad they had a great experience as that’s what you always aim for. No mention of their reply or anything negative. Not sure if that would make you feel better but that’s what I would do. I think this would
1- give me an opportunity to be show appreciation for what I really appreciate and make a clear point that being grateful for something doesn’t change the experience that I am not happy about.
2- help me attract the right type of sitter, people who are discerning and fair.
Just do what feels right for you both. Pursuing a members’ dispute requires extra energy that you may not have now. It seems Membership service is not always easy to deal with and your review should be enough warning for other HOs to decide for themselves. Some HOs have homes in the state this sitter left yours, they me be a good match, who knows? The pet issue is more worrying but, again, some people don’t take out their dogs at all.
From my experience, all reviews appear, even if only one of the parties reviews.
I had a similar situation where the sitter’s teenage son went into my off-limits primary bedroom and bath - used the shower, makeup mirror, etc. I called her and after discussing with her son, acknowledged this happened. I really liked her, but out of concern for other owners, I felt the need to post a very honest review, which I did.
If anyone wants to view an example of a well-written, unemotional, less-than-5-star review of a sitter AND a mature, reasonable sitter response then I encourage you to check out @TitoandLuna 's profile.
(responding to @MaggieUU 's post)
Agreed!!! A fair review and great response that should give a future HO confidence that it was a one-off. I see that sitter has a couple of stellar reviews following that one, so getting dinged in a review doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
This sucks, Negative review them, report them on THS and get them off the platform. They should not house sit.
For future house sitters, if they are more interested in their holiday plans, they tend to do that, focus on their holiday plans. Look for house sitters who are genuinely interested in your house and pets.
Either way, once again this sucks for you, but I guess it’s not all bad, in the future you will be able to spot these kinds of things before they happen and most likely will have better experiences from now on.
I think it’s also a great example of how a 3 
rating ends up enhancing the reputations of both sitter and host more than any pair of 5 milquetoast reviews. That result, in turn, undercuts all the anxiety we see on this forum over being docked a meaningless without explanation.
So it gets worse. Even though I hadn’t disclosed the ring doorbell as mentioned above, another neighbour today spoke to me about her concern about not seeing my dog Charlie going out much and she also thought there were multiple people coming and going from my home.
this maid actually make me do a deep dive into my ring history and what I found was
I know I was meant to disclose the ring and truely it was an oversight, I have been back from my holiday now for 2 weeks and I have only today reviewed the footage in detail in response to a second neighbour showing her concern.
This is all very unfortunate, and I don’t think anyone is going to argue who’s in the right & who acted unacceptably after reading your account.
How is your dog doing? Outside of absolutely being relieved you’re home, are they ok?
If the predominant answer to that question is ‘yes,’ I think my well-meaning advice is that the sooner you can put paid to this misadventure & leave it behind you, the better. I have little doubt that the more you delve into this sitter’s behavior the more things you’ll find that upset you, with the danger being that you’ll twist yourself into knots by dwelling on it past the point where it’s productive.
Definitely write & post the review (and
the response when you’re ready, if you decide to do one.) Absolutely use us & these forums as a sounding board to vent; we support you, & that’s what it’s here for. But as for continuing to do deep dives into the sitters’ daily movements & activities, it’s probably not going to serve any useful purpose at this point.
Maybe just give your pup some extra love & reassurance for a bit to make up for his rough go, & definitely consider some of the great advice to help vet future sitters if you decide to try again down the road.
It would be great that after egregious actions of a HO or sitter are 100% confirmed, those people could/would be named on the forum to warn others.
We hear these horror stories, but the people continue to sit or host, and others have to pay the price. Why are we protecting their identities?
The bad people continue to sit or host because hosts/sitters don’t leave honest reviews.
Why not just write an honest review vs. naming someone on this forum, which relatively few members use?
So, they were newbie sitters, just as you are a relatively new host?
What you’ve described here sounds like a catalogue of errors and is most certainly not the norm, so based on the info you’ve supplied it does suggest inexperience and unmatched expectations - on both sides - hasn’t helped:
THS is simply a matching site and both sitters and hosts are responsible for reading the T&Cs and performing due diligence to ensure compatibility. Communication on both sides is key to achieving this. Did you supply the sitters with a comprehensive welcome guide, in good time?
I’m not for one moment condoning the actions and omissions of these sitters but this situation reminds me of the idiom “the blind leading the blind”; it sounds like the sitters were clueless and your expectations and commitment requirements were not made entirely clear.
You’ve been dwelling on this for 8 days now and have now done a ‘deep dive’ into your ring doorbell history:
Was your dog happy and well, when you returned home? It’s maybe worth focussing on that, and on the memories of your time away - when you had no concerns - rather than continuing to investigate and consider every element of what went wrong with this sit. Leave a factual review and move on. You can’t change what’s past, all you can do is learn from this experience and maybe think about how you can avoid such a situation reoccurring.
Going forwards, I’d advise only considering sitters who have good reviews, and plenty of them. This is not to say first-time sitters aren’t good, but that someone with a verified history of successful sits will more likely restore your faith in this exchange arrangement. Also, think about your own part in contributing to a mutually-positive experience: make your expectations crystal clear, both verbally and in your welcome guide, and be transparent about the exterior camera. State how often you require updates. Make sure - as far as is possible - that you’re both on the same page.
This is clearly still distressing you and I can understand why you feel your trust has been violated. The situation you’ve described isn’t typical, or the THS exchange model simply wouldn’t work. I hope you can take some comfort in that.
Again thank you for your support. The deep dive yesterday was only in response to a concern a different neighbour made to me whilst I was chatting to her about multiple people coming and going at all hours. There wasn’t multiple people, only those whom we agreed to but it did highlight the lack of care that was given to Charlie (he is a working dog collie so needs a good run if not to daily) which was highlighted in the welcome guide and our advert
Charlie is OK. He was very quiet and jumpy for a few days after we got back and with extra loving and attention he seems to have came round. No physical harm came to him which was a relief.
as for naming and shaming I don’t think that’s allowed but the review is there if you would like me to share it. Their response did ask for feedback, not sure I want to get into that with them. I think I’m happy to put it to bed now although it would provide proof of the inconsistencies they mentioned in their response
I appreciate everyone’s comments, you are all a very supportive community and I will definitely lean on you guys again if we decide to use THS next year.