I’m counting on Jenny to chime in and sort this out for us…
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Hi @buttercup
I think MS are best placed to help with this one so I’ve shared the detail from your OP and asked them to take a look before getting in touch with you.
If I do hear anything back from them, I’ll let you know. 
Jenny
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Thanks @Jenny I understand that community managers have little influence here, and that THS may prefer to move matters like this to MS and a more closed channel. I don’t expect further response from MS, as the THS Membership Services Senior Complaints Handler stated:
“No further action will be taken. Further questions regarding this will not be responded to.”
It’s unfortunate, as members should be able to trust that reviews are real and genuine…a core part of the concept.
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This topic needs to remain at the top of the Forum list, so that members are aware.
Does anyone else have a concrete example?
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Agreed. The silence is deafening.
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@Oztravels Yes, sometimes silence speaks volumes
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I agree, it’s crucial to keep these discussions open, alive, and transparent. It appears most on this subject have been modified or restricted (and I appreciate that this one hasn’t been closed). There are still examples like mine, though, if you search using the right words.
There’s a lot more in the THS Reddit group, which seems to be where most people share about this, including crossposts from Trustpilot and Facebook. I don’t use either of those apps, so I came across this first through Google. The community there has threads, even mega-threads, where users post their real reviews to warn others. There are mentions of THS accounts being penalized or closed, reviews being edited or completely removed, and users being blocked from leaving a review after a housesit.
Seems to be an overall fear of retaliation from THS for leaving factual reviews, which is why some prefer to share them on Reddit instead. In here in this forum, fear also comes from members who comment on being pressured, even threatened, to ask THS to alter their own reviews to avoid possible physical retaliation from other members.
I’m sharing this only so others can read, research, and form their own opinions. Personally, I now understand why some choose to leave blank or “glamorized” reviews, and why it’s not possible to reach out to previous matches. I’ve lost trust in the review system and dispute process, but absolutely not in the concept of THS matchmaking itself.
I don’t think anyone should take reviews purely at face value, regardless of the company. In this case, if you want to verify whether a review is truly as “100% tamper-proof” as advertised, compare its tone, length, and language with that member’s other reviews. I can’t see any other reliable way to tell if it’s genuine…at least for now.
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I’ve reached out to colleagues in our member service team to discuss the process. I won’t talk about individual scenario’s in this public setting, that conversation is best had with those teams directly - check out this link if you want to query a review.
Broadly speaking, it’s incredibly rare that we’d edit a member review. On the occasion that we might step in, it’s likely just a tweak to the wording in line with our terms of service.
Of the people that I spoke to, nobody has ever changed a star rating in a review.
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If a reviewer (sitter or owner) has docked stars, there should always be an explanation (a reason) stated in the review itself. Otherwise, how does the reader understand the less than 5 star rating?
@buttercup explained in this thread that part of a review was completely removed, and so, the star rating did not really make sense.
As long as a reviewer is stating facts, I don’t think THS should alter reviews at all. Members can respond to the reviews to refute them.
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While I understand a description after docking a star adds “nuance” I think it’s not hard to read the stars for what they are…..dissatisfaction. After being a food reviewer and judge for many years I learnt no scoring system is perfect. Saying that I agree with your last point that THS should never alter reviews unless it discloses confidential information and or breaks the TOS.
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Thank you @Mark_B While the actual executed procedures interest me more, it’s always appreciated when companies volunteer to “investigate” themselves. I also appreciate the link, though it does very little to support the stated intention…perhaps even the opposite.
Again, I understand the desire to move some topics to a more private, non-public channel. As you can see, that has already been done, leaving matters exposed and unresolved.
I’ll therefore assume that the “stepping in” and “tweaking” of half my factual review, evidenced by supporting documents - an executed procedure and outcome that are anything but private and very much public - is the reason you’re offering some public clarification here too.
So, just checking the till: What exactly does THS mean by “100% tamper-proof”? Tamper-proof from whom, exactly?
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“Physical retaliation”??? Seriously? Who is threatening physical retaliation? That is a police matter. I would really wonder if this is true if people just say it but have no proof.
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This sounds dodgy. I have not had it happen to me but a few people have mentioned it on other chat platforms.
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Proof has little effect on MS…But yes, members experiencing this should absolutely contact the police first. No need to pile indifference on top of harassment.
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There are stories on this Forum in which owners had a very bad experience with sitters, and the owners were hesitant to leave an honest and thorough review, as the horrible sitters lived nearby, and the owner felt that the sitters might physically hurt them or harass them or damage property in retaliation.
One of the stories that I read had a definite flavor of sitters who drank a lot of alcohol and smoked pot while pet sitting. There was obvious evidence of this on return, along with pets and house in bad shape.
So YES, some members fear physical violence in retaliation for honest reviews. Very unfortunate.
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