HO had a confusing welcome guide and was unreachable. He was reachable prior to the sit, but he was hard to get a hold of and same goes for his emergency contacts. All I want to know was the cat’s litter box because it was a humungous mansion, just so if I need to clean or refill. I cleaned up the place, washed their towels, bedsheets, and even made their bed. They came back upset there when the cat pooped and I had no idea how this happened. I don’t know where and when this happened, but the owner never responded to my text messages or calls when I needed help.
They think I wasn’t following their house guide and I was doing that, but honestly, even the location they kept saying where the litter box was at was not even there. This makes me think how should I rate this HO. I’m afraid of getting a bad rating because they just left a review and I’m so scared to even leave one or wait to see the aftermath.
I did a lot to make their place clean and tidy and now they are upset because of an accident. They didn’t even send me a thank you text after I sent them an updates. This will be their 3rd time using THS and they told me before their sitters had issues with their house guide but nothing to this extreme where I’m facing where they don’t appreciate or care the updates I send them like I do with all clients. I’m not sure how to rate them
It is now a blind review system and must be done within 14 days of the sit ending. Don’t leave the review until the last minute. Be honest and factual. If you are not happy with their review you have the opportunity to respond.
@Yuriko if communication was poor or could be improved and you didn’t have enough information to take care of the responsibilities then state this in your review . Along with the positives of the stay.
Be balanced and fair in your review. Remember that people you apply to sit for in future will read it. If I read bad reviews that are petty with no cause it’s a real turn off. Perhaps say that you couldn’t find the cat litter and that the homeowners didnt respond to your request for help which led to accidents that you wish could have been avoided. Say you’ve learnt from the experience (if you have!) and then move on to the positives of the sit.
I’m a little confused by your post as to whether that was the issue but it sounds like it was a missing litter tray that was the problem. I’ve found the fancier the house the more well hidden the bins, dishwasher and litter tray are! They’re often behind cupboard doors or in random rooms out of sight.
Edit to add: try and keep it very specific. Most future homeowners who look at your profile will probably think ok that sit didnt go well, but previous ones did and my cat’s litter is in an obvious place/I’ll reply to messages so it won’t be an issue. It sounds like you got really unlucky!
I think these are the times you have to think outside of the box. My last sit didn’t have a pooper scooper and HO said toilet paper worked. I wasn’t about to clean poop and pee with my hands so I bought a cheap scooper. Sometimes I just feel that what I am saving on my accommodation etc gives me enough reason to do such things, go and buy what I need, as long as it isn’t to over the top expensive. Doesn’t hurt to pay for stuff occasionally, particularly if you are at a lovely sit which a mansion sounds as if that was so. But honestly, I find a lot of people with the most money treat you a little less courteous than those without. That’s who they are and you can’t change people.
Just write EXACTLY what you feel and experienced, it’s blind so it won’t matter anyway. As I keep saying, they aren’t friends/family or employers, you won’t see them again, you did your best, so be factual without emotion. Can’t change the past so look forward to the next sits
Solid advice. Oh wow - no thank you to scooping poop with loo roll! Gross! In that situation I’d buy a scooper too. In the past I’ve bought cat toys if they didn’t have any and seemed bored and extra treats when a dog ran out. On a long sit with a bouncy dog I’ve always thought I’d buy a ball chucker to save my shoulder but haven’t come across that scenario yet.
Ah I typed so quickly that autocorrect happened and didn’t notice. I meanted to say all I wanted to know was where the litterbox was. That’s all I asked and HO including emergency contacts didn’t respond. Then they got mad at me when their cat pooped outside of the litterbox and complained there were flies inside the home. It was bad because it’s important to understand their guide wasn’t clear and they weren’t reachable. Plus they were peeved about how I wasn’t reading it thoroughly and thought I wasn’t following directions.
I already have 2 four star reviews and a recent 5 star review from a different sit with 2 points docked in one category. Sometimes I’m afraid of my own rep. I think it’s me comparing myself to other people with all 5 star reviews and I would be disappointed to get another 4 star or less review.
That’s really hard - you’ve been unlucky. Unless everyone is saying similar things in which case can you try and puzzle out what it is you might be able to do differently to address those concerns. Like if it’s usually to do with leaving the house clean you could perhaps ask the owner if you can hire a cleaner at the end. I’ve sometimes considered it if we’ve got a tight timeline with leaving the place - it’s already such a saving on accommodation that it might be worth it.
I do sometimes also think that if someone sees a less than perfect review it makes them feel less guilty about leaving another one. Not sure how much truth there is in that but there have definitely been a few sits where I wouldn’t have been surprised to have lost a star in e.g. the organisation category for petty stuff like forgetting something at the owners house. It’s never happened though and we’ve got better at not doing that over time.
Though it’s a blind review, we still (as far as I know) get the opportunity to reply to the review after 24 hours (I think), so if they give you a very unfair review, you could always respond there. Feel free to come back and ask for help if you need it with this. Also I’d recommend using ChatGPT (other text based AIs are available) - you can put in the points you want to make, and ask the AI to rewrite them in a polite manner! Honestly - this has helped me with some work emails
Hi @Yuriko
I think poor communication is a top reason sits don’t meet either the sitters or HO’s standard. It’s terrible when you can’t reach the HO or emergency contact. I did a sit early on when I joined THS where I was asked to pill one of the HO’s cats. Unfortunately they forgot to tell me how to identify the cat I needed to pill upon a blind handover. I couldn’t get hold of the HO or the emergency contact (who according to the HO never answers the phone so why the emergency contact?!).
Just give a factual review stating what you have said here. And also remember you have the right to respond to the review from the HO.
because it’s important to understand their guide wasn’t clear and they weren’t reachable. Plus they were peeved about how I wasn’t reading it thoroughly and thought I wasn’t following directions.
Honestly - this has helped me with some work emails 