I’d like to address a recent pet sit. It is frustrating to do so much, to go above and beyond, and receive 4 stars. I drove the pet owner to the train station, sent her updates and photos of the pets 3 times a day (if I didn’t she’d text me requesting more photos), I brushed her cats twice a day, left her house much cleaner than when she left, brought in her heavy packages, and at her request had to open and clean up an Amazon package that had dripped almond milk all over the public mail room in her building. I had to take everything out of the box, clean and rinse everything, dispose of the soggy box, etc. My communication was impeccable. I arranges to get keys to a friend of hers. I was at her service constantly. She wrote that I was a great petsitter yet she chose 4 stars for every activity. It’s not fair that I worked so hard to receive 4 stars. When this happens I feel like only doing repeat pet sitting for the people who were gracious. Why is there no way to refute a rating? Yes, you can respond to the owner’s review, but the first thing pet owners see is your star rating, not the details. There should be more protection for your obviously excellent house and pet sitters. You will see from all the other reviews that I go above and beyond - plus, we are not paid no matter how old or sick the animal or labor intensive the daily tasks. Some people are able to notice and appreciate the obvious big effort; others are entitled, clueless and ungrateful. I do not want to be subject to these people! It is unjust. It is disrespectful. TH should protect their top pet sitters from these ingrates. There should be some kind of rating system where owners pay sitters who have to take care of sick or old animals, administer medications, etc. and a way for those of us with glowing reviews can refute a clueless, selfish review.
I completely agree with you, it’s absolutely unacceptable that you do your best and pets owner behaviour is so arrogant, we are not a workers and not a slaves. And all we need is just an appreciation, which isn’t hard to give.
@LFM, I’m sorry this happened to you! We can’t see your sitter profile to see your other reviews unless you post a link to it here in your forum profile. (You can click on my name to see what I mean.) Can you see what kind of reviews that HO has left for other sitters?
Welcome to the forum @LFM .
First of all , have you asked the owner why they deducted a star in each category?
There have been homeowners who did this in error / glitch in system and if that is the case then member services will amend it .
Once the homeowner has given their reasons you can make a factual reply -have you looked at what kind of rating they have given previous sitters ?
From your description this owner sounds very demanding - was the requirement to provide updates 3 times a day discussed with you prior to agreeing to the sit ?
You also mention an old sick animal - was this disclosed in the listing … if not then you can rate the owner and deduct stars on the category of “ accurate listing “…
Since you have seen the homeowner’s review of you I assume that the 14 days have passed since the sit ended or that you have already submitted your review - how did you rate them ?
Good advice from @Silversitters to ask why it’s 4 stars. A few oddball HOs have this thing about there’s nothing like perfection 
Maybe they were one of those?! 3 pics a day is way over normal. Talk to the HO, check their old reviews, digest it & respond with a non emotional and factual reply that lists what you did (in brief) and move onto a nicer sit for next time. #youknowwhoyouare @LFM 
I really feel for you on this. It really stings when this happens and I know that feeling. The irony is from what I’ve personally experienced, it’s often the more demanding, entitled HOs who tend to dock points in reviews.
In my first year of house sitting quite a while ago now, I got 4 stars for cleanliness yet all around the house, the HO had left half drunk, mould-encrusted mugs in virtually every room. Don’t even get me started on the state I found the bathroom in! 
This HO was also prone to asking for favours like running additional errands that went far beyond a house-sitter’s remit.
I also encountered the type of attitude you described on a very short overnight sit that definitely wasn’t the cleanest of homes, where I stepped in at the very last minute for a HO. On that occasion, I hadn’t done the laundering of the bed linen and was marked down in the reliability and cleanliness categories. I recently saw this very same HO’s listing pop up recently and out of curiosity, I clicked on it only to see the last sitter the HO had was slammed for not being “perfect.” The sitter’s response was very reasoned but clearly baffled ans hurt as they’d gone over and above like you had and even provided a taxi service for the HO.
Like you, I do wish there was a way to protect good, conscientious sitters from this type of attitude that can potentially stain our reputations.
Looking back, I didn’t get a great feeling about the first HO if I’m totally honest and the second one, I accepted far too readily without asking enough questions of the HO. THS for me, has been like a masterclass in human behaviour as much as about animal behaviour!
Just wanted to say I think quite a few of us can really relate to your situation and definitely sympathise. It’s so wrong and very unfair when all your efforts where you’ve gone above and beyond are not even recognised or acknowledged.
How does one see a Pet Owner’s rating of previous sitters?
I did not leave a review out of consideration for her. The upstairs neighbors and the gym on her floor caused noise way too early. It wasn’t her fault, but she could have mentioned this in the listing.
How do you check a Pet Owner’s rating of previous sitters?
As someone who was a Superhost on airbnb for many years I see the review system as a numbers game. The more you sit sooner or later you will get dinged. My advice? Move on. Good HOs will see past the stars and dive into your wonderful soul. Chewing over these anomalies will only drive you mad.
And by not reviewing the sit you do a disservice to any future sitter 
You should have left an honest review. Now the next sitter will face the same unfair fate. Writing your review was the way to protect good sitters.
When you look at a listing you can read all the previous reviews written by previous sitters. You can then click on the sitter’s profile to see how the homeowner reviewed them.
If you use the app you can also see if there are any sits where the sitter didn’t leave a review ( which can be a red flag or warning to other sitters )
THS don’t inspect homes or verify homeowners so sitters depend on each other to write fair and accurate reviews.
Writing a factual review is the way to protect future sitters. The new blind review system means you can rate the homeowner on each category and give an honest review without fear of a retaliatory review. You could have also written a non emotional factual comment about an the owner’s demands/ a sick or elderly pet / noise or any other inaccuracies and or omissions in the listing.
Click on the pet owner and their past sitters. Click the sitters profile and then find their sit for that HO @LFM - there’s a history there 
If you still have time you need to leave a review and if you don’t then you need to leave a full, factual and honest response to their review of you. You owe it to future sitters as has been said by other members. #knowyourworth
@LFM you have 14 days after your sit ends to write a review. Please write one if there’s still time and don’t wait until the last minute, as timezones can mess up the 14 days a bit.
@botvot @Cuttlefish it’s too late to leave a review …since LFM has already seen the review that has been written about them . Therefore (with the new review system ) the 14 days must have already passed since the sit ended.
Still time to leave a reply tho as @Cuttlefish advises .
Oh, right you are @Silversitters, sorry! What a pity.
I’m learning to be very cautious of those pet parents that implicitly wants the sitter to be the butler, maid, driver, gardener, concierge, mail / delivery person, emergency veterinarian etc they tend to be the ones that are nit picky and treat sitters like servants rather than care givers. This type of behavior ruins the ethos of THS and the reputation of good sitters. This is why I’m always honest in my review.