Be flexible with nubie sitters

Trustpilot is a beast to be viewed with scepticism. Humans are 11 times more likely to complain than compliment so it’s in our nature to moan. That said, THS have done themselves a disservice by making new HOs think they have a pool of sitters to just select one from & many think THS pay the sitter somehow in the confusing messaging so that isn’t helpful either. It sounds as if you’ve simply been unlucky so far with the first two sits. Perhaps the two coming up will change your mind and if not then sitting might not be your thing unless you change your selection process & ask tougher questions. Your reviews are fine, your responses are too emotional to help you. Take the feedback and move on or make it a minimal response. On another note I see you’re now in Kas, we’re in Kalkan (along with another super experienced sitter) so let us know if you if you’d like to meet for a bit of positivity! #allaboutthecomms

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You’re only seen what you actually wanted to see on Trustpilot. There’s thousands of positive sitter reviews, and plenty of owners who gave THS 5*s because they thought their sitters were great. There’s 20000 reviews who give it an average 4.5 / 5, but you seem to let how you feel right now be clouding your judgement of how you view things, and that’s only right, it’s only human.

But here is the reality!
The FACT is, both of your owners DID appreciate everything you did! Their words in your reviews tell you that. They just both gave you an overall score of 4.5 / 5, because they feel they could give you 5 and explained why.

Review 1 (shortened)
“took excellent care of our pets.”
“Thank you so much for taking care of our pets.”

IE They appreciated you!

Review 2 (shortened)
“She cared for Pixie with great attention, and I came home to a happy, content, and relaxed cat. It was clear that Pixie felt completely at ease with Lee, which is something any pet owner would deeply value.”

“I was very happy with the care Pixie received. She was in excellent physical condition and great spirits when I returned, which speaks volumes about Lee’s dedication to her well-being. Thank you, for your care and for keeping Pixie happy and healthy while I was away!”

IE They appreciated you!

Those are the FACTS, they wouldn’t have said those things if they didn’t mean it, because they just would have wrote other things instead. That’s a fact! That’s reality! How you are feeling at the moment, is preventing you from seeing that, and that’s totally normal.

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I will have to change my profile and explain my challenges as a senior and also make it entirely clear I am not paid and homeowners need to take that into account and accept they will be called regarding any problems back home. (yes, I saw one HO complain that they were being bothered while on holiday). Of course this kind of “demanding” profile might not get any offers. So I’m back to leaning to cancel membership. Sitters are telling me they dread getting their reviews. And we’re paying for this? Makes no sense for me to give free labor to a wealthy company that provides no support to its “employees.” And by the way I went thru the most recent 100 TrustPilot reviews and out of those only 8 reviews by sitters. Mostly negative. I don’t care how the company was 10 years ago…only now.

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Do whatever makes you comfortable. Change your profile if that helps, personally we have never heard of a sitter “dreading” a review unless the sit has been a problem one. It’s one from the sitter and one from the host, balanced and tit for tat. I think you’re confused about the TP reference as we said “take it with a pinch of salt” &/or “people like to moan” and no mention of circa 2014. You choose the bits you listen to. The rest of our offer of help you seem to have ignored so hope it works out. #takestwototango

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Personally, I sit and have renewed with THS only because it’s enriched my life. Otherwise, I sure as heck wouldn’t bother.

In your place, I’d just finish my remaining commitments and quit. No point voluntarily doing anything that’s made you as unhappy as you’re coming across.

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Have to agree. If it’s causing OP this much strife, don’t continue.

But after scanning responses down and seeing more context on the actual reviews written, part of me also wonders if, as a newer HS, OP also is working through the learning curve of how to vet potential sits and understand what parts will be most important to the HO, as well as to them?

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Many THS members work through a learning curve, whether as sitters or hosts. I’d say in this case, the OP’s comments lead me to think that they’ll remain unhappy. And as they said, life is short. There are plenty of other things to do / try in life that could make them happy with less struggle.

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@Maggie8K
Strongly disagree. Lots of sits are great experiences. Giving up after 2 bad ones would close the door to lots of positive opportunities. It’s legitimate to be unhappy when things go wrong. Next time things could go right!

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Completely agree on this one. But the OP said

I do this as a hobby and it seems this is the case with @lollykaiser too. If I felt unhappy sitting, I would not keep trying. As @lollykaiser said,

That said, after two gorgeous sits, one can change their mind.

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Personally, I’m generally more of your mindset. But when offering input, I try to instead take into account the individual and their outlook, as @Newpetlover notes as well.

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It’s a shame you had two bad experiences @lollykaiser - one thing I’d suggest is that if you aren’t doing it for travel and it’s to meet pets, maybe look for sits near you which you could drive to? They’d be less competitive so you’d probably get to stay in really nice houses with great animals! I’ve found owners in less competitive areas to also be more appreciative in general and have mostly enjoyed those sites more. But yeah if it’s making you unhappy - there’s plenty of other ways to travel and meet animals! Good luck finding what works for you =)

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Those reviews sound very unfair and the experiences awful for you.

We are both sitters and homeowners. We have have good and great experiences as sitters. The great sits we have been back to several times. As homeowners, we invite our great sitters back first, but the good sitters are still appreciated as the pet was cared for. I would invite them back, too.

Stick with it and apply for a homeowner with many five star reviews. That might help you find an enjoyable sit and make it all worthwhile.

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