Hi all. I am in recovery from a nightmare sit that got prematurely cancelled two weeks ago. I got a reminder email yesterday to post a review within three days (which would have aligned with the premature cancellation date of the sit had the HO not had us bullied out of the house early), but when I started (then stopped) posting my review today, the website said I had 0 days to post (14 days from the date we were ousted from the house). Which do I believe?! I’m walking the line between leaving a review at the last minute - hopefully - and not being able to leave a review, and this HO and potential sitters definitely need this review posted!
You can see the sit end date on your dashboard . The 14 days start from that date. Only THS can amend a sit end date for a sit that has already started . Did you or the host contact THS at the time ?
Have you raised a member dispute about the issues you experienced? That is the only way to get THS to deal with these issues . (THS don’t read the reviews )
We were in an uncomfortable situation last year where we really wanted to review a bad sit but hoped to avoid the HO reviewing us badly as a retaliation (as they knew we were not happy & they were tricky people!) So we drafted our review and waited until 11.45pm of the 14th day to post it! Then switched off the phone…
We thought they would have forgotten all about us and miss the review deadline but next morning- lo and behold- Was their 4 *review of us and their shocked response to our 2 * review of them!! We couldn’t believe they’d waited till the last minute just like us! Maybe they would not have reviewed at all if we hadn’t! Anyway we too hadn’t wanted conflict or stress and, in the past, have sometimes not left a review at all in such circumstances. But these hosts needed exposing. Fortunately they shot themselves in the foot in their review of us saying the reason they gave only 4 * was because I had objected to the builders coming in!!! Yes I most certainly had objected! We were only told about the builders on arrival at the sit- no mention before or in the listing- and it was multiple builders every day!! Totally against THS T&Cs So our response to their review tells the whole Story. There is no mistaking who is at fault!! The only resulting downside is they spoilt our 5 * track record!!
Not sure why the Text kept switching to italics!
Anyway…Get that review submitted! People need to know the truth!
It really doesn’t matter if you wait. The reviews are blind. The other party can’t see your review until they either have submitted theirs, or the review-window is out. The only “prize” you can get for waiting, is that they have given you a review and you haven’t submitted yours. In that case, if they asume you will give them a bad review, they might give you an even worse. Which you don’t get to see until it is too late.
After you both have submitted your reviews, you both get to choose (or not) to respond one time to the review you’ve got. But that won’t look as good if you haven’t given a review of them in the first place.
A factual an honest description of the sit, non-emotional, can never do much harm. I do think that most reasonable members can “read between the lines”, also.
You’re right. I certainly read between the lines myself! I just recall that I get notified when I receive a review, and I’m afraid of galvanising her into malicious action! But, like you say - facts is facts!
It’s never fun writing bad reviews but it’s so important to be honest for the platform to work. I had to write one myself and although I didn’t feel great about it, I got it done.
We all need to write honest, unemotional, factual reviews. As home owners and sitters, words unsaid often say a lot. My last sitters were very different people, one of them showed lots of interest in the animals and interacted well with them making me feel reassured and this was what I focused on in my review. I didn’t mention the other one at all, not once!! Hopefully this lets people know how uninterested he was in the animals. I ommited to put how obnoxious and arrogant he was because that would be emotional and my opinion.
I’ve been working on the thing for two weeks 
Yes I most certainly had objected! We were only told about the builders on arrival at the sit- no mention before or in the listing- and it was multiple builders every day!! Totally against THS T&Cs So our response to their review tells the whole Story. There is no mistaking who is at fault!! The only resulting downside is they spoilt our 5 * track record!!