Just finished my longest sit and everything seemed to be fine, even better than fine!
After I left their home I have been traveling and working, and thought I had until today to write their review. When I logged on I got the notice that the review window actually closed today. Bummer!
But what’s also strange is the HO didn’t leave one for me either, despite me sending her a reminder yesterday and checking if everything was all good.
I assume they are just busy after returning from a long vacation, I know I have been after I left their home.
But I also wonder if something was wrong? The HO didn’t mention anything and it was all positive exchanges throughout.
I really put in extra effort for the final cleanup and everything, so I can’t imagine an issue.
Has this happened to anyone? Should I chalk it up to a lack of time?
Maybe they were waiting to see if you’d left them one. I know the reviews are blind until both have left one or the window closed but I’m pretty sure there is a notification that one has been done even if not able to be viewed.
As an HO I would be mystified by that. I would wonder - really wonder - why you did not write your review. I don’t think I would trust such a reminder. I would wonder what you were up to.
I think some HOs might feel less obligated to write a review. I think I’ve heard that they will get a prompt when the sitter has written one? That there is a review pending and they can see it when they have written theirs?
Water under the bridge as the window is closed. Annoying, I can relate. A mistake we learn from is never in vain, though.
Edit: @pietkuip has a point. If they don’t get a prompt that you have written one but only a message from you that you’d like them to can seem odd.
I probably wouldn’t go as far as @pietkuip but he certainly has a point.
The first thing I thought when I read your post is:
why are you trying to read hidden intentions in the lack of review when you didn’t write one yourself.
It’s strange that you found time to remind her and not to write the review, which would have triggered an automated reminder and would have saved you the message.
Anyway, the absence of review is going to do more harm to the owner than yourself.
Hmm that’s strange, I mean they didn’t contact me or ask me about the review at all, in fact they didn’t respond to my reminder at first, and it was a purely positive message. They knew that I would be traveling and busy after our sit. I would assume the reviews from HOs matter more to the sitters?
Honestly, I like to write thorough and thoughtful reviews, and it takes me a moment. It’s something I take seriously, especially since interacting on the forums and realizing it’s an important ethical matter! I have been traveling, working, and with varying wifi so I wanted to wait until I had a proper moment to do it, you know? To think about it carefully and write it out.
I wonder if you are aware that the reviews are double-blind now? That there is no point anymore in this game of waiting for the other side to write a review first?
Yes I’m aware. I wasn’t waiting for theirs before writing mine. Without revealing too much – I was busy with a huge writing project, which I was also working on during the sit. It just finished this week, among my traveling etc., so I’ve just now had a moment to sit and write the review properly.
Dropping a quick Whatsapp is not the same to me as writing/thinking through a proper review. One is just a text, the other is more like a task with laptop and proper wifi, etc.? I told them I would be busy and traveling, so for my side it’s pretty transparent why I haven’t gotten to it yet, but with their side it’s still a bit mysterious and uncommunicative, hence my asking here.
So now anybody can see that your HO has a missing review. It is a bit of a red flag for me. Certainly if it was a long sit. (Tip: you can write a draft in advance, while still on the sit, if you really must write something long.)
Additionally, if there were any questions about my review or lack thereof, couldn’t they just communicate that? I don’t think they were mystified, as I explained that I had been busy and told them even beforehand I was busy. My reminder message also asked if everything was okay.
So do I. What I do is write it offline (no need of good wi-fi for that) and then, when I have a wi-fi spot, I copy paste my text.
It’s exactly the opposite because there’s no way for an owner to see that a sitter has not been reviewed while the app shows HO’s missing reviews and that can be taken as a red flag, especially if there’re not many good reviews to counterbalance.
Perhaps they can read it this way: “Hey, I am too busy to write a review but I assume you won’t be busy and will write one for me”
Had something similar happen to me. It as a short sit but I’ve been doing lots of sits. I planned to write a review but missed the timeframe. When I checked to see if they left me one, they didn’t. So kind of funny that we both didn’t leave one for each other but also wondering why they didn’t leave me one
I think the reminders are the THS generated ones. I almost always request the HO review through THS after I post my review. Could you elaborate on why you wouldn’t trust a reminder? I’m curious, because I don’t want to make the HOs uncomfortable by doing this.
There would have been nothing wrong with that if the OP had submitted their review within days of the sit. But they had not done that! They just sent a reminder to the owner. It would not make sense to me if I was the owner. I would start wondering if maybe the sitter was going to write a bad review, waiting for the last possible moment, tricking me to write a five-star review.