Fear of making an honest 'negative' review

Hi @kak I’m very sorry that you’ve had this experience with your sitters, but thank you for taking time to feedback constructively about the review system. And, your honesty in writing a review that truthfully reflects your experience is very much appreciated.

Just to reassure you, although we don’t have an immediate solution, this is an ongoing discussion within the product team. (See this feedback from @Ben-ProductManager on a similar thread). Fear of making an honest 'negative' review

As we’ve seen in other discussions here on the forum, it appears that all review systems can be flawed in one or other respects, so it’s important as we revisit this aspect of our process, it’s with thorough consideration to ensure we make improvements that will benefit everyone in a fair and transparent way. I’m sure Ben will be interested to read your feedback and suggestions here as part of the team’s review.

Apologies again, and please do reach out to membership services if you want to discuss this individual situation more, or DM any of us on the forum team.
All the best, Vanessa

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Thank you Vanessa, I have emailed Katie and am awaiting her response. I appreciate your feedback!

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Great post, @kak .

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@kak, so sorry you had such a negative experience with the sitter. You can post a reply to the sitter’s review that will appear along with his review so anyone who reads it gets a more balanced picture of the situation.

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I am a HO and new to the site. I recently reviewed a sitter which I gave a 5 star but after reading comments on this topic I should have been more honest. She did not deserve a 5 star but because I only read positive reviews I decided to follow suit. I was afraid if I gave a negative review that it would reflect on me as HO and I’m so new to the site.

PS. I wanted to add this reply here because it’s also relevant to this topic.

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And, in a way, it does reflect on us. That’s why reviews shouldn’t be posted until BOTH the sitter and the HO have written a review, or until a certain period of time has passed (I would suggest 5 days after the sit has ended). Once the 5 day period has ended OR both parties have written their reviews, then the review(s) should be posted. That way, no review is written as a retaliation review.
It was clear that my sitter wasn’t going to post a review until I had. He knew he had left our home in disarray and he was waiting to see what my review would say. His sit, just previous to ours, didn’t post a review until we had already left home. It did reflect that he was not tidy or organized, but she didn’t elaborate and, overall, gave him a 5 star rating (4 stars for tidiness and 4 stars for organized).
I’ve read many posts stating that the HO or sitter was afraid to post a true review because they were sure they either wouldn’t get another sitter for their home or they wouldn’t be offered another sit.
If I can’t get another sitter because I left a negative review for this sitter, that’s okay with me; I’d rather HO’s knew about our experience, and they can make their own decision. But at least they will have the facts.

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The current system works just fine if you have a glowing review to provide. However, if you have anything negative to say, both parties run the risk of retaliation reviews. This hurts the entire system, because it introduces bias and devalues reviews entirely. Bad situations go unreported, or HOs or PSs are wrongly dinged.

I had a recent sit that had some minor drawbacks that I’d love to warn other sitters about. However, I fear a negative review in return. So I wrote nothing. And I received nothing. And even worse, there’s no deadline to reviews, so the HO could come back a year from now and write a bad review from the situation.

PLEASE update this system. Put a time limit on reviews. And don’t post either review until either both parties have submitted their reviews or the time limit has elapsed.

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That’s a good point @Zoby . I agree there should be a time limit on reviews. We’re told the administration is working on the review issue. I do hope they institute a star system for sitters so we can rate the various aspects of the sit (i. e., clean and tidy, communication, safety of location, pet temperament, etc. )just as HO can rate sitters on things such as clean and tidy, reliable, happy pets, etc. I hope we see some action soon on this issue.

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I agree although I think the time limit needs to be longer than 5 days. I’d say at least 2 weeks. I’m pretty sure AirBNB is at least that long.

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I agree, @Kelownagurl . I would vote for 3-4 weeks.

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Yeah. I would hate to lose a review just because someone got busy.

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I do this all the time and wasn’t aware that it was no longer available. I like to see if the person is a “complainer” before deciding on whether to take their review with a pinch of salt.

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Hi @Flygirl welcome to our community forum, thank you for joining, we look forward to sharing in your THS journey.

Angela and the Team

I wish I could edit that post from way back but apparently they reinstated the ability to click on sitter profiles awhile back. Only if the sitter is active though.

Absolutely. Agree with all this.

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… But THS say emphatically that all ‘additions’ to reviews/feedback will be very strictly censored if seen to be extreme or unfair. But no -one was on the sit, except the sitter ie the best person to judge in the circumstances.

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I agree 5 days not be long enough, for me personally anyway. By the time I get back home or travel onward to next sit I like to have time to reflect on the sit once completed.

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The system AirBnB has works well. You have a set amount of time to leave a review, and neither party can see the review until both have completed. If you go past the prescribed time, no review. I would suggest also, that for both sitters and homeowners, it be posted how many sits/how many reviews left, so people can know who is not bothering to review. Please look into it, as it would be uncomfortable to leave poor reviews if people can retaliate by giving you a bad one. The current situation does make the reviews less reliable.

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@mars yes its overdue and leaves me with the impression that i am in the ‘head masters’ office (again!) and the headmaster being the HO! A fair system provides a breakdown of facets of the sit for both parties…I am on my ‘hobby-horse’ again @Angela_L @Vanessa_A !!

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@anon39388349 thank you and I hope you are well? Sunshine across London…might take a photo of it as who knows when we will see it again! Have a great day.

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