I had my first negative review from my last sit. Ive done 9 other sits, all 5 star reviews.
The thing is, im completely baffled by her comments… One of which was about cleanliness of her home: bizarre, as her housekeeper attended the day before I left to do her usual thorough weekly clean.
She also mentioned 2 dead houseplants & bugs… I saw neither! And the lovely housekeeper didn’t mention anything like this to me either.
I did all my usual things before leaving: taking the rubbish out, stripping the bed, etc etc… and leaving a thank you card.
I know I left the home neat & tidy: despite having a fractured hand, which I sustained on her property whilst with her, before she left. I only mention this, as im left wondering whether there was some other motive for giving the bad review, or am I just over thinking things?
What do people make of all this? Im concerned it could affect my chances for future applications.
A housekeeper came before you arrived, so you only needed to do basic maintenance cleaning?
‘a couple of plants were dead’? Were there plants, and was it specified you were to water them? Also, the housekeeper is not your employee and would say nothing to you, so don’t read anything into that.
You fractured your hand on her property? How?
Are you suggesting she left a negative review because she thought you would do the same, or worse, report/sur because of the fractured hand?
It was a 4 week sit, & the housekeeper came once a week. Detailed instructions were left for houseplant care, which I followed to the letter, measuring out the precise amount of water each time. When I had concerns about one plant, I sent her photos to check it was OK, & she confirmed it was fine, just in its winter stage.
I fractured my hand tripping over a step at the apartment entrance. Just an accident, nobody’s fault, but yes, it has left me wondering what is underlying the review.
Yeah it sounds like she probably thought you were going to either leave a bad review or worse because of your hand, but you sound like a nice reasonable person.
Leave a factual response, stating the plants were cared for to her instructions, etc.
Otherwise move on. It wouldn’t bother me as a HO if you had a one off miss on your reviews.
Exactly how negative a review @LancashireLass? What were the star ratings?
You have the opportunity to respond to her review stating the facts from your side which will clarify the situation for future HOs, especially if it is not emotional.
Bugs? They can come in anytime surely, between you leaving and her arriving. An infestation because you were dirty is a whole other thing, but it sounds like nit picking. May well reflect more on her than you.
Please specify exactly what part of the review was negative. Only cleanliness? And how many stars off were you given on that category? Also, what was the overall review number of stars. As a homeowner, I read ALL of the reviews, and if I saw one star off under cleanliness and a response by the sitter to the homeowner in a factual manner that made sense , it would not faze me. If you only received one star off of one sub category and everything else if five stars, I wouldn’t worry about it. But I would definitely be annoyed and curious if I were you.
Negative in what way specifically? If they left you a 1 star review with comments as you’ve described, they likely did themselves more harm than you. Were you docked stars overall or in specific categories? It takes more than being docked a star or 2 to cause you problems getting future sits. Especially considering that you have offsetting stellar reviews.
@LancashireLass That does sound odd. No wonder you are confused. Have you checked the reviews she gave to previous sitters? I too wonder if there is a connection with the injury sustained. Did you mention the injury in your ‘right to reply’?
@LancashireLass I feel for you. That is an unsettling & disappointing outcome to what appears to have been a good sit. Have you spoken with the HO about it? It seems so strange that she would punish you like this if it is not valid. I think I would be inclined to challenge her on her reasons.
@LancashireLass Perhaps she was having a bad day over unrelated matters when she wrote your review. . . . The reason I had asked if you included the fractured hand incident in your ‘Right to Reply’ - is that prospective HOs may read between the lines as to the possible origins of the poor review. . . . And, well done tending to the pets and cleaning up while injured! I had a similar injury incident during a sit - HO was not around at the time, and I spoke to them privately afterwards. The incident had been their ‘fault’.
Also, you may want to consider @Jenny advice - if you think Membership Services could help with anything.
I hope that your fracture heals as quickly as possible.
. . . The reason I had asked if you included the fractured hand incident in your ‘Right to Reply’ - is that prospective HOs may read between the lines as to the possible origins of the poor review. . . . And, well done tending to the pets and cleaning up while injured! I had a similar injury incident during a sit - HO was not around at the time, and I spoke to them privately afterwards. The incident had been their ‘fault’.