So I had a sit a couple of weeks ago which wasn’t great. The lady was quite a bit older, hadn’t filled in a house guide. Just sent some long videos about the pets, and kept a lot of her kitchenware in the microwave and oven which I thought was a bit odd and annoying. Her neighbour was noisy too at unsociable hours…I didn’t get around to leaving her a review as some tough life events came up and my mind has been elsewhere, so I didn’t have the energy to try and diplomatically write about it not being a great sit and I left it.
Anyways, today I got my first 4 star review, where she marked me down for cleaning, self-sufficient and organisation which I thought was bit rich considering the reason I couldn’t find things or finish a few cleaning bits was because I didn’t have the information. Her words describe me as a good sitter and recommend me, but I’m worried the stars don’t look great.
It won’t let me respond to her review now either which is frustrating… I have 21 other good reviews, many are glowing. I am wondering if anyone else has had this and has it impacted getting future sits? I’ve actually done another sit since hers, which I got a great review from, so hers isn’t at the top at least.
Hi @RR12345
I’m sorry that this happened to you.
Sometimes the review speaks more of the reviewer than of the reviewed sitter. You already have your cluster of stars!
Thanks to this forum, I’m quite sure that this review won’t affect your future sits at all. It’s ugly to see them in our own profile, I must admit, but they’ll be buried in an ocean of 5stars.
It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I’m certain that the moment will arrive. No one is 4star-proof on THS, we should be ready .
At the end we deal with humans despite of our love for animals. It would be different if they can review our sit and the time spent with them
If the text is all positive and even includes a recommendation, then I wouldn’t respond at all as there is nothing negative to respond to. While it’s hard to get anything less than 5 stars on a platform where the bar is so low for 5 stars, 4 stars isn’t actually a negative review.
There is no time limit on replying to a review, so I suggest that if you really feel the need to reply you wait, for a few weeks, to let your (understandable) initial reaction to the 4 stars fade. If you reply with what could be seen as nitpicky/negative things about her, it will only reflect poorly on you (as she hasn’t actually said anything negative about you!).
After a few weeks have passed and even more 5 star sits have popped ahead of this one to bury it, I think you’ll realize it doesn’t matter and will have moved on anyway.
I’m wondering whether the owner clarified in her review why she deducted the stars @RR12345 as you don’t mention that. By you not giving her a review will possibly indicate to future sitters (and owners) that there were issues on both sides. It’s a pity you did not review her but understandable in the circumstances affecting your personal life. I doubt it’s going to impact your future bookings as you already have a 5 star review since then and most likely have more sits confirmed coming up. Put it behind you and just enjoy your time with future pets.
We are all at risk of getting less than 5 stars and life will go on and we will all be fine. With your many other great reviews, I doubt you’ll have trouble
I wouldn’t worry about it at all! We have almost 50 - 5 star reviews but received one 4 star review a couple of years ago. We thought the homeowners were very petty in what they knocked us a star for and it never affected us moving forward and we’ve had 5 star reviews since then. Onward and upward for you!
Thank you for this advice! I wasn’t sure if context was needed as I don’t think my 4 stars are fair given the lack of home information provided and other issues with the sit… but maybe just leaving it and moving on is the best thing.
I suppose I’m just gutted as I was proud of my review portfolio from over the years!
I don’t understand why you cant leave a response to their review, if you find ‘past sits’ locate this one then click on their review- at the bottom it will give you the opportunity to respond.
If it doesnt contacted THS support as this is a standard feature- you choosing not leaving a review does not mean you have lost your opportunity to respond to theirs
I doubt that you will be affected negatively by this review.
However, your non-response to the review would be a missed opportunity to benefit future sitters.
Something along the lines of
“Thank you for the review. It means a lot that you would recommend me to others. I do hope that you will take the time to complete a Welcome Guide to help your future sitters. It is such an important communication tool. Cheers”
It would be up to you if you wanted to mention the noisy neighbors.
The WG is within the HO control but the neighbor isn’t (regrettably).
You likely already know it but the HO cannot write a public response to your reply.
No the noisy neighbours aren’t so I wouldn’t put that in the review, but the HO definitely would have known about it, because they were playing their TV or radio every night so loudly you couldn’t escape it in the bedroom between the hours of midnight and 5am. It made me regret taking the sit and I wouldn’t had I known about this.
Out of the three sitters before me, only one left a review - possibly because it’s awkward to complain about something that’s out of the HO control, but ultimately ruins the sit if you like a peaceful nights sleep.
A four star review with some minor comment about cleaning is probably best left alone. I thought there was an unlimited time to comment, but maybe it’s best that you not react too strongly. Reacting too defensively or making derogatory remarks about the homeowner are more likely to turn off future hosts.
Absolutely agree with you @Marion.
I saw one sitter response a while ago that made me cringe. The HO had deducted a star for cleanliness and the sitter essentially responded that the house was dirty upon arrival. That would have been a good example of a scenario where the response made it worse.
Unfortunately as you haven’t left a review the context is missing.
I think I would leave it and just learn from it. It is so important for the platform that members leave factual and honest reviews (even if it is noise from neighbors when it impacts the sit). This is the only way to get good information pre-sit, to give feedback to members so they can improve and to give praise where praise is due (as in it is unfair to others if subpar members get same grading as excellent ones). It wasn’t possible for you this time, which is understandable. Hope you’re doing better now!
Sometimes, people give the wrong number of stars because of the way the app works. If the wording is nice and they mention the house was left clean and tidy, it might be a mistake. Perhaps you could ask, provided communication was good. It has happened to me twice and it was fixed by THS.
.
