In order not to breach forum guidelines let’s say there is a hypothetical situation. A sitter completes their portion of a long sit with multiple sitters back to back. All is good, pictures are sent to the HO to show that everything is left as it was found for the sit. The next sitter doesn’t clean/tidy to quite the same level and gets rated down for it. That sitter responds to the rating saying they left it as they found it from the previous sitter.
Here’s the flaw, the first sitter cannot respond to the allegations as the system doesn’t allow this. Because the second sitter wasn’t rude in their response THS doesn’t care that they lied and won’t do anything about it.
Potentially, for future sits HOs might think that there might be an issue with the first sitter. Grrrrr, if all we have to do is be polite in our reviews we can say whatever we want about someone else!
Did the first sitter get a great review? If cleaning wasn’t mentioned in the review for the first sitter, I don’t think anyone will care about what the 2nd sitter says in response to their own review, on their profile.
But this is a huge reason that split sits are not great.
In this hypothetical situation , did the first sitter receive a good review and for cleaning ? In that case any hosts in the future will not be able to see the negative comment of the next sitter ( unless they really do a lot of digging around in which case I probably wouldn’t want to sit for them )
To read the comment of the second sitter . A host would first have to read the first sitter’s reviews ( which are ),
then to dig further they would need to tap on the hosts they have sat for - read the reviews left for this host and if they happened to notice that the dates followed on from the first sitter , click on to that sitter’s profile to read the review that the host left for them and their reply .
I don’t think a host would do this and if they are the type of person to do that much digging around looking for a problem then I wouldn’t want to sit for them anyway !
@Silversitters and @belluca let’s assume in this case the first sitter got 5* across the board. @Silversitters that information is good to know, thanks. It’s not always clear what sitters and HIs can see in relation to past sits, thanks .
Yeah, as an HO, I’m looking on the prospective sitter’s profile for their reviews. I will often look on their prior HO profiles to see what kind of review they left (or didn’t) for the HO. Unless Sitter #2 leaves a review for that HO blasting Sitter #1 for leaving the home a mess, in a way that makes it obvious they are talking about the same sitter I’m considering, chances are small I’m even going to know about the issue.
If I did somehow fall down that wormhole and see Sitter #2’s accusation on their own profile, if they hadn’t mentioned it in their review of the HO I would give Sitter #1 the benefit of the doubt and guess Sitter #2 is lying to C(T)A.
My POV: Avoid split sits. This is just one issue with doing them. There are various other possible problems.
I did one early on in my THS membership and luckily didn’t get caught up in drama, but some hiccups made me realize how much could’ve gone wrong. Now, there’s no chance I’d do one.
@Happypets, hypothetically speaking sitter 1 could send photos and video to show the home is cleaned and tidied so the HO can leave an accurate review about that section.
Yes, it’s a proposal I’ve heard before but just not worth the potential risk and hassle for us. You can’t cover every little thing in a video, so loss or damage could be alleged by the follow-on sitter.
It’s not only the house that matters. What about pet care? What if the other sitter steals?
The other sitter of my split sit apparently went home early (lived a few hours away) and took shortcuts with the pets’ feeding — when I returned (I book-ended her sit by sitting before and after her), there were debris in their water and dead gnats in their food. The food was in an oversized pile and it was just kibble, instead of the mix of fresh food and kibble they were supposed to get every day. They were allowed to roam in and out freely during the day normally, so she must’ve just left the door unlocked overnight.
Both senior dogs were off their feed when I returned. Luckily, they bounced back, but what if they had fallen ill because she’d neglected them? It would be terrible not only for the dogs, but any sitter who followed her. What if they’d been falsely implicated?
Very good points. I wonder if member services would refuse to do anything in a situation like that also, as long as the response left by sitter 2 was polite, even if it was untruthful.
Another thing that happened during my split sit: The other sitter texted me while I was away (I went home for about 10 days before doing my second sit at the home) and asked whether I’d broken a vase. I hadn’t and the host later said it was probably the regular cleaner and no big deal, because it was inexpensive anyway. But what if the host hadn’t been cool and I’d been blamed for something I hadn’t done? Even if you take photos, you can’t document everything.
And in that particular circumstance, the hosts had also left us a car to use. There could’ve been complications with that as well, I realized belatedly. So no more split sits for me. Not worth the potential trouble, IMO.
Very interesting post and comments. I did a very successful split sit. The reasons it went so well? The first sitters were lovely and well organised and diligent in pet care and home care. We never shared a night in the accommodation- hand over was midday. Same day the cleaner came and did a big clean.
As a result no cleaning issues. The first sitters set up a private WhatsApp with me and we shared info and concerns. The Home Owners were very pleased we got on well with each other.
We both got great reviews and I was rewarded with an extra week at the place with no duties, which was a wonderful Bonus with great weather and Easter Processions to enjoy.
It could have degenerated into a blame game I suppose but we were able to protect each other by excellent communication.
I read the first sitters’ reviews carefully to decide if the risks were worth it.
It was fun meeting the sitters and swapping horror stories! We are still in touch and would meet up again if we were in the same neighbourhood.
It’s an extra strain on the earlier sitter as they have to show the ropes carefully. Any oversight could be blamed on them.. it was easier being the second sitter in my opinion. With WhatsApp I was able to solve any gaps with the first sitters without involving the Home Owners who might have reflected shortcomings in their review of the first sitters.
The sitter I split with had terrific reviews and was great at communicating, but unfortunately apparently cut corners on pet care, because they seemed to have left early. I don’t know whether that was a one-off, of course.
And I got props in my reviews from the hosts, including for giving the other sitter a strong handoff.
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