I did not leave a review for one of the recent sittings, while the HOs did.
I know many of you do not agree about not leaving a review at all, please accept my personal decision. The question here is about another point.
They have done only two sittings so far including the last one with me. They are probably not aware of all the rules.
A few days after the deadline I received a message where they say that they didn’t realise there was a 2 week time frame on the THS site and then when they left the review they thought there would be another 2 week window for me to leave my review for them, but that wasn’t the case. So, they are thinking that if I emailed them my review then they could contact THS and see if they would add it to their profile on the site.
Of course this is not possible following THS’s rules.
I am now dealing with some big challenges and got back to them saying that I’ll give a proper reply to them as soon as I can.
In the meantime I don’t know what to say if not just writing I am sorry that I missed the deadline because I’ve had some challenges (that is 50% true, I mean is not the only reason) and unfortunately having past the deadline a review cannot be submitted anymore.
I would avoid suggesting that I could leave a comment to their review, at the moment I feel I wouldn’t be honest.
So what are you asking? Sounds like there was something about the sit you didn’t like. Is that something you want to share with them? Otherwise, I’d just leave it as you have. Sorry, I missed the deadline. Then block.
Sounds like you did not leave the review because you had a less than positive experience. Because the HO’s are new to the platform, you could offer them some private constructive feedback on how they might improve as hosts for future sitters. In the spirit of the platform, it seems appropriate to do that, at the very least so A) the host improves and B) future sitters are spared a repeat of your experience.
@Mokina, sounds like you have some cause not to leave a review or reply. Without asking any details then here’s three questions that may help you move forwards.
Would you ever consider housesitting for this HO again? … if no, then it’s time to close out active dialogue and move forwards with your life. Tell HO that THS policy is that reviews must be submitted within 14 days of end of sit.
Do you want to reply to their review? … if yes, keep it simple. if no, then don’t. no HO can somehow obligate you to leave a review or a reply.
Just say you have spoken to THS and they will not add reviews after the time period has closed. Now you will have to think of what to tell them when they ask you to send it to them so they can add it to their profile themselves quoting you.
If the communication was the problem perhaps better to block them sooner than later. Because I am older and do not worry about people I will never interact with again I would likely message them identifying the area of communication you were not happy with in the hopes they would improve/change in the future.
Could you perhaps be honest with them at this point, you now have nothing to lose anyway. Maybe say “I didn’t leave you a review/feedback because of how important they are on this site, and I would have had to mark you down slightly for ??? because the rules of THS are ??? or perhaps most hosts on THS do ??? So I thought it best to not comment, because I know you only have one other feedback so I didn’t want your profile to look less-than-perfect far because I know you are newer to the site.”
@Mokina, we’ve had multiple housesits - a small subset - where we’ve determined no appetite to return in future. Not a big deal. We mentally close out that chapter and move forwards.
But maybe there are learnings. When we have face experiences that have been odd, surprising or problematic then we actively reflect on situation. What was the learning? How can we evolve our tactics (e.g. listing preferences, video call question, otherwise) to identify such matters in the future. Our video call questions have evolved a great deal as we gained experience.
These are absolutely good points @HappyDeb and I think that I’ll definitely take inspirations for writing my response as soon as I’ll get back on track.
Thank you @GotYourBack I actually always ask that question to myself such as what is the learning?
I closed that chapter and moved forwards, but I wasn’t expecting this message and it is the first time that I don’t leave a review for HOs while they do, so I thought of asking for an advice.
Honesty is the best policy. You could have left an honest review, or private feedback as to why you didn’t leave them a review and what they could have done better. If they dont know, they can’t change.