Hi, let’s start off by saying that I have 6 good five star reviews and have been invited to their homes more than once. I have taken a great care of pets and homes before including this one. Recently, I took care of someone’s home and followed instructions, made sure that I left everything the same way I found it. I even missed my plane because I was cleaning up and leaving everything impeccable and in order. The host had two cats, fish and birds I had to take care of during my stay. I fed them the right food and made sure they had water in their fountains etc. One morning I found her fish dead in the fish tank, I was panicking and did not know what to do. I called but she did not answer. She messaged me back reassuring me that it’s fine and that it was old anyways etc and ended up leaving me an awful review at the end accusing me of not following instructions, not being clean, not bringing in the packages when I brought every package inside and I am a very neat/ clean person. I am so furious that her review has brought me down and has made me upset for weeks now. Thank you in advance for any tips and advice!
If you did not do that yet, you can still write a response to the bad review, there is no time limit for that. It is not very easy to do, it would be good wait until one is not too upset anymore and to let someone else read it before you post it.
If you have other sits booked, this one will move from the top of the list.
A one-star review is maybe less damaging than a three-star review, as it puts the owners in an unvavourable light.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had this happen, it’s frustrating when things like this happen. I think 6 good reviews is enough for people looking at your profile to know that the 1 star review is an outlier and maybe says more about the person leaving it than it does about you.
That is terrible—why are some so set on retribution? I had that happen with a housesitter who didn’t do what she agreed, didn’t send pics & updates etc while I was inEurope!. Thankfully my pets were ok. I too was worried that all of my five star reviews might come into question with her very off-based degrading comments making me out to be a crazy person. Thankfully, I did have somebody else already scheduled to come in and that went perfectly. I haven’t had any further repercussions from that one really bad review.
Incidentally, I don’t really know what happened because Housesitter had good reviews before and after my housesit so I’m totally at loss but it’s OK and I moved on. Be honest with your interviews, get some other really good housesits And the good reviews along with it and move on.
The other responses are right to suggest that you leave a factual response to the review.
One further way to move forward might be to look at the past reviews that the homeowner has received to see if with hindsight there were any red flags. If I get any sense that a homeowner doesn’t review fairly then I just move on to the next listing.
You have an actual text from. the HO saying that it wasn’t your fault? Did you take pics of the home when you left, showing it was left at least as found? I would probably file a dispute/appeal with THS. Include the communication from the HO. Also agree with leaving a well-worded reply to the review.
“I even missed my plane because I was cleaning up and leaving everything impeccable”
This comment I find hard to believe , I feel that I want to get the other side of the story before making any judgements
Yeah I almost missed a train once because I was hunting for a cat that had hidden, but the station was a 10 minute walk. For a flight you need hours in advance so if you’ve left a place so messy that it takes you extra HOURS to clean it, there is a bigger problem, IMO.
Yes. And the statements about feeding the right food and making sure they had water sound dicey in the overall context here.
Those things are pretty basic and the poster makes it sound as if those were special favours on their part.
Something sounds off here.
Don’t judge without knowing what happened exactly! The airport was over an hour away and I had to clean before I leave to head to the airport. What part did you not get? I got nothing but great reviews from other hosts and they have invited me to their homes more than once or twice which tells me what kind of hosts they are and how I leave their house and take care of their pets/ plants etc.
Umm the host lives over an hour away from the airport. There’s a difference between a 10 minute walk to the train station and over an hour drive to the airport. Use your common sense. You can’t judge if you don’t know the full story. If you have anything negative to say or be on the hosts side without knowing how she is then don’t even comment on here. I wanted some positivity and not negative Nancy’s on here.
Yes, I have the texts from her reassuring me that it’s alright and that they were old anyways. The only mistake I made is not taking pictures of the place after I left it clean, brought the packages inside, fed the pets, took the trash out etc.
I fed the fish the food I saw on the counter. Now if the food was not the right one it’s not my problem. I took pictures of a few things and asked the host whether it was the right food for the pets and she said yes. The host did not even answer any of my calls which is very rude and disrespectful and I wanted to discuss about her fish. She messaged me back stating that it was an old fish anyways and reassured me that it was ok. What is off about this exactly?
If you followed all of the instructions on the pet care, it might just have been bad timing on the fish. When you write your response, I would notate that you did reach out to the host and was told that the fish was old. I’ve seen some bad reviews on this platform and those sitters and hosts were still able to get future sits confirmed.