I have just 5 days left to review. I’m not sure what to do. We were super disappointed because the home was basically a cold trailer house with no insulation. She just moved there and the pictures weren’t bad in the ad.
The best thing I can say is she had a wonderful dog who was well trained.
When we arrived the night before at 4 pm, she didn’t even offer us water, or a drink or usually dinner like most sits. We were sleeping in this recreation room with all windows ( single pane)and there was no door for privacy. She sat up late and ate dinner and watched loud game shows. We had head phones and iPads to drown out the noise. We have done 4 house sits and always had a meal and the owner was gracious. She also didn’t leave any room for our food inside the refrigerator that we bought with us.
She uses propane gas tanks. Within 3 days of our 14 day sit, we were out of gas. We needed to refill 3 very large tanks. She only wanted us to use the heater in the evening but it was down to 5 degrees during the night. We turned on the heat in the morning and if it was under 15 degrees. At night the house was from 10-12 degrees. We slept with our down coats and while we were there we wore down coats. She knew the 3 gas tanks were going to be empty soon but didn’t leave us any money. We are in our 70’s and with new car seats , and my husbands bad back we were not going to fill them. Then after talking to their heat engineers and a neighbor, she never set up the other 2 full tanks. These tanks lasted only 10 days. The last 3 days we drove to our house and brought 2 electric radiator heaters. We left a few hours before her flying home because there would of been a bad confrontation. I hardly want to give her any stars and I just don’t want to review her. She has reviewed us but we need to wait 14 days. Can I respond to her review online?
Staying at a house for free and being with animals is great, but if you live close by it’s not worth it. We so much wanted to go home. We stuck it out. She should of left money and hired someone to fill the heating propane tanks.
This sit really burned us. Our other 3 sits from other companies were top notch. This was not. My husband is now unhappy that we did this.
@Hulagirl13, sorry to hear of your poor experience.
Ideally reviews should be clear, honest and specific.
This is not accurate. Pet Parent and House Sitter each have 14 days from the end date of housesit to complete a review. Which party completes review first and/or the date of that review have no relevance.
It’s unclear from your comments which issues were a surprise vs expectation. And the extent of pre-housesit due diligence (perhaps a learning).
I’d separate your reflections into broad categories
pet. “wonderful dog”
discourtesy. e.g. not providing dinner. this is poor conduct but not against THS policies. arguably you could have confirmed dinner arrangements prior to arrival. such matters you may wish to chalk up to learning and, as wish, politely mention in review.
known challenges. items that you knew in advance - from listing, video call and/or welcome guide but still disappointed you.
surprising challenges. e.g. empty propane tanks that required housesitter to pay to fill. Limited heating resulting in housesitting sleeping in down coats. Plain rude and against THS Code of Conduct. “I will agree all responsibilities with my sitter before a sit is confirmed, including any costs associated with pet care or home maintenance.” Your Member Code of Conduct | TrustedHousesitters.com
Encourage that you develop stronger criteria for listing selection and video call questions. The situation outlined above may well be unattractive for substantially all housesitters.
Encourage that you reach out to THS Member Services … support@trustedhousesitters.com and provide specific insight. I’d like to think that they may apply enforcement tactics to a Pet Parent that breaches Code of Conduct.
Leaving you with no heat and expecting you to pay for it is totally appalling! State that in your review. It’s not complicated, that’s completely unacceptable and everyone will see that.
Hosts are responsible for providing a clean welcoming home for their sitters .
Review factually - host did not leave adequate fuel for heating for the duration of the stay .
Did you contact the host when the fuel ran out ? What was her suggestion for replacing the fuel ?
Was this a new member to THS or had they had sitters before ? -( always read the reviews of previous sitters )
Why did you need to arrive at 4pm the day before the host left for a local sit ?
If you are looking at local sits you can arrange to visit, see the property , meet the pets and host before committing to a sit . Especially if they have not had sitters before.
You then don’t need to stay with the host the night before but can arrive short after they have left .
When crafting a Review, bear in mind that you can give an overall rating to the sit (1-5 stars) and then a similar star rating for individual categories:
Communication
Hospitality
Cleanliness
Pet Behaviour
Accuracy of Listing
Be factual and, if you do dock stars, state why.
Curious… had this PP/HO had previous Sitters and had they left Reviews?
Go on, be a devil, review and tell the absolute truth.
Now the reviews are blind I’m being ruthless. No more omissions. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
It’s easy when you’ve being doing it as long as we have. The red flags stand out a mile. Although we do get caught out with very small things.
This has definitely not been an enjoyable sit for you @Hulagirl13 as having to endure such cold conditions and a thoughtless owner is not good.
Yes, you can respond to her review once the 14 days are over. However, that response will show on YOUR profile, not hers, so future sitters may not see it. All they will see is you did not leave her a review, unless they click on your profile to see if she left you one.
Sitters finally won the battle 12 months ago to have THS change the reviewing system so that they are now blind reviews and owners get star-rated on individual categories which was never the case. Only sitters were star-rated this way. Please leave a factual review as I’m sure you would have appreciated one from any past sitters she may have had.
Did you only apply for this sit because it was local and THS encourages new sitters to apply locally to get their first reviews?
Give an honest and factual review. It will be good for you to process the sit, it will make her able to do better and get good sitters and it is a necessary part of our sitting community.
Something along the lines of for instance;
«The dog was well-trained and delightful during our sit. We arrived the day before the departure of host as agreed. We were assigned sleeping arrangements that lacked privacy and warmth. The owner had dinner in the other room and watched shows that made it difficult to rest.
The propane gas tanks were empty within three days, and we had to bring our own electric heaters to stay warm. The owner did not make arrangements to refilling the tanks. We managed by wearing down coats day and night.
Overall, this house sit was very different from our previous experiences, and we learnt a lot.»
The sit sounds quite horrible, and any sitter - not to mention grown-ups in their 70-ies - shouldn’t be treated this way. For making it somewhat worthwhile - see if there are some insights that you can use going forward. Where there some red flags that you didn’t understand fully in the process, was this something you can take measures to avoid later? Not all bad sits have red flags up front, but sometimes they do.
Best of luck for future sits - hope you will stay warm and comfy going forward!
Once you have your review in then you can see her review. Once you see her review, you can write a response. She can also repsond to your review. After 14 days you can see her review even if you didn’t write a review. You can write a response that will appear on your page under her review, but you can no longer write a review.
If you write a review choose your words carefully. It’s really a warning to other sitters. It doesn’t have to be about how you or your husband felt, but it should be about what happened. So if the dog was great and well trained, mention that. If the pet duties were as described mention that. You don’t need to compare the homeowner to other homeowners. But you can mention that you were offered nothing when you got there and you can give her less than 5 stars for hospitalitiy. You should mention the lack of space in the fridge as THS sends an email to homeowners reminding them to leave room. I would also mention the heating drama – but not dramatically – just tell what happened. Were you aware she used propane? Did she ask for a contribution in the listing?
It is important to set the record straight and give your side of things and to do that regardless of what she says in a review. But avoid anger. Just let other sitter know what you wish you knew.
I have done 12 sits with THS. I have not had any experience like yours. The closest sit was about 2 hour drive. The furthest was across an ocean. We do this to travel and get away. I probably wouldn’t do a sit close enough to drive home for supplies. I am very careful about the sits I accept and look for sits with great reviews. There is nothing wrong with being picky!
Being honest about conditions helps other sitters.
I don’t want to sit for someone like that, so please be honest in your review so that I can avoid that sit! Apart from the gas issue, she doesn’t sound hospitable at all! No thank you! Keep it short: dog was lovely but we were disappointed in our lodgings, it was cold and drafty. Host didn’t seem prepared for our arrival.
I know it can be difficult to leave a review for such a bad experience. I have never found myself in that position so I can’t give any advice from a personal perspective. But I really think it is important to leave a review…someone like this is not a suitable ‘candidate’ for this exchange.
You have only done a small number of sits and that is great that the first few you did were a positive experience, but this one being negative really has nothing to do with the ‘company’ you used so don’t let that discourage you from using THS in particular.
Any one can post a listing as a host on any website. These sites function as a platform to match people looking for a service with those willing to provide it and there really isn’t any deep vetting of either party by said platforms.
Sits like this are a good learning experience and can help you with your selection process moving forward, it can help you formulate questions to ask future hosts. If I had a sit like this for example, one thing I would be sure to ask if I were considering sits in a cold weather location is if the host had any particular restrictions on the use of heating.
Also I would suggest thinking back to before you confirmed the sit to see if there were any red flags that you noticed but proceeded anyway? That seems to be a common thread in ‘bad sit’ stories. This reflection is helpful because this feedback will give you more confidence in trusting your intuition/gut instinct more–especially if there is not anything obvious that would set it off-- or passing on sits that just don’t seem like a good fit.
Sorry you had this experience. You got a lot of good advice on how to craft the review, and again, I really think you should leave one.
In addition to that: be aware that in the web interface you cannot see if an owner had any sitters before if those sitters did not write a review. So use the app to see if there were any missing reviews.
And if there were reviews: now in hindsight, was there anything between the lines? Or left out, like in the “pet-only reviews”, just gushing about the wonderful dog?
We recently completed a 14-day sit, and while the experience had some positive aspects, it also presented significant challenges.
The highlight of the sit was the homeowner’s dog, who was wonderfully trained and a joy to care for. Unfortunately, the living conditions were not as expected based on the listing. The home is a trailer with minimal insulation, and during our stay, temperatures dropped significantly. The propane heating system required frequent refills, which we were unable to handle ourselves due to health concerns and a lack of prior arrangements. This led to a very cold living environment, with indoor temperatures as low as 10–12°C at night.
We stayed in a recreation room with single-pane windows and no door for privacy. While we adjusted as best we could, the lack of insulation and noise from the main living area made it difficult to relax. Additionally, we found the refrigerator completely full upon arrival, leaving no space for the groceries we brought.
While the homeowner was friendly, the typical hospitality we’ve experienced at other sits—such as a welcome meal or even a drink upon arrival—was not offered. These small gestures go a long way in setting a positive tone for the stay.
This experience highlighted the importance of clear communication and accurate listing descriptions to ensure mutual expectations are met. While the dog was a delight, the challenging living conditions made this sit more difficult than anticipated.
I had a similar experience a few years ago. The pets were great but the HO was not. I left the following review.
“The cats were nice.”
With the 14 day rule on reviews the HO will not see your review before yours is submitted.
The HO then sent me a not very nice message on THS. I did not respond.
Good luck! Hope your next sit is better.
