hi, i´d love to hear best practices for leaving a reply to a “negative” Review… I don´t agee with much of what was said, but when i read some replies, i find that it doesn´t seem like getting in to a tit for tat is a good idea…
here´s the review…
John is a kind-hearted person who clearly cared a lot for our pets. There was a lot he did right, but a few significant things he did wrong that would make us not want to have him sit for us again.
The biggest concern was that he let our elderly indoor cat outside, and the cat remained outside for what we think was overnight. Somehow he got the misunderstanding that it was ok for the cat to go outside. On the positive side of this, John did communicate through text that he had not seen Morris all morning, after which we discovered the misunderstanding, and then he was diligent about searching outside for him. He did find the cat near our house and communicated with us immediately that the cat was found. This was a pretty emotional event for us.
In general, there were some communication concerns. For the first half of the sit (and when we were first trying to get in touch about the cat misunderstanding), it was hard to reach John through a phone call because his phone kept going straight to voicemail. There was some sort of issue with a phone setting that he was able to resolve by midway through the sit. Additionally, while we appreciate that John reached out with questions about electronics operation at the home, we found it it was difficult to communicate effectively about how things worked. We were concerned he had forgotten how to use the front door keypad sensor to lock and unlock the house-- But in fairness, the sensor part of the front door keypad was something we had only shown him (physically before leaving) and did not describe in the welcome guide.
We got the impression that John had been looking through personal items (closets in office and bedroom) because he asked about contents of the office closet and also had borrowed one of my hats from my bedroom closet.
I rated tidiness lower because while it was clear John did make an effort clean up, there was a residue smeared across the kitchen counters. However, he deserves bonus points because the dog had a diarrhea accident in the house and he was resourceful about finding the carpet cleaner and taking care of it himself.
For other positives, John seemed like a kind and sweet person, and he showed a lot of genuine love for our pets. Neighbors confirmed he was out walking the dog regularly, and both cat and dog seemed happy when we got home. He was not phased by the fact that our dog was having diarrhea/eating issues when we left. So I feel badly giving lower ratings because I think he is a genuinely good guy, but I would be hesitant to recommend for the reasons described above. If you have him sit, I would make sure you have really clear instructions written down on a printout for all critical things.
here´s my response…
“Dear …
I am so sorry you had to experience the stress of Morris getting out.
I think your last sentence sums it up. Leaving great instructions is crucial, esp. if there are things you really care about.
Not one time, in the welcome guide, in our phone calls, or in the 90 minutes we spent going over the home and the tasks, did anyone ever say anything at all about Morris not being allowed outside. The good news is that he was only gone for a few morning hours. i Know that because his automated food tray was empty in the morning so had eaten breakfast inside.
I have responses to all the other concerns, but i think the fact that this is the only remotely negative review i have received on any of the sites i get sits on says more than having the reader listen to my tit for tats…
Kitchen wasn´t clean when i arrived, dishes in the dishwasher, clothes in the drye4r, food in the sink stopper. i sent photos every day.
Also, finding a drawer full of fliers for a Missing Cat indicates to me that you guys have had some issues in the past. That must have made this event much harder on you. i deeply apologize.”
