No External Reference

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
21

Even though anyone can write a reference, I still think you can learn a lot about someone from what their friends or family have said, as well as how they sail it :woman_shrugging:.

I certainly would not ask for a reference from someone who disliked me, but my five :five: initial references were varied and distinct. They were all written before they could see my profile (yeah, sure, I could’ve sent to them myself, but PLEASE!) and I found it interesting that even tho they were all different, they portrayed the same person, in different ways, and aligned with my own description of myself.

Honestly, it was nice for ME to read them even if no one else did! :rofl:

Bottom line: always talk and FaceTime with a person and trust your judgement.

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22

To me NOT having any external references and being completely new to the site with no reviews taken together equals a red flag. I would expect the references to be excellent since the sitter is vetting who is sending them in. But having none to me indicates some lack of awareness in building the profile or possibly an issue, so I’m weary of it. I’m not going to be “impressed” by the external references unless they clearly a carry over from another site or app with people taking the time to copy over their old reviews and sent them in.

There are several ways a new-to-the-site-sitter with no reviews can build trust, external references is the most basic.

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