Not sure if I’ll delete this but one sitter that is my usual go to if they are available has received a bad review. I don’t really check the review since I’ve been using her for quite a while. I noticed they got a bad review when I went to check recently by chance. I had a few pretty positive experiences with her so I’m not letting it bother me.
I had her sit for me once on the app and two other times off the app. I don’t necessarily recommend others to go off the app but I can tell she was a genuine soul. When I first met her she was semi awkward but I related to her in that way. Anyways I messaged her about her recent sit because I was curious on what happened. Told her she didn’t need to respond if she didn’t want to talk about it. She was very honest and mentioned it was her fault. She took accountability by knowing not to repeat. This made me trust her even more.
Moral of the story just communicate. Reviews shouldn’t always deter you away depending on what happened. Just trust your gut and if for some reason you have a not so good experience just don’t use them again.
If I’ve had a sitter that I liked.( I’ve only had the most wonderful sitters), I would not think to look at their reviews. I just hope they are available.
I think it just goes to show that different homeowners have different expectations. We have almost 50 -5 star reviews but had an owner give us a 4 star review once for a couple of minor things which I thought was petty. The sitters that came after us got all 5 star reviews so they obviously met her standards in every category. If you’re happy with the sitter, that’s all that matters.
I agree that HO have different expectations. So your expectations may be different from others. And now some HO have door cams and seeing things they didn’t see before, like how often a dog is walked, or not walked.
If the sitter says they take responsibility for falling short, maybe that’s actually what happened and that’s separate from unreasonable hosts.
Separately, if you can’t walk a dog as agreed to, that’s a different issue. Maybe the dog was sick or otherwise off, or the weather was terrible or such. In those kinds of cases, I mention to my hosts during normal updates. No big deal.
That’s also separate from irresponsible sitters who agreed to something and then decide out of their own convenience to ignore that — that’s not cool. When hosts ask for their pets to get X, if you don’t like that, then don’t pursue the sit.
Personally, I avoid all sits where dogs need more than I want to do. Like I avoid large dogs, dogs that are high activity or require loads of playing, or are “energetic,” or need loads of walking or hiking.
I think, if you have previously had a great experience with this sitter, that is all you need to know. Given she took accountability, that speaks to her integrity.
People seem to have different criteria for reviews and I’ve read of stars being docked for (what I would consider) ridiculous reasons. Perhaps in this case, there was an issue, but I wouldn’t allow that to impact my relationship with the sitter.
I find this category so subjective, it’s frustrating. I’ve been complimented in my reviews on tidiness and cleanliness upon my departure quite a few times, but this summer I had someone dock a star. I’m pretty certain I didn’t do anything differently.
People have off days sometimes, we’re not robots, and I think if someone has mostly good reviews you can believe they’re dependable sitters.
@RR12345 When you look back at those hosts, were there any early signs before you did the sit that they’d potentially be unreasonable? I ask, because my goal is to rule out such potential and avoid such hosts. So far, so good. But if there are signs to look out for that haven’t occurred to me, I’ll consider those as well.
My POV: Better to miss a sit over a false negative than to risk a bad one by ignoring your gut.
I’ve indeed only once received 4 stars for cleanliness, even though I didn’t do anything less - or more - than usual. However this couple normally had a professional cleaner coming in (although she was on holiday), hence I guess that’s what set their expectations. We’re pet sitters, not professional cleaners. I clean a place well, but it’s about the pet first; I don’t clean for a living.
I’ve had a number of sits where they had regular cleaners. But I still did my usual cleaning before leaving — nothing extravagant.
The funniest one was one where they raved about how clean I left it, even though they’d turned over the home to me just as clean. I think maybe they were benchmarking against other sitters, who were less clean.
Yes, no one is perfect. I think I made another forum about mistakes. I’m not really strict when it comes to cleanliness with reason. I had a sitter leave an empty bottle in my fridge and left a few dirty dishes. Didn’t really bother me. Another sitter forgot to throw out a bag of trash, again I wasn’t bothered. Some pet parents are too strict when it comes to wanting everything perfect.
I think stars should only be docked in the cleanliness category if the sitter left a discernible mess. If there have been attempts to clean, regardless of whether it would meet the home owner’s usual standards, and the home owner came back to an overall clean environment, I don’t see any reason for docking a star.
As you say, we’re not robots, nor are we professional or paid cleaners. Many of us have work from home jobs and spending days on end cleaning isn’t always possible. I feel cleanliness should be secondary to looking after the animals and a lot of home owners need to manage their expectations when it comes to standards of cleanliness. @Justbeyou has the right idea in my opinion.
Yes, I don’t necessarily check her reviews. Since I’ve used her a couple times now. Awhile back she mentioned to check her calendar or introduction as she’ll sometimes update it to show if she’s available or not. I than saw her recent review… either way I was still planning to use her since pets love her
Some hosts have posted on the unofficial Facebook group (and I think here, too) that they had sits go disastrously despite a sitter having had many five-star reviews previously.
Ultimately, even if you do due diligence or have had the same sitter before, there’s no guarantee of a good sit. People can fall short or change, for whatever reasons. Maybe personal issues, mental issues, substance issues, or something else goes seriously wrong, etc. But having someone you’ve had do good sits before probably gives you the best odds.
@Justbeyou I’d suggest, going forwards, that you always arrange your sits officially through the site and always review each other. We’ve just finished a repeat sit and we gave each other rave reviews and both mentioned it was the third sit. I think both hosts and sitters feel reassured by the consistency shown with repeat sits.
And with the sitter in question I’m glad you gave her the benefit of the doubt and trusted your instincts.
I think this is a very wise decision I’ve always gone the extra mile with my sits however HO’s seem to focus on the minor stuff. For instance on a sit I had two Labradors that love chasing balls and one day I found a soccer ball in the field which I took back to the house and forgot to mention to the HO. I left it with the other smaller balls.
She made a comment in her review,” how strange to find a soccer ball n her home” This may have come across as a negative aspect of the sit.
All she had to do was ask me! This sit required the feeding for two very active Labradors with very specific portions (including Conks stuffed with food for a snack) and I applied ear medication which she never mentioned. All the great efforts I made with feedings, medication and long walks was never mentioned!
This is why host need to communicate! Many misunderstandings due to not communicating. Not sure if it’s because they feel awkward about asking but that’s the whole point. Sometimes we need to have uncomfortable conversations. That’s what ends up making us closer
I think some home owners clean and tidy more than they usually would, to create a pleasant environment for the sitter. Then when they get home and find the house in the same condition, they are astonished and delighted!
n her home” This may have come across as a negative aspect of the sit.