Thank you for your kindness I am simply to soft.
I take it personally. I left a 5 star review cos I’m not mean and I overall had an enjoyable pet sit which outweighed shortcomings. I did mention dog pulling on lead and fussy eating concerns and the dangerous roads do need for a car so other sitters would be aware.
I just didn’t dock her points.
Helen
This reminds me of another evaluation system at my job that used a 1–5 scale up until a few years ago. Although the guidance was clear that the middle ratings represented solid performance and a 5 was reserved for exceptional cases, the culture gradually shifted until anything less than a 5 was viewed as a negative. The numbers ended up carrying far more baggage than they were ever intended to, making the scale much less meaningful.
I think online review systems can fall into the same trap. Everyone has their own interpretation of what the numbers mean. Some people use 5 stars to mean “met expectations,” while others only give 5 stars when they feel genuinely wowed. Others almost never give perfect scores on principle. None of those approaches are necessarily right or wrong—they’re just different.
That’s why I put much more weight on the written comments than the star rating. An unexplained 4-star review tells me very little by itself. If the review says the pets were well cared for, communication was great, and the home was left clean, those details matter far more than the number.
When I’m looking at a sitter’s profile, I look for patterns, not isolated ratings. One unexplained 4-star review among many positive reviews wouldn’t concern me nearly as much as repeated comments describing the same issue.
Thank you for your response the thing was the lady only advised the day before what time she would be back the following day and told me to hang around till till 4.30pm. Anyway I left after 6pm
Letting go of this now
Well said and I 100% agree!