I’m a full time sitter with around 20 reviews (one 4 star, but rest 5 star). My three week sit that just ended coincided with a prolonged UK heatwave, with temperatures above 30°C in the south most days. The sit was in a small terrace house with front and back outside areas (no grass). The majority of plants were in pots (black and terracotta). I watered the plants every 1-2 days. The outside areas had no shade, meaning the plants were in full sun throughout the day. Most plants were fine, but some of the more delicate plants struggled in the extreme heat and a few did die despite regular watering.
THS back had a hose but there was no outside tap or hose available for the front, so watering involved carrying a pot of water in and out of the house multiple times. I was also asked to water the neighbour’s garden for a week while they were away. There were also additional outdoor tasks, including sweeping the back terrace/patio and bagging up the leaves that regularly accumulate there.
The house owner is (understandably) upset about the dead plants. She doesn’t believe I watered the plants. She was visiting family on the other side of the world so wasn’t experiencing the same weather. I sent photos twice a week as agreed upon, she rarely replied or acknowledged, so we didn’t have a warm communicative vibe. I wished I had communicated to her earlier in the sit about the issues, but I left it till the final day.
I’m certain she will give me a bad rating and review. Should I:
A) anticipate this by mentioning it in my review of the sit, or
B) just not review the sit and respond (explain myself) to their review of me.
Thankfully I’m booked until mid-November but these sits are all long (just starting a 7 weeks one), so I might not be able to wait for positive reviews to push her negative review down if I want to apply for more sits.
I know this doesn’t directly answer your question but there are currently hosepipe bans in various areas of the south so, if these were in place during your sit, you shouldn’t have been using the hose in the back. Actually, that’s a point you can make to demonstrate (to the host and anyone reading reviews) exactly how hot it’s been.
I considered offering some monetary compensation but in her review of the previous sitters (also highly rated full time sitter) , she gave them 4 for cleanliness and overall, and their reply was:
“When you mentioned you weren’t satisfied we offered to hire a cleaner, which you accepted.“
I don’t want to feel pressured to pay and still get a poor rating
Or C) leave an accurate review outlining the exceptional weather conditions, the work you did and the extra tasks you were asked to do with regard to the neighbour’s garden.
You can still respond to their review if necessary.
Ok, thats what I meant by my option A. I wouldn’t have been prematurely retaliatory. I just didn’t want to provide her another avenue of slamming me in her response to my review.
Write her the review that you intended, I’m a sitter and when I read a previous sitters review mentioning something as defence in advance, I have no sympathy for the sitter, so I am sure an owner will be a million times worse. It may go against you, it’s so clearly visible when people write things like that just in case they get a bad review.
So I’d write your review as you intended, whatever that was. When she writes your review you get to respond anyway, and that appears on your profile review and you just state the facts, and the excessive heat and the month in which you sat, and then future owners will not see it as a negative at all, they’ll see it as the owner being incredibly picky and ungrateful. If it happens just apologise but in a light-hearted factual way about the weather, because it did happen on your watch.
I’m usually great with plants, but I avoid any owners that mention how sacred their plants are in their profile. Weather changes, so plant conditions change. There are more important things in life, like pet care and property care.
Sitters get reviewed in the below categories, so there’s only really organised or reliable the plants could fit into, but I wouldn’t say they even fit into that, so really it may only be in their words that it gets mentioned.
Organised
Reliable
Self-sufficient
Clean and tidy
Pet care
It has been a scorching summer so far in the UK. Many gardeners have struggled to keep delicate plants alive. Regular watering isn’t going to save plants if the leaves are scorched by the sun. They need shade and you’ve said there wasn’t any. You were very generous to offer to look after the neighbours plants. Don’t beat yourself up over it, you did your best. And don’t offer to pay, it wasn’t your neglect that caused the plants to die. As you said, mention in your review.
@Lil, we’ve faced two recent housesits with high plant care duties that were elevated due to unseasonally high temperatures. This unquestionably increases pet care effort. We see this extra work as bad luck as not pet parent fault - say rather than cleaning a consciously dirty fridge.
In both cases, during on-site handover then we clearly set expectations - we travel extensively as full-time housesitters and are not professional gardeners. We expressly ask them to identify which plant care tasks are most important and to identify any plants or activities of concern. We’d do similarly if another topic, say pet care, was unusual. We find that this dialogue forces most pet parents to see the situation from our perspective … we are not them … it’s not our plants … we do not have their knowledge … we seek their guidance on how to best secure positive outcome of their plants.
Personally we see your situation challenged by communication rather than by weather. Not mentioning plant care issues until last day of housesit has created a surprise - a topic that we find almost always bad to housesit experience. Personally then we encourage issue communication - rather than plant care - as the takeaway learning here.
Given your situation, we’d agree with @Twitcher. Leave a polite, brief review with facts … elevated pet care due to atypically hot conditions. We’d keep it simple. In the event that the Pet Parent review of you is unfair then you can provide brief corrective comments in the one-time reply. At no point would we encourage aggressive language or b
I can understand why you’re feeling anxious. Plants can be very emotive for homeowners, especially if they’ve cared for them for years.
That said, prolonged heatwaves can be brutal on potted plants, particularly those in black or terracotta pots sitting in full sun. Even with conscientious watering, some simply won’t survive. It’s one of those situations where everyone can do their best and still have an unfortunate outcome.
With hindsight, I think the biggest lesson is to communicate as soon as you notice a problem rather than hoping things will improve. A quick message saying, “I’m watering regularly but some plants are struggling in this heat. Do you have any suggestions?” can make a real difference.
Personally, I would still leave a fair, factual review. Reviews aren’t about getting even, they’re there to help future members understand what a sit involved. If the homeowner leaves a review you feel is unfair, you can then add a calm, factual response. Most experienced members read both reviews and the replies before reaching their own conclusions.
We had a similar situation last year, in the UK during heatwave conditions. We were absolutely watering twice a day, but one delicate plant just shriveled. Moved it to the shade, nursed it carefully, it was still alive when we left but looked terrible. We felt terrible, but honestly it was not lack of care, just the weather conditions and the plant and location not suited to that level of heat. I say just the usual review and then respond if they are harsh. Take your time with the response if needed.
I wouldn’t have agreed to sweep up leaves or water a neighbours garden - the HO sounds very demanding. In my review I would say that garden duties took a lot of time especially since this summer has been the hottest in the UK for 50 years. If she complains about plants dying I would then respond that you did your best but it was difficult without an outside tap in the front and also being expected to care for 2 gardens. Future sitters will thank you!
I also had a similar situation a few years ago. My review went like this:
(cat’s name) and I enjoyed the backyard gardens in the early mornings and late evenings so as to avoid the record breaking temperatures and these were the best times to do all the plant watering.
I thought it was the best way to deal with it preemptively in case the HO said anything negative. In the end she never mentioned it.
I think some sitters give hosts way too much power and control. I understand you are a nomad ( sounds like it ) and dependent on good reviews for your living situation but she should worry about your review. First, I would never agree to take care of the neighbors lawn without financial compensation. This tells me you are already dealing with an unreasonable person. Plants die in extreme heat if you are watering them or not. I would mention in the review that it was unfortunate the weather was over blank degrees on most days and despite my efforts of daily watering, two plants succumbed to Mother Nature. I was happy to see the other 30 potted plants ( I think you said they were potted ) are thriving. I made the mistake of being a nice guy and saying yes to the request of watering the lawn of the lady who lives next to her as the THS exchange was not with her.
Then you can mention the positives so if she mentions something on her review the future hosts already have a picture and will sympathize with you.
We’re currently in a similar situation. Dozens of window boxes and hanging baskets all round the house in a country where it normally rains every day. We haven’t had a drop of rain for two weeks now! Watering (and just as importantly), removing dead flowers and wilted parts of the plants takes us 1–2 hours’ work a day (there are two of us). But hey – that’s the challenge of house-sitting, and it’s still better than two weeks of constant rain.
And yes – we’ve lost a few plants despite our best efforts, but luckily our HO are very laid-back; we’ve kept them in the loop from the start, sent them photos, and they really appreciate all our hard work.
It’s certainly true that the heatwaves catch many people off guard, and lots of lovely plants simply can’t cope with this change in climate.
If I were you, I’d show some goodwill and buy a few new heat-resistant plants, such as lavender and and speak to the HO about the challanges.
You’re not their in-home gardeners, and you should not be buying HOs heat-resistant plants. This isn’t “a challenge of housesitting”, this is 2-4 hours of unpaid labour DAILY that is not being recompensed by a roof over your head.
No wonder the HOs are laid-back and appreciative…you’re saving them hundreds they should be paying for professional help in addition to the savings inherent in your petsitting responsibilities.
I just like to give you a tip for future sits with pot plants in extreme heat: you need to water those plants daily and some are even twice. This time for the front plants the owner should have provided you with a watering can. Pot plants in very high heat need a lot of care - I know, I have some. Good luck the next time!
“There are more important things in life, like pet care and property care.” I completely agree! I just had a sit where some of their plants died during the worst heatwave this summer in the UK. They rated me 4 stars, and when it came to the stars categories, they rated me 4 stars for clean and tidy, which was a lie because I left the place spotless
I hope you get this sorted Lil. I recently had a sit where some of the plants died, during the awful June heatwave in the UK. I left them a perfect review, where I acknowledged that I need to get better with plants. They gave me 4 stars, choosing “clean and tidy” to give me 4 on, a lie. I sent them a long message explaining the situation and appealing to them, they are currently trying to get it “corrected” to 5 stars. They have to say it was an accident giving me 4.
Be kind and polite in your review, it’s always better to do that.
