Reading into non-reviews

I’m thinking about taking a sit but the host has had eight sitters and only one has left a review. this has got to be a huge red flag right? So far I’ve always been very picky and I have a perfect track record. Logistically this sit works great for me and I would love to do it but it doesn’t seem worth it to risk all the good reviews I have. Is there no way to reach out to past sitters to check in about their experiences?

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I suggest you take your sunshine and bid this one Aloha.

Plenty to choose from that leave less to wonder about.

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Hi @SunshineAndAloha - yes that would be a worry to me also and unfortunately you cannot contact previous sitters.
Homeowners leave reviews for sitters and sitters leave feedback for homeowners - just in case there is any confusion.
Did the homeowner leave reviews of their sitters and the sitters just didn’t leave feedback on how their experience went?

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I’m fully with @Amparo on this @SunshineAndAloha - Run like the wind :dash:- it’s just too many non reviews to be a coincidence or worth taking a risk on your reputation

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I have not seen any of the hosts reviews. I either could not find them or there were none.

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Can someone help me find where the feedback is from the hosts? How do I find their reviews of the sitters. I’ve looked on the app and on my computer and can not seem to locate it.

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I so wish that Sitters would kindly write some sort of honest Feedback in the system so that the rest of us have some clue as to the issues! I said both positive and negative things about my most recent Sit, so at least future Sitters will know what they might experience. No feedback is not really fair to future Sitters or to the Owners.

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The web interface does not show missing reviews/feedback. They should show when you find the HO’s listing in the app.

The innocent explanation is that the HO are very private people who ask that their sitters not write anything about them, about their pets or about their house. There could be lots of reasons for that, but most of such reasons would lead them to hire a trusted person to take care of their pets instead of using THS.

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@SunshineAndAloha
The app shows you the sitters who have been there. Click on their name and their profile will open. You’ll see on their profile if they got reviews from the sit you’re wondering about.

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For me, that would be a red flag. I also consider that there are plenty of sits out there with more robust info.

If it were some incredible-looking sit otherwise, I might do discovery. Like I’d want to do a Zoom and get a read on the HO. I’d also figure out where and how in the conversation to probe about the lack of reviews.

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Did the sits with missing reviews happen during covid? I think there are a lot of sits that were cancelled, but the profiles still show them as having occurred.

if you have a combo sitter/HO membership you can contact the other sitters by inviting them to a sit at your place. I’ve done that to investigate why a review was missing.

I would just ask the HOs - on a video chat - why the reviews were missing. You can do it in a non-accusatory way “just curious…”.

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If they didn’t leave reviews for sitters (looking in the app), and it works out for you 100% otherwise, might be worth taking a chance, esp. if you have many great reviews. Also, now you’ve got us curious. :slight_smile:

But, yeah, I’d look to see if the non-reviewing/non-reviewed sitters have reviewed other sits, since some sitters don’t know where to do that.

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This is likely not your case, since it was 8 “non-reviews,” but I’ve seen many instances of reviews winding up in the wrong place — specifically as responses to an HO’s review.
I’ve done a few sits I loved and wondered why some previous sitters didn’t rave about them. But then if I look at the owner’s review I see sitters did review — as a response, so where people won’t see it.
Point is, if something sounds good but has no feedback, a little digging just might help you find some.

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I did this at first, too! I had been posting a comment on the review instead of posting my own review. Once I learned about it, I went back and gave proper reviews where they belonged.

@SunshineAndAloha run away quickly and don’t look back!

I’ve suggested to some of my HOs that they reach out to the sitters to ask them to correct that. I hate to think of great sits being mistakenly “red-flagged.”

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They have only given one review of the one sitter who reviewed them. Both are preferable reviews.

OK, so perhaps you can cite how important you think reciprocal reviews are and ask what their opinion is about that.

If it was a sit I was really interested in I’d mention to the host directly- in a message- that the lack of feedback is a little concerning. I’d ask why they have not received/requested feedback.
I just now saw you most recent comment that the host also did not review most of those sitters either. This is definitely a big red flag to me as the worst sit we did was exactly like this- many missing feedbacks and/or reviews and missing stars etc. We overlooked the signs as we were so keen on that particular sit in that particular country.
It was a complete disaster!
And we did not review each other- just like the other sitters both before & after us.
Too many missing reviews or feedback is definitely a red flag and a sit best avoided.

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Hi sunshine, How do you know the home owner has had eight previous sitters who have not left any feedback? When I scroll down a listing I only know they have had previous sitters by feedback left at the bottom of the listting. I have taken plenty of sits where no feedback and just assumed they had not had any previous sitters. But I have never had a problem with any sits taken that have not had any feedback showing. And I believe when I first joined TH I did not not leave any, as did not realise that there was an option to leave feedback. I only ever replied to the review given in my early days on the site.

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