Hello we have a sitter booked for later in the year. I can see that their latest sit has offered to give more details but I am unsure how to contact them. Is there a way or is that not allowed? I note our booked sitter has never given a reference to any of their sits.
Is it OK for us to ask them for referees that I can speak to?
@Catswoody - I think you may find that the person who is happy to be contacted is actually a âreferenceâ and not a THS Homeowner.
It may show as a pet sitting reference and you could possibly contact them but they may be a friend, neighbour or relative of the sitter. They may have a more biased opinion.
You can ask them for some references to speak to but you say youâve already âbookedâ them? By this I assume you mean you have offered them the sit and they have accepted?
If so the time for reference checking may have passed.
Yeah - I was going to say what difference would asking for references now make? Shouldnât you have asked for references before you accepted them as your sitter to help you make an informed decision?
Personally, if I had already been booked for a sit and the owner then later on randomly asked me for references, I would feel like maybe they are having second thoughts or still making a decision about me, and this would make me a bit grumpy because the sit is already booked. I mean, I would happily provide the references, but would feel like I was being interviewed all over again and would begin to wonder if maybe they will cancel on me, or if they will be very anxious owners who cannot fully trust me. Iâd probably start looking for other sitsâŚ
If a host and Iâd agreed on a sit and then they asked me for references, Iâd just cancel the sit. Thatâs because they apparently couldnât make a decision in confidence and now must re-evaluate. To me, that would be a red flag about the host and their ability to trust not only me, but their own decision-making ability. That doesnât bode well for a sit.
Thank you all for your replies. I completely understand your comments but our sitter has only just finished this sit after 5 months, and so the comments are only now on view. It wasnât that i was unhappy just the house owner posted a comment that they would be happy to be approached. I was just wondering if that was an option.
We had a bad experience with THS 2 years ago and so I am a bit more ssensitive than I would normally be.
If somebody trusted their pet and home to the sitter for 5 months, I think that speaks for itself. I see what you mean now, if it was the first sit theyâd ever done and they hadnât finished yet, but that was the decision you made when you accepted them as your sitter, so I still donât think itâs fair to ask for references. What you could do though is send the sitter a friendly message asking how the sit went and if everything was well.
In terms of the owner stating theyâre happy to be approached, thatâs nice of them but I think that should be done via the sitter, as a reference theyâve offered themselves. I think what the owner meant was that if the sitter ever needs a reference, theyâre happy to oblige.
I totally understand @Catswoody - I take it the homeowners have now posted their review. Hopefully it was positive and didnât cause you any concern.
For THS, the reviews are posted on this reliable site, so you have to âtrustâ that the reviewer was honest. I do not believe it is appropriate to also ask the sitter for contacts of their previous sits so that you can call them. Iâm on THS as both sitter and Homeowner. I always leave an honest review and that should suffice. I would not Also like being called asking about previous sitters.
If you werenât able to see the reviews when you accepted the sitter and it is not the greatest review, you should definitely speak with the sitter about it and do not hesitate to cancel her, assuming the review was bad and if she can explain the issue, then of course you can ask for the Homeownrs contact to verify since in this case the review was posted yet, but as I said, it isnât how this platform works. Again, these are your pets and your home, if she received a bad review and you are not comfortable even though you confirmed her, I would speak to her and cancel her. (depending on the infraction).
I once saw a sitterâs response to a scathing review with the invitation to contact them directly. It would have been easy to get in touch, they had the url of their web site in their profile.
But I ignored this red flag and I applied anyway. And I got a similarly nasty reviewâŚ
I did email those sitters, but that was when I was already on the sit and after I had clashed with the HOs. It gave some interesting information.
Yikes! At least now, any prospective sitters can see multiple nasty reviews and make a more informed choice?
Yes. And it seems a bit that they have trouble attracting sitters.
But the sitters after me gave a 5-star review.
Wow. Thereâs someone for everyone!
Yes it was. Thank you.
Thank you all for your input. It is much appreciated.