I’ve had the same problem. First sitter we had left us a glowing review (as I did for her - she was fantastic!) and the last two I’ve had have not left me a review, and I’ve left them 5* reviews. One of them I requested from after I realized that that was an option (my first sit last year didn’t have that, she just left a review). The other one has left reviews for all of her other sits before and after mine…
I leave snacks for my sitters, I deep clean my house beforehand, I try to be the best homeowner for these people as I can be, so I’m not sure what to think when the last two just ghosted me on the review. I’d ask now but it’s been three months since the first no-reviewer, so it’d feel a little weird to reach out now.
@jesstheglambert Welcome! You sound like a lovely HO. If there were no indication of issues during the stay, I would definitely remind or ask them, even now 3 months later, perhaps by whatsapp or text, or use the system to request a review. Maybe just with a quick explanation that it affects your rating too.
It has been mentioned here before that when a sit is complete a sitter gets a request to leave feedback for Trusted Housesitters - which I presume goes on Trust Pilot. Some sitters are confused and think they have given feedback to the houseowner.
I would chase up any missing feedback as lack of feedback can be seen as a red flag to some sitters when considering whether to apply.
I would request the review now, even after 3 months. You might have to explain how to do that. I had one very recent sitter who thought that she had left feedback for owners, but had only left responses to the owners’ review of her. I had to explain how to leave feedback. Even though her reviews as a sitter were all stellar, I told her that a lack of feedback from her to her prior HOs could be a red flag for future HOs. This is a younger person, so I would expect more technological sophistication, but it was obviously confusing to her.
I just finished my first sit on Sunday! I can confirm that the UI/UX for leaving HO feedback is, well, terrible. As to @Lassie’s note, I make my own iPhone apps for goodness sake, and even I had trouble figuring it out.
An example of a good UI/UX for this is Airbnb. TH should just copy that; it’s what people expect.
As for the current TH UI, one issue is the 5-star request from TH just to review TH on TrustPilot. Yes, very misleading. I’d say it’s downright deceptive. I can’t think of another company that does that. Do you ride an Uber and then Uber asks you to rate Uber? No, you rate the driver. @Ben-ProductManager: That UI/UX needs to go. I can’t imagine any HO/sitter would say the current flow is honest. If TH wants reviews on TrustPilot, then make that crystal-clear, after a sitter has reviewed their HO.
On top of that, even finding out how to review the HO was not intuitive. I think there was a delay or something. I remember checking my dashboard, inbox, the listing, profile, and eventually I saw something that let me leave HO feedback. There was not an email to leave feedback for the HO, which is ridiculous. Again, @Ben-ProductManager, please have the system email a sitter after every sit requesting HO feedback. Just like with eBay, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, uh, everyone else?
Here is the only email I got from TH after completing my first sit. So first you see the subject line of, “Congratulations On Your 5 Star Review!” Then you open it up and see below:
@geoff.hom It’s definitely deceptive, directing customers to TrustPilot when it’s time to give feedback on each other, but THS is never going to change this. Having customers review each other instead of the company keeps THS TrustPilot rating high.
I think it more likely they don’t know about leaving a review. I didn’t! In any event I’m not so sure I would automatically leave a review in any case. I understand the reasons for them but I consider any relationship with a sitter to be personal. If I thought them bad I wouldn’t allow them to sit again, conversely if they were brilliant I would seek them out for a future sit. If I was asked to give a review I would, simply out of respect for their asking, but automatically; no.
Thank you for your feedback, as you highlighted we have a lot of review improvements that we want to make, and as you can tell our review system is part of our legacy codebase. It’s a big project and we have started some of the ground work to make changes.
We have also done member interviews and surveys over the last year and have a big list of improvements. Some of the key topics are blind reviews, feedback to Trusted House sitters, prominence of reviews, the naming convention, review breakdown, and communication.
As you can imagine Airbnb is a good example to follow. Thanks for flagging all these improvements and suggestions.
@Ben-ProductManager: I give you credit for a positive, growth attitude! Looking forward to those changes! Thanks for all the hard work of you and your team!
On the one hand, I appreciate Ben’s encouraging reply.
On the other hand, I totally understand your opinion. TH is a for-profit company, and the system has strong forces to perpetuate itself. Perhaps if Airbnb/VRBO gets into petsitting, then TH would suddenly find themselves changing their review system.
I hope Ben’s right and that TH rolls out these improvements. In the meantime, perhaps we can work on a template/flow that HOs can use to request sitter feedback. For example, a simple script you can quickly cut and paste.
I’ve found that the THS system doesn’t nudge sitters to leave reviews as it used to. In fact it’s a bit tricky on the app/phone to find it. It must be a problem as I’ve looked at quite a few sits who have had sitters and lots of blanks. Just as I’m sure it would be helpful and reassuring to you to have a review it is great for sitters too. The more detailed the better. I think, as others have said you could email your previous sitters and ask if they could leave a review.
In the spirit of crowdsourced change, here’s a template an HO could use to ask a sitter for a review. Use/edit as you like.
I’m a sitter, and I’d be happy to receive this from an HO.
—(right after HO has reviewed sitter) (presumably 5 stars)—
Dear [sitter’s name],
Thank you for sitting for us. You were wonderful. I just submitted your review.
For some reason, TrustedHousesitters has an … unintuitive … process to record feedback for homeowners.
For example, you may receive a TrustedHousesitters email saying, “Congratulations On Your 5 Star Review!” That email has a link to leave feedback for not me, but for TrustedHousesitters as a whole (on Trustpilot)!
To leave me feedback:
On the TrustedHousesitters app, tap Me → Feedback.
On the website, click your name → Feedback.
—(if it’s been a while since the sit) (presumably 5 stars)—
Dear [sitter’s name],
Thank you for sitting for us in [month, year]. Again, you were wonderful. Afterward, I submitted your review.
For some reason, TrustedHousesitters has an … unintuitive … process to record feedback for homeowners.
For example, back then you may have received a TrustedHousesitters email saying, “Congratulations On Your 5 Star Review!” That email had a link to leave feedback for not me, but for TrustedHousesitters as a whole (on Trustpilot)!
If you still remember the sit, I’d love feedback.
To leave me feedback:
On the TrustedHousesitters app, tap Me → Feedback.
On the website, click your name → Feedback.
@Daisy999 : Saw your other post about this. It sounds like TH knows, but it’s unclear when they’ll change their process. One thing we can do is make it easier for HOs to let their sitters know. Not ideal, but that’s all I’ve got (as just another member/sitter). I posted a couple templates above, to help.
Very nice positive constructive feedback and suggestions @geoff.hom
I have never confused feedback/reviews with Trustpilot but I can see now how easily that can lead someone astray into thinking they are responding to a sit/sitter. Don’t think for a second it was intentional though as a ruse to trick folks.
Perhaps the trustpilot review request can be done separately.
I don’t get any correspondence from THS at all. No newsletters no nada except mssgs from HO, confirmed sits, new listings on favorited sits and congratulations on your sit or review. And of course personal mssgs.
@geoff.hom hello to you and thanks for responding. Your template is great!
Hopefully this issue will be rectified soon. I can see where the confusion arises, the email inviting a review could be misinterpreted, that does need to be addressed.
Kindest regards to you.
