Most of these issues could be prevented by detailing how to operate the appliances in the Welcome Guide including photos, and reinforcing it during the handoff.
Assuming someone will be very clean because they are a 51 year old teacher is rather silly and expecting a sitter to walk a dog every 2 hours is unreasonable as is being concerned about a high electric bill because a dryer ran for a few additional hours.
As a sitter who owns their own home this is annoying but not disastrous. It does sound as if she tried to help, just didn’t understand your machines properly. Some people don’t know how dangerous dryers are. It’s not ideal but at the end of the day it’s just washing. If you’re super specific then tell future sitters to fold and leave laundry and remake the beds with fresh sheets for you as that would solve the potential issue. Company wise for the cat, how do you know she was gone all the time? Be factual but fair in your review. #factualbutfair
I feel a lot of meaning/tone/intention is being lost in translation as I’m assuming that English isn’t your first language? I wonder if this was an issue too for your sitter? It sounds very disappointing but learn from this and improve the instructions for your appliances-even create a mini video that you can share with sitters.
What an awful experience. An idea so that your next one (if you’re even considering such) will be better for all parties - yourself and your sitter:
Please write AND discuss point-by-point your exact needs, requirements and standards. It sounds as if you have particular requirements and the only way to better ensure that you get what you want/need and the sitter understands their obligations is to be as specific, detailed and clear as possible especially when “interviewing” (yes, I know that that word is not everyone’s favourite !) potential sitters.
Time limitations on the dryer ? List’em
Cat to be let in and out as many times as he wants during the day ? List this.
Wash cat’s bedding etc. in a separate load(s) ? List this.
Etc.Etc.Etc.
Better you list “too many” requirements/needs before starting a sit than coming home to find yourself facing a situation which seems to be a common one for you.
So agree with these points. Otherwise what you are really looking for is a mind reading pet sitter. Not many available.
Did you leave instructions for the washer/dryer or did you have a chance to show her? As someone who absolutely hates these newfangled electronic washer/dryer monstrosities, I could sympathize with someone getting a setting wrong in all innocence.
I agree that washing litter box mats with humans’ bedding is gross.
It sounds like you will need to be very specific with future listings/interviews/instructions, as to what you want done with laundry and how many hours a day you want a sitter to stay in your house. The latter should go in the listing so you will not get applications that might be bad matches re time spent at the house.
It also sounds like you are very upset about what could have happened. It didn’t though – it sounds like your cats were safe, the dryer didn’t start a fire, and while it’s easy to get upset about what we feel could have happened to us, it’s a lot better for our mental health to try to focus on the now and what is OK. (Not always easy; I have had a little experience with that too.)
Good luck with any future sitters.
I didnt said she would be clean, but made us think she would be responsible and experienced. May be I need to explain that age give you experience in general; aswell how to run a tiny condo like ours compare to a younger person and be a teacher the responsibility of having kids under your supervision. In this case, my cats and what you need to think im case of putting then in danger like a more than 4 hours non stop running dryer. This clean issues I would have totally overlook if this and the dent in the door would have never happened.
We know become she was telling us when she was leaving to her parents house in the afternoon (they live just 10 min away and she came to spend the holidays with them) and coming back later at night and her discomfort of leaving the cat out for so long time so she will keep him inside till she was coming later at night. I thought it would be the first day and we have no problem with that, but it become the routine for her stay. Then my neighbor reported me not to have seen my cat in the entire week. Other thing that confirms this is that the petsitter reported that the cats were hissing each other. That only happens when the male one is keep inside for a couple of days straight. He starts chasing the two females because he need let out some energy.
If we knew that the cat was going to be inside most of the time, we would have just used our petsitter and had her check on them every other day. Avoid the stress of cleaning and make space for her, which is super difficult in a tiny condo.
You assume correctly, but Dom, my boyfriend with whom I share the condo and created the profile, as well as did the interview, is a New Yorker too. So, no misunderstanding with the language with her.
He told her our expectations and needs. This forum is only me because I was looking for some support and other homeowners’ opinions, but what I feel is mocking and disrespect from some of the participants, but maybe you are right on that and I am not understanding the tone and meaning.
I really need some help with our review because the laundry will be out of the homesitter’s to-do list if we decide to give THS another chance.
I know that in other forums they post the reviews and get some inputs from the other homeowners, but in this one I am getting negative, attacking, and mocking responses from homesitters that are making me feel like it won’t be a good idea."
There are several issues here , 1. the dryer being left on when unattended. This is potentially very dangerous . Others have made some good suggestions on how this situation could be avoided in future .
Another issue is damage to your dryer (dent) and the washing of the cat litter mats in with the bedding. These are not acceptable and you can mention he facts unemotionally n your review . If you feel it’s appropriate deduct stars from the cleanliness category and perhaps the self-sufficient or reliable category or communication category as appropriate.
Another issue is that your expectation was that the sitter would most of the day at your home to let the cat in and out . However the sitter had told you that their reason to visit the area is to see their family for the holidays .
These two don’t align , so it would have been best not to confirm this sitter as it is not a good match .
THS works when it’s a mutual exchange . It’s not reasonable to expect the ( unpaid ) sitter who has told you that they are coming to see family , not to go and spend time with their family because they are waiting for your cats to come in or to let the cat out .
Finding a sitter for the holiday season is not easy because there are many more sits ( thousands) listed than sitters who are available for the holiday season .
If you need a sitter to be home all of the time for the pets, there is now a new mandatory category where you can add this information. Then sitters know what is expected before they apply . Maybe you already have this in your listing ?
If you need a sitter again for the holiday season you could suggest in your listing that the sitter can have all their family or visitors come to your home while they are staying . Then they will be at your home and able to let the cats in and out . That will be a mutual exchange , an arrangement that works for both of you.
We have had hosts offer this and particularly over the holiday season- we have also had this offered unprompted for the paid sits that we do outside of THS as they understand many would like to be with their family over the holiday time.
Here’s a suggestion for you “Bob looked after our animals over the holidays. In general they were fine however we would have preferred them to stay home between 3&9pm as discussed as this suits our cats best. They needed more detailed instructions on laundry as we had human & cat bedding mixed in a load and they also left a dryer on which could have caused a fire. Fortunately this didn’t happen. Overall it was an adequate sitting experience.” Or start there and expand/tweak to suit. #starterforten
I think I’d write this:
This was our 1st experience of having a THS sitter and we have learnt many lessons as new HOs. We made assumptions that our sitter would know how to operate our laundry appliances so we will leave even more detailed instructions in the future. We assumed the sitter who had agreed to a particular pet care schedule would honour this, and we’re disappointed that they didn’t, so we’ve lost trust. We hope to have a better 2nd experience as we are also learning.
Yes, I agree it was not a good match. For the last three years, it worked perfectly because the sitter had no one else here. So, I learned my lesson for next time, and I will be careful how to mention that in my review, if I do.
Pd: The dent was made in the recently changed and brand-new bathroom door.
In fact, she was the sixth. Three of them stayed over for two months, and one repeated. So we used THS seven times since 2022. We never had a house sitter having an issue with the washer, even when most of them were younger. One house sitter broke the glass of a window, but it didn’t affect us this much; I was worried for her, but not for the expense or the safety of my cats. I gave her a good review though. But in general, no important or meaningful damage to the property or the safety of our cats.
Thank you! 
I really need to hear that. The “what could have happened” really hit me hard and I felt in this forum no body showed empathy or validated my feelings of “is normal to feel upset or scared” but rather emphasize in me mentioning her housekeeping skills or in our expectations of how long and when a house sitter needs to be at home (when in our last 6 sittings requests was NEVER! an issue) or how to prevent what happened with a 3 buttoms easy and simple wash and dryer that needs 0 instructions. When the really danger was to put sopping cloths in dryer and violating the “house rules” when she left the appliance running without supervision. There is not prevention against a sitter that fails to do what is writen as a “house rule”, like it wasn’t when she forgot to fill the food dispenser even when instructed in the welcome guide and told to do so in 2 separated texts msgs the night before and the same day she was leaving.
I will try to focus in the “here and now” how you empathethically advice me, and write a sincerely, emotionless (i admit I need respectful help with that) and detailed review.
But please, I don’t need more prevention advices, we don’t even know if we want to keep opening our door to housesitters after this experience. My request here is on a fair review, and as a house owner, I would have appreciated to have read some of the flows of this sitter before we had chosen her; reading and following the “house rules” in our opinion, is a big one.
I love that! 
Thank you, I will use it
I think we need add that in the “house rules” it was mentioned not to do. As a HO I need to know my rules are going to be respected.
A post was merged into an existing topic: Contacting previous sitters to get an HONEST review of a sit?