There we have it. Does the devil lie in the details? Feedback vs Review?
In my, very firm opinion the term “feedback” is most inappropriate in this context. It is misleading, creates confusion, and only enhances the imbalance between sitters and pet owners. It is a two-way street. 50-50. No exceptions. Pet owners review sitters and sitters review pet owners.
Both groups, sitters and pet owners, can however provide THS feedback. We can also review THS, but for that other platforms are used.
p.s. I am a very experienced Internet user. Yet I was unable to review my first pet owner and had to ask for help on this forum. It never even crossed my mind to click on “Feedback”. To me, feedback means - please give us, the platform owner (THS) feedback.
You are right - the terms feedback & review imply totally different things. It should be review- both ways. That’s why I initially placed no great emphasis on host feedback-i.e how it could benefit them too- until I realised how useful it is in helping me to choose Sits. Also there should be the option, like sitter reviews, to rate hosts in different categories. E.g cleanliness. My last host would only have got a 2*!! But with only the 5👍you have no way to highlight that unless specifically mentioning it.
I also agree. The terminology should be changed so feedback is removed from the mix. HO review sitters, sitters review HO. If I can figure out how, I’m going to vote for this change.
I think there used to be prompts to leave feedback? My last set of sitters left 5 days ago and I haven’t had any reminder to leave them a review. And they haven’t reviewed me either. I wonder if this explains why my previous family, in September, didn’t leave feedback.
We did used to get prompts and this has been queried before. Why don’t you go ahead and review your sitters, that will then prompt them to give you feedback. No point waiting for each other……
Did you leave the previous family a review?
I have done both those things, yes.
I hope the site will resume sending prompts, but perhaps the forum isn’t the best place to get that implemented.
Happy new year.
Just to clarify, it’s great that you reviewed your previous sitters. However, that won’t actually prompt them to leave you feedback. This is discussed in another topic, but the sitter will get an email like, “You got a 5-star review! Please leave feedback for THS.” And there’s a link to TH on TrustPilot.
If I were in your shoes, I’d be proactive and just send a nice note to the sitters thanking them for such a great sit, that you left a 5-star review (presumably), and you’d love to receive feedback. I’d even note that they may get an email from TH but that link is to TrustPilot, and instead give instructions on how to leave you Feedback on TH since the UI isn’t obvious.
You could also try to head off negative feedback by asking that any such be made privately. People on similar sites do this all the time (eBay, Airbnb, Amazon, any app), so you can google for examples.
As for getting traction on implementing something, yeah, I’m not sure. But possible routes include contacting Membership Services, making a review on TrustPilot about what you wish TH did better (esp. if it’s not a 5-star review, because they’ll want to address lesser reviews; squeaky wheel), or contacting like Ben who is on the forums as the Product Manager. I suppose trying to build support or run a poll on the forums is another route. But again, I haven’t read anything where people found that method X resulted often in the desired change for the TH system. I personally just like to make my one vote on the record and then try to be creative in working with what I’ve got.