I wanted to take a poll - as a HO, if your sitter had their belongings stolen from their unlocked car parked in your driveway would you mention that incident and their positive response on their final review? As a pet sitter, would you want it mentioned at all? Our sitters handled the incident amazingly well - they were very self-sufficient, no blaming, and positive throughout the interaction. I think it highlights their good qualities, but I don’t know if it’s necessary. They were excellent house and pet sitters.
Additional notes that might give more context: my response was to offer sympathy (let them know that it upset me and apologized) and offered support by asking neighbors if they saw anything…My welcome guide did reference living in the city and not leaving things out in plain view, etc.
@ilovecheesenuggets To be honest I don’t think the theft from the car is relevent to the housesit. It could happen anywhere. I would not mention it in a review. But certainly you should would warn future sitters and friends not to leave their car unlocked!
However if you feel this episode demonstrates positive qualities about the sitter you could certainly speak highly of them as people in the review.
Where I live, people become upset when someone leaves valuables in unlocked vehicles as it is viewed as creating opportunities that invite crime/criminals. Your best intentions to compliment their handling of the situation could possibly work against them.
As a potential future sitter I’d read ‘they handled challenges’ as ‘this sit has (undisclosed) challenges, I wonder what they are? Maybe I’ll give it a swerve’.
As a sitter I read through all HO reviews of sitters before applying and take as much notice of them as sitter reviews of HOs.
Personally I wouldn’t mention it. It sounds like an unfortunate one off.
Fair enough. As a sitter, I don’t read so much into this kind of language, as long as it hasn’t been repeated alongside other problematic indicators, because I know problems can just sometimes come up (outside anyone’s control). But others are different and might read more into it.
Update your listing to include a safety issue don’t mention anything more you’re both innocent parties and shouldn’t pay for the criminal actions of another person
I appreciate your perspective about responsibility. In my opinion, theft and safety are two separate issues (though they can be related in some cases). My neighborhood feels safe to my family (with kids) and my neighbors, so I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s a safety issue. The unfortunate fact for most major cities is that crimes of opportunity are rampant.
I agree, unless the issue is specific to your property, including this as a safety issue in your listing would put you at a disadvantage compared to all the other listings who don’t mention the possibility of opportunistic crimes. It is up to me as a sitter/traveler to research the area and decide for myself if I feel safe and what if any extra precautions I should take.
I think if your welcome guide specifically mentioned the caution, you are in the clear in terms of responsibility. I might mention the incident in the review for a couple of reasons. First, to show that the sitters took things well and didn’t demand restitution or blame you. Second, reviews are blind and if there is any question in your mind about what they will say about your neighborhood or you in regard to the theft, the review is your chance to tell your side.
If your Welcome Guide addresses the issue, I believe you’ve covered potential theft with your written word. However, it may also be something that is discussed during your chat with the potential sitters before confirming the sit, because sitters don’t typically get access to the guide until afterwards. I don’t know if it’s necessary to address the issue in the review, and there is the option to ‘Reply’ to their review if the subject is brought up.
As a sitter, I would want to know that there is a potential theft issue, as it is common concern for city sitting. We were advised of a similar issues before one sit, and as a couple that always locks our car doors, we made doubly sure to check each time we exited the car, and we were NOT in the city. This did not dissuade us from sitting for this family again, and will be returning for another sit next month.
Having cars broken into and having stuff stolen from them is unfortunately pretty common in many U.S. cities.
This has become much more prevalent, but happened in cities like NYC, San Francisco and Seattle even three+ decades ago, for example. That’s why, even decades ago, the makers of car radios made detachable faceplates, to make the radios useless or much less valuable if stolen, because the owners could remove the faceplate when they left their cars.
Nowadays, it’s common for many public garages and parks, as well as tourist attraction parking lots, to have warning signs, saying don’t leave valuables in your car. Sometimes, you’ll even see such warnings when you go rent a car.
This is something helpful to remind sitters of, if you live in such cities, whether in the U.S. or beyond. But IMO, it’s not necessary to mention in listings, because it’s so common.
A recent host of mine reminded me of such before I arrived and parked, for example. I appreciated her thoughtfulness, but already avoid leaving valuables in my car or rentals.
If a sit is in a high crime part I think mention of facts in the WG is too late, it would be better to have it in the listing to get the right sitter. There was a topic of a sitter that didn’t feel safe in a neighborhood if I remember correctly. If this was merely an incident that could have happened anywhere it is different ofc.
For the actual sit/ sitter I don’t think it belongs in a review for the petsit, IMO. Could backfire in unwanted ways, also.
In the U.S., car break-ins are common even in “nice” neighborhoods. Like the recent sit where the homeowner mentioned this to me lived in an affluent neighborhood. Their home is probably worth $2 million USD+.
