Sitters told us they were leaving after 72hours

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
1

We have been using THS & others for several years now, met some amazing people, & only had 2 sitters that were suboptimal. The sitters we have just had had 50+ good reviews. We met them prior to leaving & they interacted with the dogs well.
I consider my house clean & tidy, as much as possible with several dogs. I always provide my sitters with clean bedding & towels & ensure I’ve hoovered & cleaned the bathrooms prior to their arrival.
These sitters straight away wanted to make sure they knew everything prior to us leaving & they reassured me they’d message every day over the first few days how they were getting on.
The first day of our trip we received a message from them that the back door was broken & they should have been informed! I explained that there had been nothing wrong with the door prior to us leaving, for which we received a reply that there was now & must be sorted ASAP! I apologised profusely & messaged our maintenance guy.
Long story short we received several messages over the next few days saying the dogs were very energetic & needed to go somewhere to run off energy, this was accompanied with a photo of them running around happily in a field chasing a ball. I was confused & explained that they would be happy with this everyday for the time we would be away.
The next message was the worst, basically saying our dogs were unruly/out of control, the house, sheets etc smelt & were dirty & they’d spent all day cleaning & washing bringing everything up to their standards! Oh & they were leaving! The stress this caused having to change flights etc & the money lost due to this! We couldn’t get flights straight away, luckily my parents, in their 70’s, managed to cancel all their plans & went to take over.
My question is, do I mention all this in their review? Is this common, giving up & leaving? I know we have different standards but really?!

I value people’s opinions on this as it’s really bothered me by what they’ve said

11 Likes
2

Hi @Kitechick, I’m truly sorry for the situation you and your pets have found yourself in. Every owner or sitter has expectations, and sometimes things don’t go well, but that’s not the norm at THS. What you’re describing isn’t reason enough for me to cancel the sit. Having a conversation with you first, I would try to resolve the situation for the well-being of all parties. I’ve never had to abandon a sit, even if I’m not 100% comfortable, but the conditions are adequate and safe, and I choose to stay.
That said, please leave a genuine and current review of what has happened, in a respectful and factual manner. This is the only way we, as a community of hosts and sitters, can protect each other and help purge undesirable behavior from our platform.

I reckon that’s important to share our experiences honestly, not out of anger, but with the intention of maintaining the transparency, integrity and safety of the community.

11 Likes
3

Hello @Kitechick,

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, you should give a factual, unemotional review.

No, it isn’t common at all. There are a few situations where a sitter is allowed to leave, giving the HO some time to find alternative care for the pets. THS is usually informed about this. High energy dogs would not be considered a valid reason for leaving. But if the house is very dirty or not safe, the dogs are aggressive… those would be reasonable grounds for leaving.

I am not sure what the situation was. From your post, it seems they were giving different reasons at different times. The sheets being dirty would probably have been noticed the first day.

This sounds more than reasonable. Didn’t you want them to know as much as possible about the care of your home and pets? Isn’t most of that information included in your Welcome Guide?

2 Likes
4

Yes mention it in their review as you see it, but stick to the clear facts, not your personal opinion of them. The reason being is because they get to review you too, and if they mark you down, a lot of sitters will then look at what you said about them to get the whole picture, instead of a one-sided opinion.

Their communication seems a little strict though - ie ‘should have been informed’ about the lock instead of simply asking you about it. Also, ‘must be sorted ASAP’ instead of wording the importance of it in a friendly manner. It could be simply down to different personalities/upbringing/culture, but it sounds a little weird.

Was your home actually dirty-dirty? Sitters expect a clean place, but in our own eyes, it doesn’t need to be sparkling, pristine, and shiny new, but it does need to be clean to a normal standard with fresh bedding, towels etc.

You don’t mention in what way they said your dogs are unruly and out of control. If your dogs are an energetic breed, then maybe they just haven’t sat that particular breed before.

We love Spaniels, but we only sit them occasionally as it’s tiring when it’s not your own, because every Spaniel we’ve sat has pulled badly on a leader. We’ve got a gorgeous repeat sit for a spaniel coming up, and he’s totally adorable… but he also has boundless energy, so we just make sure we have a month or two in between each spaniel sit. We love them though, fantastic dogs.

Whether they were right to leave or not, from your side, it’s zero stars in the reliable category and they lacked respectful communication skills so I’d mark them down for that.

No it’s not common to give up, it’s rare. Below proves that:

4 Likes
5

Yes that’s what I ment really, that was a good thing they showed

6

This all sounds very strange behaviour from an experienced sitter with over 50 good reviews.

I think I need to hear their side of the story.

16 Likes
7

Yes please do a detailed review of these sitters and your experience. Be accurate and leave your emotions out of any write up. As an HO, I’d thank you.

Be forewarned that the review process is blind meaning neither party’s review can be seen by the other party until both parties have submitted a review (or 14 days passes, whichever comes first ). Once submitted, they can not be changed. Whether you submit an accurate review, a fluff piece or nothing at all, the sitters know whether their behavior might trigger a bad review. There have been more than a few accounts here in the forum of sitters or HOs bashing the other party as a preemptive strike against an anticipated subpar review. Your best defense in this event (and most every other) is to submit an accurate review with appropriate ratings. I’m with @HappyDeb on the 0 stars for reliability with a markdown on the communication skills plus I would also markdown on self sufficiency.

But, yeah, not common in our experience (nor yours based on your prior THS experiences).

Best of luck.

2 Likes
8

If they’re sitters with 50+ good reviews, there’s probably something significantly wrong with the sit. And it’s likely that people would give them benefit of doubt or figure that you were a mismatch.

In your place, I’d be careful to stick with facts when reviewing them, because if sitters think your review harsh, iffy or such, you’d probably have a harder time getting sitters going forward. It already seems suspect if they’ve had 50+ good reviews and you’re the exception.

6 Likes
9

@Kitechick, something here doesn’t ring right.
“The sitters we have just had had 50+ good reviews. We met them prior to leaving & they interacted with the dogs well.”
This seems great experience and good due diligence.
How can the situation deteriorate over just 72 hours to such a poor level that a highly experienced housesitter wants to walk away?
Reviews should be brief, honest and evidenced. Suggest identify key issues.
Worth noting that housesitter is able to provide one formal reply to the pet parent review and vice versa.

4 Likes
10

Or the sitters are having a bad week.

The one concern we have with couples sitting for us is that we have no idea how well they get along. It’s not something you can usefully ask about. Arguments between the sitters isn’t something we worry about with solo sitters.

2 Likes
11

It is not common but it happens. If you feel your dogs are pretty normal and their behaviors were disclosed, and your home was clean and the sheets weren’t smelly and there were no conditions that were unlivable etc then you can dispute the sit, which means contacting a human at memberservices and using the word “dispute” to complain about the sitters’ behavior.

Very curious about the backdoor. What did your handyman say? Did the sitters damage it or was there already a problme?

Since it sounds like the sit was never cancelled, the sitters will have an opportunity to write a review. You will have an opportunity to write a review. You won’t get to see their review until two weeks after the sit unless you also write a review. They won’t get to see your review for 2 weeks unless you write a review.

If you feel your dogs’ behavior was as described, and your home was clean, and the sheets didn’t smell, and you dealt effectively with the back door issue which wasn’t an issue when you left, then all of that should be stated in your review. If the sitters, are indeed, the type of people who would just decid that a sit isn’t for them and make things up or have impossibly high standards, then other homeowners need to be warned.

So the question you need to ask yourself is: Was your home as described? Was the pet behavior as described? Were the conditions as described?

6 Likes
12

That’s a very good point!

2 Likes
13

Absolutely leave a detailed, factual and objective review. Potential home/pet owners should be made aware of such erratic and irresonsible sitters

This sort of irresponsibility is completely unacceptable and , to be honest, something sounds very “off” about their communication, behaviour and “excuses”.

I’m sorry that you had to go through this and hope that you, your parents and your pets are ok after such a jarring experience.

2 Likes
14

But why have they got 50 excellent reviews then? As @Colin says, it would be good to hear the sitters’ version

4 Likes
15

Hi, I had a very similar experience a few months ago. The sitter had plenty of good reviews but on arrival was more concerned about how long the dogs could be left alone for than spending time with them.
I had to trust all would be well but received a text from the sitter while in the departure lounge at the airport waiting to board, saying very similar things as your sitter said.
Basically, although I am used to having sitters and had them only the previous month, this particular one said the dogs were displaying behaviour they have never done before, for us or other sitters. The house apparently smelled, including the bedroom, even though I had washed all the bedding, even the duvet itself and the dogs never have access to the room in question.
The sitter said she hoped we weren’t already on the plane as she was leaving that day.
As you can imagine we were in a tizz trying to find someone to take over at such short notice, a family member came up from London in the end but it was a horrible start to a holiday we had been looking forward to.
THS explained that I had to stick to facts in my review, which I did, but the sitter was shocked that I gave her a one * review - she couldn’t understand it as she had agreed to wait until my son arrived to take over and thought that was all okay.
No matter what other people’s standards are regarding cleanliness, a house which has been cleaned from top to bottom, with towels and bedding washed, fridge and floors cleaned should be fine for anyone. Dogs, and two of them were only puppies need attention, that’s why you sign up to be a sitter surely, but this sitter’s complaints bore no relation to the truth. It’s made me very wary now and my trust in Trusted House Sitters has been dented.

8 Likes
16

I am saddened by this discussion.

The reason I joined THS was because it is supposed to be a CARING mutual transaction. I am not on any other sites that pay you to be with the animals because I, as a human function better when I have the companionship of animals. Independent travel can be very lonely so having a habitable home and the company of the pets is perfect.

I have had a few sits that didn’t go quite right but that was nothing to do with the pets and the ones that were bad were generally new comers to THS so they were not fully aware how the community works. In these cases I got in touch with THS to ask advice which they gave almost immediately and I totally agree with them that the focus should be on the pets themselves. The site isn’t about finding the most comfortable/luxurious house so anyone that has silly expectations on that front doesn’t belong on THS.

17

Wow, not thought of this angle! Hubby & I are experienced sitters with over 25 5* reviews. We are together 24/7 because we are full time travellers at present and obviously have the odd disagreement! But we’d never leave a sit because of our own issues!

1 Like
18

You have “several” dogs. Do you not know how many?
Sorry, but I just find that… Odd.