The site (or any other) is neither fair nor unfair. Some who participate on this (or any) website can be unfair.
THS protects neither sitters nor hosts. I’m not sure how they could protect anyone in a he-said/she-said community. Seems like an impossible task.
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This is nonsensical to me. Why on earth would you do this to other homeowners? Why would you do this to other sitters who will lose out on the sit because you gave this person 5 stars.
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It goes both ways. There are some terrible hosts and there are some terrible sitters, which idocsteve clearly explained why they keep getting sits. We all need to be more truthful and before leaving a bad review, have a conversation with the person to get their side of the story.
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It’s because you used the asterisk symbol. this program italicizes everything between asterisks . It usually also makes the asterisk disappear (as it did above) so I’m curious, did you have to go back and type new asterisks?
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Untrue, unfair statement
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You gave it a lot of thought, in a way I understand the second reason you explained. You sound intelligent enough, you would have probably been very capable to write an unemotional, but factual review to set the record straight.
Please do that next time or the gods protecting house owners might send you thunder and lighting.
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I already explained why I left a 5 star review to a 2 star sitter. I will rephrase in an attempt to further clarify.
The pattern of giving 5 star review to this irresponsible and careless/clueless sitter was established by numerous hosts prior to me. They did me no favors. I’m simply “paying it forward” so to speak.
Had I left a negative review in the midst of a slew of all 5 star reviews I would likely be seen as the difficult and unreasonable party by future potential sitters who might decline the sit for that reason. Yet I’m expected to take it in the chin for the good of other hosts when the same courtesy was not afforded to me?
No thanks.
interesting how some homeowners choose to find fault with my strategy and not the hosts who started the problem long before I even joined the THS platform.
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Speechless! Dog eat dog mentality expressed above would be corrosive to the fundamental premise of this platform! Now it sounds like the pot is calling the kettle black. Oh! Speechless!
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You can only do you. Here, you’ve declared from on high who you are and how you do you. Don’t expect kudos for you being you.
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My only expectation for this platform is to obtain sitters when we travel, and I employ strategies and techniques that maximize the desirability of my listing.
Leaving a bad review for a poor sitter, for the good of other potential future hosts, when I have not been extended the same courtesy by prior hosts who have dealt with this sitter, is not a priority. I’ve determined that leaving such a review would ironically only work against me. It’s likely that one bad review among a slew of 5 star reviews would be considered an aberration, it would not affect the sitter’s future success, and might deter other sitters from considering our property as we would be seen as the unreasonable ones who might find them to be unsatisfactory as well. And who knows, there could be some truth to it. Out of 4 sits to date, to some degree there were problems on every one of them.
Believe me when I tell you that I would have loved to slam that sitter with a 1-2 star hit, it took all my restraint to not go that route because I knew I wouldn’t be doing myself any good whatsoever. Even leaving no review is frowned upon by potential sitters.
Having read the reviews of @idocsteve’s sitter, they are definitely positive and paint a different picture than the one @idocsteve has described. The sits also didn’t include as many pets. I’m not questioning what Steve found on his return but I am raising the point that 14 other HOs surely aren’t all telling lies.
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Surely it would be better to expect to obtain GOOD sitters when you travel? Honest reviews from both parties are the only way to make this happen.
As for leaving no review, whilst it’s true that this can raise suspicion initially, it’s worth bearing in mind that there can also be a genuine reason for this. I currently find myself on an ‘unathorised’ sit, as the homeowner has not renewed their membership part way through a month long sit. It’s therefore unlikely that we will have the opportunity to review each other.
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I understand your point, but I must disagree. I’m a paying member of this platform, and I expect a fair and balanced system for both sitters and homeowners.
While I can technically reply to a review, there is no way to correct or amend a review that includes misleading or one-sided information. Once it’s published, the damage is already done and that affects paying members like me who rely on our reputation to continue sitting.
I’m not asking for protection or special treatment, but for a fair system that allows both sides to communicate and resolve misunderstandings properly.
If you don’t leave a review for a sitter the sit will not show up on their profile. It would be like it never happened and no one will know how bad the sitter was. This is not good. But it is better than giving a false 5* review to a bad sitter just to protect yourself and shift the problem to the next host!!
It’s different if a sitter does not review a host. Their name will still appear on the host profile but with a blank space below, indicating no review. This is often a red flag for future sitters.
In this case you would have served the community better (and still protected yourself) by NOT leaving a review at all.
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I have asked former sit HOs if they would field a prearranged call from a prospective future sit. Two have agreed. This could help.
For many years five star reviews across the board were very common and I think the main reason was out of fear of retaliation.
The blind review system came in a while ago, along with the separate categories. There is no good reason not to leave a fair and honest review. It would be helpful if an explanation is given for any docked stars to keep things in perspective.
In my opinion the blind review system, separate categories and the 14 day time limit are positive improvements on tne site.
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Idocsteve, You are entirely wrong that giving a bad review to a sitter would put off future sitters. I recently sat for owners who were fairly new to the platform. They had only had two previous sitters. The first they gave a very good review. The second they gave a bad one. This second sitter also had previous glowing 5star reviews. I read his resoning carefully. Main reason being that this person was not up to walking their elderly very spritely, eager walking dog. They were taken out to be shown the nearest 45 min circular walk up to common land and back. This sitter could not keep up and kept having to stop for a rest to get her breath back. It came across as if she had expected an elderly dog to be equally slow. Sitter definitely not up to longer walks. Also a bad comment that a huge treat jar that had enough trests for several weeks had been emptied within a week, And these were the large size treats. Were inmstructions no more than one a day. There were other negative comments but cannot remember all now. Anyway just to say it did not put me off but I am an active walker and I did take their dog out walking all day now and again, in the lovley surroiunbding countryside. We had some fanatstic walks together. And I ended up with a gloweing 5 star review.
Highly likey that previous owners who had given the 5 star reviews to their previous sitter, had not realised how little their dogs may have been walked etc.?
Honest reviews are helpful to both owners and sitters
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Well, no, not exactly. Should a prospective sitter do their homework, they will quickly find that this sitter left a review for me but I did not reciprocate. I have read from a sitter’s perspective on this forum that a host not leaving a review is rather offputting.
You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. That much said, I’ve read exactly that from sitters on this forum. They view a host with suspicion who has left a bad review, especially for a sitter who has a perfect 5 star record spanning multiple sits.
Such isolated reviews reflect more negatively on the host than the sitter.
I figure not all of the hosts had a bad experience, but surely some did and chose to gloss over it in their feedback. You’re right, our home is a fair amount of work between the 3 dogs, the semi-stray cats, the rabbits, the guinea pigs, the chickens, and the large amount of plants requiring watering. As well as the pool.
The sitter as you probably realize is a sweet young girl who is rather clueless and was probably overwhelmed to some extent, despite being given ample advance notice of the levels of responsibility. I’m guessing most hosts are not willing to “hurt” this girl’s reputation as she probably means well, despite being unable/unwilling to follow directions.
As you can also see, my review would stand out like sore thumb against all those wonderful reviews and put me in a bad light amongst potential sitters.