-sitter never gave updates, only of her BFs declining health in great detail. Prompted me to check my outdoor cameras where I discovered she was having guests over without my permission and let my dogs get across the busy road.
-6 days prior to the sit, she pushed me to have guests I originally didn’t want (we agreed upon no other guests prior and it’s in my listing) then lied to me about when and how often her BF was over. Her want for him to be there was a health issue.
-dogs were left many times for over 12 hours (I’m assuming kenneled because that’s how my sister found them)
-she had an emergency but never communicated with me about it so I could make accommodations for my dogs over a 12 hour period.
They ended up canceling the sit at 12:30AM due to an emergency with her BF…THS modified the dates so I can leave a review. I’m wondering if I should, I’m glad she’s not my sitter anymore and just want to include the details of the sit because that was what went so poorly. I’m still now stuck with having to now pay Rover and still have a couple weeks I need covered but THS isn’t helping much either.
Absolutely yes — you should leave a review. Reviews, both positive and negative, are the backbone of trust on THS. The key is to stick to the facts of what happened: don’t embellish, don’t be petty, and don’t let anger dictate your words.
From what you’ve described, there are multiple factual points that future pet owners will want to know: lack of updates, unauthorized guests, dogs being unsupervised for long periods, and communication failures. You can state these clearly and concisely without personal attacks — something like:
Sitter did not provide updates as agreed.
Unauthorized guests were present, and dogs were left unsupervised near a busy road.
Dogs were left for extended periods without owner knowledge.
Communication around emergencies was inadequate, leaving dogs unattended.
Focus on describing what actually happened and how it impacted the pets and the sit. This keeps your review credible and helpful, while protecting you from being seen as vindictive.
Remember: future sitters and owners rely on honest, factual feedback — your experience matters.
I plugged your OP account here into ChatGPT asking for a THS appropriate review. What came back is not bad. I’d tweet it some but it reads as accurate, informative and appropriately emotional.
My experience with this sitter was disappointing. I received no updates about my pets, only messages about her partner’s health. After checking my cameras, I discovered she had guests over without permission and that my dogs had gotten across a busy road.
Although we agreed to no guests, she pressured me to allow her partner to stay and later gave inconsistent information about how often he was there. My dogs were left alone for long periods—over 12 hours at times—and she did not notify me when she had an emergency, leaving them without care.
The sit was eventually canceled at 12:30 AM due to her partner’s emergency. While I’m relieved the sit ended, it has left me scrambling for last-minute care and additional expenses. Sharing this so others are aware of my experience.
I’d definitely change the “my cameras” to “my declared outdoor cameras” or “my declared doorbell camera”.
I’d also change “she pressured me to allow” to “she pressured 6 days into the sit to allow”.
Good luck and thank you for considering an honest review. They are not easy.
I’m glad this situation has finally been sorted but so sorry for all you’ve gone through. Please save future Ho’s the same bad experience by leaving an honest review. Maybe she and BF were having a really hard time unexpectedly but that’s not an excuse for lying or treating your pets badly.
I think the Chat review above is pretty good. Sometimes a 1 star review is seen as an outlier so I’d give at least two stars overall, and stars as appropriate in each category. You could also mention that you requested THS intervene after the sitter abandoned your pets.
I don’t know how a sitter like this stays on the site but without your honest review they just well might.
Reviews are the cornerstone of the platform. Both sitters and home owners are doing a disservice to the community if they don’t post honest reviews. I hope your future sitters offer you a better experience.
@Aelin you’ll also be doing right by all the good sitters if you write an accurate factual review and give an appropriate rating for this poor experience.
Why should a poor sitter get rated the same as an excellent one ?
As a HO, please leave a factual review so I never choose this sitter. You are doing all HO’s a great service by leaving a review. No one wants this type of sitter.
@Aelin You absolutely should leave a review because if you don’t, there will be no evidence on the sitter’s profile that this sit ever took place. On the other hand, if she decided not to leave you a review, that WILL show on your profile. Future sitters may wonder why she did not review you.
As other members have said, leave a factual, non-emotional review. Should she decide to respond negatively to your review, remember that will show on HER profile and not yours.
It’s been and still is a very stressful time for you. I hope your dogs are okay and are being cared for well whilst you are still away.
Imagine if someone else could’ve warned you about her. That’s why you should write a factual review. Hosts and sitters who don’t write honest reviews enable poor behavior in an ecosystem we all share.
Yes definitely leave a review. Otherwise future potential sitters may view you negatively if the sitter leaves you a review but you don’t reciprocate.
Whether that review is positive or negative depends largely on that sitters past review history. If there’s no prior reviews, or mixed reviews than it’s probably best to leave an honest and factual negative review sticking to the facts and keeping emotions, criticism and judgements out of it.
If this careless and irresponsible sitter has nothing less than multiple 5 star reviews then you have likely been misled by prior hosts who have established this pattern, and if you leave the only negative review in a sea of false positives then it will ironically be you who is deemed unreasonable and future potential sitters may not apply for your listings. This bad sitter will certainly dispute your review in their reply and it’s now a “he said / she said” scenario with it becoming largely about credibility as defined by past review history. Why stick your neck out for other members when the same courtesy and consideration was not given to you?
However if the sitter knows you’re unhappy and expects a negative review then the best strategy would be to leave a preemptive negative review so if you get one you can revert back to it in your response, which would be more credible than if you didn’t voice your concerns initially.
2 other considerations are reviews you have left for sitters and the desirability of your sit. If you’ve left only positive reviews for many past sitters then a negative review will be more credible as it’s not your pattern. If you’ve got tons of applicants for posted dates then it might not matter so much if sitters pass on your listing because of doubts raised by the inevitable mudslinging between you and this bad sitter.
Sitters often check prior sitters profiles to read reviews a host has left for prior sitters.
Yea this was unfortunately my very first sit which sucks for me. She had 2 reviews of 5 stars for really short sits of a couple days. I was still going to give her 2 or 3 stars just because she was really clean but that’s about it.
I’m surprised you are wondering if you should leave her a review! Forget about the BF thing, she’s terrible!!!
Maybe I’m harsh, but your pets weren’t cared for.
0 stars - Organised (she didn’t follow your requests about anything)
0 stars - Reliable (she didn’t do anything that you asked)
0 stars - Self-sufficient (she had guests without permission, so she may have been incapable of caring for your dogs alone maybe)
Up to you star wise - Clean & tidy
0 stars - Pet care (she didn’t care for your pets in the way she was supposed to)
Make sure whatever you write is factual, nothing linked to emotion, just facts, facts, facts.
PS when people give an enormous amount of detail (like about the BF), it can sometimes mean they are over exaggerating things, so perhaps she was planning on leaving early. I’m not saying that’s the case, but don’t let the BF thing prevent you from doing an honest review of the way she cared for your pets.
@Aelin Don’t be discouraged! There are soo many great housesitters out here, and if HOs are honest in their reviews, you’ll find good sitters for future sits.
We are sitters, too, and are so mad at people who treat HOs the way this one did to you.
Hang in there, be strong, write a factual review (keep it brief but focused), and you’ll learn how good this wonderful THS ecosystem can be.
Ouch on it being your first sit as your first sitter reads like a nightmare. Nightmares happen with THS but they are rare. We’ve known of pet owners who’ve had nightmare issues using different pet sitting arrangements paid and unpaid so we believe the risks exist no matter where you turn.
As regards the review, do give the sitter the stars they are due. If she was clean and tidy, 5 stars is standard and has nothing to do with any of the other drama. Accurate and honest rating strengthens the value and credibility of the review.
Because it is the right thing to do. We know you prefer a self-centered approach, in order to maximize your pool of sitters, but your strategy just perpetuates the problem.
It is often fairly easy to tell who is being honest when reading a review and response. This is especially true when the person giving the response left a glowing review and only voiced complaints when the negative review was published. I’ve been a member for 4 years as a homeowner and sitter, so I have lots of experience reading between the lines in reviews. It would be even better if I didn’t have to infer things from reviews.
In situations where it is not easy to tell who is being honest, it might deter some sitters from applying. However, that still leaves plenty of good sitters who will apply. You only need one good sitter at a time.
Yep. That last. Reading between the lines of reviews (THS or any other) is a requirement imposed by the existence of online reviews which rarely are worth spit at first glance.
The self centered approach is probably as counter productive as it is odd coming from a 2x THS host who regularly crows about their overflowing applications queue. What problem are they trying to fix? Very perplexing.
