I recently had my first THS experience and it wasn’t good. Customer service encouraged me to leave an honest review which I did. I then received a retaliatory 1* review. I’m obviously highly sceptical that I will get another sitter if I ever dare have another sit. Any advice appreciated especially from anyone who has had a similar experience. Grateful 
Welcome @Peaches to the forum but so sorry to hear that your first sit has been a negative experience. Was the sitter also a new THS member ?
You can write a reply to the feedback your sitter has given - which will be seen on the same page .
Without giving any details that would identify the sitter, what were the general issues you experienced?
Have you asked member services for their advice as they are aware of the details of the situation?
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That’s really too bad that your experience with the sit and then the retaliatory review was bad. THS review system is highly flawed and they absolutely need to fix it. I would write a response to the feed back. I’ve seen others like your situation every once in a while and the Homeowners were able to get other sitters I assume due to the desirable location. I would also complain to membership services regarding their retaliatory review system. Maybe they can related your dissatisfaction to management so that they can finally get a different review system up and running. I’m newer to THS and have had several new HOs that we have sat for and it was a great experience on both ends.
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I am surprised that the reviews are not mutually blind like Airbnb. Neither party should be able to see a review until they each leave separate reviews.
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Hi. Thanks for the welcome 
I’ve responded only to then recebe a WhatsApp message from him. The issues were multiple unfortunately both in terms of my dogs and my home. It’s someone of no fixed abode who has been going from sit to sit for years but whose profile doesn’t reflect that. Multiple 5• reviews but until you become aware that he goes from sit to sit you don’t realise how many gaps there are with people concerned to leave a less than positive review Customer service have just offered me 12 m extra! Is it possible to put references on your profile? Grateful for the support
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Hi. I’m glad to hear you are having a good experience with the arrangement.
I left a response only to then receive a WhatsApp message from him. Customer service have been made aware. They offered 2 m extra! Such a shame as my dogs are gorgeous and home lovely.
Agreed. I expressed concern to CS that this would happen. He’s unscathed as he has a lot of good reviews ( hence I. accepted his application) but I don’t think anyone will want to risk sitting for me!
Yes! I also only found out recently that, unlike homeowners, a sitter’s unreviewed sits do not appear in their profile. I think unreviewed sits show up for them when they’re viewing their own profile (which causes some confusion) but not when a third party is looking at their profile. (Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, I just learned this and it’s hard to verify.)
I don’t think homeowners can put references in their profiles (at least, I’ve never seen an option to do so.) As others have suggested the best you can do at this point, besides possibly getting membership services to remove the review, is to respond to their review directly so your response appears underneath it. Try to address the points they brought up to correct any misrepresentation or add appropriate context, and try to do it all without any venom. I think a prospective sitter might be more willing to sit if they can see that this was a retaliatory review, that you had explanations for the sitter’s issues, and that you handled it all with maturity.
So sorry this happened to you. Good luck!
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You can see non-reviews in the app, not via the website.
Sorry I should have mentioned this in the first message. I’m aware of the difference in the website and app, and I have checked the app as well (on Android) and have not seen any gaps in sitter’s reviews like I do see in some HO’s reviews. I only definitely know of one sitter that should have a gap, and it doesn’t appear in the web/app. When I think back on other sitters I don’t remember ever seeing gaps, but of course I wasn’t really paying attention to that until now.
Again, very hard to verify unless you somehow find a sitter through their review on a HO’s listing, and don’t see a corresponding review/gap on the sitter’s profile! And maybe it’s different for some reason if you’re the HO in question who didn’t leave a review on a sitter’s profile… THS has never been super clear about these little nuances.
Yes you can send out reference requests to people you know. Although there’s nothing wrong with sitters going from sit to sit. I know that I’ve gain a lot of experience and how to do things so much more efficiently by going sit to sit all summer
I’m sorry @Peaches, that is so unfair! I would echo what @Silversitters said, write a nice, polite, un-emotional but honest reply to his feedback on your page.
I’ve seen these retaliatory reviews and feedbacks, and you can normally tell if they are true or not by the reply the other party gives. I also always check both sitter and PP pages on app, where you can see any gaps.
So, if people read your listing, they would find out how things actually went. But it’s true, that since that 1⭐️is the only feedback you have, it might make people not to read any further.
Yes, you can have references on your page as a sitter, but I don’t think PP’s can do that. Atleast I’ve never seen that possibility in my profile page.
Of course you could ask a reference and just put it in your pictures or past it to your description test, under House or Responsibility -sections?
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I would suggest writing a response to their review, I always take those into consideration as well.
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@Peaches , I’m so sorry to hear of your bad first experience. It is good, though, that you came to forum. You will get support here. Don’t lose heart. Just because this happened does not mean you will not be able to attract good sitters in the future. If your listing looks very appealing and you craft a factual, unemotional response to this sitter’s feedback there will be people who will be able to see this situation for what it was. If you like, you can add your listing to your forum profile and experienced forum members will be able to give you helpful feedback so your listing and your reply to the sitter’s feedback will look as good as possible. Here are the instructions:
How to add your listing or profile to your forum profile
Again, this does not mean you will not have many good experiences from here on out. After you have good feedback from future sitters, this sitter’s feedback will not matter.
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I agree to some extent. I definitely look at the response to reviews, but when it becomes too argumentative or nit-picky, then I decide to steer clear. Therefore, be sure to make it factual and free from emotion.
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Same! And I’ve been on TH for almost 2 years with 30+ sits.
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Hi @Peaches - one thought would be that next time you post your sit add a sentence in there that says gently & honestly. “My first experience with THS wasn’t good but I believe there are lots of wonderful sitters out there so would really like to change this for sit no 2.” And then it’s out there, you’ve been up front and have nothing to hide. We’d read that and give you a shot. Best of luck & like others, sorry to hear of your bad experience. There are many great sitters on here 
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Welcome @Peaches. Firstly so sorry you had such a bad first experience. Pleased you did give an honest review and reached out to customer services. I have sat for 2 HO’s who also had bad experiences (one sitter committed theft in my eyes by leaving a huge telephone bill!) that were frightened to leave a bad review or speak to customer services.
Sitters that are constantly not taking care of pets or homes need outing as they have no place on THS.
Just a side note there are many great nomadic sitters on THS. I know as I’ve met some of them as a fellow sitter.
I do hope your next sit restores your faith that most sitters are great respectful and animal caring people.
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Unfortunately that’s the way the review system works. 5 star reviews are practically mandatory. My last 3 house sits all complained strongly about previous sitters, but all left them 5 star reviews.