Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Regarding the person who asked me to write the review, this was 6 years ago, so I’ve moved on. At this point, I have over 30 5-star reviews, so I’m not sweating it. I like what you said about telling the host I’ll leave them positive feedback once they’ve reviewed me. There have been times when I left the feedback first as a show of good faith when something beyond their control affected the sit, but I haven’t noticed a correlation between that and follow-through on their part. I like what you said about the sit not feeling complete until you’ve received your review, and normally I do wait for the homeowner to review me before I leave feedback.
I wish THS would go to a blind review system like Air BnB has, where you can’t see or have your review posted until you have left one for the other party. And I think both should be called “reviews,” as, like someone else in this forum said, “feedback” to me, is something you leave privately, a good faith suggestion for an improvement.
You have to be careful not to jump to conclusions if your pet happens to be ‘off’ on your return.
Last month we did a 4 week sit caring for 2 dogs, an elderly schnauzer and a six-year-old Labradoodle. All went well and we had a lovely stay.
Last week we had a message from the home hosts. Last Saturday the Labradoodle looked ‘off’ so they took him to the vet. The vet said he may have a tummy bug so advised they keep an eye on him and call again in a couple of days if he didn’t get better.
That same evening the poor thing lost the use of his back legs, he was rushed to an emergency vet who diagnosed him as having a slipped disc and operated immediately - £8000!
The vet asked if the dog had had a fall or had anything unusual happened? which it hadn’t so how he came to be in this situation is a total mystery.
The operation went well and thankfully he is now recovering slowly.
However, imagine if it had happened when we were looking after him! The home hosts would definitely have thought something had happened that we were not admitting to - a fall? or worse still - a kick?!! …and who could blame them for having their suspicions, How does a dog end up in emergency surgery with no explanation of the cause? We probably would think the same if we were them.
We feel so sorry for him but are really relieved that it did not happen on our watch
I have a similar situation with a negative experience as a homeowner. I also wrote an honest unemotional and factual review and got slammed back with a dramatic retaliatory response. This has caused me to discontinue my combined membership for years at a time, and then re-instate it when I need a sitter with the hopes I can explain my side of the story. But, I’ve been told that her explosive feedback has given future sitters pause. It is a crying shame that TH has not overhauled their review system - something we have all been asking for for years. I hope they eventually create a blind review system, because retailiative emotional responses are rampant and debilitating. It tarnishes the whole system. I feel for you too!
Hi. Thanks for sharing and I’m sorry it was a crappy experience for you and your pet too. Such a shame as I’m sure there’s great sitters out there. Right now I doubt any will sit for me! X
Please don’t make negative assumptions about full-time nomadic sitters. I’ve been living this way for 6 years, and I have around 30 stellar reviews. I have some gaps because I’ve gotten some sits privately–through word of mouth or from other sites–and some HO’s are lazy about reviews. Three sits come to mind where the HO said they loved me, thanked me profusely for the sit, and never wrote a review. Two of those were a month or more in duration, and for the other, I went above and beyond for a dog that turned out to have brain tumors and who was having seizures that I had to witness and step in to handle. Those people even referred me recently for a sit for a family member, so ostensibly, they appreciated me. But still, no review. I sent all three of them reminders. Nothing.
@GillianWings it’s not too late for them to write a review - maybe when initially home and having to deal with a very poorly dog they didn’t get around to it but you could contact them again to prompt them to leave you a review ?
However , When the new review system is introduced ( apparently imminently) the blind review will have to be done within 14 days.
A blind review is when you cannot see what the other side has written.
THS say that they are working on implementing something like that, but the latest I heard was someone writing on this forum that they had been told that this was months away.
It is incredible. Free volunteer hospex sites have no problem getting this to work. So I don’t believe it anymore. The present system almost guarantees very positive reviews, where everything gets rated not “good” but “excellent”.
On my latest sit there was no real shower. None of the previous sitters had mentioned that in their review. Such a thing could not happen on AirBnb where guests do not need to fear retaliation.
Hi @pietkuip I’m not sure where “months away” originated but @Silversitters’ information is much closer to reality, although the exact launch date is yet to be announced.
This has been suggested and emphasized for years. I don’t understand why TH hasn’t taken it seriously. I had one similar experience to the OP and because of it I had to take a multi-year break as a HO and only have a sitter membership. So, they lost out on my membership as a trustworthy highly responsible HO due to their review policy. I am sincerely hoping this change happens.