We had about 20 great sits over a few years, all 5 star reviews. Then I took a sit based on the photos, location and phone conversation but broke my rule to not accept a sit with no prior reviews. We arrived and the house was dirty, like hair in the sink dirty. I was OK with cleaning once the owner left. Then we did a home tour and she had wood beam that she said to wedge in the back door once it got dark. She had a fully enclosed yard with no view in or out, security lights on all night and told us not to talk to the neighbors. We took the dogs for walk and she told us not to leave the main street. During the walk cars slowed down and staired at us. The restaurant that was within walking distance we were told not to go to. This was a long sit and I was going to be alone for part of it. There were other comments that made me feel that I would be uncomfortable in that home by myself and after a long discussion with my husband, I woke the owner up early in the morning so that she would have time to contact her local sitter and we left and drove the 10 hours back home. Needless to say this was a rotten experience for both parties. I contacted THS and since we had arrived and âstartedâ the sit the owner was able to leave a 1 star review. Lesson learned for both of us. If she had been a bit more honest about the situation we would not have gone and she could have found a sitter who was comfortable in those conditions. On my part I will not take a sit that I donât either have personal experience with the area or that has no reviews. I am planning on getting back into sitting after a year off and will be much more careful so that neither party ends up in a bind. I think it is easy when most of the sits have been great to stop be careful about screening and I encourage owners to be honest about the overall situation. As a unpaid sitter I am not willing to stay in a home I donât feel is safe but I still feel bad about leaving.
Yikes. What was the location of this sit?
I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately leaving sits early, no matter how justified, does up the chances of getting a negative reviewâjust one of those risks sitters canât really do anything about if that is the decision they make.
But if you have a lot of other good reviews, it shouldnât pose too much of a problem when you get back to doing it.
I have been sitting for 10 years and in that time, I have done many sits for first-time hosts and those experiences have been just as positive as ones with those more experienced, so that personally doesnât deter me from applying.
But everyone has their own way of going about selecting the right sits for them, and should use whatever process makes them feel most confident about their selections.
Feeling badly is understandable no matter how reasonable the decision to leave may be. But based on the circumstancesâespecially seeming like you werenât in a very safe areaâit sounds like you made the right call.
What review did you leave @cdrewco ? Did you warn future sitters about the safety concerns?
With you having over 20 previous reviews, all rated as 5 stars, pet parents will realise that you didnât just leave on a whim and it will soon get âburiedâ by your subsequent sits.
Of course youâre able to respond to the review left for you. Did you leave a factual, balanced and honest review for this sit?
Yes - Where was the location?
@cdrewco
Thanks for sharing your experience. It could be easy to become complacent when selecting sits when youâve had a bunch of great sits and only positive experiences.
With the benefit of hindsight - (Aside from no previous reviews ) is there anything else you wish you had asked before accepting the sit or any red flags in the listing ?
I agree that leaving a sit where you had concerns for your safety and before the owner had departed was the best outcome for you .
I personally donât understand why some sitters stay in dirty, unhygienic or unsafe sits or sits with third parties, internal cameras , aggressive pets - just to get a good review .
Have you replied factually and unemotionally to the 1 star review that you received ?
I understand the main concern here was safety and I agree with others that it should be reflected in the review and the response to their review that the reason you left was that the area was not safe. That would help future sitters but also yourself because other homeowners will understand your negative review. In that sense, itâs especially important your response because it will appear in your profile, so everyone will be able to read it with no effort searching.
Apart from the safety issue, thereâs something I donât fully understand in your post. How do you think not talking to the neighbors or not going to a restaurant would help you? Did they explain why? I mean, you would not be unnoticed, anyway.
Had you checked if there had been missing reviews? (One can only see that in the app.)
But I am in new areas almost always on sits. Sometimes I do some âwalkingâ on google Streetview before I travel to the place.
Thank you for sharing, as it makes the community more aware.
After all this is just a matching platform. We are not chained to it. Life will go on leaving it. There are other platforms, other opportunities to explore. I would never risk my health or safety to provide free petsitting to a stranger - especially a stranger that chose to not be transparent of things that might affect my health or safety.
So happy you didnât either.
Wondering also whether there were signs in retrospect.
Depending on where the sit was, sometimes you can do ZIP code and crime report searches ahead of a sit. And like @pietkuip mentioned, Google street view can help (at least in many cases).
Iâve done sits for new THS hosts, as well as sat in places new to me, with great outcomes. Knock wood. I always have a fallback plan, in case due diligence isnât enough.
Glad you were able to leave. With your great previous reviews, it should seem clear that this sit and host was a one-off. Iâm counting on such, should I end up with a terrible sit. I figure reasonable hosts can judge reviews fairly.
I would like to know that too: WHY were you not supposed to talk with neighbours, or visit that restaurant? WHY were drivers staring at you? WHY were you not supposed to leave the main street?
It was a rural area where the local people did not want outsiders coming in so they acted in a way to discourage this.
I did leave a review pointing out the concerns we had and why we left. Maybe this sit would work for someone else so i was just honest so others could make a informed choice.
A restaurant that did not want customers?
It happens of course. For example, when one is âunderdressedâ.
We did a Sit once in a gated community in California. There were about 30 homes there, and it was hilly. We would walk the dogs all over the neighborhood, and we would chat with the friendly neighbors on our walks.
It became apparent to us that the Owners did not know any of their neighbors!
In the Welcome Guide, the only emergency contact was their daughter, who lived 50 miles away. Since their daughter was WITH THEM on a trip to Japan, essentially there was no emergency contact. They told us to call them if there was an emergency, and we made sure to review where the shutoff valves were located for water and natural gas, and the locations of the electricity breaker boxes.
Why do some people not know their neighbors? I can think of a multitude of reasons, some of which are benign, and others more ominous. Life is interestingâŚ
Yes, the description made me wonder whether the host was an oddball, but getting stared at while walking a dog would be weird and possibly unsettling.
What an odd sit.
I think this was the point of my post really. We had gotten comfortable with sitting and were getting casual about screening and making sure there was a back up plan and emergency contacts and all those important things.
I consider taking precautions like insurance â hope youâll never need them, but youâd be sorry if you ended up without and needing it. Thatâs why I continue to choose sits / hosts carefully. Of course, even due diligence doesnât guarantee great sits, which is why a fallback plan is always good to have.
Iâm assuming this was in the USA? (because you mentioned driving 10 hours, and also because you didnât actually state it)