Last summer we had sitters for two months and on our return we experienced the anguish of them asking for a 5 Star Review or no Review at all. Unfortunately, they were not 5 Star Sitters and we chose to publish a less than 5 Star Review so other HO’s would know our experience. Their retaliation was relentless!
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Honest reviews and feedback do the community a great service for those that follow. It’s unfortunate that some choose to retaliate.
You can disregard and move forward and you can also make a comment in your listing that honest reviews and feedback will be given.
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I’m sorry @emmieo you experienced that. There are many hosts on Airbnb and other vacation rental platforms that do the same. I’m disappointed but not surprised to hear that request is now being made on TrustedHousesitters too.
Depending on what they’ve done retaliation wise, you could report them to membership services.
Can you write a reply on their retaliation review and state the fact that they asked for a 5 Star review or no review at all and the you don’t appreciate the retaliation review just because you wanted to be honest?
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@IHeartAnimals I’ve written the reply to their retaliation review already which unfortunately, can not be changed. Oh, how I wish I had written it differently with the exact phrasing of their “5-Star or No Review” request.
@Maggie8K I did report them to Admin but their solution was…if I remove my review then the sitters would remove their feedback. Dah…then the sitters would get their request of having “no review”. I refused.
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Not a great response from customer services 
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@emmieo I’m glad you wrote an honest review because we need more of those. 5 
s really don’t mean much from this system. Was it really 5 Stars or more like a 2 is what I sometimes wonder. Customer service solution to remove both reviews wasn’t a great solution at all
Good on you for being honest @emmieo - at least your conscience is clear! We had yet another conversation with an HO who thought their previous sitters were well below par and yet had still written them a great review 
We asked why and they couldn’t answer. Totally devalues the genuine 5 star ones we all work for.
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The fact they asked is a huge red flag. Glad to hear you showed your conviction by reviewing them, that’s how the system works. Congratulations.
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@emmieo - congratulations on doing the right thing. Good reviews should be earned and not requested.
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The purpose of this site is for honest reviews. I’m a sitter, but if that’s what they were asking I’d give them 1* for attempting to cheat the way that makes THS successful. If they retaliated, I’d contact customer service again about them to have them removed for breaching their system, it goes against what we all signed up for. Most people love THS because of the review side of things on both sides.
Well done you!
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