What rating to leave a sitter who was flaky

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
1

I’m relatively new to TH and have just had my third sit completed. The past two I left 5 stars even though there were a few comms issues as I didn’t want to be too ocd.

However my 3rd sit (who has 18 5* reviews) wasn’t in my mind great.

From the get go she was a bit flaky. We arranged for her to collect keys and come for a walk around at 6pm one day and on the day she ended pushing back until finally arriving at 10pm (it was too hot for her apparently and then her travel across London took longer than she estimated.) Not ideal for a work night and by then the garden was in darkness but I just sucked it up.

The two reasons I want a sitter are to watch my 3 cats AND to water my tiny courtyard garden full of container plants. It’s my pride and joy and a real treat to have in a London flat. This is all made clear in my listing and I sent out additional detailed instructions on which plants (seedlings) would be thirstier and how to use the hose etc wtc. My notes are if anything excessively detailed. I asked that if there was no rain the garden was watered every 2/3 days.

Anyhow, on my week away, after five days I checked in and asked how the garden was given there was a heatwave in London. She replied that she’d had a cold so hadn’t done any watering.

I was gutted as I have a lot of young plants that I’ve been raising and the garden is my passion. During a heatwave it really does need watering and if she had told me she wasn’t able to do it I would have arranged someone to come in.

Ultimately she did water after five days and I only lost about six plants worth about £70.

But I feel let down that one of the primary reasons I arranged a sitter was ignored and that she decided not to do something that without even checking. I don’t feel this bodes well with regards to taking on other people’s responsibilities (for example one of my cats needs a pill each day at a specified time, the cat is fine but now I wonder whether she even did that when meant to!)

I also came home to one of my cats having an injury. The sitter had left earlier that day and not mentioned it, so I’m assuming it had just happened :woman_shrugging:t3:

Additionally she left hair everywhere in my apartment. I have three cats, work with dogs and I have never seen so much human hair everywhere. She had long black hair and it wa all over the place 1 bedroom, bathroom etc etc. Otherwise the place was clean and tidy but she obviously didn’t vacuum before she left. I spent my first three hours home doing a deep clean.

I wouldn’t use her again and wondered what level of stars and how honest to be in the review. I know worrying about the plants may seem OTT but they are a big deal to me and were a key responsibility.

Similarly I know I’m a very clean and tidy person and is it me who has the issue?! I haven’t been in touch with her since I returned.

Thoughts gratefully received!

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2

For the love of god what’s the world coming to :roll_eyes: (yes a very boomer reaction I know).

In terms of your review of her it has to be honest, unemotional and you have every right to do it based on your perspective.

Good luck with future sitters.

3

Welcome to forum @LM80 !

I’m sorry you had this experience.

You should definitely make an honest and factual review. It is important though to sort things and be balanced. You will both be judged by the reviews you submit and get, TBH.

A suggestion could be

I appreciate the effort made to look after my home and pets. I did encounter some challenges that I feel it’s important to share. Communication was not as smooth as I had hoped, as arrival was 4 hours late in the evening. One of the primary reasons I arranged for a sitter was to ensure my garden was watered regularly, especially during the heatwave. Despite providing detailed instructions, the garden went several days without being watered, resulting in the loss of some of my younger plants. I would have appreciated a heads-up about this so I could make alternative arrangements.

I returned home to find that one of my cats had an injury, which hadn’t been communicated to me before I arrived. While accidents can happen, I would have liked to be informed.

The apartment was generally tidy but I had hoped the space would be left in a condition similar to how it was when I left, as it required a deep clean.

Overall, there were positives, such as the cats seemed to be generally well cared for, and some challenges. I hope this feedback is helpful for future sits.

I would consider docking a star on Organised, Reliable and clean and Tidy, at least.

4

Sorry you had a bad experience. In regards to the previous reviews, we’re all human, and sometimes people have off weeks. So this could be why her standards were not up to scratch during your sit, but have been previously. Which is a shame and not something you could have preempted.

You can dock a star from cleanliness for the hair, and from organised and self-sufficient for the dry plants.

As pet care is the primary responsibility the most concerning aspect is the cats injury. How did she handle this? If you believe it was handled insufficiently you could dock a star from pet care, and mention something about this in the review, but I can’t tell from your original post.

You can leave a very factual review, which simply mention the plants didn’t get enough water during a heatwave and some were dry / dead and wilted upon your return. It’s not ideal she changed the time she came to get the keys, however in fairness travelling across London in a heatwave is horrendous, as we don’t have the infrastructure for this kind of heat so it’s good to be flexible and understanding about this. Also I feel it’s worth mentioning a lot of homeowners have lockbox’s or do handovers when they leave, as asking someone to travel to collect keys means they need to take time out from their own schedule and pay travel expenses to accommodate your needs. So again, I think it’s good to approach this with flexibility. I wouldn’t travel across London in the heat to collect keys.

The cleanliness is a tricky one as she did clean and tidy before leaving, but forgot to hoover up her hair. As a sitter there’s a lot to do at the end of sit so you can easily miss something, however I appreciate this is really not an ideal thing to return home to and still quite gross! You could say the apartment was left clean and tidy but needed an additional hoovering to get it to a good standard, and I think this keeps it factual and fair.

5

So sorry to read this review and she sounds more than flaky! I can’t believe a cold would prevent her from watering your plants and there’s no reason for you to apologise about wanting them watered, they cost a lot of money and are important to you. I’m wondering if you had a video call with her before you confirmed her, also if you read the reviews about her properly. As has been said, write a factual review and dock stars in the appropriate categories.

6

I would leave her a 2 star review. What does having a cold have anything to do with watering a garden. Her black hair all over is disgusting to me. She did not clean at all. I live very clean and spend hours cleaning my last day at a sit. I also would be livid if I walked in and saw that injury on my cat. It is so close to his eye. Why are you giving her the benefit of the doubt that the injury occurred after she left. She never mentioned to you she had a “cold” and was not watering so why would she mention the injury maybe caused from being irresponsible on her part. I think you should worn other PP.

(Post edited by the Forum Team to comply with the Community Rules).

7

Saying someone has a drug problem because they didn’t water the plants is a very strong and irresponsible accusation

8

Don’t think so. Totally irresponsible now but responsible in the past with other PP who gave her 5 stars. Cat has injury, does not clean before she leaves and can’t do simple things like watering plants. Drugs changes behavior.

9

@LM80 I am so sorry. I don’t have advice, but I just want to say: I love plants and would be so disappointed if I knew a sitter didn’t water them, especially during a heatwave. And I hate, hate, hate long human hair on floors and surfaces! That’s why I vacuum last thing, so there’s no stray hair. Especially a cat household needs to be vacuumed frequently, so that would have taken care of the human hair too! No excuses. Sounds a bit lazy.

10

It’s very important to document exactly what occurred during her time caring for, or the lack thereof, pets and home. Having a cold seems an odd reason to not water plants, and sorry to hear you lost some. As someone with long hair, I’m extremely cautious about leaving any behind when we clean each day. For lack of a better term, I’d say that this sitter exhibited some laziness when attempting to complete the tasks at hand. Think of the next pet owner, who may potentially confirm her, when posting the review, and put yourself in their shoes. Wouldn’t you want them to know exactly how this sitter cared for the previous owner’s home?

11

We can objectively agree the sitter did not fulfil their duties to the required standard and it’s very concerning the pet suffered an injury. However the reasons for her change in behaviour are unknown. It could be due to personal crisis, physical or mental ill health, work related stress etc. Saying it’s related to drugs without evidence is a serious accusation.

12

@LM80 Please leave a factual review citing neglect of the pets and home. And the lack of cleaning up after herself.

Reviews are blind.

For the sake of future homeowners, please!

13

So you do realise this lady has looked after your cats and house for FREE, shes paid to get there at her own expense. Sounds like your expectations of a FREE sitter are very high you would be better off paying someone, you would then be entitled to complain.

14

For future, a practical suggestion could be getting some sprinklers set up for the plants in hot weather.

In high heats, even if you water plants every morning they can dry out by the afternoon. This would probably help all parties, and in case a sitter forgets it’s not too much drama and then you’ll also feel more relaxed.

15

You are correct. I just have experience with an employee of mine who did stellar work for 10 years and then got drug dependent and usual great work was no longer. But you are correct, I stand corrected.

16

Seriously? She only had to water plants and leave the house in the same condition she found it and make sure the cat stays out of harms way. The basics of any sitter. I don’t think you should be a sitter on TH if you require payment for doing the basics. You sound entitled.

17

But we only have one side of the story here, how do we know she wasnt genuinely ill?

18

Too ill to water plants? Then be a responsible sitter and contact the emergency contact to come and help with the watering, especially during a heatwave. If plant care was disclosed prior to a sit and agreed upon, then the sitter needs to be responsible for plant care! It’s the same as pets, in my opinion.

19

Here’s how to approach the review:

Don’t use the term “flaky” or describe your feelings about her behavior.
Instead describe what happened. Not the drama. Just the facts.
So in your written guide or during a conversation or (please be exact) she understood that watering the plants was part of the expectations – as though they were a pet. And she agreed. And then she told you late in the day that she hadn’t been watering. And when you came home x number of plants had died.
Describe the condition you left the home in. Describe the condition you came back to.
Describe the cat’s “injury” and mention that the sitter never informed you. (You don’t know when or how it happened.)

Think in terms of individual categories. It’s hard to judge pet care unless there are obvious issues, but it’s easy to review the condition of the house, the level of communication, etc.

20

Wow! Hope you never sit for me.