Can you tell a new y what to do when someone applied to pet sit but has no reviews and doesn’t address this when you ask?
First of all, you check in the app if the sitter has any missing reviews. (THS does not show that in the web interface, for incomprehensible reasons.)
Edit: sorry, that does not work for sitters, only for checking home owners. I keep forgetting that asymmetry, probably because it is another thing on THS that just does not make any sense!
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How do you do that - check the app? I’ve tried and don’t see where to see that.
@pietkuip The sitter’s profile will not show any missing reviews even in the app. Missing reviews only appear on the HO’s profile (in the app ofc!)
@GardenCat I ask for references, which a new sitter can get without having done a sit on THS before! If they can’t provide one, I’d probably pass on that particular sitter. Everyone should have some family member or friend or co-worker who can give them a character reference even if it’s not directly related to animal/home care.
6 months ago I was applying for the first time as a family of 5. I thought no one would entertain the idea of a big family with no reviews but was pleasantly surprised that pet parents still interviewed us. More surprising is that they actually confirmed us for the sit. Doing the video chat/phone call was their way of trying to figure out if we were safe and would be good sitters. I would recommend using your intuition after the video/phone call and see who seems genuine to leave with your pets.
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I wasn’t asking about references - only how to see missing reviews. Thank you. Maybe that was meant for someone else?
Oh, sorry I misunderstood your initial post and thought you were asking about how to vet a new sitter with no reviews.
The short answer is no, you can’t see if a sitter has missing reviews on their profile. There’s some confusion about this because a sitter can see missing reviews on their own profile, but if anyone else looks at the profile they would not see the empty review. There’s some more discussion here:
You could potentially identify a sitter with missing reviews if you saw their review on a HO’s profile but did not see a review from that HO on theirs. The missing review still wouldn’t show on the sitter’s profile, but since they could only leave a review for the HO if they had done a sit, you can assume they did not get a review for that sit.
Everyone has to do a first time sit, when they will have no previous reviews.
I would suggest checking out the references and AirBNB / Linked-in profiles if they have any for reassurance.
I don’t want to be doubtful about someone but it’s only my second sit and I think I’d feel more at ease even with a reply from my question regarding reviews, but it was completely sidetracked.
As a new sitter, having no previous Feedback from HOs is one thing - everyone has to start somewhere. But sidetracking the question is another thing all together.
Red flag… Next!
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Just as @PetSitterBug says, red flag if they don’t answer questions of any kind directly posed to them. You could either say “please answer my question about reviews” and if nothing or not the reply you’d like then move on (just in case they misheard I guess). Go with your gut 