@Angela_L If you don’t mind, we’d like to add an additional thought. While blank reviews are indeed something we keep in mind when considering a house sit, so are multiple cancellations. Maybe rather than removing the blank review, it could indicate that a sit was cancelled. Airbnb does something similar and it’s helpful 
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I like that very much. Thanks.
@ScrewTheAverage , interesting idea. The sit I was referring to was canceled due to covid. The other blank sit occurred in January 2020, and covid wasn’t an issue yet at that time.
Perhaps, there could be a message with any blank review stating whether it was canceled by the homeowner or the sitter. It would also be nice if there was the option of stating the reason for cancelation too.
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we are in a similar situation. Our sit was cancelled due to covid but as we had met the owners we left feedback for them with that explanation. However they have not left a review for us as sitters which we feel might impact us with future HOs. We did ask them to leave us a review as the sit is still seen as completed but have heard nothing.
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@mars having read your initial post and replies, just to add this experience; I arrived for a sit at High Wycombe outside of London early on as a sitter where the HO met me at the station drove me to the house and when we got their told me they had to cancel the sit as the people they had planned to visit had fallen ill! They gave me dinner and said I could stay for the weekend! I was completely thrown by this bizarre way of dealing with a cancellation especially as it turned out they had known earlier in the day and could have saved me time and travel costs (which by the way they never offerd to cover) by just ringing my mobile to let me know not to travel to High Wycombe. I think some HO genuinely believe that sitters just live in a cupboard somewhere and do not have lives outside of the needs of themselves!
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How inconsiderate!
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I don’t know what is meant by ‘blank reviews’. Can someone explain please?
If you look at a homeowner’s listing through the app, it will show reviews from all the sitters they’ve had. Sometimes you see a sitter’s name without an accompanying review. This is what I call a blank review. Prospective sitters often check the reviews left by previous sitters in choosing whether or not to apply for the sit. When there are sitter’s names without their reviews, this can be interpreted as a red flag because given the choice of leaving a truthful but negative review, or not leaving a review at all, many sitters will opt for not leaving a review. Because many sits canceled this past year, the cancellation taking place only between the HO and sitter, THS was not made aware that the sit never took place and the sitter’s name minus a review stays on the HO’s page.
I use the TH website on a computer, not a phone, and this feature is absent. Instead there is a series of reviews in chronological order, with no sign that any sitter didn’t leave a review. I wonder why this difference exists.
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@Lauraa and @carpediem We (and other sitters) have wondered the same and have asked on other threads. @Ben-ProductManager (correct me if I misspeak 
) has mentioned that differences between the mobile app and the desktop web interface is generally because of different development needs on the two platforms and testing features on the each one.
We miss the days where you could see ‘blank’ reviews on the desktop version and are 
that this will come back soon so that we don’t have to check listings in both places to get the comprehensive picture.
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That’s the way I understood the situation to be too. The only thing I would add to your ‘wish list’ is that there would be a fix for those blank reviews where sits didn’t happen because of the pandemic. Those blank reviews negatively affect homeowners, sitters, and all of us using this information to try to accurately assess a listing or sitter.
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Past sitters who don’t review… it’s the old if you don’t have anything nice to say. Also irresponsible HO’s could retaliate with an unfair review of the sitter. So you get an absence of review of the HO. Unfortunately this means sitters get rejected by these HO’s again & again. I’ve seen a sit I did that was so unsanitary I got sick & had to leave ( I arranged pet care for the 7 cats she had ) it’s still up & I e counted 6 more sitters who’ve stayed & not left a review.
I am looking at a dog sit and I noticed that someone had previously sat for the owner this past fall. The issue is that the sitter didn’t leave a review for the owner. As a matter of fact the owner doesn’t have any reviews.
If I get moved to the next stage (interview etc) do you think it’s out of line to contact the previous sitter? Should we ask the owner about the last experience?
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Hi @Molly42 , This topic has been discussed and discussed (I could say, ad nauseum) on the forum. Do a search using the spy glass for lots of thoughts and opinions on the subject.
For example:
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/when-a-potential-sit-has-past-sitters-but-no-reviews
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/sitters-reviews
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-last-4-5-sitters-didnt-review/
Fyi, unfortunately, the THS email app does not enable sitters to contact other sitters. (This has also been discussed.) You could ask these HO how it went with their last sitter. You could also go to the app and see if they have left a review for that sitter and judge from that. If they have left no review on the sitter’s profile, either the sit was a dud or it was canceled.
You could also be very direct and ask the HO why the previous sitters haven’t left reviews. Click on each sitter and see if the HO has left reviews for them. If they haven’t, withdraw your application and move on, very quickly, and don’t look back!
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Hi @Molly42 , I would ask - My guess is that the sit did not happen but it was not cancelled officially
If we see a listing with more than one previous sitter and no sitter feedback we would generally just scroll on. Its usually not a good sign. Sometimes we cross check and see the host also gave no reviews- that’s an even stronger sign to move on! But if the hosts did give good reviews we might still apply but would ask more careful questions!
Rule of thumb is ‘if in doubt follow your gut’!!
Sometimes an attractive looking Sit that appears to be perfect can cause a sitter to miss important red flags! It happened to us once- a long sit in an ideal location- all looked perfect. We noticed some sitters had not left feedback but others had- about 50/50. We checked the host reviews- also OK- except for one sitter where there was no review or feedback. We asked about that in the video call and the response was ‘Oh I just didn’t like him’ - that should have been the first red flag!
Later- during the Sit- we analysed the reviews/feedback again- more carefully- and noticed that all but one sitter gave only 4👍 instead of 5 and no one mention the house at all…and the host had dropped stars for most sitters in one or more sub category. We had missed all those signs.
Summary is the Sit was a disaster! We ended up having to involve THS & we had to leave a few weeks early for our sanity. There were so many things wrong on many levels we were shocked. The only good thing were the lovely animals - they kept us there far longer than we wanted because of our feeling of responsibility towards them. I can’t give any details here- .
Admin Notice: Post moderated in line with posting rules.
The rest of my post has been removed…
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@Lokstar hearing you loud & clear, it’s just happened to us. We should have paid more attention to what was not said instead of being super excited about the house & location! Live & learn 
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Hi @Molly42! Is “42” a reference to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”? 
I think @mars’ reply was very thorough, and I haven’t read those topics lately. I’ll add my two cents even though it may be redundant.
- As noted by others, in the app you can see a lot more of a PP’s history, including sitters that didn’t leave feedback. You said there has been no feedback, but is that from 1 sitter? 3?
- 1 could be anything and I’d definitely give benefit of the doubt. 3 different sitters, none leaving feedback, is a red flag IMHO. I don’t mean red = run away; just be wary and poke around.
- And the app will let you read the PP’s reviews of the sitters. That’s also telling.
- Remember that the sitter(s) may have mistakenly posted feedback to TrustPilot instead of to the PP. That’s because, after a PP gives a sitter a 5-star review, the sitter will get an email that links to TrustPilot feedback instead of PP feedback. Yes, I feel that’s misleading, but that’s also been discussed elsewhere.
- I love your question about what’s “out of line,” because … everyone’s different. It’s cliché but true.
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For example, I strive to be uninsultable. So, I wouldn’t care what you asked me. If I didn’t want to answer, I’d say so, but I wouldn’t be offended or anything.
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Some dislike the word “interview” here but I think it’s fine. Some think of interviews as one-way: “Hey, you’re applying for my sit.” Some think of it as two-ways: “I want a win-win.” And in-between…
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In the end, I think you have to read the room/PPs. A video chat may be helpful, as most of our communication cues are non-verbal.
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There’s also different levels of asking, which you can take one step/day at a time.
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Level 1 might be:
“I noticed your previous sitter didn’t leave feedback. How did that sit go?”
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Level 2 might be:
“Would you mind if I talked to the previous sitter?”
The PP can give your contact info to the sitter. Or you can ask the PP to ask the sitter if they can be a reference, like if the PP were applying for a rental and the landlord (you) wanted to contact previous landlords.
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There are also different approaches. For example, instead of the direct way I phrased it above, you could give benefit of the doubt and assume the prior sitter didn’t leave feedback but had a great sit. So the convo might go like:
"I noticed the previous sitter didn’t leave feedback for you, but that you left a 5-star review. They might not have known how to leave PP feedback. I found a link with the instructions, that you can forward to them, to help build up your feedback.
I would tweak that a bit; make sure my heart is helpful-mode and not passive-aggressive. BTW, here’s a link:
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Hope something there is helpful! Give us feedback on your quest for feedback!
Edit: You can’t list the PP here, so it’s tricky as every case is unique. And we don’t have Discourse chat yet, I don’t think. But you can PM/Message any member, and then in private you can brainstorm about your specific case. I’m happy to, and you can always ask anyone else who replied.
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