When a potential sit has past sitters but no reviews

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
65

Hi Clare
I was wondering how you message a HO without actually applying for a sit?

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66

I haven’t seen @claresitsdogs around these parts in a long time. The answer is, you can’t. You have to check the apply box. You can then write a note letting the HO know it’s not an application and after you’ve established communication, you can then withdraw your application.

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67

Thanks Mars
I had a feeling you couldn’t :grimacing:

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70

Just yesterday I spotted a potentially good sit and then saw it had 5 previous sitters with no feedback and, on cross referencing, no reviews from the host either! Very strange & very unusual but obviously a complete no go!

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Ive just been looking at a sit i really liked. Of the previous 7 sitters,not one left a review. Red flag or simple explanation?:thinking:

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72

Did the homeowner review those sitters and did the sitters respond to the HO’s review of them? I had a sitter who thought that this was the same as providing a review🤦‍♀️.

If there are no sitter reviews, definitely a red flag. I could overlook a couple of missed reviews as being forgetful or disorganized sitters, but not 7.

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Charitable explanation: it could be that the HO is a very private person and tells sitters not to write a review.

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The HO left glowing reviews for all of them. Strange?

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@MarieHuggins Definitely a big red flag with multiple sitters not leaving reviews or responding to the reviews that were left for them. If the sit otherwise looks really good, you may consider applying and if you get a video call just ask the host if they had any idea as to why none of their sitters left reviews for them. If you get offered the sit, you may even ask them for references, since they have no reviews. You have nothing to loose if your alternative is to pass on even applying. I was in a similar situation recently and while I was trying to decide what to do, the sit reached 5 applicants and I could not apply. As it turned out, one of that host’s sitters also sat for a friend of mine, so I may have been able to get an off the record reference.

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76

That is very strange- 7 good reviews & no feedback. Mixed signals. In that situation I would not wait for a video call to check this out. I would ask directly in the application- near the end, or in the first message back to them after they show interest in you. We’ve done this a few of times and often there was a reasonable explanation. One host felt uncomfortable because, although her sitter did a good job, he had lied to her. He applied as a single sitter and then 2 days beforehand asked if the wife & 2 kids could join for a weekend. Later the neighbours told her they stayed the whole week. So she felt conflicted (rightly) about a review. We went ahead and it was a wonderful sit. Another one said both she & the sitter had forgotten & the next day reviews were there. So it can be simple oversight.
We were interested in a sit recently where there appeared to be no previous sitters. ( none showed on the web version) We like being able to give first timers a great experience! Then I checked the same sit on the App and saw that there had actually been 4 previous sitters but none left feedback…so I checked each sitter and none of them received a review either!!! Huge red flag! This shows how important it is always to cross check between the web version & the app to get the full picture!

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