Yes Colin and as a sitter I would be disappointed also. The feedback and review systems are only as good as people leaving accurate information about how the sit went down and by not wanting to offend HO sitters where things are not right, sitters not only let down future sitters but they also contribute to a bad situation not changing for the better. I believe that most HO have broad enough shoulders to see criticism as an opportunity to improve what they are offering; after all a sit should be a fair exchange for both parties. Thankfully just about all of my sits have deserved a five star rating and some might fall into a four star rating but in many case that would only be hair spliting on my part so I might overlook some small issues. I had one especially bad experience and it got a three star rating. I flagged up with THS the issues while I was on the sit and that I intended to give true and accurate feedback at the end. I dealt with a number of staff at THS on the chat line and they were very supportive, to the point that they said they would support my leaving the sit. I stayed and completed the sit then sent my feedback which was printed word for word by THS. I believe that I helped future sitters make an informed decision before taking on this sit and it gave the HO an opportunity to ‘lift their game’. I should say that I would always try to find a balance when writing afeedback and in this particular case stated that the sit would easily be a five star sit if the HO responded to what needed doing at their end to make that happen. If any other sitters are reading my reply to Colin, can I ask that we help each other have the best experience by leaving accurate feedback good and bad?
Hi @Mairéad Welcome to our Community Forum, thank you for joining in the conversation and asking your question, having feedback and suggestions from our members, who are living our pet and housesitting lifestyle is so important, each and every member will have something to contribute and the broader the conversation the more information we gather.
Thank you again for joining we hope you enjoy the forum and find it a good source of help, support and information our members really do have some great tips and advice.
Angela and the Team
Hi @carpediem thank you for a really helpful and informative post and just to reiterate outside of the mutual review/feedback system (which is being reviewed) members should always forward any sit concerns they have to the Membership Services Team who will take these concerns up with the owner. Thank you again.
Thanks Angela
I am very surprised to hear that THS would support you if you wanted to leave the sit. I wonder what advice they would give if the owner refused to arrange alternative pet care.
The responsibility of the pet care ultimately always falls on the shoulders of the HO. There is no way a sitter or THS should ever be forced or blackmailed into a situation that is not acceptable. We all have our limits and the HO would HAVE to arrange alternative pet care.
Exactly. That way people can be honest without fear of repercussions. Though, we should all be honest anyway! It is selfish to only think of ourselves and not of of fellow housesitters, though.
“a little more cleaning” is not an honest assessment of the situation, though. Why can’t we all just be honest and tell it like it is?
Yes, I will leave accurate feedback. We all need to be honest with each other. We can be honest in a kind way. Honesty does not have to be mean we are rude.
Hi Christine and welcome to our community forum, thank you for joining in the conversation. It’s so good to see more and more members contributing. Getting different opinions, perspectives and feedback is helpful for both the team and other members.
We look forward to sharing in your THS journey and experiences.
Angela & The Team
Hi @Colin I’m interested to read this as I’m one of those previous sitters. I was also horrified by how dirty the flat was. I immediately contacted the HO to let her know this was not OK - cat food blocking the sink, hairs all over the supposedly clean bed, soiled litter tray, stinky, dirty fridge like a student flat. It felt awkward but after looking at the TH guidelines, I thought it best to try to sort with her directly. I was polite and kind to her. She said something had come up the night before and I was understanding. She subsequently ignored me when I sent pet updates, which was unpleasant.
I decided to deep clean the flat as I didn’t want to abandon her pets. I also decided to wait for her to review me before reviewing her because I was worried about a retaliation, based on her ignoring me for most of the sit. I am very proud of my 5-star reviews and didn’t want anything to jeopardise that. We need a review system that protects sitters more. I contacted Trusted Housesitters with photos of how dirty the flat was and also asked them to ask her for a review of me. They said they couldn’t make someone give a review. I even deep cleaned on departure. She ignored both requests for reviews, presumably because she knows she has the power and because I have voiced concerns about the flat, so I really think the responsibility lies with TH here to reconsider their reviewing system so sitters don’t feel fear over being honest.
I find it a little disappointing that you say you feel let down by your fellow sitters - you had the opportunity to be far more honest with your review as she had given you one already and while I appreciate you wanted to be kind, you could have been more honest as you have asked of others - what you have described in this forum is not quite the 4-star “we had to do a little more cleaning ourselves than expected” review.
I also wondered, did you mention your complaints to the HO?
I don’t know itchyfeet but at the time they were very helpful and as I say my feedback was posted warts and all and they said they would be taking my issues up with the HO.
Hi @beckyb thank you for joining the Forum and welcome.
I’m sorry that your first post and conversation is centred around this unfortunate experience, no sitter should be made to feel uncomfortable in their surroundings, for whatever reason.
We are looking at the review system, which should be positioned fairly and achieve the desired result of ensuring everyone has the best possible house and pet sitting experience, every time.
Should any member have issues or concerns regarding any aspect of a sit they should inform Membership Services and provide as much information as possible, both written and photographic.
Thank you again for joining and I hope you will continue to connect with other members via the forum.
Angela & The Team
Just to add to the conversation, I agree that we should be honest as sitters in describing our experience of a sit and we can do this without being rude but by stating fact and not buying into an emotional battle of wills with the HO. The system probably does need to be changed to allow sitters the same template for feedback as the HO has for reviewing a sitter and in this way particular issues eg cleanliness of the sit, level of communication from the HO prior, during and post sit, accuracy of sit description etc etc can be graded by the sitter and elaborated on in the feedback box. I always leave a card at the end of the sit (sometimes with a small gift or photos of the animals) asking the HO to leave me a review and only once in 77 sits have I not received that. I do wait until the review comes through, but it would never influence what I write as feedback. I think most HO want to know what they can do to improve the experienc for the sitter’ after all its in their best interests at the end of the day. While on the subject, I really appreciate it when a previous sitter takes the time to leave detail in their feedback regarding how far it is to the nearest supermarket, public transport links, points of interest, experience with the animals eg is that dog really as good on lead as the HO describes? Of course we can find out some of this information by doing rome2rio and google map search, but in making a decision to apply to a sit or not, more information is always better in my experience. As sitters I think we need to be aware that some HOs will not always post an honest and detailed listing, after all they are wanting to get away on holiday and why would you want to put sitters off! The onus is on us to help each other, read between the lines, and do our research. The onus is on THS to take HOs to task if they are consistently misrepresenting their sit or not following the agreement they have contracted to and in more serious cases, removing some from the books.
Hi @beckyb , Thanks for your response - if only to confirm to others in this group how bad the place was. When I wrote that post I was feeling pretty awful about the situation we were in. The responses, as you can see were varied and I was disappointed that some had undertones that I may be exaggerating how bad it was and almost diverting the blame to us for not correctly vetting the place ourselves.
I was most dismayed when I searched one of the sitters that had not left a review warning me of this place to find the HO had reviewed them - so they had no fear of a bad retaliation review - My feeling of being let down was directed at them, not you - had the HO not left us a review then I also would have not left one. As I said in my responses at one point, before they reviewed us I felt like I was stuck in the flawed THS review trap.
You are quite correct, my review of them is not strong enough - I was trying to ‘warn’ other sitters without offending - trying to keep to my ‘be kind’ life motto. I still hope any future sitters will be alerted by my less than perfect 4 thumbs review but agree with you, in hindsight, I should have been much stronger in my language.
You are correct that I should have contacted the HO and THS about the situation - I regret that I did neither of these. This was only my second sit and I did not handle a bad situation well. It’s been a quick learning curve and we now feel much more confident in how to handle a situation like this if it were ever to happen again. If I ever arrived at a property in that condition in the future I would point blank refuse to stay - We all should have limits and boundaries - we foolishly allowed ours to be broken on that stay.
As has been said by myself and others on this forum the THS review system urgently needs to change -Airbnb blind reviewing is definitely the best option available and I can only think that it’s technically too difficult to implement otherwise it would have been done before now.
Hi @Colin I didn’t read all the replies in the thread but I’m sorry to hear some people pointed criticism towards you as it is definitely the HO’s responsibility to present a clean home - especially in Covid times. I can totally empathise with how you felt being there as I also found it quite distressing, and I appreciate that post was then and this is now and I am glad you feel better and more confident in dealing with situations like this now.
I can see on reflection that I took your post a little personally. I can totally understand you wanting to be kind in your review too - it’s a difficult one. I’m glad you’ve raised the issue and it will make all of us think about our own boundaries too. Hopefully, the review system can be reworked as well. Best wishes to you.
I have decided to send all my photos to Trusted Housesitters again to complain about this house sit, referencing this forum chat. Colin, it might be worth you doing the same, and perhaps any others who have completed this sit, so it can be dealt with.
Hi @Colin I agree with your sentence “If I ever arrived at a property in that condition in the future I would point blank refuse to stay - We all should have limits and boundaries - we foolishly allowed ours to be broken on that stay.”
However, I feel that I should warn you that may result in the HO submitting a complaint to THS. It is THS policy that, once they receive a complaint that you have cut short a sit, then your account will be suspended until they investigate and gather all of the facts. You would then need to provide more details and evidence.
Thanks for the heads up @Reubendog
Is this correct @Angela_L? - If an experienced sitter refused to stay in a property because it was filthy their account would be suspended pending investigation?
@Colin There is a process in place to ensure that every incident is fully investigated on both sides and each incident is dealt with on a case by case basis.