I do not know how Airbnb review system works. But how about as well as an explicit review, we also get to review anonymously on a set number of aspects (e.g. cleanliness, ease of communication, helpfulness/conciseness of the welcome guide, etc) which gets amalgamated and published only if there are minimum of e.g. 5 reviews. And also (like the olympics scoring system) to remove the highest and the lowest scores to remove the possibly exaggerated scorings.
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This is a really good point. I had 2 sits cancelled due to the pandemic but the homeowners did not have them removed, so it looks like my last 2 sits have no reviews. All of my previous reviews were 5 stars but this still feels like it will look bad on me when I get back to applying for new sits. Feels a bit to late to reach out to the HO to have them removed now!
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If you contact the membership team, they will remove the dates for you.
Thank you for the feedback @Jaja there are a number of options the Product team are considering and feedback like this is invaluable.
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Hi @Lindsay would you DM me the details of the two sits and I will take this up with Membership Services for you .
Be sure to DM the details …
Thank you
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Done! Thanks Angela 
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Hello Sally I had a particularly bad situation a few years ago with the house (and poor dog and two cats) alive with flea infestation! I flagged it up with the HOs boyfriend who had been nominated by her as contact and he was very supportive in trying to address the problem; which turned out to be long-standing! At the same time I contacted Member Services by live chat and they were brilliant. I don’t know what current THS policy is but back then they said I would be fully supported if I decided to leave the sit. I decided to stay on as I was concerned for the animals and the boyfriend losing work. It was a very challenging situation with me boiling my clothes and bedding regularly, trying to make the animals more comfortable, and even needing to go to a barber and getting my head shaved! Eventually I got the boyfriend to bring in a fumigator and within half an hour of being there he told me he had been to the house previously but the HO did not want him to use the procedure he advised so the job was not done thoroughly. Before leaving he told her he would probably be back…and there he was! I kept in touch with Member Support throughout and told them I would not be giving the HO a very good feedback and I outlined what this would say. I gave her a three star rating (which I thought was generous) but whenever I leave negative feedback (which is not often) I always try to balance this with the positives and even in this situation there were some. Member Support said at the time they would be in touch with the HO to put the situation right and that some HOs are taken off the books and this might be the case for this particular HO. As Angela says, contact the HO or their nominated person anduse Member Support the first sign of major problems. I hope that helps?
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I have just found this forum but been a member for three years! Our first sit was disgusting, we had no interior photos to look at but were happy to get our first sit. The HO was due to drive to France within half an hour of our arrival so we were put in a situation we could not get out of. Being new we were reluctant to leave a review immediately as we may not get another sit. However that Christmas I received a message saying …leave a review! Even though it has been 6 months past I said exactly what I found, a sofa with an old throw on and propped up on wood bits, no table or chairs to sit at, no workspace in kitchen, bedroom!!! had to climb on a mattress on the floor and surrounded by electrical stuff, tv’s, computers, gaffer tape keeping all the carpets in place which were soiled…no wardrobe space, fortunately it was only 5 days and after 3 I had to leave my husband there as I was so depressed. So I left a review which gave the next sitter some indication of what to be expected and yes I did eventually look at past reviews and some had said how lovely it was!! So now I never accept a sit without interior photos.
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@123kitty yes no photos for a sit leaves me with all sorts of questions and a gut feeling that all is not well…also a description that just says what the HO expects without giving any detail about things a sitter might need to know eg animal detail, how far to supermarket, public transport links, local area description etc indicates to me that the sit will more than likely be one sided in the exchange and unless I am especially interested and put a list of questions to the application saying ‘please treat my application as an enquiry at this stage’ I tend to just move on and look at sits where the HO has a clear interest in a mutual positive exchange.
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Hello,
If you read the reviews from previous sitters, (take out Pandemic period) and look at time frames between them, have a good look at Photo’s the backgrounds etc, you can often pick up little clues, IE if the it’s not a house proud home, or the Neighbours are a bit difficult etc.
I do a Video chat with any new HS now, just have a wander around the house with me and look around. Plus ask about the Neighbours, any local Dogs/Owners to steer clear of etc.
When there are no reviews I will wonder why there are none, as it only takes a few minutes to write one up for the sitter and owners. It is beneficial for both parties to give feedback. TBH I skip past the ones with no feedback.
I understand that people like their privacy, however this a service where the Owners go away and people come and stay in their Homes and look after their Pets etc, however what some people think is clean and tidy is vastly different to what some others think is, it’s all relative to them.
Manda
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Angela, I have had the same issue as Lindsay. An agreed upon sit was cancelled due to HOs not being able to take their trip as planned. The sit was not taken off of this site. The HOs messaged us a couple of times after hoping to arrange an alternate sit but were vague with their dates and in the end we were unable to help. As we had met them the week before we left positive feedback anyway so that future sitters would realize that the cancellation was Covid related. We have not received a review from them. I messaged them a couple of months afterwards asking for a review but heard nothing. All their previous sitters, as well as those they had afterwards, have had good reviews and I am concerned that this will reflect badly on us. Is there a way of taking this particular sit request off the site as it was never entered into?
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Hi Liz I will pass this over to the Membership Services Team as they can help with. Could you please Direct Message your account details to me so that I can pass them across.
Thank you
Thank you Angela :-). I have DMed you. Let me know if you need any more information
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@liz after it falling through and you giving them positive feedback, its pretty poor on their part that they could not take the time to give you a review…it never ceases to amaze me how dismissive some HOs (luckily very few) can be …its about getting their needs met and not much thought for the people offering to take on the responsibility of their animals and home…maybe just move on and a better experience is just around the corner.
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To this I say….Amen!
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Hi Angela,
I’ve been with THS for a few years now and I very much agree with the comments you’re seeing here. I’ve had a couple of sits where I wanted to leave a less-than-positive review, but I feared retaliation through bad review on my part.
Maybe consider something like - reviews need to be given within a week/10 days, and within that time they’re not posted to the reviewee’s account? So the reviews are made public at the same time and don’t depend on liking the one you get.
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Hi Colin,
I have never left a bad review, even though I felt I should have. This is 100% due to fear of retaliation, and the HOs ruining my ratings in anger. It is much harder to be a sitter on this site than a HO, at least in terms of securing sits, and every review matters. I do feel badly about not warning other sitters about sketchy behaviour though. If I had a bad experience with a sit I just choose not to leave a review at all. So when I see a sit with multiple past sitters and no reviews, I tend to view it as a red flag.
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Hi @CanadianSitter welcome to our community forum thank you for joining and for your feedback and suggestions regarding the review process. For whatever reason no member should feel pressured into giving a less than accurate review or feedback.
The current review system is a subject discussed at length on the forum and is currently under review by the TrustedHousesitters team and member’s feedback is highly regarded and taken into consideration during these discussions.
Thank you again, enjoy the conversations, connecting with other members and we look forward to sharing in your Trustedhousesitters journey
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@CanadianSitter its a hard one isn’t it? I am sure lots of sitters would agree with what you say and quite right that if both the sitter review and HO feedback were published at the same time perhaps with no ‘wriggle room’ for either party to enter into a slanging match, it might illicit more useful comments for all concerned. I have completed over 80 sits and only now (and because I have solid reviews that would easily off-set one bad one) am feeling confident enough to detail the negatives; though I still wait for the HOs review before I post feedback and if they do not do a review I sometimes don’t post any feedback. I think its important to try and find positives from a sit and to mention those as it might help the HO take on board the negative and lift their game. I have given a three star review with lots of detail and prior contact with THS member services to ask they monitor the sit before referring sitters (which they agreed) and each time I give a honest and balanced appraisal, I like to think it is helping other sitters have a better experience because the HO has responded rather than reacted and if they are unable to do this, in the end they just make it a whole lot harder on themselves in finding a sitter. As I said though, leaving negative reviews is not easy, its not something any of us want to do…its a work in progress for me and good luck for yourself!
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I got a “thanks for cleaning out my fridge!” (of 10+ year old condiments and various moldy food).
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