Despite having done nearly 20 sits now and all with good reviews, I always get anxious i am going to get a bad review. Maybe i forgot to clean somewhere , or i missed something with the pets, or i messaged too much and annoyed the pp.
Anyone else?!
7 Likes
I usually leave before the owners get back but I always do a WhatsApp message when I know they are back, just checking they got back ok, that everything was alright and the pets were happy and pleased to see them. The answer has never been anything other than positive so I know the review is going to be fine. I have over 80 5* reviews.
6 Likes
I would love the hosts to just send a quick message when they got home, âall alrightâ, because I do get very anxious. Of course they might find something bad after that⌠I dont know how to get rid of the anxiety, sorry no tips.
3 Likes
Raises hand.
All of my 25+ 5*reviews have been perfect (except for one ding in cleanlinessâŚ..at a home where I left it cleaner than it was when I arrived !) and Every.Single. Sit = Review stress.
It is a sign of reviews being too high on the hierarchy of importrance (and Iâm guilty, of course). The physical and psychological stress is palpable until the review is posted.
5 Likes
So far, all of my hosts have seemed reasonable and hospitable, and theyâve reviewed quickly. Iâve not stressed.
Thatâs especially been the case once I got about a half-dozen of my first reviews, because I figured if I got negative reviews at that point, thereâd be enough context about my being a good sitter and someone who dinged me was being unreasonable.
Iâve received 26 five-star reviews across the board now and have been invited back repeatedly, so I donât even need THS if I want to continue sitting. Many of us are in such a position.
4 Likes
Fourteen years in, 155+ sits as full-time travellers, and we still get the butterflies.
If the nerves ever disappeared completely, weâd probably take that as our cue to hang up the leads and poo bags.
For us, that anxious flutter isnât âhave we done something wrong?â â itâs pride. It means we care. It means we hold ourselves to a standard.
At some point we started reminding ourselves: we showed up, we cared for the pets, we respected the home, we communicated. After that, the review is outside our control.
And one review, good or bad, sits inside a much bigger pattern over time.
7 Likes
totally this
1 Like
Or the ones that message with no âHiâ simply a âwhere is my small red dish that was in the kitchen cupboard? It was one of a pair.â Errrrr. Itâs in your spare bedroom but thatâs an odd first ask 
and this is exactly 3 mins after walking in the door and an hour after we had left. No âCat looks so happy, house is gleaming, dinner looks great thank you and thanks for watering the garden so well for 5 weeks in all that heat?!â As in, WTAF is going through your mind to do this and why are you checking cupboards as soon as you walk in? Repeat sit too. #peopleareodd
9 Likes
Unfortunately no but for your own sanity itâs best to look at it as a numbers game. The more sits you do the more chances you have in being docked a star. In all likelihood you will come across a situation (possibly outside your control) where the host dings you on something but thatâs just life. All you can do is fall back on the many other five star reviews and put it behind you, if it happens. Fingers crossed it never does.
7 Likes
Probably not. But it gets a bit better with time
4 Likes
Weâve just completed a split sit (3/6/2) where other sitters did the middle sit and we topped and tailed it. My anxiety was sky high when the other sitters didnât write their review until the last minute! Both ourselves and the HOs nudged them to not forget to do it- but our imagination of course was running riot. It was all good though and a huge relief reading their (the sitters) 5* review of the sit. A bit weird really but we felt quite protective of the HOs as weâd helped them to get set up as new HOs on THS having met them and their dogs on a beach whilst we were on a previous sit earlier in the year. Weâd also suggested a split sit to them as we couldnât commit to 3 mths ourselves. So we in effect coached them throughout the process and felt responsible for it all working out for all parties. And dear reader, it did!
6 Likes
So glad it all went well @BonnyinBrighton. If I remember correctly you didnât have the easiest of times due to illness and bad weather.
1 Like
Yes for the first sit over Xmas I was really sick and it was fortunate that we sit as a couple as I couldnât get out of bed on several days. It took 6 weeks to fully recover, just in time to return for the final sit when I was fit and healthy but hubby got sick!! I think there were a lot of bugs doing the rounds this winter!
It never stopped raining so we agreed with the HOs that the walking schedule was flexible and was fitted in around when it stopped with the torrential rain. We still went out in light rain though!
4 Likes
I just was on a sit where host did write âwe have arrived, thanks for the sitâ-message. Two days later âwhere is our expensive equipment xâ. I told them where I had left it (exactly where they had left it, but they were rather messy host so it makes sense if they did not check the obvious place). No reply. 24 hours later a review. Uhm⌠so will they blame me for stealing it? Or was it there so no need for follow up message? Or what? I was also their first sitter, so I was worried of general misunderstandings or unexperienced hosts with unreasonable expectations. And after the stress, I left them a review, and they were just âomg she was the perfect sitter thank you so much please come backâ. All this review anxiety is on top3 of my reasons to stop THS.
The money we pay to the platform brings the benefits of skin in game, but skin in game brings the harm that we cant be so direct and honest with our fellow humans, in case they take it bad or we expose ourselves for bad review.
3 Likes
If you want that, why not just ask your hosts? You could do it in a friendly, nondemanding way. Like, Iâd appreciate your send me a brief message to let me know once youâre home, so I know the cats/dogs are OK.
5 Likes
I always do that (if thereâs no in-person handover, obvs) - just a quick âplease send me a quick message to let me know that you arrived safely and that everything is in order with the house and Fidoâ. I think it shows my sense responsibility, and allows me to relax properly knowing that everything is fine.
5 Likes
@Cuttlefish We had one of those! HO wrote-the Instant he got back -in a panicked and demanding tone- âwhere is that special spoon I use for Fido?â No âhello & thank you- all is very wellâ etc I told him it was probably back in the cutlery drawer with all the rest. Some time later he texted that he had found it âcompletely hiddenâ under some cloths⌠He dropped a star on âclean & tidyâ
Another sit, where the HO had been a good communicator throughout, we wrote a leaving message (for blind handover) We expected the HO to reply right away (to acknowledge us) or at least on her arrival home (to reassure us all was well) but she made no contact. 2 days later we wrote asking if sheâd had a good homecoming & if all was well? We also asked for a review. She read, but did not respond, to that message either. Later I got a THS message sheâd reviewed us but no message from her to say sheâd done so. We felt really confused and unsettled by this behaviour as we had not met in person. We worried that something unknown to us had gone wrong.. Because of this uncertainty we ended up not reviewing her at all. Turned out her review of us was great- very positive, highly recommending us, and welcoming us back etc If sheâd just replied to our messages right away sheâd have saved us a lot stress and she would have got the great review we had planned to write!
3 Likes
And even worse when you donât get a review at all from ho. And you donât know why.I gave them a 5 star review.
1 Like
Hereâs a situation we experiencedâŚ. on the penultimate day of an otherwise uneventful sit we noticed the nearside back light on the car the HOs had left for us was cracked. We racked our memories for when this couldâve occurred, we sent requests for cctv to several locations where weâd parked up. Neither of us could sleep that night with worrying about it. The next day I fessed up in a text to the HOs mortified by the cracked light and offering to pay for itâŚ.. We were convinced weâd blown our 5* run of reviews the anxiety for 24 hours was through the roof. They texted back that it wasnât us and that it was the husband whoâd done it on the drive but not got it fixed before weâd arrived. We still canât work out how we never noticed this during a 2 week sit and with the dogs getting in/out of the boot most daysâŚ. however a HUGE relief. Specsavers anyone??
5 Likes
@Genevere Our policy is always to wait for the notification HO has submitted their review before doing ours. I think giving a sitter a review is a really basic expectation and an opportunity to show appreciation so if an HO does not review us- for whatever reason & despite reminders- i would not feel inclined to review either.