MindMyHouse Reviews 131

Been with MMH for 14 years and have taken multiple sits in Spain, Portugal, Greece and the UK. No complaints at all. Had some fabulous sits in wonderful places and met some tremendous people some of whom have become good friends. Not to mention all the lovely animals we have had the pleasure of taking care of. It's a great and CHEAP way to get yourself in contact with home/animal owners. Then the rest is up to you. Can't understand some of the comments on here. People obviously don't understand what is being offered by MMH or, in some cases, what house sitting actually is. Nobody is forcing anybody to take a sit if they don't want to. If the selection of sits is not what you like go pay £99+ on Trusted housesitters. We have recommended MMH to many people, both sitters and homeowners and will continue to do so. Thanks MMH.

Not the best interface on this site but it is good and free for homeowners. Have been using it for years and have found good sitters using MindMyHouse and one was our best sitter ever. Many sitters list on a number of sites. Homeowners need to use good judgement in selecting sitters and check out references, ID etc. Unreasonable to blame the housesitting site if the the sitter disappoints.

I used a house-sitter from Mind My House while I went on a five-week trip to visit family. I listed and he contacted me; the dates worked out and we were able go meet up a couple times previous to me leaving. I have one cat and live in an easy to manage townhome. I left very concise instructions, chatted numerous times with said house sitter and felt that all would be well. I arrived home to two damaged bicycles (one was loaned to him, the other was ‘hands off), a ruined washer and dryer (he attempted to wash/dry a sisal/grass mat).,a plugged bathtub and my home was filthy. He did not wash or put out recyclable containers nor garbage and my garage stunk. My cat was okay but his food station was gross. Stupidly, I did not ask for a damage deposit. Never again.

Out of three confirmed sits, only one was legit. To say nothing of other scam listings. This is not a good track record. What's worst is that the site has informed me they let anyone post anything, for free. In other words, ANYONE can post or message members without the need to pay. On the other hand, members have to pay for access to the listings to message hosts. So what you get is a bunch of scammers running amok with no consequences, and the business being financially supported by the people getting scammed. This is a horrible business model. When you contact support, they are rather unabashed about saying they don't vet listings, and you should always have a backup option. This is what my money gets me!?? They do nothing to mediate, either. I had a sit go horribly wrong, with the host requiring me to break laws, and MindMyHouse only said, 'Well, we don't control this, and you should have made a backup plan.' What kind of business treats does this?? This is not a company to be trusted. I will not be renewing my membership with them, and will no longer be using the site to search for housesits - there are many better options for house/pet sitting platforms.

Horrible experience, customer service is not responding anymore and does not grant me access at all - for unknown reason (because they do not even specify "our policy"!!)

PS also in the email it wasn't specified even asking multiple times

Btw - it took them less than 1 day to respond to this review although I had to wait 2-3 days or more for their non-approval message!!!

I have had a subscription with them for years. It's cheap, and you might get lucky, but despite checking their ads hundreds of times over the years and even being contacted by people looking for a house-sitter, nothing ever worked out. What a waste of time and money. The reason is simple: there just aren't enough ads on their website. After so many years without results (I completed a good number of excellent house-sits through other websites during that time), I am not going to renew my subscription.
Update 28.07.2023: Biting back when someone honestly writes about their experience is not going to make you more attractive, MindMyHouse. You may have noticed that the other websites that I left comments for, got much better overall evaluations. Anything else you would like to say?

The website is undeveloped. It is difficult to navigate through. After using them for a few years I'm still not sure how to get to my messages. Confusing layout and awkward gallery viewing.

I prefer Trusted HouseSitters.

As homeowner and cat momma who travels a lot, I've been using this site, and one other house sitter site, for at least a decade. I've found wonderful sitters on both sites. The one drawback with MindMyHouse is the long delay from the time I post "sitter wanted" dates and the time the listing goes "live" - at least a day, and usually 2 days or even 3. I get a messages saying "Your listing is awaiting administrator approval." On the other site, I just post my dates and immediately they are visible to all sitters on the site. If I post my dates on both sites at once, I'll already have several applicants and have chosen a sitter by the time my listing appears on MindMyHouse. As a result I don't use it as much, and for a last-minute trip it's useless. If they could get their act together and post listings promptly, they'd be a lot more successful. One advantage of MindMyHouse is that it's free for homeowners, whereas the other site charges an annual membership fee to both the homeowners and the sitters.

I’ve used MindmyHouse for many years now as a house sitter. I haven’t had any real problems and will continue using it. It has enough opportunities for me.
Sometimes homeowners aren’t completely honest such as a recent sit with an elderly cat that wakes and screams at 4 am for feeding and can’t be ignored, of course. This owner told me 7:45 which I thought was rather specific. Another time, a sit in Bristol, as my plane landed and I turned on my phone, a message saying “we don’t need you anymore”. But, all in all, I love MindmyHouse and have made some lovely friends, furry and human.

I've been using this site for about 9 years. I like it because it largely works on trust and that's an undervalued commodity these days.
Most complaints are based on misunderstanding, this isn't a job so sitters do say no sometimes either because they are busy with other things, or just want to stay home. Sometimes it's also a polite way of saying ' I don't fancy this sit, that house, that dog etc' without causing offence. Sometimes it just doesn't feel a good match, which is disappointing but not anyone's fault, certainly not Mindmyhouse.
Nothings perfect and if you expect that you will be disappointed, but it is sometimes great and I love it

Most of the homeowners on this site are looking for you to be in the middle of nowhere, over a holiday, during the crap season of the area so they can get their pets watched for free. Any time there’s a nice sit there’s at least 40 applications. For a home owner, this is worth it. As a sitter, it’s not. Unless you’re homeless and will take anything 🤷🏽‍♀️

Hard to find sitters, despite the sitters profiles being great they are often out of date. Often their busy times are not complete so time wasted contacting directly. Contacted 8 so far and all say not available on dates requested. It’s not great for the site as I decided it’s not worth it as people aren’t bothered in updating information.

Absolutely disgusting!
I got one sit from this organisation and I will ever go for another!.
I was taking care of two rescues outside London. I am a professional sitter and I am fully aware of what questions to ask during the interview so I asked about every detail considering that rescues can be more difficult. The client was a lady, who actually asked me to come on a last minute as someone else cancelled with her.
She informed me that the dogs are very good, calm and easy going also well house trained. I ve asked several times about the last one as I know sone rescues take additional time to calm down/ get trained properly ect.
When I came to the house ( she was not there already, she had to be at the airport early which was agreed before) both dogs started growling at me very aggressively. I gave them lots of time but they would not stop and kept them selves in one room not allowing me to get in( I am raised with dogs..and I am hardly afraid of them even the big ones, these two were only as tall as my knee but they were so aggressive I was afraid to go to the room.) I have them plenty of time but to no avail.
I called the owner and she just said she doesn't know why they re so aggressive(???). This wasn't her first sit so I could not understand how she didn't know...obviously they were anxious and it had to happen before if they are so aggressive on the very begining.
..I insisted she calls someone as I am not staying in otherwise. I was that frightened. Eventually her neighbour came in and calmed them down. It was however very frightening. Then I quickly noticed that her dogs are not house trained at all. They had a very bad routine introduced ( she asked me to follow it) and every time I would wake up in the morning there was lots of poos on the carpet. I was shocked.
I ve sent her several messages asking why she didn't tell me that the dogs arent house trained. I told her I have to clean the carpet every day after several poos..( I did ask for it during the interview as rescues can be more troublesome when house training)
The lady was lying to me non stop trying to avoid the conversation and claiming I am giving them the wrong food and that they would never poo like that. May I say they pooed almost every day for two weeks.
I eventually had to have a very honest conversation with her and she was very rude, disrespectful and tried to gaslight me.
She was treating me like I was just a poor girl who should be happy to stay in her home!. I really had enough.
On the end I told her I will not stay anymore as she wasn't cooperative at all and would constantly lie.
There were many more details reg. This upsetting experience. When I messaged the mindmyhouse team about it and asked them to at least give her worning! all they said is that they are a small company only and they can not do anything about it!. They advised me to write a letter to this lady ( I spoke to her several times on the phone, I had screen shots of her rude communication with me so why on earth would I write her a letter!). They literally said they can not do anything about it and that's it! I was shocked!
The date of experience is general as I don't have it at hand.

Wow I thought I was the only person being treated badly by this organization. I took on a dog sit for two dogs - they were Mastiff's and the younger one was 140 lbs. I had no issues with taking the dogs on as I have experience. I am also a professional that travels all over the world but need some animal time to decompress so I thought this would be a wonderful option. On my first day I crated the dogs and headed off to the supermarket to pick up supplies when I received a text message from the owner asking where I was - the neighbor was complaining about the dogs barking. I rushed back and it quickly became apparent that I could not leave the house for six weeks for more than an hour because the dogs would go ballistic. The one dog was not leash trained and would try to attack other dogs when we were out for walks. It was so stressful. He threw himself on to the fencing every time a person or dog walked past in the back yard and I had to be outside with them at all times when they were in a fenced in yard. The house was disgusting - dirty with animal hair and dust and to keep myself busy I scrubbed the entire place top to bottom. There were two small area rugs seeped in dog urine that I put outside. Long story short when the homeowner came home she complained about the rugs and accused me of theft of a phone adaptor. Like others I went to log in and got a message that my email was incorrect. And then I got a message from the site that the owner had filed a police report against me for $1000.00 worth of damage! I was stunned. Turns out she did not. In a text message the owner told me she did not file a report but just told the site that she did. On top of that I found out her real issue was that I slept in a separate bedroom and not with the dogs in her room! In the end I had a sit in Paris from Normado that overlapped this sit by two days and the owner would not help me find a replacement. I went to her vet and hired a vet assistant to the tune of 250 euro to stay with the dogs three days and two nights so I would not lose the pet sit or my sanity. I was in Paris for a month sitting a wonderful old kitty. I made friends with the owner, we gave each other glowing reports and everything was as it should be. This site put me in a dangerous situation, refused to listen when I tried to tell my side of the story and to add insult to injury banned me from the site!

I´ve been using the competitors for a while with great results as a house sitter.

Today I wanted to subscribe to Mind My House and this outrageous message appeared on my screen: "We are very sorry to say that your country is not supported. This is due to the huge number of spammers and scammers that we get from this region. We are sorry. Please try one of our competitors ...." and they name the competitors.

Regarding the region part of the message, it is anachronistic and a total lack of respect, definitely discriminatory, since I come from a South American country. I mean, YEAR 2022, people! It seems that these people came from the far far past to our time, maybe in a Delorian, right? It would have been better to enhance your security within the platform for avoiding scammers and spammers instead of discriminating against people from the country where they come from. So, that fact gives me evidence that the information of the people that creates profiles on the platform is not secure. So for those ones considering subscribing, be aware and cautious.

About advising me on trying with their competitors, is really hilarious. Maybe a marketing strategy? Who knows who´s behind this platform?

All these behaviours explain why they haven´t grown in the last time. If they are going to discriminate like this, only people from developed countries could use it. Good luck with that!

I must say that my experience with the site has been wonderful. I completed two house sits and have a third and hopefully a fourth in the next two months. The criticism I am reading is quite unfair. A simple minded person can figure out that the site is merely a broker putting a home owner and sitter together to create an arms length transaction. It is not a site to vet for either side. YOU must do this. I find it easy to make a decision on engaging in a gig. I research the home on Redfin or Zillow, ask personal questions of the owner and get to work confirming if the risk is worth the gig. Certain aspects are just based on your gut. Are they educated, employed and are they open to your inquiries? If any side holds one back form confirming inquiries, buyer beware. Both sides should be just as concerned. The internet is an endless opportunity for all. Do your homework! I do not blame the site for dropping those that have bad experiences on both sides. It is not their problem and I can only imagine the legality on their part if they were to get in the middle of both parties. They need not do anything for any dispute. They are merely brokers and they get $20 a year from you to be such. Go elsewhere if you want more and let go of the bad reviews.

Fondly,
Mr. Delight

June 2022. Customer service does indeed seem to be problematic. Cannot respond to interest because 4 days later, am still waiting to be "approved". ( Makes me wonder what they can "approve" since I have given them little or no personal info ).

Superb house-sit site, very user friendly and well-run by people who are genuinely committed to providing a wholly satisfactory service for both home owners and sitters. It is also great value for money and in my opinion superior to more costly alternative sites.

A friend recommended I check out MindMyHouse. I did. I was looking to find someone to care for my 18 year old cat who requires daily fluids, meds and lots of love so I could travel to see my mother after almost 2 years. And I did. I found someone who enabled me to travel and have peace of mind knowing my baby would be well cared for. THANK YOU, MindMyHouse! I love that you exist!!! Monica and Nena

I have had several highly successful house-sits through this fantastic service as a house-sitter. I have in addition used their rival company which I assume to be the market leader (I did not renew my membership with them) and by contrast I found MindMyHouse WAY ahead in many areas. MMH is so user friendly and straight forward to make connections and get started without unnecessary complications; they don't charge a completely unreasonable fee like their competitors do; I get the sense they don't interfer too much in any issues either side may face so you feel supported but not suffocated through the process like I experienced with their competitor; again unlike their competitor it feels like everyone has a fair chance at being selected for a role as everyone is presented as fairly equal (both sides can choose whether to publish reviews) whereas their competitor configures the site to mean that those who have never had a house-sitting role really struggle to get their 'foot in the door' as the site is flooded with those who have done it numerous times before and will continue to be take priority. I'm very surprised at some of these reviews. Of course there is no way to completely safeguard against crime but homeowners do need to be aware of those risks and take responsibility for following MMH's clear guidelines around drawing up a contract etc. To sum up, I had a wonderful experience and could only have travelled to the fabulous places I went because of Mind my House. Thank you!