…”I wish they could have just had the courtesy to email a simple ‘no thank you’”…
(sent in Feb 2009)
Hello- My name is Rhiannon and I have been in New Zealand for the last 2 months honeymooning with my husband. I signed up for WWOOF so that we could experience the community and work our way across the islands. We regretfully had a very troubling experience with the participants in the book. Of the participants we emailed (and we emailed 3 weeks or more ahead) we only heard back from 3. Some of the ones that we didn’t hear from we used our calling cards to call them to get a response of “Please email us with inquiries”. I am my husband sent separate emails to them as well and both of us did not hear back. Consequently we did not participate on a WWOOF property and we were very disappointed by that. It is frustrating when you pay for a service and you don’t get an acknowledgement or even a friendly rejection. It was difficult to plan where we were going to go next when we could not even get a hold of some one to let us know if they needed us. We were even inquiring into a long stay of 2 weeks for these places. Our trip was fantastic despite this experience, but it would have been nice to have experienced something a little different. I will still recommend WWOOF to friends, but I will warn them and let them know of our frustrations…hopefully they do not loose out on money spent for a service that they couldn’t use. We waited on these places for some response so that we could plan our trip and to figure out finances. I wish they could have just had the courtesy to email a simple no thank you…it would have made things just that much easier.
Rhiannon, USA
This issue seems to be one of the most common we hear about, and it affects all members – hosts and WWOOFers. The way Couchsurfing manages this is to publish the percentage of enquiries you respond to. This means that if you ignore enquires from other members you receive a low percentage. Is this the kind of system WWOOF New Zealand needs to address this issue? Would it be better if members just took a few minutes to simply give a short reply?
I agree with Rhiannon, we as hosts should reply, they make an effort to contact us. I always answer, wishing them well on their journey.
We have been inundated by requests lately , maybe there are not enough adresses on the list.
On the other hand it would also be nice if the Wwoofers themselves would reply if they found an adress in the meantime. Usually this doesn’t happen either. Maybe their is some lack of honour on both sides.
A look at my inbox tells me that we have received 273 enquiries from wwoofers (We usually take on about 10) so far this season and we have replied to everyone although sometimes we use virtually standard text. A lot of work though and one wonders sometimes at giving a personal and considered reply when the enquiry is part of a bulk mail out. Nothing wrong with bulk mail outs but they should not pretend to be otherwise and perhaps it is unreasonable to expect a personal reply when a personal enquiry has not been made.
On that subject we think it is bad manners even fraudulent to pretend an enquiry is personal when it is not (you can usually tell) and we would not take on anyone who does that.
I agree that a rating system would promote those that respect and enjoy woofers and highlite the hosts that dont.
Travellers are trying to ensure a great experience in NZ, by doing some planning and it sucks that often they dont even get a reply. It does go both ways though, as I have expected woofers to arrive and they never do . Quite annoying when I have organised my day around picking them up, saving jobs up for them to do etc. Its about respect all around and those that dont show respect need to be identified in some way ,so others can be made aware.
Yes, a short reply from either host or wwoofer would be good.
An accounting of how many replies hosts and woofers give would provide some accountability and perhaps increase what most consider common courtesy. Most of the woofers I have been in contact with have had the courtesy to let me know when they need to cancel, but not all.
I always reply and would expect it from both parties even in the case of a mass mail out. Most impressed with Ron who has had 273 enquiries! they must have a very desirable situation!!
I love having visitors to stay and like Trish I save jobs for them ( not the I don’t want to do this myself ones, but the “this will be fun for a WWoofer “kind) When I get emails and organise to stay home to accomodate visitors, it is pretty annoying when no one turns up or lets me know they’re not coming. Come on let’s communicate. One Guy we had said that he rang to apologise to a host when he had a change of plan (as you do when you’re travelling) and got told to #%^&!! OFF. That’s great hospitality ..NOT
We have received enquiries all summer but I find that woofers often do bulk email enquiries and even when they do get a positive reply from us saying – yes, please do come to stay now or whenever; if they find other accommodation they never notify us at all.
So I have taken the attitude, if we are too busy and cannot make room in our lives to have woofers to stay, we say so. We don’t accept anyone who wants to stay anytime…
To have woofers is great but also time consuming and needs us to be on the ball as hosts. We cannot accept woofers to stay when we know we won’t have time to host them properly – our standards.
That said – we will be happy to have woofers to stay over Easter!!
I agree with all the comments so far. As a host I always reply to enquiries even though it takes time and even when the email is clearly a bulk mailout. On several occasions I have missed out on getting woofers when I have had two enquiries in a row – I tell the second ones I’ll get back to them when the first ones have confirmed. Then the first ones never get back to me and by that time the second ones have found themselves somewhere else to go. It’s extremely frustrating. I think the rating system is a very good idea – it will certainly help the wwoofers. But how can we help the hosts?
I am with Ron Mariott that the reply procedure takes a lot of time – I am sure I got a similar amount of enquiries, sometimes up to 5 a day.
All inquiries deserve a reply there is no discussing that. I certainly got delayed up to a week with some. But some wwoofing hosts might not check their email often or be away or unable to check their e-mail. So I doubt that a couchsurfing- feedback system will be helping or be fair.
Of the many wwoofers I wrote back to to ask for dates, qualifications and so forth, less than half of the wwoofers replied. So it is a two-way problem.
Courtesy rules
I understand this is very frustrating but i only check my emails once a week and am to busy to reply to so many wwoofing emails. If you text i will always reply but i prefer a phone call as i can better judge if the wwoofer will fit into my family. I don’t believe booking via email works there are to many variables.
I also agree with Ron Mariott, I have had a lot of enquiries, I normally reply to them all but have got disappointed with the amount of bulk email inquiries I have been receiving and I didn’t reply to the last one, but always reply and wish the wwoofers luck when they send a personal one as I would like to think they have a great experience here, and pass it on to their friends.
I have also not had some wwoofers turn up this season which is disappointing.
I agree with Carlo.
We reply to all enquiries. Might the folk that are being accused of “not replying ” been away on holiday/business?
Folk are to ready to point the finger if their approach to one host did not solicit a reply why blame everyone instead of moving on.
We have got to the “take it or leave it stage”, If someone turns up we will have something on the list to do. We are in Whangamata,we only seem to get keen surfers,to hard for the others despite keen-ness. Roger
I always reply to all emails, its just common courtesy and if you don’t then you should not be a wwoof host!
If you are lazy you can make a “signature” in outlook that simply says “sorry, we have no wwoof jobs at the moment, but thank you for asking, have a happy journey around this beautiful country!”
Then when you reply you can just “insert siganture” and send off, it’s easy and polite.
If a wwoofer contacts me and arranges a visit, I ALWAYS get their cellphone number straight away, then before they are due to arrive, maybe a week before, I text them and ask how their travel plans are going. Quite often things have not worked out for them so I can start looking for another person.
If you want the wwoof system to work for you you have to be a bit proactive, put up lots of photos on the site, plan a few jobs ahead so they know what they are doing, don’t be mean with food and try to make it fun for them to stay?
I agree with all the hosts who experience bulk requests from woofers, and on responding with a acceptance offer one never hears from them again.A vetting system for common courtesy and a way of hosts sharing the “Great” woofers would be appreciated!There are some bad hosts and woofers shouod be able to report these also!
in the last week we have had 2 e-mails sent to us which we replied to the next day and have not a reply back so this also needs to work both ways.
We have just had a baby and are often away at the moment (without email), so are not hosting wwoofers right now. We reply to ALL enquiries, but some maybe a week or more after enquiry was made. We wouldn’t like to get a poor rating if we can’t reply promptly at all times as we try really hard to make the wwoofing experience at our place a fun, educational, and tasty time!
We have changed our profile to mention that we aren’t hosting wwoofers at the moment, but obviously this doesn’t help those using the book.
Whilst these days most enquiries are via email, I often try to get prospective wwoofers on the phone because even though it may cost a wee bit, it is often easier and way quicker to get things organised (it’s easy to answer 6 questions in one phone call, but danm time consuming to send numerous emails to arrange times, pick up points, transport options etc, etc…).
I answer my email as often as possible, and I always reply, except when a request is old and the dates given have past already. What I would appreciate if wwoofers who have agreed to come (and I have told others there is no more space available) actually do come and not cancel the last minute or not arrive without cancelling. I do like email enquiries so I can check my calendar which I can’t do when I am out of the house when a wwoofer just phones. I would appreciate if wwoofers would include their age in their initial email so I don’t have to email back and forth before I can find someone who is capable of listening and respecting our space and our things.
I really don’t think that a system similar to the one used with couch surfing would work with wwoofing, as others have said there are just so many valid reasons for delayed replies. Also communication is generally direct between wwoofers and hosts (rather than via a web-based mediator) and as someone who has been on both sides I think this is a strong point of the sysyem.
We also have a huge number of people wanting to come and stay, at least an email a day over the summer, plus phone calls – if we get bulk e-mails or e-mails that ask lots of questions the answers to which are already in our listing we don’t reply.
One other problem we have had is with overly persistant wwoofers. Like many other hosts we can’t always get back to people instantly (we do try!). Getting e-mails asking if we have got e-mails sent the day before can in my experience show a lack of understanding that puts me off!
As Elisa mentioned regarding age, it is also so so helpful (and i think polite) when wwoofers tell us about themselves from the start.
As a host I will always reply to a (WWoofing application) e-mail when the applicant has requested a reply.In fact I also always reply if they have not requested a response.I do not respond to e-mails that state “please respond if you have a vacancy” when I have no vacancies as to do so would be incorrect.I receive a number of such requests.In summer I (often) receive up to three requests per day.
As wwoofers on a year long wwoofing tour, and talking to hosts along the way, it seems that in general hosts are in high demand this summer. I do not know why, whether this is a seasonal thing, whether its recession related or just a random blip in the scheme of things.
But wwoofers should be aware that in the south island it takes approximately 12 emails to receive maybe 5 polite nos, and 1 yes. And thats probably why people are sending these ‘bulk emails’.
But I dont think the emails are the problem.
We send out 10 emails at a time, simply because we know (from experience) that if we send one, and wait 4 days for a reply ( if it comes at all) before moving on to the next one we will be homeless for around 2 weeks before that process yeilds a result. However we do personalise each email and provide some information about us.
For the record we are experienced 40 year olds and bring a huge range of skills. So i hate to think what it must be like for the younger ones. We have heard storys from woofers who have eaten up a $20 phone card trying to find a host, and to no avail.
As it is we are spending perhaps as long as 4 hours a week in contacting hosts. I think we all have to a bit careful to avoid blaming anyone, just accept that the ’system’ for what its worth is out of balance. Personally id be inclined to call it bordering on disfunctional, but hey thats me.
Still we have committed considerable resources to this trip and are trying to make a go of it. Since we have started about 3 months ago, we have managed to get four 1-2 week wwoofing positions. We have enjoyed offering our skills, the rich learnings, and exchange of ideas.
Good luck all, and bring on the winter, when maybe, this situation will ease.
Peter
I will rarely answer bulk emails but i will almost always answer an individual email. I am more likely to respond positively to an email where the wwoofer tells me something about themselves, like how old they are and what they like to do and what they are good at doing. The wwoofers that just tell me what they want out of the wwoofing experience usually just get a standard one line reply of thanks but not right now and all the best… so it is a bit up to the awareness of wwoofers and how they present themselves.
And sometimes you don’t hear back from the WWOOFers either so you are never sure whether to keep their “booking” or not…
We make an effort to reply to all Wwoofers’ e-mails withing 24 hours of receiving them.
The response tends to mirror the enquiry ! Those that are obvioulsly sent to many hosts and don’t therefore reflect any particular interest in our particular place get a short, negative, note.
If a Wwoofer disaplays interest in a specific activity we will try to suggest other hosts if we can’t help.
Generally, I agree with Karina that it would be nice to be told if they are not coming after offering to host someone. But then there always the very poilite Wwoofers who thank you for replying !
I think it’s a matter of education for hosts and Wwoofers alike – the fewer structures and systems the better ! Overall
It’s a great organisation – thanks Andrew et al.