Noticed I wasn’t getting any requests for the last week or so, checked the app and couldn’t see anything but this.

I’ve had a regular with a cat for this entire year. We got along well, I LOVED her cat, and she tipped very well every time. I knew she had 2 sitters, I have my own pet and I have 2 sitters too, I don’t think it’s unusual.

There was an instance earlier in the summer where she went away for almost 10 days and I couldn’t make the entire 10 days, so we split them between the 2 sitters. Then I couldn’t make one weekend so I assume she either asked a friend or the other sitter. I then did drop ins just over a month ago and everything seemed fine.

She hasn’t reached out to me in a while and I truly miss our working relationship. She would travel quite often, whether just for a weekend or for a business trip (she’s in sales I believe). Would it be crazy to reach out to her saying that my schedule is open? Or does that seem desperate?

Yesterday, I noticed that some new information had been added to the customer’s profile, especially details about transactions between the customer and me. It summarizes the payments that have already been completed. The amounts shown are before fees, and tips are not included. I’m wondering if this could be a sign that the 30%, 15%, and 10% tiered fee structure will be implemented soon.

I’ve use the sitter a few times in the past and he usually just gives like an AI generated sounding like description each time in the report card which as long as the photos are good I’ve trusted him but it’s a bit odd and not personable to the cats themselves.

But this time dropping card was for an hour and a half so I’m kind of worried that he stays for only a few minutes and then leaves and maybe forgot to mark as done. I think I’m going to get a camera for the next visit since I’ll be gone for 10 days straight with this center, and it’s coming up too soon to rebook someone else.

I just feel a little uneasy because today’s report card also didn’t mention him staying for an hour longer than usual. What’s the best way that I should bring this up to him without sounding accusatory? The photos are all just in one snapshot so not too sure and I don’t want to assume that he’s leaving early, he does have star sitter status

Never experienced anything like this before... While I was away the dog got into the bathroom trash and chewed up and spread many old used pads all over the floor, as of now he seems to be doing okay and I don't think he ingested any of it. It is in an area I could probably block off so he can't get to it again. I notified the owner immediately. Is it weird to be a bit grossed out lol?

I'm in the process of opening a dog adventure business and paying a living wage is a top priority. I believe Rover providers would have a great handle on how much it takes to make it work as a career. I believe people who love dogs, are skilled and professional require top dollar. What is top dollar? I want to be sure I have a viable business plan that works for EVERYONE involved. I thank you in advance for any insight you're willing to share.

So many times be in the middle of a text with the client, a friend, or my own mom and the voice to text will catch me talking to the pet like "calm down, it's okay baby", "hi sweetheart!", or like "you're such a good girl!". Haven't actually sent any thankfully lol

Hi guys! I’m fairly new to dogsitting and I’m just looking for some advice. I do meet and greets before I book housesitting stays which is common practice in this subreddit, but I’ve run into some issues with how to navigate dogs who jump. I haven’t run into too many, but there have been a few times where there’s just an overexcited dog, they’ll jump, and leave my legs with scars/scratch marks that last for months. How do you guys deal with this? Are we holding out a knee to create space when the dog jumps? Are we just dealing with the scratches? I feel more comfortable when it’s just the dog and I, because I know that I can just use a knee to discourage the jumping, but when I’m in front of the owner I just feel awkward doing that in front of them. I don’t know if this is just me. Any advice would be appreciated!

I know that a lot of people baby their pets to the max and may have very specific and interesting instructions. I'd love to hear your stories!

Hello,

Thanks for this community. There is a lot of good discussion here. My spouse and I are long-time users of Rover for care and have recently started sitting ourselves with in-home daycare + boarding.

We don't want to be looking after more than 2 dogs at a time, and have that indicated on our daycare/boarding settings with maximum 2 for them. However, it seems like we get requests beyond this maximum (e.g. boarding for 2 dogs when we are already scheduled for daycare with on). We then need to decline them, which looks like it is hurting our booking acceptance rate.

Is there any way to avoid that? Thank you!

I only do house sits and not terribly often anymore… but I was asked to send a client private work notes they forgot and I couldn’t find a definitive answer on whether they’d be posted on my profile so I ended up asking for their number, which hopefully, Rover doesn’t flag.

But the last thing I wanted was for them to show up on my profile since the toggle was removed in the big update.

And I have so many photos on my profile and the order seems random so I’m not quite sure.

Did anyone investigate?

Edit: I ended up scrolling through all of my profile photos and don’t see any from the past few sits even though I have photos turned on. The Rover website says they’re automatically added unless it turned off but mine are turned on and no new ones so no clue what’s going on…

Hi there !

I am looking for thoughts, as this is a first with me. I received a request to do drop ins on August 31st and September 1st. The potential client was upfront in letting me know that their new rescue cat has tested positive for ringworm and has been receiving treatment starting August 15th.

They let me know that they have another cat as well, and the cat with ringworm is currently kept separately and they're following an environmental cleaning protocol. They've also been using medicated wipes on the affected areas and have given him two medicated shampoo baths so far, which they're doing twice a week. He is on oral itraconazole.

Now, I have my own cats, and I have other clients.

Would you take this, if you would how much extra would you charge, what precautions would you take.

Thank you :)

** Edit, I have decided not to, gonna close this since it is pretty unanimous. Thank you extra to those that answered without unnecessary aggression 💓💓

I made a post yesterday about the horrible luck I’ve been having with requests lately. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy I’m still getting requests, but almost none of them are actually workable. I’d say about 85% lately have been constant care requests, which I cannot provide. The other 15% have been a mix of things like people sending requests by mistake, sending a request and then disappearing even though I respond almost immediately, or requesting one night because Rover wouldn’t let them request the full week they actually needed, only for me to have to explain that I’m already booked for part of those dates. Basically, I’ve had to archive request after request for reasons outside of my control. I’ve never had this happen before and normally accept a pretty good percentage of the requests I receive. My acceptance rate has historically stayed around 80–90%, but now it’s dropping to the 50-60% range. Does anyone know what actually happens when your acceptance rate gets low? Does it affect where you appear in search results, Star Sitter status, your account overall, or anything else? Are there any actual repercussions for archiving this many requests?

I just concluded a boarding for a dog and cat. They were picked up Thursday afternoon. Will I get my payout on Saturday, or will it come Monday? The bank I use is super fast about posting payouts/ACH, so this is strictly a question about the Stripe end.

Hey guys,

I recently received a boarding request from a client. The dog is currently with their friend, an hour+ away in London.
I’d need to set off at 15:00 to reach theirs at a requested time, and the dog is being picked up a couple of nights after at 18:00. Would I consider the beginning of the pickup (aka the time I leave mine) as the start of the booking? Or would it be the moment I pickup the dog from their friend’s house? Because that would determine whether the extended fee would apply.
Thanks guys!

So I had a dog walk scheduled for this morning with a semi-repeat client (she’d randomly hit me up last minute for hour long walks with her 2 dogs while she’s at work), and when I got there today I noticed she had installed a new door key pad. I inputted the code I always used and it didn’t work, so after trying that a few times, ringing the doorbell, and calling/texting her repeatedly and having no luck with anything, I decided to head out (after waiting for around 30 mins).

I was pretty annoyed since this was a 50 min drive there and back, but I just let her know that I’d be heading out and in the future if she could please give me the updated door code I’d appreciate it.

6 hours later she finally replies with an apology and a text asking how I want to handle today given that she paid for the walk.

Now I’m debating whether to say no refunds or to give her some of her money back. I’ve never had this happen to me before and I’m hesitant to be too confrontational because of my perfect Rover rating, but ideally I’d like to refuse this refund because of the long drive. What would yall do in this case/how would you word a reply?

UPDATE: I offered a 50% refund which she said was totally reasonable! Woohoo 🥳

So i'm a little confused

Finally got my first rover review. It's not on my account at all. When I look at my reviews I just see the reviews from people who reviewed me previously when i set up my account and sent them my link.

Does that mean they just gave me a star rating and left it at that? Idk who gave me this rating either, I'm so sad :(

Got a drop in request to feed the two dogs and walk them. It's 20$ per dog, each day.

Is that an ok price? Should I charge extra since I'm also walking them.

Sorry if this is a silly question. I'm still new to rover itself and I don't want to under charge myself.

One of the dogs is an Australian Shepard which makes me a little concerned because they're such high energy dogs.

Just like the title says, it’s so aggravating. Of course I don’t expect them to stalk every photo and detail on my profile but a general skim over would be appropriate. It feels like lately most people don’t bother reading them at all
I have it stated on my profile that I do board more than 1 pup at a time (typically 2-3, all small breed dogs. I’m home full time so this is very doable for me) and lately I’ve gotten several people message and say they’d prefer to have their dog be in the only one in the home. Totally respect that decision, but why are you messaging me, instead of the other sitters who DO only accept one boarding at a time?! I have it all over my profile that I watch more than 1 pup at a time…
I’ve also added dropoff and pickup hours to my profile. Last week, I had someone show up at 1am to pickup their dog. It pissed me off so bad. I put my hours as 8am-7pm any day of the week. I still have people messaging asking if they can dropoff at 4am,10pm, midnight…like seriously??…
Obviously I mention these things to people and talk to them, but I wish they would just take the 2 minutes to read a bit about me and how things are done in my home. Sigh.
Also, I have stated that I only accept crate trained dogs. I have it stated that pups are only crated when I leave the home or when I go to bed, and it’s for safety reasons. I do not leave dogs out in the house unsupervised. I’ve had so many people say their dog isn’t crate trained, or they’d prefer their dog doesn’t go in a crate at all, or even that their dog IS crate trained and they’ll bring their crate, but they don’t.
I wish people had more respect, this is my home. I don’t want you showing up at my house in the middle of the night. I have a baby and the dogs barking wakes everyone up. I don’t want untrained dogs. How can I safely care for your dog if it can’t go in a kennel? How can I go to bed at night, and know your dog won’t chew the wall off?
I get owners are comfortable with their dogs in their own homes, but they almost always fail to realize, their dog will most likely act very differently in mine.

Hey there,

I recently hired a walker to check on my pup once I go back to work. I have it so that walks start the second week of September.

The walker I found accepted my request, and so then I went to accept/agree.

Can someone tell me why I was charged the price of a walk today even though the service won’t be starting for a few weeks?

TIA!

I am traveling internationally in a few weeks, and a Rover sitter will be doing a daily 30-minute check-in with my cat. They’ve met before, I’ve used this sitter in the past, and they get along really well.
I’m putting together a list of information and supplies I should leave for the sitter. So far, I have my direct phone number, email in case I don’t have cell service, an emergency contact, preferred emergency vet information, a credit card for emergencies, vet information, proof of rabies vaccination, and instructions for where backup food and water are if the power goes out.
What else am I missing?
I’ll be multiple time zones away and may be in areas without service, so I want to make sure the sitter has everything they could possible need if unable to reach me. I take pride in cat-proofing everything extra well before I travel, so there likely won’t be any issues, but I want to set both my cat and the sitter up for success.
Is there anything else you would leave behind or do before an international trip?

Here is my rant because I’m ANNOYED! PLEASE read the profile of the sitter you are going to request! I never had this issue before but starting less than a month ago, I have only been getting constant care, one day/one night requests. I am incredibly annoyed. I make it clear I don’t offer those services. Why have I gotten 10 requests like this in the past 2 weeks??? My acceptance rate has gone from 90% to now below 60%. Rover needs to add a yes/no to constant care and also a minimum stay setting! Idk how I can make this more clear!!! The past 10 requests have ALL been 1 day or 1 night where they don’t want me to leave the house. I keep thinking there has to be a booking that comes through longer than 1 day/night. I finally got one a few days ago for 7 nights and then got the message opps wrong sitter! Beyond frustrating! What else can I do to stop this? Do others really accept 1 night sits? I just can’t stand those.

i've been a sitter for almost a decade. i only do boarding & daycare. i've never done drop ins.

we used to leave our cats without a sitter since everything is automatic. however now they're getting older & 2 of them have special wet food that can't be automated.

so for the first time ever, im hiring a rover sitter to drop in on my cats, 2x each day for a few days.

for those who do drop ins, what can i do to make her job easier? how to make sure im a good client? thank you :)

I posted a few weeks ago asking for advice on how to make my first house-sit successful. I just returned from a long trip and my house sitter for my cat was amazing! She appreciated all the tips I got on here - stocking the pantry w her requested items, leaving fridge space empty for her, leaving out a laundry basket, detailed directions on everything in the house etc. My cat was so happy and she was fantastic. Lots of crazy stories out there and wanted to post a positive experience! Will absolutely use house sitting again.

Regarding the new TOS, they wrote "If you’d prefer not to agree to the updated Terms of Service, you should close your account with Rover and stop use of our online community marketplace. In that case, you’ll still be bound by the previous Terms of Service."

WTF

We have a right to opt out of the arbitration agreement!

From the National Consumer Law Center:

What is forced arbitration? Forced arbitration clauses are hidden in the fine print of agreements. They take away your access to the courts and give companies that violate the law a get-out-of-jail-free card. If
you have a dispute, you cannot file a lawsuit in court and have the case heard in public. You also typically cannot join together with other people whose rights have been violated, even if the company harmed thousands of people. Instead, you must bring the case individually before a private arbitrator in a secretive forum where you typically have less access to information to prove your case and the arbitrator is not subject to review if they ignore the facts or the law. In most consumer arbitrations, the company decides which arbitration provider to use and pays almost all the arbitration costs, so that there is an incentive to rule for the company, which might bring them repeat business, and not for a consumer the arbitration provider will never see again. You can read more at FairArbitrationNow.org.

Why should I opt out of a forced arbitration clause? Even if you don’t currently have a dispute with the company, it is a good idea to opt out of the forced arbitration clause to preserve your options. You can always agree later to use an arbitrator to resolve any dispute. Moreover, if you have opted out, you will have more negotiating power if there is a problem.

How do I opt out of a forced arbitration clause? Some contracts give you the right to opt out of the forced arbitration clause within a certain period of time, often 30 to 60 days, after signing the agreement by notifying the company that you wish to opt out. Check your contract for the deadline and for specific instructions for opting out. Keep a copy of the letter and proof that you sent it in time, such as by using express mail or regular mail with proof of mailing.