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Why do sitters not update their calendars?

Each time we have need to set up a sitter we have to go though many (5, 10+) sitters who have "available" on their calendar but, it turns out, are not actually available. We repeatedly hear "Oh, sorry, my calendar was not updated and I'm not actually available that day" in reply to our availability request. Their responses are professional and polite but I would WAY rather prefer just seeing their schedule reflect their being unavailable so I can focus on the few that may actually be able to help.

Is this a technical issue with http://Rover.com or is it user error? Are sitters just not bothering to block out dates when they have other plans?

For what it's worth each tme this happens it knocks the wind out of out "excited for http://rover.com" sails a bit more.

4 Answers

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Shannon L.

I can understand your frustration! I can't speak for all sitters, only myself. I have had incidents of setting up a stay (officially booked) and later noticed that my calendar showed me as available. I have also had times where I was available, but my calender was blocked off.

However, the most common situation of me being unavailable, but my calender not reflecting that, is due to me having something pending. The calender doesn't change until a request is accepted and booked. We are able to manually mark ourselves as unavailable, and I really should start to do that as soon as I get a request.

Another situation I run into is an established client will contact me with ballpark dates. I want to leave the time available for them, but I don't know the exact dates to block off. And I don't want to block off a long range of days, in case another client needs me at either the beginning out end of the estimated date range.

And, yes, a couple of times I have made plans and forgotten to block myself out.

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Courtney S.

I have the same issue and it is very frustrating. I'm now on day 3 trying to book a sitter because I've spent a couple of hours messaging about 12 sitters only to find that they are unavailable, despite a completely open calendar. What a waste of time! To make things worse, Rover now only allows you to make a certain number of requests (pending) before you are blocked from doing so for a period of time. As a result, I am actually no longer able to request a sitter! Not only are the sitters not updating their calendars, they are not declining the requests outright so it is not marked as pending on my end. I am genuinely discouraged from using this platform for these reasons. What is the use of having calendars if they are not accurate?? Sitters should be penalized for not keeping updated calendars; it diminishes the value of the entire platform.

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Courtney, you should relay your concerns to Rover. They don't come here. Their number is [Edit: Rover’s contact options have changed. Visit the Rover Help Center at https://support.rover.com/ to find the phone number, help articles, or chat with the team] or you can use the webmail Contact Us option found in Help.

Karen R.

Please call Rover support at the number Karen provided. Sitters are supposed to get penalized (through not being as prominently listed in future searches) for not keeping updated calendars. When you talk with support, ask them to send requests on your behalf due to this. They've done that in past.

Deb A.

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Deb A.

Book a Stay
Irvine, CA

I'm a sitter, not a Rover employee, and understand your disappointment. I haven't had to decline due to solely being unavailable, but sometime the drop off/pick up times are in conflict with other things I need to do or the dog isn't a good match for other dogs already entrusted in my care. I can only offer that care of the dogs I've already committed to always comes first. My experience is that I may be out walking(or driving to/from walks), attentively feeding, grooming or such, and sometimes I will have clients contact me when I cannot stop to update my calendars, as pet-parents may book their dogs through a few different ways and so I have a few calendars that I adjust.

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Carmen C.

I agree with Deb and would like to add one more point -

As sitters, our calendar only allows us to block out dates up to 3 months in advance. A client contacted me looking for summer boarding (wise because summer books up so quickly) and, though I was already busy, I was unable to block it out because it was too far away.

Is it possible this is part of the problem?

Comments

I would understand a sitter saying it wouldn't be a good fit or a sitter saying that the drop off/pick-up times would be a problem but we have not experienced that. I also understand if a sitter prioritizes regular pups but, if they plan to do so why wouldn't they block out those dates? What we are seeing are sitters with whole strings of days and days listed as available (it's not like they are booked solid save the one day we are trying to make an arrangement), We seek a date a few days out and we hear back that "the calendar isn't updated." I suppose I can start asking *why* their calendar isn't updated but I don't know that I'd want to use my time that way- I'd rather move on and try more options. REally it just seems... (more)

Dwerp P.

Your feedback really sounds like something Rover needs to hear. You could email them about this at support@rover.com with your name and email account used. Rover employees (but not sitters) can review the written communications that you've had with all sitters and try to resolve this.

Deb A.

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Why do sitters not update their calendars?

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