Ok I read someone else had this same issue. It seems Dog owners try to take advantage of dropping early in the day and pick up late and only pay for the overnight charge. Recently a dog, a very very difficult dog that urinated everywhere for 3 days and was, to be nice say, nippy, I still have the cuts and bruises, anyway I digress, dropped off at 12noon and pick up at 4pm. Shouldn't the pick up be close to drop off time?
In addition to making your policy known during the booking process, you should include this information, as well as any other nonstandard practices (early pickup/late dropoff surcharges), to your profile. Dogsitting at your home is still a business. If their dog were at a kennel, they would be charged for the extra time. I make it clear to potential customers that the overnight fee is for a 24-hour period and that daycare charges will apply to longer stays. I also tell them that I am not as stringent as a hotel and will allow some leeway, but I have had numerous owners push the limits as to what is reasonable.
I have this problem too. One woman has decided that since she's picking up her dog at midnight (2 weeks later) that she shouldn't have to pay me for the day since its not an overnight that day. She dropped her dog off at 5 am on the first day....!!!??? Let's do the math, shall we...? Also, my fault at not catching it, but sheesh, I was juggling another dog, my life, my work at the time. A little support from Rover wouldn't go astray!
I just put in a long post to the HELP section on Rover. If we all submitted our thoughts about it. This thread is so old though, I can't imagine Rover cares what issues we're running into in this regard.
I suggested we should be able to book the Owners with not only DATES but Drop-Off and Pick-Up times so that anything beyond the 24 hour period is plainly noted. And if they don't show up on time (or within reason) we should be able to charge at time of Pick-up.
I don't mind a lilttle leeway, but for Pete's Sake!
Send her an Extend the Stay for another day, given the ridiculously early dropoff time. If she balks, refer her to Rover's FAQ which states that boarding rates are for up to 24 hours. There is no such thing as an "overnight" rate. Also you should consider establishing more business-like hours of op.
I don't allow anyone to dropoff or pickup their dog at midnight. My cutoff is 10 pm. Also, I won't accept a dog before 8 am. If the person has an early flight, I will suggest dropping their dog off the night before. As I've written here before, I am not a 24-hour Starbucks.
Yes thanks for the advice. Her flight times were the issue. I'd still prefer Rover made it possible to specify pick-up/drop-off times in the booking itself. And if one is starting out with not too many reviews - one makes the best of it and attempts to be accommodating.
Flight times are always the issue. Explain to the client that dropping off their dog the night before is beneficial to them in that they won't have to rush and worry about getting their dog to you and can focus on getting their own things together for the trip.
I don't really want to accept a dog that early because it means I will need to start supervising the stay immediately because I wouldn't know how that dog might interact with my own dog or another guest. Far better to take in the dog at a more normal hour and then go on a long walk.
Am relatively new at doing this through Rover specifically. I won't allow being taken advantage of this way again. Now I know to nail down specific times coming and going. The dog is small and old, we have no other dogs, so longs walks and interacting is not a major issue.
We have had people who say they will be dropping off/picking up at a certain time, then are VERY late--not just 10-20 minutes. We had one this past week that was 5 1/2 hours late!
The suggestions above are excellent. Thank you!
I feel your pain. Most of my clients are either late dropping off or late picking up. My life is very scheduled and it's difficult to have to wait hours for people who know they have not paid for my extra services and there is nothing I can do about it.
For me, it depends on the client and the length of stay. For long stays, I'm not picky about drop off and pick up times. Ditto for our good repeat clients. For short stays with new clients or difficult dogs, I'll find out the drop off and pick up times (before the meet and greet) and adjust the rate accordingly. If it's just an overnight stay, but they want to drop off early one morning and pick up late the next evening, that's nearly two full days of effort. I explain that to the client when adjusting the rate, usually something like "Rover automatically calculates the rate based on the number of nights, but most of our effort and energy is put in during the day. Since [dog's name] would be with us for nearly two full days, I've adjusted the rate to reflect the amount of time and care he/she will receive during his/her visit."
I just had my first Rover dog boarding client, and I feel like I got burned. She dropped off her two dogs at 9 am on Thursday. Pick up would be on Sunday, and I assumed since she wasn't paying for Sunday, she'd pick them up from 9am-Noon. She just texted me to tell me that she'd pick them up at 8pm. That's an entire day of service that I'm not getting paid for! Ouch. I feel like I have to swallow it because I didn't set my terms up front. Lesson learned.
You can always adjust your price , if she hasn’t approve prior to pick up then don’t release the dogs
I haven't had people take advantage of this but what I'd recommend (and do) is asking up front before booking what the pick up / drop off times are. If they plan to pick up 5+ hours after the "checkout" time then edit the booking request with a prorated late pick up fee.
I was looking to see if Rover had a specific rule about this since they are not charging for “extended stays”. I frankly prefer morning drop off and pick ups. it takes dogs time to settle so morning drop offs give the dog that time. also i another dog is coming I rather not have to deal with intros with a dog that will not be staying anyway.