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how to deal with bad client asking for free service and lied about dog info and home address?

The home address of dog owner's house is not real. He asked me to pet sitting at another house which is over 10 miles away from my home. I did value the opportunity b/c this is the first house sitting I got, so I did not complain about this :(. However, he expected me to take care of the dog for 1 extra day for free. I agreed on going to his home to take care of the dog in the morning on 05/20/2016. he only booked 2 night house sitting. I was not feeling well when he told me he wanted me to stay untill 05/22 evening . I did told him if making an extension is a concern i can try to stay as late as I can in the morning. He finally said he's ok w/ letting me leave in the morning. He also asked me to leave his key under the mat in the front door. Am I supposed to do that? I uploaded pictures and even a youtube video about how I took care of his dog but after the ending time conversation he just never responded to those updates...And one more thing, he lied about the weight of his dog.. Sounds funny but it does matter sometimes. He said his dog was 30 lbs, which is less than half of the real weight. Thank God his dog was very sweet, healthy and easy going. The incorrect address and dog info really made me worried.

I am a new pet sitter and I really hope you guys can give me some advice/suggestion on how I should handle this kind of situation next time. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks in advance.

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Deb A.

Book a Stay
Irvine, CA

I'll try to address your concerns.

If you find out that the home is outside your coverage area, you can always decline an assignment before booking.
For each nightly stay, consider it a 24 hour period. So, if you started in the evening on 5/20, it really should have ended in the evening on 5/22 and was not an extension.
As far as access to the home goes, I'd suggest that's the owner's decision - it's their home, so whatever they are comfortable with goes. If they're okay with leaving a key under the mat, then that's their decision/potential liability.
Don't expect responses to photos and videos. Sometimes clients will comment, but not always.
If the size of the dog was larger than the sizes you indicate you cared for on your profile, then the weight would be an issue, but since the dog was approx. 60+ lbs., instead of 30 lbs., and your profile shows you care for large dogs that weigh more than that, it doesn't seem to make much difference now that the stay ended. However, if you had noticed this type of error at the beginning of the stay, I'd definitely suggest contacting Rover, so they can work with the owner to correct the record (in case of emergency-that would be necessary information) .

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Thank you so much for the comments! I did not know the overnight house sitting should be 24 hours:( Tysm!! In this case I did take care of the owner's dog from 5/20 morning do you think he asked me to stay till 05/22 evening is what should be done according to the booking? Thank you!

Ivy T.

Thanks 4 the clarification. If started 5/20 in the morning, it should have ended on 5/22 in the morning. Staying until evening is an extension & you can use the extend a stay function if already booked (before booked you can simply modify quote) to include add'l. daycare charge if stayed later.

Deb A.

Thanks a million Deb. You've been VERY helpful!

Ivy T.

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Jana D.

I would say that the home's location not being where it was stated originally is the main concern here. That shouldn't happen, and I wouldn't hesitate to contact customer support to let them know, and to message back and say something like "That address isn't the address listed in your profile. Can you clarify?" and if it's too far out, I agree with the above answer - you can always decline.

Also, it does get tricky with nightly stays vs drop in visits. Sometimes for 1 nightly house sitting stay, they'll have me get there in the evening and leave in the morning. Other times, they'll ask if I can arrive in the morning and not leave for good until the next evening. It just depends on schedule. If that's something that bothers you, you may want to stick with offering drop-in visits, where you are being paid more accurately for your time.

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Thanks a lot for your comments! And you really got me. If the owner did not have incorrect address and dog info, I wouldn't care that much to stay from 05/20 morning till 05/22 night. I will definitely contact http://rover.com about this issue if this happen again. Thank you so much!

Ivy T.

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Karen R.

Book a Stay
Chicago, IL

Your profile states you accept dogs up to 100 lbs, yet in your description, you talk about medium-sized dogs. You should get those in sync.

Rover has defined housesitting as staying at the owner's home for a 24-hour period, just as other sitters board dogs in their homes for 24-hour increments. If an owner only wants you to stay overnight and leave in the morning, that's fine, but it needs to be their decision, not your interpretation of what the service entails.

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how to deal with bad client asking for free service and lied about dog info and home address?

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