score:
2

How do I report a dog sitter for not spending the night with my dogs when she was hired to?

I used a dog-sitter off of http://Rover.com with the agreement that she would stay at my home over night for 3 nights and be in and out throughout the day to check on them. What I found out from my neighbor is not only did she NOT spend the night on the second night, but that I had to have my neighbor had to go in and take care of them since they were left alone all night with the dog door closed (which I would have never done in case of fire) and virtually no water. When confronted about it the dog sitter said she couldn't spend the night with my dogs because her dog was left alone since he would have been left alone. Her response to me when confronted was that "she didn't think it was "that big of a deal" She didn't bother to text me to tell me she would not be spending the night with them which I assume was in hopes that I wouldn't have found out about it. Good thing for me I have a very adept neighbor who was looking out for my dogs....far more than the girl I hired to do the job. I had to cut my trip short and come home asap since I was left without a back-up. I'm angry and frustrated beyond belief and would like to report her to ensure this doesn't happen to someone else. She should be removed from this board asap!!!

Please advise who I need to contact to make that happen!

Comments

Amazing & Sad!

agree! That's just sooooo wrong. I would Never! They should not be dog sitting, period.

May I ask where you are from? We just had this exact issue and the exact response from the sitter. Unfortunately we were out of the states and could not come home. We are so mad and cannot believe we paid for a service we did not receive.

I had a similar issue with a sitter last week. Very strong evidence that she did not stay overnight as agreed upon. I filed a formal complaint with Rover. It's not just about the money I spent, but about neglecting my dog, and hoping it doesn't happen to others in the future.

That's a terrible experience. The sitter was wrong, and did wrong, and definitely should refund all money plus expenses.... I am just curious, why did you book this particular sitter? She's obviously a bad sitter, so i wonder if she had amazing reviews or was she just cheap?

This is inexcusable. 1. Leave her a review - 1 star, and explain her negligence. It is likely that no one will ever want to book her again after seeing that. 2. Contact Rover, inform them of what happened, and request a refund. They will likely also ban the sitter. I'm so sorry this happened.

I actually just watched something about this on the news the other night! A family went on a trip, only to discover, through their security camera, that the sitter didn't spend any time with their dogs! Unbelievable!

Thanks everyone for their comments. Sorry I didn't realize there were so many of you replied. Laurie...I'm actually in Colorado and am still so mad about it!! Even angrier by the fact that she has 5 star reviews which is why I contacted her in the first place. Paying her is a whole other issue!!

The GREAT news though is that I did not let my experience with that sitter dissuade me from trying http://Rover.com again which I did and happened to find the very BEST sitter I could have hoped for! Rover still needs to know about my first experience so they can take appropriate actions! Thank you again

I am in Colorado as well. Interesting. The sitter I used is still on this site booking stays. I left a review with all the details. She must be doing quite the sales job to get booked. I am appalled that Rover didn't kick her off. Completely irresponsible.

Thank you for your sharing your bad experience. It's important to share the information, and I hope the sitter will be removed from http://Rover.com immediately. I am both a Rover sitter and a client, and always hoping that we would be able to share alerting information with others.

Jenny and Stephanie - Not sure if you'll see this, but was the sitter named Rebekah? I'm also in Colorado and this happened to us last night.

That's very sad news, so better to hire a new sitter http://bit.ly/2jidMxx for you sweet pet.

Last week http://Rover.com sitter took in my senior dog for the week while I was away for work. Sitter said she has senior dog experience and home full time. He was locked in a cage & left to sit in his urine and feces & Rover refuses to refund because she provided the “service”. Reported to PETA.

This sounds like exactly what happened to me a few years ago. My neighbors notified me, and I, too, had to cut my trip short. Also, when I spoke to her on the phone (in NC) from NY, she got angry and just left! I had to have my son come and stay with my dog's. Never again!

Una H., that is horrifying. I hope you left her a 1 star review AND reported her to whichever local authorities handle animal abuse cases in your area! You should try to report her to local media outlets as well!

had a bad experience with rover. Asked sitter to stay at the house. One night her boyfriend shows up and an argument starts right at my front door. captured on my ring cam. My dog ran out so scared. Ill never use rover again. Came home to a dog with a fever and exhaustion. vet bill not covered..

Want to add my similar experience. Ryan D. From Knoxville, TN left my 2 dogs alone in my home for 6 DAYS out of the week I booked! When I complained to Rover they said since she showed up ONCE they couldn't give a refund. Seems like a very convenient and common scam. Will not use Rover ever again.

Same thing happened (May, 2019)...still so furious I can't seem to get over it...Olivia F. in Nashville, came ONCE during the weekend and then left for good...my little dog was crying by the end (saw him on camera). Fabulous neighbors came to feed and let the dogs out but I am SO MAD AT HER!!!!!!!!

Kelsey met with us ,lead us to believe all was fine.then not a word. Couldnt get in touch witn text to decline the job.totally irresponsible and in considerate.her, nor did she have the decency to call or

9 Answers

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score:
16

I'm so sorry to hear about your bad experience using the service. The meet & greet is so important in that way to discuss your expectations and her service commitment. If the agreement was not followed, she needed to communicate that. *The reason why I mention that is because even though Rover recommends & I completely agree that house sitting should be considered overnight for up to 24 hours which includes day time care, the help section states that pet parents and sitters may agree on something different. Some pet parents do not want/need/prefer sitters to stay overnight in their home. In any case, the needs of the dog and pet parent preferences should be discussed before booking and the sitter is agreeing to those terms when accepting the booking. Doing something other than what was agreed to and saying it was not a big deal when confronted was Not okay. https://support.rover.com/hc/en-us/ar... *

Please don't think she reflects the majority of sitters. Many of us work through illness, injury, and even postpone our needs to care for dogs and show love taking care of them.

Rover Customer Support should resolve this for you. You may call [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 use this link to a web form https://support.rover.com/hc/en-us/re....

With Rover.com, if for any reason the sitter is unable to perform services, and you contact customer support they will try to find a replacement sitter (and my understanding is they even absorb the additional expense if the replacement sitter normally has a higher rate)

Comments

What good is a meet and greet if you ask all the right questions and state exactly what you want, (and pay for it) if the sitter is a liar? I do expect anyone who would tell a customer they didn't think not showing up was a big deal will be banned permanently from offering services on Rover!

Thank yo so much for the phone number to Rover's Customer Support...I could not find it anywhere! And you're right..this was a 5 star review sitter who seemed trustworthy and responsible at the meet and greet but that's definitely NOT what I got after I left on my trip!!

ROVER should be looking after the client. WE TRUST the service amd told not to get more from the sitters. She put the pets in danger not showing up. How about if your babysitter didnt show up? Maybe we should reimburse a day???? Fined and charged fraudulant use of your site at MINIMUM.

Want to add my similar experience. Ryan D. From Knoxville, TN left my 2 dogs alone in my home for 6 DAYS out of the week I booked! When I complained to Rover they said since she showed up ONCE they couldn't give a refund. Seems like a very convenient and common scam. Will not use Rover ever again.

I am reading these reviews with such mixed emotions. I am first a pet owner and as such I am saddened by the care your pets received.. or didnt receive i should say. However i am also a pet sitter and house sitter with Rover and I love my job, and do my job like most Rover sitters.

I had TWO good meet and greets with "Olivia F" and she STILL didn't do what she was paid to do and left my old dogs in the house ALONE for the weekend!!! I, fortunately, have wonderful neighbors who pitched in and fed dogs and cats and let the dogs out, but I am still SO upset at her...grrrrrrrrrrr

I’ve done house sitting many times though I don't anymore because so many won’t let you bring your dog and I live alone so I would have nobody to take care of my fur baby. It wouldn't make sense to take the job and then have to hire someone to come house sit for me.

score:
3

I am a sitter with Rover, and please believe me when I say not all of us are like this. I go above and beyond for thw babies I look after in my home and In There homes,i absolutely recommend always having pet or baby camera on your sitter. I encourage a my customers to do it and anyone else that may allow a person to look after their baby. I have a google home in my doggy play room at my house and my customers all have the personal number to call 24/7. I don't have to answer it,it auto answers there calls. They are free to also video chat or FaceTime me when we are outside on walks or just when they want to see their baby! My customers can see and hear everything that happens in my house when I provide care. I do know of other sitters that do really bad things to dogs to get them to sleep the whole time(one brags of giving Marijuana to them) and more. My advice..the 5 star reviews can be faked!!! Only look for ones that have VERIFIED beside them. Ask your sitter for references, and don't let them give you friends or family or let them use burner phone numbers, meet these references in person. DO NOT RELY ON TEXT

Comments

Hi, have you reported these people who do really bad things to get dogs to sleep? I sincerely hope so.

score:
2

As a sitter, one guy who had me house sit and watch his dogs told me that I didn't have to stay if I didn't want to. That was misleading as I was house sitting and ended up staying one night because it was far from my house. At the end of the booking, the owner was upset because he was not clear with the exact care he wanted for his pup.

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1

When speaking with Rover customer service, I would also imagine that you would be able to be reimbursed for the night when she did not stay. Start with the main line, and go from there. That's horrible! She shouldn't have agreed to be there overnight if it wasn't going to be doable. Good grief!

Comments

Reimbursed for just that night?? This Owner should get ALL of their money back.

Yes, there should actually be some form of penalty that Rover imposes when a sitter pulls this sort of crap. It's one thing for a sitter to wind up in the hospital or such and not be able to follow through but her reason that "her own dog would be left alone for the night" is utter BS!!

AND the penalty amount should go to the pet owner they let down since essentially the sitter has interfered with and negatively affected the pet owner's trust in Rover.com's services!! I like to hear what a Rover Representative has to say about that!!

I had a personal emergency at my home and asked the owner if she could return home( she kept asking during the meet and greet if they need to come home it was fine, she was 3 hours away). I felt horrible that I couldn't complete my visit and asked ROVER to refund her money.

then this owner starts harassing me after I tell her that she got a Full refund from ROVER and I needed to pay for her dogs' bed. (she FAILED to tell me that her dog has separation anxiety at night. ) I did send her money for the dog bed. I kept apologizing over and over again..

I did get my money back when "Olivia F" left my dogs ALONE for the WEEKEND, but I have never been so mad at anyone in my life, she met them, liked them, then came ONCE and then left for good and never came back...neighbors had to pitch in. Still makes me FURIOUS even after a year.

score:
1

Hello you said you wanted to report her. On Rover you can report the conversation to them. This will cause their profile to be terminated. Someone was scamming me for my services before and their profile is gone now after I reported the conversation.

First take screenshots contact the Rover support.

After that report the conversation, you are able to report the whole conversation. It shows up as Report this conversation, along those words. This would at least get their profile removed.

Hope you can get your money back. I would never do this I would say before if it will not work out, or for any reason will not make it due to me being somewhere far from there at the moment they message me.

Comments

This goes for any sitter as long as it is mentioned. You can report old conversations if this happened.

score:
1

One reason for this, is that Rover doesn't seem to have a clear definition on the website as to what "house sitting" means. If there is one, I can't find it. The last two sitters I had, who ended up being fine, mentioned that they were not planing to stay overnight at the house. I find that surprising as I would Imagine that Rover goes over some sort of policy with sitters when they accept a booking or before the create a listing.

Comments

The problem is that all sitters are independent and can do pretty much do whatever they like, and Rover leaves it up to the customer and sitter to figure it out. Again, Rover goes over nothing with sitters.

score:
0

This is just awful! Rover should take a vested interest in those who use their service, including owners and sitters both.

Complaints need to be followed up upon and the other party given the chance to respond.

Repeat instances should lead to a ban from the site!

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0

My dog was abused by a young lady who is still active and #1 sitter in my area on the platform. This is absolutely disgusting. I have video evidence of her abusing my 11 year old dog and spent my trip trying to get an emergency sitter and help from their emergency line. The fact that she is still able to book and work on this platform is appalling. And to be suggested to me to rebook! Not okay. She didn’t attend to him with our agreed times or paid service and left my dog alone for more than 16 hours holding his bathroom, no food or water. When asked if she could do her job she informed me she had a birthday party and couldn’t come by. So unprofessional and awful experience. She did not once pet my dog she sat on my couch texting AND she took him out for less than 5 min walks and left. I was out of town for 3 days!

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-2

We used rover during our wedding where we were going out of town internationally and did the meet and greet , guy was very nice. The one rule we had was no guests at the house, we didn’t even feel comfortable with a stranger that we meant once (him) but had no choice. He messaged us the night of our wedding, of course we were busy, and still thought it was okay to ask if a friend could stay after they went out because it was a cheaper Uber. He ended up going to jail that night from a bar fight. Thankfully the unknown friend was there Drunk at 1am to let the dogs out, we saw on our ring. the sitter never apologized and completely broke our trust. Also never sent updates or pictures as he mentioned he would during our meet and greet. We will never use rover again, reviews are from friends and seems very misleading.

score:
-2

Hearing about Rover's lack of oversight of their independent contractors makes me want to look for other alternatives. It sounds too much like what's going on with Uber & Lyft in which the clients are getting victiimized. I have not used Rover yet but the lack of quality assurance & enforcement is making me have second thoughts about using it. I'm sure there are good people listed but I don't want to risk getting dupped by a scammer posing as a responsible sitter not to mention risk the life & health of my dog. I think it is very suspicious that almost all the ratings are 5 star. Are negative reviews not posted???

Comments

Want to add my similar experience. Ryan D. From Knoxville, TN left my 2 dogs alone in my home for 6 DAYS out of the week I booked! When I complained to Rover they said since she showed up ONCE they couldn't give a refund. Seems like a very convenient and common scam. Will not use Rover ever again.

I want to state my dissatisfaction with Rover customer service. I hired a cat sitter for two cats. Simple - leave food, leave water, scoop litter pans. I returned - no food, no water and it was clear that the litter pans had not been scooped the entire. Rover did nothing. Sitter still online.