Had a request to sit for 4 dogs, great. At the meet and greet turned out there were 4 dogs and 13 cats? Of course I said no and my score was lowered. Also, had a request to sit for someone who might get a dog in future, again nothing positive or now, what did that do to my score? Obviously it makes it go down!
I would definitely contact Rover Support if your score was lowered just for the request with the cats. Tell them the cats were not listed on the profile and you do not want to care for them. That's something that was out of your control and you should not be penalized for it.
HaH!! That's a joke. Rover will just tell you "Oh it doesn't affect your score that much. The scores just compare you to other Sitters in your area so they'd be affected by the same things blah...blah...blah"
I'm sorry your score was lowered for declining the request with the 13 cats; that shouldn't have happened. I have declined requests, and as far as I can tell, that hasn't hurt my scores. You may need to contact Rover Support to find out why that happened.
I don't think your score would be lowered for the "request that wasn't." It's not your fault they were just contacting you for some future possible stay. I have had people put in a request, just to contact me, and it doesn't appear to affect my score.
Keep in mind you are the only one who sees the scores; they aren't displayed for owners, or even other sitters. And I doubt the scores have a lot of bearing on your standings and rankings.
The scores directly affect the order in which you appear when Owners do a search. That is exactly what they are for.
It's completely rotten but it's true. Your score can be adversely affected by things that are completely out of your control.