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Customer asked me to sign the contract.

Phyllis S.'s profile image

Have you ever had a customer who asked you to sigh the contract regarding sitting their dog? That happened to me, as soon as I replied saying I was available. First I didn't think much because he said he just wanted to make sure his dog would be well taken care of, but on second thought, what if not..? There were other questionable elements in the whole correspondences and in the end, I politely apologized and cancelled within a reasonable time frame. I'm new, just started a week ago, I have no customer yet, no review (at that point), and he chose me. He also became a member 2 weeks ago. If you have a similar episode that you could share, or any advice will be appreciated.

7 Answers

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Amber C.'s profile image

Hi Phyllis, that is strange. Do you have a copy of the contract? If so, I would send it to Rover's customer support team to look at. I've booked over 200 stays and have never had an owner ask me to sign any sort of contract. If anything, sitters are the ones providing the contract.

Comments

Changed my mind on this one.

Karen R.'s profile image Karen R.
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Sue C.'s profile image

Hi Phyllis - My first customer actually did that too. She had a contract from a previous pet sitter that she used. I signed it and everything went just fine, but in hindsight the Rover site is for that reason. Rover provides insurance and emergency care if need be. If I sit for them again I will not sign another contract. The one I did sign was for the specified time of their stay. Most of it was details about their care, but the end did say something about me taking care of expenses and whatnot if anything happened to her dogs. I'm not sure if your client was sketchy or not, but mine was just very detail oriented. good luck! Sue

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Hi Sue, thank you so much for sharing your experience in detail! It was very helpful. I am learning so much from you experienced sitters, and this community is great! Thank you!

Phyllis S.'s profile image Phyllis S.
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Frances M.'s profile image

That sounds really weird. I think you made the right decision to decline. I haven't had that happen to me ever. Now it makes me think, what if you would have signed the contract and then he felt like his dog wasn't well taken care of, then what would he have done? Almost sounds like a law suit waiting to happen. Weird.

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Karen R.'s profile image

Changed my mind on this one. Since the customer contacted you through the Rover site, asking you to sign a contract is inappropriate for many of the reasons outlined above (insurance, emergency support, etc.). Besides, you don't sign anything like that (don't know what details were included, especially financial) unless it has been reviewed by an attorney.

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Hi Karen, thank you so much for your answer. Yes, I totally agree with you. I didn't see the actual contract since the person was going to show it to me at Meet & Greet. But what if it was 20 pages long? The sitting was scheduled on following day. So I decided to cancel quickly so that he could find another sitter. Besides, it was my very first sitting and he gave me no info about his dog. I was not confident at all to sign the legal paper. Actually this was the only request from him; no Do/Do Not list nor info about the dog such as breed and personality. If the person is really cautious enough to write up the contract, doesn't he wants to tell me lots of request/info, or ask questions about me or my house? Why did he choose a novice... (more)

Phyllis S.'s profile image Phyllis S.
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Paola C.'s profile image

I had a pet parent last year ask me for a skype and facebook account and sent a contract via email. I politely turned down the request - he was very offended to say the least.

Two weeks ago he contacted me again and not recognizing him I agreed to watch his other dog. He asked that I not watch any other dogs so considering I am almost always completely booked I sent him a quote for $50/night (normally $20/night). We can agree to disagree but I personally find it reasonable considering I would lose out on booking others and besides he had the power to decline or book the stay. Long story short he threatened to sue me because I was "falsely advertising" and he is "a lawyer and has sued over 18 individuals". He threatened me with messages for over an hour until I told him to stop because he was harassing me. I was so shocked and sad because he called me all kinds of things and really went above and beyond to offend me so I googled his name out of curiosity and I could not believe my eyes! He wasn't a lawyer - he studied law in Jail where he had been for three years and a bunch of video news stories popped up because he has been under investigation for fraud amongst other things. His name popped up on rip off report websites and blogs all over the internet. He was an unstable man to say the least.

I am SO glad he did not accept that request! Considering it a dodged bullet.

Comments

WOW! Just your luck. Did you inform Rover about this lunatic? I hope there is not a victim out there that will take his dog stay and God forbid something happens. I had goose bumps reading your post.

Frances M.'s profile image Frances M.
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Craig C.'s profile image

Booking through Rover is already a contract. Have them read Terms and Conditions. It spells everything out. Never sign anything. Explain that Rover covers every legal aspect of a stay so anything else would be in conflict with Rover policy. They can even enter care instructions through Rover so there is no need for any extra paperwork exchange with the client at all.

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Phyllis S.'s profile image

Hi Amber, thank you so much for your answer so timely! I feel so relieved to hear your comment. And yes, I asked for an advice to customer support. I didn't see the actual contract because I cancelled before Meet and Greet. There were other fishy things but I 'd better not write here because he might view. Thank you again!

And Frances, thank you so much for your insight. Yes, it was weird. The more I thought, the more I got scared. The customer support said if I did sign the contract, they could not help me in any way if something went wrong. So I must be very careful. I'm so glad that didn't happened to be my very first sitting! Thank you!

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