What should I do to handle a dishonest review?
Advice needed on handling a dishonest review! After sitting through Rover for 8 months I unfortunately ran into my first "bad review" incident. A client that had booked with me almost monthly since June had booked a weeklong stay in October. She has a female Yorkie that is spayed. When she arrived to drop her off she took notice of another male Yorkie I was keeping and voiced her concerns about the two dogs "doing the deed." I tried to calmly explain that he was a senior neutered male and would absolutely cause no trouble to her dog. She joked about it, we stood outside my house and chatted for a while, and she went on her way.
She came to pick up the next Wednesday, her dog was completely fine and playful and she seemed content. No signs of sickness. On Friday she sent me a message asking if her dog and the other Yorkie had tried to do anything and she claimed her dog had been vomiting. I expressed my concern and told her absolutely not that the only thing that I did was give her dog treats that she had previously provided so I knew they were safe. She responded with "Okay I was just checking, thanks!" and I asked her to please keep me updated if her dog needed to be vetted. The next time I heard from her was a week later and she cancelled a future booked stay with me saying she had a change of vacation plans and she would be staying home. Only for me to find that she used another sitter after checking her dogs profile. No big deal, I just assumed she was upset about her dog getting sick at what she thought was my fault and chose to use someone else.
2 months later to now she leaves me a lengthy review stating that I was uncaring and unprofessional, her dog almost died from getting sick at my fault, she threw in how much her vet bills cost, and at the end she stated that her dog had poop all in her cage that I intentionally did not clean. No claim was made with Rover, she never reached out to me stating the severity of her dogs sickness, she lied about canceling with me, only to leave this on my profile. One of my best weekly clients read it and expressed she is uneasy to continue using me. I have had 3 cancellations since this was left on my profile. I reached out to Rover and the customer service lady was kind but left me with "we don't delete reviews but we will investigate it" and encouraged me to respond to the review. I am stressed beyond belief as Rover is my main source of income right now while I finish up college. Clearly this is a real eyesore on my profile and I am infuriated that I am at the mercy of a dishonest owner. Have any ...