What happens if a client leaves you the wrong key?

If I were in your situation, after trying to contact the pet-parent(s), family and neighbors that may be able to give you access, I'd contact Rover and request a partial refund for the amount of the services that I couldn't fulfill and inform the pet-parent of the credit. Fortunately, I haven't experienced that, but there have been times I couldn't access the home through the garage due to unplanned power outages affecting key pad entry system. I texted the pet-parent and ultimately another family member was able to gain access, so later I could enter and fulfill my other scheduled walks/visits. Likewise, I did not charge for the visit where I couldn't walk the dogs (even though I was there) as that was just good customer service in keeping a client account that I value happy. However, I did charge for the other visits. Since you cancelled the sit and refunded the total, maybe you could ask that they please write a nice review and that will help balance the search ranking concern, as many pet-parents read those and pay attention to them, especially after they zoom the map and refine results by sitters near them.

Kellie, that sounds like a tough situation. I'm not sure what the best route is to take, but calling Rover Support might be your best option if it happens again and you can't get a hold of the client. That way, if you choose to cancel the stay or refund the client's money hopefully it won't impact your search rankings. Personally, I think that you should still get paid since it was their mistake, but refunding their money was probably a good customer service move that will help you maintain a positive relationship with your client.