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Do you ever get harassed by other Rover sitters? What do you do with difficult customers?

Hi all and thank you for taking time to read this. Sorry its so long but I wanted to paint a picture.

I am new to Rover.I have been active for 2 weeks. I am loving it. Already had two sittings and two on demand walks. My question to all of you other sitters and walkers is this: Do you ever get harassed by other Rover sitters? & What do you do with difficult customers?

On my second day being active as a Rover On-Demand walker there was a walk request not far from where I live. I requested it and was ready to commit to it a week later from Tuesday-Friday. (On-Demand walks have a fixed rate of $20 and Rover takes 40% of that so you are left with $12 and it is fixed which means you can not change it.) I charge the same rate for my regular walks of $20 but Rover only takes 20% of that so I am left with $16.

Anyhow, I book the On-Demand walks for 4 days in a row for a week from now and am messaged right away from the owner asking if we can do a meet and greet. I wanted to say no but said yes since I am new to Rover and trying to get some traction going. I mean usually I get these on demand walks and an hour or less later I am in someones home already walking their dog without ever meeting them. I found it odd and confusing that these walks were not really on-demand since they were a week later.

This woman and I then agree to meet up in a park near her home the next day and I set that time in my busy schedule for the meet and greet. The next day I am about to leave to go to the park for the meet and greet and text her making sure we are still on. She replies back, "Sorry I can not. Can we meet tomorrow morning?" I say 9am? She says, "Perfect." So I wake up the next morning and in my messages their is a message sent a couple hours before the 9am meeting stating, "I can not make it this morning sorry."

That is twice we had something scheduled and I put aside my personal time to accommodate this woman and she stood me up. I was only ever going to see her dog and take it for a walk 4 times, getting paid $12 for each walk. Why would I bother with a meet & greet for an extra hour out of my time and not get anything from it? Especially when she already wasted 2 hours of my time.

I then ask her, Me: "Is this a reoccurring walk? My understanding is that it is 4 times next week and then done correct?" Her: "Correct." Me: "unless it is a reoccurring walk I usually do not do meet ups. I was ... (more)

2 Answers

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Ask Rover to investigate whether these two sitters actually use Rover walking services. They can look at their contact history and see if they are doing this to others. It doesn't sound like these have been bona fide requests. Rover would have no way of knowing whether they've coordinated this effort on their own/directly but it does seem rather suspicious that other Rover walkers in your neighborhood are doing this, perhaps, because you have lower rates and want you to get get so frustrated that you leave Rover or they think your inability to book the jobs somehow affects your rating on Rover.

Try contacting Rover and explain what you suspect they are doing.

waving to you from about 5 blocks south of the Scarecrow, although I used to live across from Dorothy

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What'a an awful experience. Your best bet is calling or emailing Rover. I call or email them with all problems, no matter if it's a little silly thing or a real problem. They should be aware of everything that's going on. Good luck.