Rover Now Vs. Regular Rover Vs. Drop-In's: What's the difference?
I know this has probably been discussed ad nauseam on this forum, but I need to clarify a few things.
I'm in NYC and have been with Rover for about a month. The only walk requests I see are from Rover Now. Does this mean that potential clients looking for a dog walker in my area are unable to find and request me directly? Is everything done through Rover Now?
I know that I'm unable to find clients and initiate direct booking. It is getting tiresome running around NYC all day walking dogs and Rover takes a 40% cut from each walk. It's an abomination.
I scheduled 2 ongoing walks through Rover Now, and those turned into direct bookings after I asked the clients to switch from Rover Now to regular bookings. The first client figured out how to send me a booking request, and with the second client it was me who sent the booking request using the Rebook option. It turns out that the owners did not know that was even an option.
I know that direct bookings work out better for me financially, but what about for the client? Is it cheaper for them to book me directly than to use Rover Now for recurring walks? Some walkers have said that they book drop-in visits and then just take the dog for a walk. Does this mean the service fee is lower for the client to book a drop-in visit as opposed to a dog walking booking? I'd like to know so I can inform the client how to proceed with direct bookings.
What confuses me also is that the third client with whom I had scheduled recurring walks apparently didn't receive my direct booking request. I cancelled the following week's booking with this client on Rover Now, so that I could instead send her a direct booking request. My request was still pending. So, I contacted Rover to inquire about this and they said that I can only rebook a specific client through Rover Now by reaching out to them. Then how did I manage to rebook with another client?
I emailed them back and asked Rover why I needed their assistance since I already have the Rebooking option at my disposal. I told them I'd rather use direct booking for regular clients and wanted to know the best way to proceed with switching to regular Rover bookings. It became confusing because I'm not sure whether I should cancel the on-demand walks first and then initiate a direct booking, or vice versa? Or do I have to contact Rover to do this?
The response I got from Rover was to recommend to me not to send a rebooking request that switches the service type, because they've seen instances of rebooking requests creating negative experiences for owners, because other services on Rover are subject to different policies, costs upfront, and support teams. Rover also said that if an ...