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Help! Our sitter isn’t showing up while we are gone and don’t know what to do?

All, I’m besides myself right now and am not sure what to do. I’m now 5 days into a 10 day vacation. I hired a rover sitter to house sit my dog and cats. We did the meet and greet and had her do 4 drop ins before our trip. Everything looked fine. We hired her for the sitting and asked her to stay the night. I have an elderly dog with medical issues and I don’t want her being alone - exactly why I didn’t send her to the kennel. Once the trip started, I got a rover card within a couple of hours of us leaving. I left thinking everything was fine. I got no updates for two days. I checked in and was told everything was fine. Then nothing again for two days, until I asked again. Fast forward to today. I saw a picture my neighbor posted on Facebook of her front yard (and you could see my house). There was a big snow storm on Sunday, and there were no tire marks in my driveway, and no foot prints coming and going. Something isn’t right - either someone is stuck inside, or nobody has been there. I called a neighbor and sent her over. The cats and dog had no food, no water, and were clearly distressed. There was poop and pee all over the house. I texted the sitter again and asked how things were. She told me everything was fine and she was at the house (lie).

Now I’m completely unsure what to do. My first priority is making sure my cats and dog don’t die while I’m gone. My neighbor agreed to come by and make sure they have food and water. But I don’t want to call out this sitter because she has complete access to my home and knows nobody is there. What do I do to make sure my babies are OK AND my home is safe?

Thoughts?

Comments

Deleted. I hate rover.

Kate & Terry S.

It's not Rover's fault. They are only the platform for a network of independent contractors (sitters). It sounds like you did all the right things before the stay. For any problems with a stay call Rover. Coming to a Q&A forum is not the place for something as serious as this. I'm sorry.

Cindy & Stephen G.

I hate Rover because their lack of action after the fact. I get it - bad individuals sneak through. But they need to hold them to a level of care and they failed to do so after I called and filed a concern. The Q&A was a last resort.

Kate & Terry S.

Leave the sitter a lengthy, HONEST review. Sitters value their reviews b/c of the business that comes with (or can be lost by) them. It's gotta sound extremely reasonable, tho, hold back the 'evil' remarks and such or you've wasted your time. Make each word count.

Cindy & Stephen G.

I would contact the authorities for animal neglect. I too agree this is serious and the sitter needs to understand that. I am sorry to hear what your pets had to go through.

Cassandra M.

I agree rover has the sitters info and that sitter should be charged with animal neglect

Samantha R.

It IS Rover’s fault. When the sitter cancels at the last minute, the owner does not get to review. Which is total bullshit!! What is more important than someone not showing up? My sitter just did this and I am now out very expensive concert tickets and a hotel stay. And they won’t let me review

Kim B.

This same thing happened to me. The sitter had lied about feeding my dogs - weirdly on the day I came home - which was so stupid because I could obviously check. I had an elderly dog who needed medication and was underweight and HAD to be fed more frequently and with special food.

Carlene C.

7 Answers

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Lisa H.

I completely agree with Deb - if you haven't already definitely call Rover support as well as leave an accurate review of your pets' care. If your neighbor took photos of your home upon entering I would recommend you offer to send those to Rover support. As a sitter I use Rover to reach more clients as do many other well-qualified, loving, quality sitters. As a pet owner I found wonderful sitters for my dog through Rover. It sounds like you did everything you could think of to make sure your pets were going to be in good hands. In my opinion what you experienced is not acceptable and the sitter should not be responsible for caring for pets. It is also not at all common; most sitters on Rover are trustworthy and reliable. I hope that all of your fur babies are okay.

Comments

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I sent rover pictures of poop and pee all over the house. The sitter is still on the site so it is clear that Rover is not committed to holding their sitters to any basic standard of quality. I believe you that you aren’t like that, but I will not be risking it again.

Kate & Terry S.

I'm so sorry, as a rover sitter myself. Lies and neglect are prohibited in my book. Of you commit to caring for an animal and don't. That is neglect. They should 1. Be charged. 2. Be removed from rover as a sitter. She should not still be available to sit anyone's pet, ever. Uncalled for.

Lisa S.

Nanny cam, as others have said for future bookings!

Lisa S.

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April S.

In the rare instance that I have a sitter come to my house, I make it perfectly clear that I have a nanny cam in the living room, and a Ring doorbell camera. There are lots of places to be in the house that there isn't a camera, however there is no way to pretend to be there when they aren't. If you don't have a Ring or a camera, you can buy a fake security camera on amazon for less than $10. Small price for accountability.

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Mel G.

Omg, I am so sorry this happened to you! I hope that the animals were fine at the end. Thank goodness your neighbor was there to help! I once had my car hit while I was supposed to check on an elder dog. I took an Uber (cost more than I made haha) just so I could get to the house and take care of the dog. I would have walked if there was no other way to get there. As a sitter, I treat every dog like theyre my own. So sorry you had this horrible experience!!

In this type of situation it’s important that you contact Rover immediately so that this sitter hopefully gets booted from the site.

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Nolan H.

This happened to me, I called the rover support after my house sitter stop showing up, I luckily had security cameras and proof of neglect.

I was able to find someone to take them out with rovers' help after she stopped showing up.

After I returned home, the sitter offered me 25% off my booking. I refused this as she didn't show up.

Rover then took over and asked me to write up to my best ability what happened, I also provided them with 120 hours of video from my 3 cameras of the neglect.

Hot tip: make sure you keep all communication within the app and document very well.

They reviewed my case within about 3 or 4 days they issued me a 100% refund.

They are very responsive in these cases, however, the burden of proof is on you.

The basic steps you need to take are

Communicate with the sitter your concerns
Call rover to document your concerns so that it is in their system, even ask rover to call the sitter on your behalf.
Document if possible any proof you have (via a security system or pictures from a neighbor or via cameras)
Try your best to work it out with them
If you're not satisfied with the remedy, call rover to start a complaint
Rover will investigate independently
Then it's up to rover what happens next however, if you're able to show a lot of proof of gross negligence they will do everything in their power to find a new sitter for you.

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Deb A.

Book a Stay
Irvine, CA

Kate & Terry,

It's very sad to hear about the lack of care your sitter provided to your cats and dog. It appears that your posting didn't even appear in this forum until after you returned from your vacation. If you haven't already done so, Please contact Rover customer support to report everything that happened&didn't. Each sitter operates independently and rover will not know unless clients inform them. Please also leave a review, so other potential clients will know what to expect, if this person's profile is still active.

Please know that many other sitters on Rover would absolutely have given your pets the care you both agreed to, if not more, and would have been honest.

For the next time you're planning to be away, here are some tips that I hope help. When you meet sitters (at least two), let them know that you want to establish relationships with two sitters so there will be a back up if one is not available or something unexpected happens. Book each of them for a couple/or more drop in or walk services, or house sitting for a shorter duration of time, like 1 or 2 nights when you'll be local or a neighbor/friend can observe from outside if the sitter is coming&going. Before a longer time away, confirm if both are available, and in case something happens ask if their schedules can accommodate a last minute request. If it's someone found & booked on rover, you could call customer service and request the service to be re-booked instead with the alternate sitter (they pay sitters 2-3 days after the end date of service in case of any such matters).

Comments

Thanks for the follow up. Yeah, I was very frustrated with Rover for not posting this for over a week. Here’s what ended up happening. I called the security hotline. They promised they would do a holistic review but won’t tell me what that entails. They say they cannot share due to privacy.

Kate & Terry S.

I understand privacy, but their refusal to let me know that a bad sitter has been removed indicates they don’t take animal safety seriously enough to earn my trust to try with another sitter. Also - we did the meet and greets and visits prior to this. This sitter is just pure evil.

Kate & Terry S.

Yes, unfortunately, it seems Q&A posts are delayed & later batch posted in large groups (perhaps after scanned for anything not pet related). That's so disappointing that was after M&G and trial visits (& person still listed!) Hope you can get referrals from pet parents-that's best source 4me.

Deb A.

Kate & Terry S., I’m relatively new to Rover as a sitter and thought I’d check out the forum out of curiosity. I was just horrified to read of your ordeal! I could not imagine the fear you felt with this. Just know that there are sitters(me for one)on here that would take care of yours like my own!

Dawn D.

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Haley R.

As a Rover sitter this makes me so incredibly angry! Why would someone even try to do this job if they don't genuinely care about the animals? I'm very sorry that your trust was broken, but please know that most of the sitters that work for Rover (in my experience, anyway) aren't just in it for quick cash - they actually enjoy working with animals. It's people like that particular "sitter" that make the rest of us and the company look bad. I hope you got your money back and that Rover eventually terminated her profile. I hope your furbabies weren't too traumatized, poor things. All the best to you and your fam.

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Yoli P.

Wow 😮 sorry to hear that you got a really bad sitter! Rover should delete this sitter permanently! I'm a sitter and take pride in all my dogs I care for as if they're my babies☺

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Lucie R.

Was this ever resolved? Did you find out what happened? My first thought was that the petsitter may have had an accident or taken ill. The suggestion to share back-up info with the sitter is helpful. I will be sure to do that when I book.

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Vicki A.

That's real scary. I am wondering if you can sue the sitter for breach of contract and animal endangerment. /cruelty.

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Manon P.

Put cameras in your home and let any potential sitter know about them. We have cameras in hour home to watch over our 6 dogs while out or away. A true honest sitter will not mind. I'm a sitter myself and have been in clients homes that have cameras, and the client made me aware of them. I don't care because I'm a good sitter.

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Help! Our sitter isn’t showing up while we are gone and don’t know what to do?

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