New Client, Semi Last Minute Sit, "Will Pay When I Get My Paycheck"? [closed]

I had a similar experience with a scammer who tried to tell me that Rover wouldn’t take her card-oh it will be another week until the card clears. I thought, ( my gluteus Maximus) and wrote back to her and said, “OK when you get it all worked out, then we will do a meet and greet” never heard from the person again. Oh and I archived it right away.

Anytime new to you clients drum up emergency circumstances, sob stories, won’t take my credit card, play you later, pay u in cash-no no no nope. I am a big believer in the meet and greet at their residence for anything at their house. When they are boarding with you, meet and greet at your house with their dog is mandatory. Put that in your profile. That is your business POLICY. That other BS? Against Rover’s Terms of Service-and you would get suspended or dropped from the platform.

Remember it is the person’s problem-they are NOT a client until there is a confirmed booking. The clients who respect you as a professional engaged in a business will do right by you.

Good luck

Even though this post is a month old, I'm commenting for others who may get such odd requests.

All booked services through Rover are paid by credit card, which means that even though their credit card is pinged at the time of booking, they don't have to pay their credit card company until whenever they plan to, which likely is a couple weeks into the future or longer. There is no reason why a service coming through rover should be performed on faith until the person can pay later, nor is there any reason you should feel awkward about confidently stating the policies of rover terms of service, including that payment collected by them at time of booking. Everything can be communicated nicely and professionally. No excuses or further justification are needed.
If the person finds you outside of rover and you choose to manage the business on your own, including payment collection, that's a different story.

When meeting with potential clients when payment is discussed I go over that everything needs to be confirmed and payed for up front (I usually mention that Rover collects the payment up front but doesn't pay the sitter until after the booking is complete). Until everything is confirmed through Rover you don't have an official booking, you could just mention that in order to hold your spot everything needs to be confirmed & payed for up front. Or if they express they cant pay right away and you trust them and want to accommodate them just mention that they just need to make sure it is payed for by the beginning of the stay or you won't be able to provide the service. Just make sure you are up front with them and they know that if everything isn't up to date by the start of the service you won't be able to provide care (you could discuss this at the meet & greet or via Rover messages- that way Rover would have record of it to) However, if you make this exception and they cancel the booking at the last minute instead of paying, the next time they try to book I would kindly explain to them that in order to hold their booking/spot they need to pay & confirm right away. (Kind of like they get one chance)

Almost sounds like a SCAM yet only for 2 hours, never heard anyone ask for so little time. Probably best the client canceled and you get to sleep in later.

I know this is a bit old by now, but I'll drop this here anyway. I've had a couple of these instances, one of them being quite terrifying. One lady not only asked to contact me through email instead of Rover, which was the first red flag, but she then in that email asked to pay me with a US money order, which is very much against Rover's rules, among a few other small oddities. I was in a similar boat as you in wanting to please her, until I suddenly got a super bad feeling about it and was struggling to come up with a viable excuse as not to do it. Her account was soon flagged for suspicious activity and I was told not to contact her again, which I didn't. I did a bit more digging after that and it turns out that this person was definitely not who she says she was and was potentially dangerous. Always. Listen. To. Your. Gut. Come up with any excuse under the sun if you feel this might go south, especially if they come with an odd "last minute" request. No amount of money is worth risking your well being over.

Without a completed booking, you are not protected by Rover Insurance. That should help to ramp up your game face when dealing with a potential client that seems to have trouble paying for services or any other odd requests or red flag issues.... Someone's finances are not my business and the very minute I start to hear anything at all about financial issues I tune it out and just repeat that the booking be complete before drop off or before I can come to the house for the first drop in visit. Keep all communication on the Rover page to protect yourself from any "he said/she said" problems. ....

It's possible she didn't understand that credit card would be required at time of booking and doesn't have one to complete transaction.

In your profile you state your drop-ins are 2-4 hours, Rover defines a drop-in as 30-minute period of care. That might be why you are getting odd requests.