What to say to client when they forget to pay?

This is what I said recently:

"Hello, it was nice to meet you and ( dog name)! All dates are considered reserved when they are finalized. Please click "book it" to finalize, and be sure to use the promo code I gave you to get $20 off!"

That serves to: Remind them this is a 'pay first' service, make them aware they have not secured a reservation with you, give them instructions on how to start the payment process, and shows you don't want them to lose out on a deserved discount.

All nicely stated, of course. :)

Deb's really good about coming up with polite ways of advising customers how to complete bookings. In some cases, the platform they are using can be confusing. But telling them that you haven't received a booking confirmation from Rover (not just the instructions, etc.) is key.

You can offer to walk them through it or give them Rover's phone number ([Edit: Rover’s contact options have changed. Visit the Rover Help Center at https://support.rover.com/ to find the phone number, help articles, or chat with the team]) so they can finalize it that way since, apparently, they are not believing you that they haven't paid for the booking. Impress on them the urgency of finishing the process otherwise you will not be able to take care of their precious furbaby.

Thank you very much, Karen. Yes, that's basically what I'd say.

Something along the lines of I know the site can be confusing in the way it asks both parties to Book it Now (and more than once), but once it's booked it will move from the Pending to Upcoming section. Nicely encourage her to call customer support (provide the number) if she'd like to confirm the booking with a representative.

In the rare instances when the same stay gets booked twice, once communicated to the Rover team, support will credit back the duplicate booking payment, usually within 2-3 business days. (I can attest to that)

• Oh, and for those Past Rover bookings, if they were recent, I'd likely reach out to them through Rover messages and nicely let them know that as you're new and learning how to use the Rover platform, it seems those bookings never went through and changed from pending to upcoming... to now past. That means you will not be paid for services rendered and dates in the past cannot be booked. Would they please contact support for help submitting a new booking with today's date? I'd also call support and loop them into that conversation, since it was a new customer and therefore you can not initiate the booking. Rover has a vested interest in recouping that booking too, because they & you did not receive any compensation for services provided.

• And whenever a situation occurs that you're not sure how to handle, I'd suggest calling Rover support. Some representatives are sitters too and likely have dealt with or at least seen and heard with what you're facing and can make suggestions, especially with recommending how to write/communicate something to pet parents. That's one of the benefits of booking through Rover.

I always wait and give them the chance to do it. If they haven't by the next day, I send them a message and politely say "Please don't forget to confirm your booking to hold your spots". That seems to work well.

I find that the client having to confirm the booking again is confusing, on more than one occasion I have almost not had info to do the walk...seems like there is a better process that isn't soo confusing!