score:
0

Why do sitters delay responses?

I will message a sitter and they will respond with "yes we can meet etc" I say okay great when and then they don't respond, sometimes for days. I message them back within minutes of their response. I can understand that people are busy with other things. However it seems really unprofessional to go days between messages. Is that typical? Or is that a warning sign that they're flaky? Should I tell them nevermind? I'm training a reactive dog so it's a lot of work to try to meet someone experienced in the first place. It's extra discouraging to go hours and even days trying to keep the conversation going. (note I'm not talking about the time it takes for them to first respond.)

2 Answers

Sort by ยป oldest newest most voted
score:
1

Any sitter that takes days to respond isn't reliable in my opinion and should be avoided. For many Rover sitters caring for pets is a part-time or occasional gig. Yet for many pet care is a full time, income-producing business, seek them out.

score:
1

Yes, your instincts are correct. Anyone who doesn't respond to your subsequent messages in a reasonable amount of time could be "flaky" as you call it and probably unreliable. I would message them never mind and say you will book someone else. Since you are a sitter yourself, you must realize that only the first response is the one that Rover uses in its metrics. Therefore, they get credit for a quick response time but, in actuality, don't maintain it. Don't lower your standards.

Comments

Sucks because they have such promising profiles too! :(

If they are popular sitters with amazing profiles and feedback, then I would say they are extremely busy with other (repeat) clients and didn't make you their priority because of that. It happens. A lot of sitters will rather petsit for their repeat clients .