An owner has sent me a booking request but has not paid for it yet, so Rover is telling me I cannot accept it. But the timer is running down anyway. Will I be penalized if the time alotted to accept a booking passes and I still cannot accept it due to the owner not paying yet?
Hi Brittany,
Have you had the meet and greet yet? I would suggest working out the details before you automatically click Book it Now. I've been sitting with Rover for over two years now, and here is how the booking flow usually goes for me:
Step 1: I receive the request and send a reply asking a few questions such as: is the dog crate trained? Do they do well with other dogs? How is house training going?
Step 2: If I'm available and interested in hosting the dogs, I recommend setting up a meet and greet.
Step 3: Set up a time for the meet and greet
Step 4: If the meet and greet is great and I want to watch their dogs, I verbally tell the person 'I am going to accept the request on Rover, you will then need to submit payment and we are all good to go!'
You really don't need someone to book and pay before you meet them and determine it's a good fit for you and the dog. Meet and greets are crucial, and plus, if it doesn't workout for some reason - canceling and issuing a refund can be a hassle.
To recap on the timer - the owner has 72 hours to submit payment. If the time expires, you can re-submit the request. The owner and you will receive an email saying the request has expired. It's no big deal, just re-submit when you're ready. This does not affect any stats on your profile.
Thank you, that is really helpful! Especially on the timer, I wasn't sure if that would affect anything.
Hi Amber-My name is Dawn Schrader and the answer you gave Brittney was
also very helpful on my end. I just had a booking but I didn't hear back from the owner. I was getting a little nervous but you helped with your answer. Thank you