Hi Everyone!
Today I got an email, in fact I think everyone got one, from http://rover.com CEO saying that on September 9th they started charging a 5% fee to dog owners; basically new users. Does that mean that they will need to pay for 5% of the stay total amount? It was kind of confusing, does anyone know how this works? Thank you!
I received the email and honestly was not happy about this fee being charged to potential clients. Rover says their mission is to make it easier for everyone to have dogs in their lives. News flash!! The shelters are over crowded with dogs that have been either turned into the shelter or dumped on the street because owners can not afford to pay veterinary cost and other expenses associated with owning a pet. I'm not happy about this fee and I don't support it. Just another way to nickel and dime our customers. Just my opinion.
It's real. I just created a profile two weeks ago. I was going to book a sitter for two weeks in October. At $350, it was affordable and I had decided to book through Rover instead of paying the sitter directly. It's only fair, I thought, since Rover doesn't charge anything extra for their services. To my surprise, I saw when I went to pay that Rover added another $17.50 to my bill. I don't mind Rover getting paid for what they do, but I dislike the "surprise factor." Makes me feel tricked. And regarding the comparison to Uber - I can get across Charlotte NC for $11 in Uber which makes it a great deal, "service fee" or no. Rover's prices are the same or higher than non-Rover sitters or boarding, so adding a service fee at the end makes it even less of a great deal even less palatable. If I had been told about the 5% add-on while looking at sitter prices, I might have had a different opinion. As it is, I'm going elsewhere. :(
I agree with Anna W. here. I just signed up to Rover and found a new dog sitter to plan my Christmas holiday. I was just about to book when I saw this surprise $25 service fee. On top of having to pay a special "Holiday Rate", there's this hidden fee! This is no way to attract new customers!
I completely agree with Anna. I stop using companies that dishonestly try to stick me with surprise fees.
Hi everyone,
I wanted to jump in here and address the confusion. I'm a Product Manager here at Rover and was leading this rollout of a 5% fee for new dog owners. Coincidentally, I was also in charge of updating the Rover Q&A design a month ago to what you are using now! So, I love this community and also love that you all are talking about this because it shows you care.
We are indeed starting, in select cities, to charge a 5% fee to new owners joining Rover. This fee will never go over $25. When we made this call, we knew there would be some concerns and we take your feedback seriously. After much discussion and analysis, we came to the conclusion that this fee is an important step in our business growth.
First and foremost, it’s an industry-standard fee. Most companies with our business model (Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, TaskRabbit) all charge a fee of some sort. We feel ours is conservative and well below the norm.
This fee will not affect your take-home earnings as a sitter. It will only be charged to new owners, so your loyal repeat clients will not be charged anything extra.
While many don't think it has a huge impact to the service we provide you. It does. Rover has a very small team, and we have a lot of great things we want to do to improve the service for owners and sitters. This includes faster and even better support, huge improvements to our sitter tools, and ensured safety for pets everywhere.
Lastly, we are monitoring this very closely. We would not make the decision if we truly didn't feel it would benefit our community of sitters and owners in the long run. And I want to stress that, even with this fee, it is still very important to continue managing bookings through the site. 24/7 safety support, insurance with every stay, and the support of our awesome customer representative team you get with every stay is invaluable.
I'm happy to address any other questions.
-Matt
Thank you for the clarification!
The fee is just an extra charge for new users. They will have to pay the sitter, plus 5% of what the sitter costs to rover.
Thank you!
You're welcome. We wanted to make sure our sitters were in the know of this, so that it was not a surprise if it came up in conversation.
This fee is ridiculous. Combine the fee and the amount withheld from the sitters (15-20%) and on a $250 booking, Rover is taking 27%. Rover gets $68; the sitter gets $200. No company, not Uber, not Lyft, no one takes close to 30%. Ridiculous; your service is just not worth that.
Let's see some hard numbers on your costs.
Thanks Matt. As a client deciding between Rover and DoggyVaca, I'm inclined to go with the latter as they don't charge a service fee. That said I'm looking into hosting and while Rover takes less of a cut I worry about loosing people to DV because they don't have fees. Something to consider...
Matt - I want you to know that you are losing my business due to this fee after the booking I am about to finalize. Last time I used Rover, you did not have this absurdly high fee. I would switch now, except it's too late this trip. Way to nickle and dime yourself out of customers.
Matt, my wife and I were regular users both as hosts and clients on dogvacay before it merged with Rover. We never encountered a fee like this. Moreover, the fact that the fee is hidden, not shown upfront, but only after visits have been made and time spent is an underhanded practice.
Is this a one time fee charged to new clients? Or will they have to pay this fee every time they book? I have a client that is considering using me on a regular basis for one a week drop ins. If she books as a bi weekly is she going to have to pay the fee each time she books?
I didn't get any email from Rover today and there's nothing in the blog about it. Makes me think it's probably not legit.
Maybe is not! But the way they sent it, I mean the design and logo look exactly the same as the regular emails rover regularly sends! ! But since no one else seems to get it I think it's not! That's so weird!
I really do not like this.
I also received, From: Service@Reply-to.Rover.com
Image follows:
How can increasing fees on new clients help us to have more customers? That's Orwellian logic.
I saw on the sitter Facebook page that a lot of people got this email - people in Texas, Virginia, Oregan, Georgia, etc. I didn't get it up here in Vermont though.
I didn't see an email sent to me. How do I find out if it relates to me in metro Atlanta area?
I didn't receive anything like that either. Could it possibly be related to a state/local (LA) tax of some sort--like for internet sales--going into effect in California?
It might be a good idea to forward the email to Rover support and see if they have anything to say about it.
Yeah I think that's a good idea just to make sure!
I wanted to upload a screenshot of the email I re but I don't have enough treats! But here's a copy pasted! It's very weird that I was the only ros far to receive this? Hi Cindy, Our mission at Rover is to make it easier for everyone to have dogs in their lives. That includes making investments that'll give you everything you need to succeed as a sitter. On September 9, we started charging dog owners a small 5% service fee. Any of your clients who created accounts prior to September 9 won't be charged this fee, and it won't affect your take-home earnings. In addition to bringing you new clients, this industry-standard fee will help us expand our services, tools, and support. If you have any thoughts or feedback, shoot us a note at feedback@rover.com. We'd love to hear... (more)