I just received a poor review and am devasted. Not sure how to process this information?

I would be crushed to get a negative review as well, especially if I felt I did an excellent job! I read the review and your response to it, and I think you handled it extremely well. You clearly but non-defensively asserted your disagreement and confusion, provided your perspective on the services you provided, and asked for specific feedback.

My main suggestion would be changing your response from passive to active tense. Instead of saying "regular exercise was provided," switch it to "I took Leonidas on regular walks" (or whatever exercise/play you did). It's a minor change, but it emphasizes the work that YOU did; it didn't just happen - you put in the effort. Also, if it's accurate and reflects positively on your services, I would be specific about how often you sent updates or were in contact with the owner. If you give them the benefit of the doubt, you could say "Maybe there was a technological glitch we weren't aware of, but I sent updates every day," but if they responded to the updates, you could very gently state that you sent regular updates and figured there weren't any glitches since they responded to your messages. Also, if it's true, I would explicitly say that you did not notice any flea problems or rash, etc while he was in your care since this is a major point that you did not directly address.

Another option, and this is just me thinking aloud not necessarily a recommendation, is to offer the owner some kind of amends or some effort to repair the customer-sitter relationship (if you want to do that). You could message them and offer an apology that they FELT you were inadequate and emphasize that that's certainly not what you intended. You can say you wish there was something you could to do (this is a gesture, not an offer - do NOT offer to pay for anything). This process would not be about admitting fault (since you may very well not be at fault at all), but about acknowledging that there was a difference in perspective or a misunderstanding, etc and informing them that this actually matters to you. Also, I would ask how their dog is doing now and if the pup is feeling better. This reminds them that you actually care. All of this may help to remind them that you certainly didn't mean to hurt their dog and they may soften their review some.

Your last option (as far as I can tell) is to contact Rover support to see if there's any way for them to support you. I'm not sure what they could do, but if you have a concern that a customer is being misleading or dishonest, they should at least be aware in case this happens with their next sitter.

If you're concerned about how this review will affect your ability to get new customers, I would suggest... (more)

I understand your confusion and frustration, especially so early on and if you did everything you could and the owner gave no indication prior to the review that they were displeased. I know it's upsetting, but I think the most important thing you can do is to try and distance yourself from the emotion and see if you can find any truth to the client's claims. You may have come across one of those clients that just can't be pleased with anything, but it doesn't mean they didn't have any valid concerns.

I don't know how long you watched this dog, but it seems unlikely that he could develop a severe flea infestation over a short period of time, and if so, you would certainly have noticed them in your own house and on your own pets. As you said, it's possible the pup picked up some fleas from a walk or the yard, but that would hardly lead to what the client describes. Especially since they are claiming their apartment is infested and the dog just came home. That story just doesn't sit right and may be grounds to contest the review with Rover, or at least inform them of the discrepancy.

As for the communication issue, consider whether or not there might be some basis for it. Were there messages from the owners that you didn't reply to in a timely manner? This will be highly subjective, but if there was a substantial delay between messages, perhaps in the future you can focus on faster replies or communicating with the owner ahead of time how often/what times you check your Rover messages so they know what to expect, and give them another way to contact you if it is urgent. Or simply ask the client up front when/how often they would like updates. I tell clients that I tend to upload pictures to Rover daily with a note about what we did that day and how the dog is doing (or maybe every other day for longer stays) to avoid frequent push notifications to their phone, but I upload more frequently to my Instagram account and Facebook page, so they're welcome to follow along there as they have time. If they request more message updates, I'm happy to oblige.

The client didn't leave any specific complaints about your services, so it's hard to address that one, but I'd recommend tackling this much like the communication issue. Go over the care instructions at drop off, and include information in your updates that lets the client know you're providing good care for their dog, like "today we took a walk to the park and...," "tomorrow we're planning on...," or "here's a picture of Dog resting after..." Some clients may assume that if they aren't hearing about it, it isn't happening. Including pictures of other activities (I see nearly all... (more)