I also have this problem and more often than not it seems to happen everytime my rating hits the mid 90's. I used to think this was a conspiracy of some sorts but in all reality the higher your ranking the more requests you will receive. I also receive requests for dogs that do not fit my profile, owners that have no profile set up for their dog, requests from people who never respond, same day request that do not want to do a meet and greet and request from people in other cities over a hundred miles away, I believe this is what is happening.

People see an ad or hear about rover one way or another. They log on with no real intention of booking but more just to see what it is all about and send a non-malice request just "checking things out" or a last-minute request looking for a sitter immediately. They have no idea how Rover works or that we, the sitters, are independent contractors. They don't understand we ranked and our rankings are important to our business and affect by these "fake" requests. I have had people tell me they thought we know every other rover sitter and somehow all work together. The fact that Rover encourages owners to send multiple requests at the same time only ensures a booking for that client which generates revenue for Rover may be frustrating to the sitter but should not come as a surprise to anyone. Yes, I agree this seems very one-sided as this request will most likely not get booked with me and negatively affect my rating.

I have emailed Rover support multiple times with concerns regarding this and other similar situations. They always seem reply in a very politically correct way of skirting around my request to implement more options for archiving requests or anything that allows the sitters more control or options to enhance our ability to control our rating and bookings.

Ultimately I do not think these are fake requests, just owners with little understanding of how the app/website works. Rover is not interested in adding fail-safes to the platform that protects the sitters. Rover's priority is attracting new clients and retaining the ones they already have. If Rover is going to upgrade anything it will be on the owner's side to make the system more user-friendly for them, the "Customer". But let's be honest why wouldn't they? This is their website and they allow us to make money through it. If we, the sitters, don't like it we don't have to be Rover sitters. Rover doesn't care if you book the request or if I do because at the end of the day they still make their money as the customer ultimately books with one of the multiple sitters available on Rover. The only loser in this scenario is the sitter that doesn't book the request. Is this frustrating? YES ... (more)