4.6

Vanessa was a fantastic rover! Very responsive and caring for our dog. We’d trust her any weekend!

We booked this sitter multiple weeks ahead of time and even had a meet and greet. In the weeks leading up to the booking, it was our understanding that our dog, Frankie, would watched, attended to, and supervised without large gaps where he would be left alone. That is the entire point of our request for his boarding, otherwise we would have made arrangements with neighbors and friends who could see him sporadically in our own home. On her own profile she says she works from home and even expressed that to me as well, insinuating he would be receiving around the clock care. On our own profile we say our pup can be left alone for 1-4 hours. The day of drop off she asked if we could pick him up at 9PM instead of our original 1-3PM time slot due to a funeral she needed to attend. I had my concerns and offered earlier pickup and asked about his care plan that day. However, I expressed my condolences and agreed. Things happen and a situation like that deserves empathy. At that point it would have been difficult to find another sitter so close to my travel. During the stay, I expressed no discontent. Although the pictures sent were on demand and fewer than other sitters I’ve experienced, there was no issue. The day before pick up, I offered again to pick him up at a time of earliest convenience the next morning before her events. I didn’t demand a specific time and was honestly offering to make things simple for both parties and I said so in my message to her. She responded in such a defensive and aggressive way that I showed my wife and we immediately became concerned. We told her that we made arrangements with friends to come and pick Frankie up a night early instead. She immediately responded by advising me that she would be contacting Rover Trust and Safety and accused me of having concerns rooted in bias. Up to that point, I had not accused her of anything at all. However, the extreme response and outright refusal to negotiate a pickup time either the night before or early the in the morning of pickup day led me to wonder if she or my pup were even at her home. I also was made extremely uncomfortable by the situation and by the accusations of bias so I reached out to Rover as well. I was on a flight during all this and I could not call the Rover Trust and Safety team. We let them know that we could not call and a friend of ours would serve as our proxy for those conversations. After our proxy spoke with the Trust and Safety team, they messaged this sitter to make herself available for Frankie’s immediate pickup and to call the police to facilitate. Through our later exchanges with her, she revealed that she was on-call for work and did not disclose this was even a possibility while our pup was in her care. She said the earliest she would be available was is 1:30AM the day of pickup. When we asked for timestamped screenshots, the best she could provide was an image of our dog taken at 6:30PM EST. If that was around the last time she was with him, 1:30AM EST would be 7 hours that he was left alone — well past the time that we have for him on our profile and also a completely undisclosed absence of care. She arrived back to her apartment around 1:45AM. My wife and I had arrived and met with authorities there about 15 minutes prior to her arrival — dressed in NOT healthcare attire. She went to get Frankie and his belongings. Immediately upon leaving the apartment building Frankie urinated on the concrete steps leading into the building. He is trained to seek grass, mulch, sand, or gravel to use the bathroom. To us, this was a sign that he had not been taken out in a timely manner. Throughout the night he showed signs of neglect. Once we arrived home, he immediately needed to head towards the area we take him out to defecate. Once we entered the home, he spent over a full minute drinking from his water bowl without self regulating or pausing unless we stopped him.

Vanessa J. cancelled a booking within a day of the start date.

Vanessa was simply the best! From start to finish, she was so warm, friendly and communicative.And our older Aussie was so well taken care of!!!

Goood

Vanessa J. cancelled a booking 4 days before it was scheduled to begin.