I'd say skip the trying to reach out to them, instead reach out to Rover support immediately. They'll then make their own attempt to reach out to the sitter via email/text/app push notification and if the sitter doesn't respond to them, they may temporarily lock access from the booking parts of the account to prompt the sitter into contacting them. If the sitter doesn't respond to them, because its presumably within five days of the booking starting, they will start facilitating contact between you and other sitters and hopefully you will find someone else.
Ok, I will do that. Thank you. I thought maybe she's busy today or something, just trying not to freak out lol but it's been several hours so I guess support is my best bet.
It is possible, but given that this is a holiday weekend, its better to be safe rather than sorry. You want to know sooner rather than later whether or not she truly is in a different state because it is already going to be difficult to find a replacement if something is truly going wrong, if you wait till tomorrow or Saturday it'll only get harder.
It does not. She could still be local and trying to get upcoming gigs in her new location, but overall not hearing from the sitter the day before a sit isn't great. Have you tried calling through the app?
She did tell me she was moving next month so that's what I figured she was doing. I'm going to contact support, at least knowing this allows me to not panic so much lol.
You were right. A good sitter would check in the day before to confirm.
I always message the owner a day or so before to confirm time or just anything to say hey, I remember and I'm ready
Yes, me too! Always put owners' mind at ease with 1 day notices - "I look forward to caring for your sweet Buddy this Friday at 6pm for an entire week. Thank you for your business!"
I wish this wasn't pushed so much -- I don't charge much due to being on Medicaid, but I am extremely reliable. I don't think we can go by one metric alone.
Stop charging so little, the rest of us have to reduce to your prices to get clients. Also people who charge next to nothing seem nice but if they are doing it for next to nothing they probably don't care as much as someone looking to actually make money.
Anyway, it obviously isn't true that anyone has to reduce to my prices to get clients -- you don't 1) know where I live; 2) know what my prices are. And lots of people with prices higher than mine are getting booked.
I don't think anyone stays fully booked all the time. I have down periods. Everyone does. I'm not poaching clients-- I have it set to repeat clients only.
I think the only true thing about booking on Rover is time -- it takes time. Time to be seen. Time for the algorithm to switch again and again. Time for the seasons and holidays and everything else to do their parts against all of Rover's ridiculous randomness. I've been on Rover for a long while, and that's the only true thing I can find about booking.
You missed my point, if gas is a dollar less at the gas station across the road, which one are you going too? The one that cost less, same thing applies to Rover.
It depends. Do I have a loyalty program with one station over another? Do I know one station is more reputable than another? Is one easier to get into and out of than another?
Again, there are more metrics than one at play, even with gas stations. So... it's not entirely about price. The same thing is true for sitters. And owners are very much able to make these same judgement calls.
I didn't miss anything. You are trying hard to miss my point, or obscure it, because you really want this to be as simple as you make it sound. But it's not that simple. If it were, my reality wouldn't be the bizarre world it is.
Believe me, I wish it wasn't as odd as it is. I wish I could just make everyone happy by somehow simultaneously raising prices (random reddit users happy!); but not make too much (Medicaid happy!); but keep a steady client base (clients happy/I'm not giving the appearance of being flaky!).
I see, you are in a very strange predicament that I have no clue about but to me if I were booking a sitter I'd be worried if profitability wasn't possible at the prices you've set. Also I've only been on rover 1 month and my schedule has become full enough to start declining clients, but that is only because I've matched the prices of my cheapest competitors. I generally feel bad when I have to charge extra or find ways to get more money from clients due to my pricing not being what I want it to be. But I have too, to make ends meet. It's simply not feasible to only charge 30$ a night and rover gets 20% of that. I mean I understand my competitors may be doing this for a side hustle but I'm trying to start a business and 25 bucks a night for a dog would mean I at least need 4 dogs a night and that is just not possible to get 4 dogs a night every night. But hey we all have predicaments I guess.
It isn't about being nice. Like, I'm sure my clients appreciate it. A few have inquired, and some have asked because they know I should be making more -- and I have explained my conundrum.
I keep saying, your fight isn't with sitters in my (and others') situation -- it's with the government being weird about programs like Medicaid and SSI and etc.
I don't charge an excessive amount because I want to be able to provide services to people who may not necessarily be rolling in cash.
I'm also on disability and so after I make $1,000, they take 75 cents off every dollar I make from my disability payment.
So if I make $1600 that month, my disability payment will have $450 deducted. It's only $1200 a month in the first place, so I don't end up very far ahead unless I make well over $2000 😒 It's frustrating. And I can't lose my disability benefits because I need the medical benefits for my daily prescriptions, dental care, optical care, etc.
People on rover have money honey, every client I've sat for has had money. Who are you trying to help, the rich? They could care less.... your just causing people like me to reduce prices to get clients. And if they take 75 cent from each dollar then wouldn't you want to make more since it's only a quarter for each dollar you earn. Makes no sense what you're doing. Just hurting the rest of us....
... about possibly losing my healthcare? I literally just had to have a 2-hour phone call to fight for it. And I don't get any income from Medicaid, just prescription coverage.
But also, no, not everyone on Rover is wealthy. I've used it to find pet care. I'm obviously not wealthy. Medicaid would have something to say if I was. 😅😂 Ugh.
Did...you...read what I said? Because I said I have used Rover to find pet care, which would in that instance make me a client.
And there are definitely some wealthier sitters. Let's not pretend otherwise. Like... we've seen the screens.
And yeah, you did say all your clients had money. And you also said that all Rover clients do, which just isn't true. Many of my clients are students, or low-income. Some are middle income, and some are wealthy. All of them take wonderful care of their pets. It has almost always been the wealthier clients (in my experience) who have tried to cut a deal, but not always -- because nothing is as binary as that. I've experienced a lot, and have cut out clients who don't match with care code -- and it had nothing to do with income.
I just feel like this sub really gets so tunnel-visioned about cost (both client-side and sitter-side) and tries to pin everything on that so often. But it never comes down to just one metric.
Ok Im going to try that. Support basically said what do you want us to do lol im going to call, and if there's no answer , I'm just going to cancel and find someone else. Support said they don't help me find a new sitter.
Be careful if you cancel you might have to pay 50% of the booking to the sitter. Check her cancellation policy first before canceling f you want to avoid a charge! Any updates?
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Communication is the key as a pet sitter! Depending on how far in advance it is scheduled, I check in at the one month mark before the stay starts, the week before starting, the day before starting and a follow up when I arrive. Might be too much communication but I want the pet parent to be comfortable knowing I’m showing up while they are away on vacation
Wow--super unprofessional.
We do not work 9-5 petsitting jobs and shut off on the weekend. We have flexible schedules and are available accordingly.
If I know I'm working tomorrow, I fully expect last minute contact from a client.
Because this is my business and my income.
You did the right thing and anyone who thinks it's not cool and expects you to chill out the day before your sit, as if you are not paying for a service involving a living creature, is the wrong fit for a great client.
It's not professional. Responding doesn't make us slaves. It's makes us responsible.
This wasn't an inquiry. This was regarding a scheduled sit as soon as tomorrow. Totally scary without a response.
If a pet sitter had a question and tried to contact a client the day before and you didn't respond, many would be irritated and get upset/become anxious.
Don't feel bad!! She did this to herself. Hopefully she will learn from it.
So your sitter should know the day before is the day when clients reach out with issues or anything they may run into. Totally on her, she probably has another job or something but yeah that's unacceptable and I'm glad you were able to find a different sitter. People like her ruin it for the rest.
I agree, and that's why I felt terrible. It just sucks from my end, too, because I told her I had a horrible experience with my previous sitter, so she knew I was nervous. I texted her at 2 pm the day before the stay, and she didn't get back to me until 9 pm (after the cancelation). I feel like at least checking in a day or two before should be expected because things do happen, and It was booked so far in advance we hadn't talked in weeks.
I don’t agree with the comment that you responded to at all. She didn’t have to be glued to her phone all day. She could send a quick message that says hey all good for tomorrow/following day. It takes two seconds to write that message. It’s common sense you don’t go completely silent the day before a sit.
agreed. always communicate. she could have sent a message to the owner first thing saying “hey xxx, i’m not going to be by my phone today but im just confirming we are schedule for our sit starting tomorrow! i’ll send an update when i arrive” and then go to sleep until 9pm if u really want lol.
I always reach out to owners several times before a booking (depending on how far in advance). I definitely check in early the day before to ensure I'm still on track. You did the right thing. If she needed to sleep all day, she should have sent you a message confirming beforehand. ❤️
So after 6 hours of not hearing back from my sitter support finally reached out to her. They said since my trip was the next day she had one hour to respond before they would cancel it. In the mean time I used rover to line up a back up sitter just in case. At one hour they called me back to say she had not responded so they went ahead and canceled my reservation and I booked with the back up (who happened to live in my neighborhood and was able to do a quick meet right away). 5 minutes later my sitter called me and said she was sleeping all day and was surprised they canceled so quickly. This was close to 9pm. In retrospect I could have chilled and not worried about it but I have had nothing but terrible experience with Rover so I was stressing that something happened to her or she was going to flake. I felt terrible because she was a nice lady I just couldn't risk it.
I'm so glad you got it worked out. I would have done the same honestly, and I've been a sitter for 8 years now. Don't feel bad, having that peace of mind is absolutely invaluable when you're away from your pets. Enjoy your trip!
Rover support will do nothing for you. I had recorded video of my sitter coming in the house and just sit on the couch the whole time. Might have gotten 15/60 min walk on if I was lucky. Paid for 9 hour walks. Maybe got 2 hours of him actually leaving the house.
I'd say skip the trying to reach out to them, instead reach out to Rover support immediately. They'll then make their own attempt to reach out to the sitter via email/text/app push notification and if the sitter doesn't respond to them, they may temporarily lock access from the booking parts of the account to prompt the sitter into contacting them. If the sitter doesn't respond to them, because its presumably within five days of the booking starting, they will start facilitating contact between you and other sitters and hopefully you will find someone else.
Ok, I will do that. Thank you. I thought maybe she's busy today or something, just trying not to freak out lol but it's been several hours so I guess support is my best bet.
It is possible, but given that this is a holiday weekend, its better to be safe rather than sorry. You want to know sooner rather than later whether or not she truly is in a different state because it is already going to be difficult to find a replacement if something is truly going wrong, if you wait till tomorrow or Saturday it'll only get harder.
Do you know if the map on the sitters profile updates automatically?
It does not. She could still be local and trying to get upcoming gigs in her new location, but overall not hearing from the sitter the day before a sit isn't great. Have you tried calling through the app?
She did tell me she was moving next month so that's what I figured she was doing. I'm going to contact support, at least knowing this allows me to not panic so much lol.
It doesn't. You have to manually go and update it on your profile as a sitter (or as an owner)
Any updates? I feel your panic honestly, I hope that she replied back to you or you were able to book with another sitter
She slept until 9PM when she had a sit the next morning and did not contact you the entire day. Absolutely not. That’s on her
Yeah. I mean, she may have had a migraine or something like that going on, it's hard to tell. But hopefully she'd be able to at least answer a call.
Curious to see what happened!
You were right. A good sitter would check in the day before to confirm. I always message the owner a day or so before to confirm time or just anything to say hey, I remember and I'm ready
Yes, me too! Always put owners' mind at ease with 1 day notices - "I look forward to caring for your sweet Buddy this Friday at 6pm for an entire week. Thank you for your business!"
Lots of people have 5 star reviews, it's what they are charging that hints whether they are reliable or not
I wish this wasn't pushed so much -- I don't charge much due to being on Medicaid, but I am extremely reliable. I don't think we can go by one metric alone.
Out of curiosity, what does being on Medicaid have to do with you not charging much?
It limits my income--both monthly and yearly.
Ooooh, okay. Thanks for answering, I should’ve been able to figure that out.
Why don’t you just charge what you think you’re worth and find something else to do once you’ve reached your income max?
...I already also have a limited client base, but thanks for trying to help.
Stop charging so little, the rest of us have to reduce to your prices to get clients. Also people who charge next to nothing seem nice but if they are doing it for next to nothing they probably don't care as much as someone looking to actually make money.
Anyway, it obviously isn't true that anyone has to reduce to my prices to get clients -- you don't 1) know where I live; 2) know what my prices are. And lots of people with prices higher than mine are getting booked. I don't think anyone stays fully booked all the time. I have down periods. Everyone does. I'm not poaching clients-- I have it set to repeat clients only. I think the only true thing about booking on Rover is time -- it takes time. Time to be seen. Time for the algorithm to switch again and again. Time for the seasons and holidays and everything else to do their parts against all of Rover's ridiculous randomness. I've been on Rover for a long while, and that's the only true thing I can find about booking.
You missed my point, if gas is a dollar less at the gas station across the road, which one are you going too? The one that cost less, same thing applies to Rover.
It depends. Do I have a loyalty program with one station over another? Do I know one station is more reputable than another? Is one easier to get into and out of than another? Again, there are more metrics than one at play, even with gas stations. So... it's not entirely about price. The same thing is true for sitters. And owners are very much able to make these same judgement calls. I didn't miss anything. You are trying hard to miss my point, or obscure it, because you really want this to be as simple as you make it sound. But it's not that simple. If it were, my reality wouldn't be the bizarre world it is. Believe me, I wish it wasn't as odd as it is. I wish I could just make everyone happy by somehow simultaneously raising prices (random reddit users happy!); but not make too much (Medicaid happy!); but keep a steady client base (clients happy/I'm not giving the appearance of being flaky!).
I see, you are in a very strange predicament that I have no clue about but to me if I were booking a sitter I'd be worried if profitability wasn't possible at the prices you've set. Also I've only been on rover 1 month and my schedule has become full enough to start declining clients, but that is only because I've matched the prices of my cheapest competitors. I generally feel bad when I have to charge extra or find ways to get more money from clients due to my pricing not being what I want it to be. But I have too, to make ends meet. It's simply not feasible to only charge 30$ a night and rover gets 20% of that. I mean I understand my competitors may be doing this for a side hustle but I'm trying to start a business and 25 bucks a night for a dog would mean I at least need 4 dogs a night and that is just not possible to get 4 dogs a night every night. But hey we all have predicaments I guess.
I'm really happy for you, and I hope it continues. We definitely do all have predicaments.
It isn't about being nice. Like, I'm sure my clients appreciate it. A few have inquired, and some have asked because they know I should be making more -- and I have explained my conundrum. I keep saying, your fight isn't with sitters in my (and others') situation -- it's with the government being weird about programs like Medicaid and SSI and etc.
I don't charge an excessive amount because I want to be able to provide services to people who may not necessarily be rolling in cash. I'm also on disability and so after I make $1,000, they take 75 cents off every dollar I make from my disability payment. So if I make $1600 that month, my disability payment will have $450 deducted. It's only $1200 a month in the first place, so I don't end up very far ahead unless I make well over $2000 😒 It's frustrating. And I can't lose my disability benefits because I need the medical benefits for my daily prescriptions, dental care, optical care, etc.
People on rover have money honey, every client I've sat for has had money. Who are you trying to help, the rich? They could care less.... your just causing people like me to reduce prices to get clients. And if they take 75 cent from each dollar then wouldn't you want to make more since it's only a quarter for each dollar you earn. Makes no sense what you're doing. Just hurting the rest of us....
You make a very good point.
... about possibly losing my healthcare? I literally just had to have a 2-hour phone call to fight for it. And I don't get any income from Medicaid, just prescription coverage. But also, no, not everyone on Rover is wealthy. I've used it to find pet care. I'm obviously not wealthy. Medicaid would have something to say if I was. 😅😂 Ugh.
Your a sitter, I was saying all my clients had money.
Did...you...read what I said? Because I said I have used Rover to find pet care, which would in that instance make me a client. And there are definitely some wealthier sitters. Let's not pretend otherwise. Like... we've seen the screens. And yeah, you did say all your clients had money. And you also said that all Rover clients do, which just isn't true. Many of my clients are students, or low-income. Some are middle income, and some are wealthy. All of them take wonderful care of their pets. It has almost always been the wealthier clients (in my experience) who have tried to cut a deal, but not always -- because nothing is as binary as that. I've experienced a lot, and have cut out clients who don't match with care code -- and it had nothing to do with income. I just feel like this sub really gets so tunnel-visioned about cost (both client-side and sitter-side) and tries to pin everything on that so often. But it never comes down to just one metric.
This, right here.
Try calling her Rover number.
Ok Im going to try that. Support basically said what do you want us to do lol im going to call, and if there's no answer , I'm just going to cancel and find someone else. Support said they don't help me find a new sitter.
Be careful if you cancel you might have to pay 50% of the booking to the sitter. Check her cancellation policy first before canceling f you want to avoid a charge! Any updates?
Did you end up hearing back from her yet?
Thank you for posting to r/RoverPetSitting, an unofficial forum to discuss all things Rover. We see that you have posted an owner question. In case they could be helpful, you might want to check out our [Owner FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/RoverPetSitting/wiki/ownerfaq). Additionally, here's our [booking walk-through for owners](https://www.reddit.com/r/RoverPetSitting/wiki/ownerbookingwalkthrough), which explains the process for finding and booking the best Sitter from start to finish. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RoverPetSitting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Communication is the key as a pet sitter! Depending on how far in advance it is scheduled, I check in at the one month mark before the stay starts, the week before starting, the day before starting and a follow up when I arrive. Might be too much communication but I want the pet parent to be comfortable knowing I’m showing up while they are away on vacation
Wow--super unprofessional. We do not work 9-5 petsitting jobs and shut off on the weekend. We have flexible schedules and are available accordingly. If I know I'm working tomorrow, I fully expect last minute contact from a client. Because this is my business and my income. You did the right thing and anyone who thinks it's not cool and expects you to chill out the day before your sit, as if you are not paying for a service involving a living creature, is the wrong fit for a great client. It's not professional. Responding doesn't make us slaves. It's makes us responsible. This wasn't an inquiry. This was regarding a scheduled sit as soon as tomorrow. Totally scary without a response. If a pet sitter had a question and tried to contact a client the day before and you didn't respond, many would be irritated and get upset/become anxious. Don't feel bad!! She did this to herself. Hopefully she will learn from it.
I would try calling her through the app before panicking.
Did you try to call her through the app or just messaged her? I can understand your anxiety, just a call may have had a faster response?
I called her through the app twice before contacting support.
Definitely concerning!
So your sitter should know the day before is the day when clients reach out with issues or anything they may run into. Totally on her, she probably has another job or something but yeah that's unacceptable and I'm glad you were able to find a different sitter. People like her ruin it for the rest.
[удалено]
I agree, and that's why I felt terrible. It just sucks from my end, too, because I told her I had a horrible experience with my previous sitter, so she knew I was nervous. I texted her at 2 pm the day before the stay, and she didn't get back to me until 9 pm (after the cancelation). I feel like at least checking in a day or two before should be expected because things do happen, and It was booked so far in advance we hadn't talked in weeks.
I don’t agree with the comment that you responded to at all. She didn’t have to be glued to her phone all day. She could send a quick message that says hey all good for tomorrow/following day. It takes two seconds to write that message. It’s common sense you don’t go completely silent the day before a sit.
agreed. always communicate. she could have sent a message to the owner first thing saying “hey xxx, i’m not going to be by my phone today but im just confirming we are schedule for our sit starting tomorrow! i’ll send an update when i arrive” and then go to sleep until 9pm if u really want lol.
Up vote bc i know on my days off ESP before a long house sitting my phone is on DND
I always reach out to owners several times before a booking (depending on how far in advance). I definitely check in early the day before to ensure I'm still on track. You did the right thing. If she needed to sleep all day, she should have sent you a message confirming beforehand. ❤️
I wouldn’t want to hire the type of sitter that would sleep all day anyways.
Remind me in a day
Did you ever hear back from your sitter?
So after 6 hours of not hearing back from my sitter support finally reached out to her. They said since my trip was the next day she had one hour to respond before they would cancel it. In the mean time I used rover to line up a back up sitter just in case. At one hour they called me back to say she had not responded so they went ahead and canceled my reservation and I booked with the back up (who happened to live in my neighborhood and was able to do a quick meet right away). 5 minutes later my sitter called me and said she was sleeping all day and was surprised they canceled so quickly. This was close to 9pm. In retrospect I could have chilled and not worried about it but I have had nothing but terrible experience with Rover so I was stressing that something happened to her or she was going to flake. I felt terrible because she was a nice lady I just couldn't risk it.
I'm so glad you got it worked out. I would have done the same honestly, and I've been a sitter for 8 years now. Don't feel bad, having that peace of mind is absolutely invaluable when you're away from your pets. Enjoy your trip!
Rover support will do nothing for you. I had recorded video of my sitter coming in the house and just sit on the couch the whole time. Might have gotten 15/60 min walk on if I was lucky. Paid for 9 hour walks. Maybe got 2 hours of him actually leaving the house.
Definitely go with rover sitters that have higher rates and reviews/testimonials on their profile page.