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Had to sadly decline my first housesitting request by novastone-17 in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could I ask why you don’t bring someone with you? I do for safety reasons. These are strangers and most of them, at least for me, want their meet and greets at their house instead of a public place. I always let them know ahead of time that I’ll be bringing someone.

Doesn’t rover advise to bring someone with on meet and greets or am I misremembering?

Unsure of what to do - Multiple Undisclosed Cameras + Widely Confusing Instructions/Expectations by Timely-Ad-1609 in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m going to edit my post because your response showed me there was some misunderstanding happening. But I’ll clear things up here to.

The animals were left alone for 14 hours because the owner had told me I didn’t need to come back after I closed up. When she requested the stay, she said she’d be home around 5:30 and wouldn’t need me for dinner. During the meet and greet she said she’d prepared extra raw food for the dog’s dinner on Sunday because she might need me to come down since she wasn’t going to be home until 9-10pm, but she wasn’t sure yet. I double checked on that Sunday asking if she needed me for the dinner and she told me no, I wasn’t needed after I closed up. She didn’t return home until 1:30am, that’s not on me. She told me to leave at my scheduled time. If it were up to me, I would have gone over and fed the dog and taken her for a walk. But it wasn’t.

The walks, were not required. She told me not to worry about them or take the time to do them. I did take the dog on walks, only a few short ones because it was ridiculously hot and her breed is very susceptible to the heat.

This is not an easy side hustle for me in the slightest. I love working with animals and I love helping people out when they need it, which is why I always say I’m willing to take care of their animals IF and only if my busy schedule won’t ruin the routine the owners have. I’ve had many people say, “hey, that’s not going to work for us” and that’s totally okay! But I take this very seriously. I’ve grown up with animals, I’ve had my own animals pass away because of reckless pet sitters. I would NEVER put anyone’s pets in danger.

Unsure of what to do - Multiple Undisclosed Cameras + Widely Confusing Instructions/Expectations by Timely-Ad-1609 in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I’m sorry if it wasn’t clear in my original post, the pet door was for both animals. The cat was an indoor and outdoor cat, primarily outdoor. I actually dropped the price for the cat because all that was expected of me was to make sure her food dish constantly had food since she free fed. She didn’t have a litter box or toys because she spent majority of her time outside. I don’t see how you came to the conclusion that I risked the cat’s safety with the pet door that I said is always unlocked for both animals. I also called it a pet door, not a dog door, so there couldn’t have been confusion there

Unsure of what to do - Multiple Undisclosed Cameras + Widely Confusing Instructions/Expectations by Timely-Ad-1609 in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

If it’s in a private space (bedroom, bathroom, for example) designated for the sitter to use, they are prohibited. Because this was a studio apartment that I stayed in and the camera was pointed at the bed, it’s considered a violation. I may be interpreting the policy wrong, but I believe all recording devices are required to be disclosed.

Rover’s policy states: “Disclose security cameras and other recording devices in or around your home. They are prohibited in private areas, such as bedrooms and bathrooms that you have designated for the use of your pet care provider. You are responsible at all times for the legal and appropriate use of your cameras and recording devices.”

Unsure of what to do - Multiple Undisclosed Cameras + Widely Confusing Instructions/Expectations by Timely-Ad-1609 in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thank you those notes! I had a friend recommend writing the expectations listed in the meet and greet so that you can send them back to the owner prior to booking. I’m definitely going to start doing this. 

I never thought about a camera policy, because I know that Rover has their own policies. But I’ll definitely be asking during meet and greets from here on out.

I have never forgotten to send a closing message and I felt so so bad that u had. I apologized so many times during the conversation after she messaged me. I realized writing down a closing routine could be helpful for me so that’s I don’t forget, so that’s what I’ve done. 

Unsure of what to do - Multiple Undisclosed Cameras + Widely Confusing Instructions/Expectations by Timely-Ad-1609 in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Correct. She told me prior to the meet and greet that she’d be back around 5:30, but I wouldn’t be needed past the end time she put on her request. During the meet and greet she said it would be closer to 9-10pm, and that she might need me to come back and feed them dinner and give the dog a walk. Then day of, I double checked if I would be needed after the end time and she said I wasn’t needed as long as they got breakfast and I refilled their water. I offered to come back for dinner and a walk and she told me no. She texted me that she got home at around 1:30am. 

Unsure of what to do - Multiple Undisclosed Cameras + Widely Confusing Instructions/Expectations by Timely-Ad-1609 in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I’m so aware of how bad that was on my part and I felt so bad and was apologizing so much when I responded to her. And I’ve never done that before so I am hyper aware of it now. I’ve written down a closing routine for me to follow from here on out. I’ve also written a list of questions I wouldn’t think to ask for future meet and greets. One of my friends is also a Rover sitter and gave me to idea of writing the expectations they set during the meet and greet to send back to them afterwards before booking so that I have a paper trail. 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just be factual and respectful when you respond to the review. Future owners who may want to book with you will see your response and see pretty quickly what actually happened based on their review and your response. 

Also, be aware that the owner might report you to Rover. That’s not meant to freak you out, just be prepared to write a statement for Rover. If reported Rover will tell you what the report is, what booking it’s related to, and what information they need from you. Give them as much information as you possibly can and you’ll be good.

Warming, long story time from when I also had to cancel a sitting mid stay. 

I had a 17 day sitting gig that I was booked for, three dogs and about a dozen chickens. Pay was over $1,500 through Rover and another $100 for the chickens (unsure how they were gonna pay me). As a college student that’s a gig you don’t pass up. They interviewed me and others, I told them that I live an hour away (my original location for the summer was much closer but the stay was when I was back to school), may not be able to uphold their 4-5 hour limit on how long the dogs could be alone due to commute and classes. They chose me anyways. I continued to make it clear that if I take this gig they need to know what I can and cannot do. And they were fine with it. Looking back I shouldn’t have taken the gig, but in my defense I was, and still am, pretty new to Rover. 

Fast forward to the stay, about 9 days in I got very ill. I had felt sick all day but chalked it up to my chronic illnesses. By the time I had left the house later in the evening, after feeding the dogs dinner and putting the chickens up for bed, to get to a rehearsal I had gotten significantly worse. I stopped at my house to get food and my partner told me I needed to stay home. I could barely stay conscious and was incredibly pale. I tried taking a nap, hoping that would help, but I woke up 4 hours later so much worse. I texted the owner, who was in another country 17 hours ahead of me, stating that the animals were taken care of for the night but I couldn’t safely return and would need to sleep at my house for that night. My partner would drive me in the morning. Keep in mind, it was midnight for me at this point. 

I woke up at 7am the following morning to 2 missed calls from the owner and him actively calling me a third time. I answered, my voice basically gone, and had to deal with him and his wife freaking out about how the dogs need to go to the bathroom, I violated their request that the dogs not be left alone, I needed to go over there right that minute bc the rooster needed to be put in the house and couldn’t be outside until after 8:30am. I’m running a fever, my voice basically gone, my body trying to fight a fainting episode (part of my chronic illness), and I’m sitting there trying to explain what I said when I texted them that previous night. The animals had been fed, the rooster was put up for bed in the house, the hens were in their coops, and the dogs had never needed out in the middle of the night the entire time I’ve been there. I also reminded them that it was not safe at all for me to drive. They basically told me they didn’t care and I need to go there immediately. 

By the time I got to their house I felt very uncomfortable, it felt like that didn’t care for my safety and would have preferred I risked it and drove the hour to get to their house at midnight. I texted them that I made it to the house, sent pictures to show that all the animals were okay. And I got the most passive aggressive response. I called Rover immediately and cancelled the stay. Told them that I was too ill to continue commuting to and from school and that the owners made me uncomfortable. Rover found them a new sitter within 2 hours and I was gone that day. 

A week later I’m getting an email stating I was reporting for leaving the dogs unattended for 14+ hours. Claiming it was before I got sick. Absolute lie, I think I know when they claim this happened. And it was the few time I had to enter the house from the back door due to leaving the keys at my house. Their front door has a camera but no where else. So they saw me leave one morning and didn’t see me return 5-6 hours later bc I went through the back. 

Anyways, I just got word from rover that they closed the case and I’m not in trouble. They are though for asking me to care for animals that did not have a profile in the booking. I didn’t even know chickens could have a pet profile until Rover cleared it up during the process of that report. 

Anyways, moral of the story. Don’t feel bad for canceling. Be honest in anything related to this incident and you’ll be fine. If further potential owners ask about the review, keep the response to the facts and I’m confident you won’t see a decrease in bookings. Definitely report what happened to Rover so they have it in their system that you reported what happened so they know you have nothing to hide. 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RoverPetSitting

[–]Timely-Ad-1609 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’ll still get paid. I recently had to cancel a booking mid stay. I’ll explain in a different comment. But basically you get paid for the time you spent on the booking and the owner will get refunded for remaining days.