Rover.com Reviews

Rover.com
( 50 reviews )
Website: www.Rover.com

Rover.com Customer Reviews

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Absolutely horrible company
March 21, 2019
First, you have to prepay before you can book any services. My services where at least 3 weeks in the future. There is NO phone number to call if there is a problem. They ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO PROVIDE A RECEIPT. Can you believe it? I have sent probably 10 emails and finally got an email back. They promised to send me a receipt but have not. I replied twice to their "how did we do surveys" and still have no receipt yet. After more than a week, no receipt. How can this be a legitimate company???? Understand that I have no problem with the sitter, it's just this awful company. I am thinking of cancelling this weekend which will mark 2 weeks of waiting for a receipt.

Total Disaster
December 13, 2018
Our pet sitter seemed very nice and trust worthy on initial meeting - everything good there. Within 24 hours or less she cancelled due to change of family plans. She should have been upfront and at this late date in December we can find NOBODY to take or sit the dogs, so we are screwed and have to take the dogs with us by car. Total disaster. Make your private arrangements with a local sitter and do not trust Rover sitters. Ever. They cannot be trusted

what a joke
December 6, 2018
contacted 5 girls never called me back so I had to cancel my vacation this is a really joke

joedoe-sedoe May 07, 2022

I contacted two ..first one wrote back that she was out of town on the date I wanted yet her calendar dates showed green and available..the second one never replied at all even though she her profile boosted she would reply in 25 min average..the site recommended you contact three to improve you chances of getting someone??. What the hell kind of business treats customers like that instead of disciplining the host?

GO SOMEWHERE ELSE
October 14, 2018
What a disaster, every bad thing you could think of happens with this company. We hired them when we went on vacation to watch our pets for a week, what a mistake. The person came to our house ( with cameras everywhere THANK GOD) she stayed for 5 minutes and then left. I called her and asked if she can stay the 30 mins I was paying for and she agreed. Next day she was there and stayed the 30 mins. That was it after that she never showed up again called and got no answer. Called Rover and they said because it was 10 pm they couldn't do anything until the next day. Our pets went over 24 hours with NO FOOD and they couldn't send anyone. I would use anyone besides ROVER do yourself a favor

Use common sense
September 26, 2018

I'm a sitter on Rover and have been very successful. If you're a sitter and complaining that you're not getting business, that's the name of the game and it isn't Rover's fault. I think taking 20 percent is greedy AF but c'mon...if you use your brain I bet you can come up with some solutions to this.

As for complaining about unruly dogs that bark and poop everywhere... they're dogs. Dogs bark and poop a lot. Did you do a meet & greet first? You can easily tell if a dog is aggressive or w/e. If noise and poop bothers you so much, don't be in the dog business.

As for anyone complaining about terrible service they received...did you choose a sitter with lots of good reviews? Or did you choose the cheapest sitter with 0 reviews? Did you do a meet & greet with your sitter? Some of this is on you. Don't expect Rover the company to be able to know everyone on their site. They're the middle man! Use your brain. I do a meet & greet every. sigle. time. I honestly have nothing but nice things to say about all of my clients and their pets and I know the feeling is mutual

To the reviewer upset their sitter cancelled two weeks in advance for personal reasons...they gave you two whole weeks to find another sitter!!! That's SO much time. And it's definitely not Rover's fault. Honestly, some of these complaints are from people who don't understand that life is messy and doesn't revolve around them.

To the reviewer saying their sitter had MURDER charges on their record, lol okay wtf. My friend got denied for a DWI. There's no way a sitter had MURDER charges and whatever else and passed the background check.

Rover is awesome if you look at it as a middle man to find a person. Don't expect Rover's insurance to be a real thing. Interview the person who is going to be coming into your home and forget about Rover being anything else than a way to find that person. If I were to be bit by a dog, I'd pay for it myself and move on. I wouldn't contact Rover. If a dog got sick on my watch, I'd ask the client what they'd want me to do (take it to the vet or w/e) and if I had to pay for the time being, I would expect to be reimbursed by the owner. I bet 100% of my clients would reimburse me too! In fact, many of my clients tell me their credit card is on file at their vet and emergency vet if anything bad happens! Just be smart about who you do business with. Take control of your life. Rover can't guarantee anything and it's honestly really freaking dumb to think otherwise (that goes to sitters and owners).

Mary March 16, 2019

Great review Rover sitter. Here is mine. I found a sitter with a 5 star review on Rover. We did a meet and greet and then an overnight stay. We used her for over a year. Then, Novermber 19, 2018, one of my dogs was horribly MAULED by one of her dogs, because she allowed them to be unseparated and UNSUPERVISED. SHE DIED A HORRIBLE DEATH AND WE WERE 500 miles away. She left her alone at the ER.We contacted Rover and they basically blew us off.we found out that this woman's had a history of complaints that had been reported...the most serious was that she left several dogs, including her own, out in 90 degree weather with no water. Her own dog died from neglect. It was only then that Rover pulled her off her 5 star rating. We are horrified and continue to try and reach closure while we go through a ridiculous legal system. She has plead guilty to animal cruelty but is now out of state. Don't know if she will show up for sentencing or to hear our victim impact statement. It has been over 4 months.

Certainly is not a reflection on you. But Rover assures their clients that the sitters have been screened and vetted. I have a friend who applied to see how they screen. Rover does not screen adequately. They are putting customers at great risk for a dangerous situation, and are committing internet fraud in my opinion. Hundreds of people have had their pets hurt, neglected, maimed and killed.their high priced lawyers shut down any attempts to try and set up some legal regulatory parameters.

But don't worry. Rover eventually will get what is deserved...some actual standards. Too late for my sweet dog Emma. Her literate Madison is grieving and still trying to adjudt.

Awful from top down
September 17, 2018
They are a joke. They don't test dog sitters. And they discriminate against learning styles of future dog walkers. Don't trust.

I'm shocked by so many negative reviews
August 15, 2018

I am a Rover sitter/walker for them, WAG and own a sitting business. I have plenty of business from them and have the reviews to prove that if you have a good profile, great qualifications, references, professional, present yourself well, reliable and honest, you will get inquiries and potential clients.

As with all kinds of businesses, it's clients who have to make a request, Rover is a conduit for clients to sign up and find someone they hope and trust will take care of their pets.

Are there hundreds of Rover sitters/walkers, of course there are but there are also hundreds of businesses such as myself who are insured and bonded and offer the same services as well as the hobby sitters who carry no insurance. With that said, if you aren't getting any inquiries, then it is either something about you, your profile or the fact that you don't have any reviews yet.

The public is driven by profiles as to what the sitter/walker can offer a client, their qualifications such as extra training, medical certifications, references, reviews from current or previous clients. If there is no need or an over saturation of sitters, then it could easily take awhile to build up clientel; it doesn't happen overnight. It took me weeks and I have a lot of qualifcations including being an Animal Control Officer, running a Pitbull rescue so easily handle problem dogs, CPR certified, EAMT certified, a certified member of PSI (Pet Sitters Intl) where I passed a rigorous test proving my abilities. Do you have to have all this to get sitting/walking jobs, no but just putting on a profile that you love dogs and will do a good job (I have no idea what your says; I'm just giving you one example as to why someone would pass a profile up and not contact the person).

My advise, give it time, make sure your profile is appealing to the public and make sure you make yourself available and be honest about what you can offer. Also have a great profile pic and extra pics of you.

Rover takes a percentage of the sitter's fee but they have to; they carry the insurance, do all the advertising to draw business in for us to get potential jobs.

Rachel July 12, 2019

Their insurance in BS, they do nothing.

Horrible Experience. Horrible Customer Service.
July 8, 2018

We had a very bad experience with Rover. To make a long story short, the person watching our dog lost the dog three hours after we dropped her off. The next morning, we got a call from the police that the dog had been found dead. The sitter felt horrible and compensated us a substantial amount of money for the new dog.

I reached out to Rover asking if they would be willing to compensate the remaining $250. The initial reply that I received from them told me that we'd heard from our assigned Trust & Safety person within 24-48 hours. Two weeks later, we finally got an email telling us that they Rover Guarantee doesn't cover compensation for new pets. The guarantee will cover vet bills up to $25,000, but there's nothing in the guarantee to offer compensation for the death of a pet due to negligence by the sitter. I asked if they would reconsider and reminded them that they would have been willing to pay a substantial amount of money for vet bills had our dog just been injured. So, I asked if they'd be willing to take $250 that they would have been willing to pay for vet bills and apply it to the purchase price of our new pet. I was told that they are unable to do that.

Any time a company says they are "unable" to do something, it drives me crazy. "Unwilling" would be a more appropriate word. There is ALWAYS something a company can do. They just chose not to.

So, what I learned is that the Rover Guarantee covers a lot of things. However, if the sitter loses your dog and the dog ends up dying due to their negligence, that's not covered. Some guarantee. I would caution anyone to think twice before using this service. Their guarantee is severely lacking. Check the reviews online. There are numerous stories just like mine. I'm sure that most of the pet sitting arrangements go smoothly. But, for those of us who are unfortunate enough to experience the death of a pet, I guess we're on our own.

UPDATE: After my post on Rover's Facebook page got shared multiple times and received dozens of comments, I got a call from Rover. They have decided to offer a settlement. While I'm glad that they ultimately did the right thing, I'm discouraged that it took so much effort to get to that point. I'm hopeful that they will update their Rover Guarantee to include some sort of resolution for death due to negligence.

Very unproffessional
June 10, 2018
I booked two weeks in advance with "Chelsea H". We met for a meet and greet. Everything seemed fine. Then 2 days later she sends me a text saying she was unable to do it because of a personal emergency. A personal emergency two weeks from now? If I could give zero stars I would. This company needs to screen their sitters better as far as reliability and proffessionalism work ethics go! Rover.com will not get a second chance from me. !!!

AyeImmasitter September 26, 2018

You still had 2 weeks to find someone new. This wasn't Rover's fault lol

VZ April 21, 2023

No lol, actually. Robon's got a case.

Markwan is the best dog sitter!
May 16, 2018

Markwan asked me to write this to share my personal experience of his care for dogs. Let me just start to share that before meeting him I was completely terrified of dogs. I had been attacked by dogs as a young girl and always a great fear of them. Through me being with him as he cares for his clients dogs I truly learned just how awesome dogs are. I now think I love dogs more than him. He pays attention to detail to each dog he cares for. He gets to know his clients before he cares for them. He truly connects and communicates with the dogs to make sure their needs are met and they are comfortable.

He is very active and loves to run, play, and have fun with the dogs he cares for. He even send his clients pictures of their pets during the day to show clients how they are doing. I would highly recommend him for dog care.

No Help At All
May 1, 2018

The whole reason to go through a website like Rover is so there is a layer of protection between you and the sitter. You think that in the event of a problem, Rover will step in and rectify the situation.

I'm here to let you know, they will not. They could care less who is listed as a sitter on their site. We booked a sitter through rover.com to do once a day 30 min to change food and litter. We came home one night at 1:30 in the morning to find her past out in our bed and empty alcohol bottles of ours littered throughout the apartment.

According to Rover they can only offer a third party mediator in case of a sitter issue. They don't care what happened and said they think they can "coach" the sitter so it won't happen again. I don't even think they read my emails because I would immediately remove someone like that from my business.

Needless to say, I highly do not recommend Rover. They offer you no help should an issue arise.

My dog is now blind in one eye.
December 19, 2017

I really try not to complain or give bad reviews. But after a few weeks of this stewing in my head, I decided I have to warn other doggie parents.

Ever used the dog watching/walking app Rover.com? I would suggest you don't or you stop. I found a sitter that I really, really liked. I booked her multiple times on the app. However, the last time my dogs were there, my poor Monty was bit by another dog. On the eye. This is in NO way the sitters fault.

After taking Monty to the doggie ER because his eye was bleeding, they said the bite went through all three eyelids and were concerned that it hit his cornea. However, due to the extremely bad infection they couldnt tell until that was taken care of. So off we went with some meds for my pup. Needless to say, I was devastated.

Then Rover contacted me and said they would pay for the medical expenses within a 30 day period. Somewhere there must have been some miscommunication, because I was under the impression that because this was going to need time to be properly diagnosed they were going to pay it all minus the $250 deductible. (They also claim to have premium insurance.) This was GREAT news. I took Monty in for a follow up. His eye was still bleeding, only it was on the inside and not draining. My vet recommended I take him to a doggie oncologist. I did, and they said he had an ulcer that needed to be taken care of before she could tell what the damage is. I went home with more meds. A few weeks later we had a follow up appt and sure enough, he was blind in his left eye due to retinal disconnection from the dog bite. From the day of the injury until the discovery of his official blindness, was just over a month. So Rover.com reimbursed me the costs within the 30 days and denied my costs outside the month window. There may be more costs in the future depending on if his eye bulges and pain level, his eye may need to be removed. In my opinion, this is flat out wrong. Some may think otherwise, but Monty is my fur-baby, hes my first born. I treat my dogs like they are a part of the family. Now due to an injury he got while under the care of a rover sitter he is permanently blind in his eye and I'm expected to pay for the rest of the medical expenses accrued due to this dog bite. Not cool.

Horrible? It's nothing but a scam
June 9, 2017
If I could give rover a zero or triple zero stars I would. Their a scam and just take your money I've been a pet sitter and have not gotten any business for months it's horrible and they make it seem like they would give you business. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time and money. They just want your money.

NOT GOOD!
June 6, 2017
Beware of using this service. You will be dealing with people, not professionals. I set up a overnight stay months in advance of a huge party we were throwing. We didn't want our dog alone in a cage at some kennel so we met with the sitters and they seemed nice, our dogs got along, great. we set it up. 4 days before the party the girl texts me and asks if I could drop my dog off early in the morning because they had somewhere to go. I texted her back and said leaving our dog alone in a strange place is the opposite of what we agreed upon. She had the audacity to text me back and say things come up that you can't plan for and thanks for not understanding. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Obviously we canceled. When I attempted to leave this supposed 5 star rated flake a bad review I found that you can only rate someone after a stay and Rover can't/won't do anything about it.

Rover has gone to the birds!
May 31, 2017

I have been an active sitter for over 4 years with Rover. This is (was) my full time job. - I have made Rover 1,000's of Dollars in pet commission. They have now deemed my husband and I as not suitable due to a DUI - Misdemeanor Citation - that my husband received January 1, 2010.

Yes - he was an idiot and drove when he should not have. However, as we do not drive dogs around - does this truly make us unfit?

When I questioned them, - their response was "since you are a new migration sitter from Dog Vacay - we are being careful" WTF? I have never been with or even used Dog Vacay.

Do not use Rover any longer - at least until they begin having the once stellar reputation and customer service they once had.

Do NOT recommend at all RUDE customer service
May 28, 2017
Rude and extremely SLOW customer service. Their website had a technical issue and if you complain about it I guess their way of fixing that problem is to just delete your profile hilarious. I have never seen such unprofessional 'customer service' your customer service is a joke and apparently I'm not the only who thinks this just google it yourself LOL BYE

Rover.com Killed my daughter's dog
May 15, 2017

My daughter's friend was unavailable to sit her dog for a working trip. She hired Rover.com.

Long story short, the sitter overfed her, food and treats and also allowed our little baby girl to get people food.

My daughter came home to piles of puke and the dog (which is 6.5- to 7 pounds) spent the next 8 days in the ER vet and died because of the pancreatitis caused by the sitter.

Rover.com offered to "cover our financial burden" but after we sent the bill they said we misread their email.

Then they claimed "pancreatitis" was covered on insurance. Well, tell me how you exclude negligence from insurance.

OUR DOG IS DEAD. THEY WILL TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY.

Etienne Chenon October 24, 2017

Hi,

I am a journalist for the journal SanJoseScoop, could you please e-mail me about this story at [email protected] ? Thank you.

Do NOT use Rover.com
April 27, 2017

Do NOT use Rover sitters. The insurance policy they use has an out for any "illness" which could frankly get them out of paying for almost anything. My dog almost died during an 8 day stay with a sitter. She was very lethargic, vomiting, dehydrated, heavy bloody discharge, thickened intestines, etc. She even lost several pounds during her visit for almost 1/3 body percentage / weight lost. My pet has never had any health issues and in fact had just visited the vet a few days before my trip for her annual visit with a clean bill of health.

Honestly, the sitter returned the fees and was more concerned than Rover.com. I am extremely disappointed with the false sense of security provided with the insurance and statements on the Rover website. I gave them several attempts to make this situation right and it still has not happened. My vet stated that if I returned even one day later, my pet could have died.

I can not stress enough - DO NOT USE ROVER!

Will never use Rover again
April 16, 2017
I will never use Rover again after my recent experience with them. I booked a weekend stay at a sitter’s apartment through Rover while I went away for a wedding, and my dog had a suspected anaphylactic reaction to something on a walk with the sitter. She was taken to an emergency vet hospital and Rover put down a $1,500 deposit for any care needed there. I was on a flight and unavailable, by the time i got updated the vet hospital had already run up an insane bill in testing and interventions without my consent. My dog was kept over night and released to a new sitter because I was concerned as to what she was exposed to under the care of the sitter. Rover then said this was all my responsibility because allergies were considered a pre-existing condition. This had never happened to my dog before. Rover’s customer service was terrible to deal with, and I was left with the total vet bill, full of testing that I never would have consented for. Looking out for other conservative pet owners, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

Alice Elmer April 24, 2017

Use local. This site is a bunch of programmers hosting a site to TAKE MONEY. They don't love dogs like the hosts that keep the dogs. Find a good sitter and leave Rover.

Use as a last resort.
March 30, 2017

While Rover provides good services such as connecting owners with sitters, an insurance plan, and a solid payment system, there are two very important facts that users must know up front.

1) Rover takes a big chunk (15-20%) before paying the sitter. So if the sitter needs to make $100, and Rover is taking 20% of the gross, the customer must pay $125. That's a 25% markup, passed to the owner. On top of that, Rover charges the owner an additional, ambigious, 5-7% fee. So, if the sitter needs $100, the owner can pay upwards of $132 - a 32% mark-up!!

2) Once an owner meets a sitter in Rover, the owner is expected per Rover's interpretation of their terms of service to always go through Rover to use that sitter. FOREVER. This means that anybody you meet there is off the market for any future arrangements unless you intend to pay through Rover.

My recommendation is that you look at other options first (PSI, Facebook, vet suggestions, etc.). Know what you are committing to before enrolling in Rover.

Alice Elmer April 24, 2017

i totally agree. I paid them 1,000s and they put me at the end of the list of hosts. Kept my spots open for 72 hours and then it may not be accepted so you lost out on getting anyone.

KatelynTrammell January 08, 2018

The 20% take away doesn’t effect how much the client pays. It just effects how much the sitter is given.

KatelynTrammell January 08, 2018

The 20% take away does not effect how much the client pays at all. If a service costs $100, the owner pays $100 (it is automatically transferred when they book the stay), then after the service is complete the sitter receives that payment (automatic) in their account. However, the sitter is given $80 instead of $100 because of the 20% that Rover takes

KatelynTrammell January 08, 2018

Also, you can totally use a sitter outside of Rover, if the sitter wants to do that. I have done that several times with owners so that I can make the full profit instead of losing 20%

KatelynTrammell January 08, 2018

I have never seen any random charge of 5-7% on any people I have dog sat for on Rover.

Gregg Gunsch January 08, 2018

Please read the starting sentence: "So if the sitter needs to make $100,.." If that's what the sitter needs, the cost to the customer goes way up for the other charges. And "ambiguous" is not the same as "random". There is an additional fee. It was in the documentation and confirmed with Rover at the time I posted this. It was their discretion as to the actual percentage in the 5-7% range.

Also you need to know, if you met that client in Rover then sat for them outside of Rover, you have violated your agreement and they will terminate you. My potential sitter and I both got booted off Rover for DISCUSSING possible outside arrangements.