Rover dog sitting app frustration

[Victoriawould24]

I was just wondering if anyone else has used the Rover app and found it as difficult to navigate and stressful as I have.

I have found a brilliant dog sitter and have a few dates booked in but you have to make your payment to secure each booking which is stressful for me.
The dates I have booked are when I know I can afford it but they are usually planned by me to be on or shortly after my payday so paying in advance is not always possible and it's embarrassing to have to explain that.
You also have to pay an admin fee of £6 for each individual booking, which soon adds up.

You get emails and texts sent at the same time from them and I am never sure how I am supposed to be responding, and the site itself is complicated.

I feel like I'm always doing it wrong and am bothering the dog sitter or being bothered myself and it's just not worth the hassle.

I just want to be able to message her directly and book in like I would do for any personal service like nails, ironing etc.

Is it just me ?

You've done better than me, I couldn't find a dog sitter I liked. They just seemed random people with no checks on references, insurances or licences to have a dog sitting business.

I also didn't like having to pay up front, I'd rather meet someone first and get a feel for them

Rover has so many problems that personally I would never trust it.

That's not to say everyone who advertises on there is bad - it's just a booking platform at the end of the day - but I've heard way too many horror stories about payments and sitters not being insured or experienced that I would honestly stay as far away from there as possible.

Their "guarantee" isn't worth the paper it's written on either - you would be much better off booking with someone who runs their own business, has contracts etc. and can show you proper proof of insurance and experience.

We did go and meet her before we booked but from then on it's just major faff trying to secure dates and getting hassled to pay up.
I did try to ask her in person when he was last with her if we could agree some dates but she directed me back to the app ( I appreciate she will probably have a contract with them).

We did get super lucky as she is an experienced dog handler and all round lovely person who has just relocated hence vacancies but I agree it is a bit dodgy as anyone can sign up.
I also didn't really like that she reviewed me as a client, made me feel weird and pressured like if I don't pay straight away or reply quickly to messages I'll get a bad review 🫣

It said something like how I am a very caring and responsible owner (which is lovely I appreciate) but it's like going to the hairdresser and them doing an online review of you saying 'nice clean hair but needs to do more to treat her frizz' - no ta.

@sunsetsandboardwalks I hear you, ours did show us relevant documents and was more than happy for us to visit her before we booked.
I think she was dipping her toe and is going to set up her own business so I'm holding out for that.

Unfortunately, Rover have a policy that states that once you've booked a walker through them, you technically aren't allowed to go that walker and book directly afterwards.

Whether they'll do anything about it or ever find out is another matter, but they're pretty upfront about all bookings having to go through them. The whole set up is really dodgy.

The app was frustrating for me too. I'd get an email and text at the same time. A couple of times I'd respond to the text,then I'd get a message that I was breaking guidelines by not going through the proper channels 😕 I got a final warning so had to remember to reply the other way.
Our regular sitter would do our bookings off river in the end so we both saved on fees.

*Rover

@AutumnLeaves1990 I am glad to hear it's not just me.
I think I might talk to the sitter and explain that until she decides to set up independently I'm going to look elsewhere.