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Rover

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Overview

Rover has a rating of 1.2 stars from 605 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Rover most frequently mention customer service, pet sitter, and next day problems. Rover ranks 487th among Dogs sites.

  • Service
    218
  • Value
    199
  • Shipping
    47
  • Returns
    66
  • Quality
    165
Positive reviews (last 12 months): 1.7%
Positive
1
Neutral
0
Negative
59
239
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How would you rate Rover?
Top Positive Review

“Rover as a platform is terrible, but the sitters are legitimate.”

Becky S.
8/11/22

The reviews on here are absolutely insane, and not in a good way. 95% of Rover sitters are wonderful humans who care deeply about your pets. The reviews on here are clearly sabotage and paid for by other platforms. I will say that Rover as a platform is awful as they take 20% from sitters. Owners, if your sitter is comfortable, please pay them in cash. This will save you and them fees, plus Rover rarely actually intervenes when something goes wrong.

Top Critical Review

“Terrible customer service”

Doug L.
10/6/24

If you ever have a problem with billing, you will never be able to talk to someone. The sitters are wonderful, but, when my dog died, and I had to re-block for just my cat, they kept the 500+ dollars I had already paid and then made me pay again for the cat just to confirm since my dog died. Pretty heartless. Supposedly, I will get refunded for the visit I had but why can't they take the new booking out of the money I had already paid them? The most unnerving part is that they have this endless menu system that keeps you from reaching a real person. Their ratings also look really high on Google, but that's because the people they have a sitters are really good business end is terrible.

Reviews (605)

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Reviews that mention popular keywords

pet sitter (85) customer service (72) dog sitter (76) rover sitter (53) use rover (124)
Thumbnail of user maritaa2
California
1 review
39 helpful votes
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June 22nd, 2019

The sitter I got from rover completely ruined my dog. Malibu is unable to walk and is currently very ill. She just had surgery, a surgery that cost me 2500 dllrs, none the sitter or roger cared. Rover treated me horribly, they pretended that they would help and make you pay everything with the promise that they will eventually take action and help but is all lies and now that I have read all the reviews I can confirm that they are absolute right. They do not check their baby sitters, don't get references, don't ask for their identifications, criminal check. You are truly leaving your pet with a total stranger that could be a really $#*!ed up person. What the sitter did to my dog and to my family is devastating and one of the worst situations I have ever been at, I can't even talk about it. I never want anyone to go through this or feel this way. I'll beg you to not use this company or any ever. Get a family member or a friend always because they will truly care. Rover is by far the WORST OF THE WORST. Don't trust it please, if you love your dog never use them. Pet sitter couldn't even learn my dogs name, Got one sick from something she ate in her house or from stress and the other one broke her leg. Do you think at least Rover gave me back the money from the pet sitter? Do you think I ever got an apology or anything? Honestly my heart is broken everytime I think about this situation.

Thumbnail of user marshelleb
Alaska
1 review
12 helpful votes
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June 8th, 2018

NEVER HIRE ONE OF THEIR UNDER-VETTED SITTERS! TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES -more than once!
Never hiring a pet sitter from Rover.com. Review of the last of three:
1) First sitter took my dog to a heroin house for a week. Thank God I got him back!
2) Second sitter scared my dog so bad he never came near her
3) Third sitter didnt show up until almost midnight the first night.

Thumbnail of user cmc6
Tennessee
5 reviews
10 helpful votes
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July 5th, 2023

Where to start? First of all, people don't properly fill out their petsitting profiles and the app doesn't have a way for you to report that to Rover, so you get all kinds of crap results when you do a search. Like searching for a household with NO DOGS and they show two German Shepherds in their profile. Next, when my reservation got cancelled, they couldn't tell me why or how it happened. The sitter acted surprised about it (in dealing with the person they were picking the dog up from in my absence) but I'm sure it turned out she cancelled it since she ghosted me -- three hours before she was supposed to pick up the dog. Again, no way to report that to them PLUS they can't tell on their end how the reservation got cancelled and refunded. Lastly, I'm looking for boarding and it kept giving me housesitters who don't board. An absolute WASTE OF MY FREAKING TIME!

Service
Value
Thumbnail of user kellyl383
Minnesota
1 review
17 helpful votes
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August 30th, 2019

We booked a doggy day care service with Rover. Our sitter ghosted us last second. We drove to the address she gave us to drop off our dog at the agreed-upon time, only to realize that address didn't exist. She would not pick up her phone. I had travel plans and my boyfriend needed to be at work, and we were left scrambling to figure out what to do with our dog last second. Eventually Rover refunded me, but they did not cancel the booking, meaning our "sitter" still profited. Rover did not hold her accountable in any way. She and other "sitters" may do this regularly on this app, basically making money from scamming people. This app enables people to easily to this with no repercussions. I would be extremely weary to trust their sitters. I'm not sure what qualifications, if any, people need to have to register as sitters. Our day was messed up and hectic, but it could honestly go much worse if the "sitter" had more nefarious intentions. I would strongly advise against using Rover, as they do not have any standards or accountability for their sitters.

Thumbnail of user elainec137
Colorado
1 review
18 helpful votes
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September 15th, 2018

Rover pays for their negative reviews to be removed. First of all, they don't disclose how many dogs die every month in their care. If they did, no one would use their service. You can easily google how many horror stories are out there about Rover sitters. I wish they would have told the truth so that I never would have used them. One of my dogs was brutally killed in the care of a Rover sitter who had had a past history of dogs being injured in her care. Due to Rover's greed and negligence, they continued letting her watch people's dogs -- WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? Thanks to them my dog had to be killed in a terribly violent way by a terribly negligent sitter. The people who run Rover do not care about safety or else they wouldn't have dozens of dogs die every month and then pay to hide the bad reviews. Rover is literally the worst thing to ever happen to the pet care industry. STAY AWAY AND SAVE YOUR PET'S LIFE.

Thumbnail of user christap35
New Jersey
1 review
2 helpful votes
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April 19th, 2021

My pet was injured during a stay at a Rover.com sitters house. He jumped off the bed and suffered 3 injuries that required surgery. Rover not only denied the $620 dollar emergency vet bill from the sitter, they also denied further care my dog would need, which is surgery. They claim that my dog had a pre existing condition, eventhough he did not have any injury or condition in the 9 years he was in my care. I dropped off a healthy happy dog and picked up a crippled dog that was in pain. It is 5 Am on a Monday and I should be getting ready for work, instead, I just cleaned diarrhea and pee off my dog because he has lost function of his bowels. I will be missing work as a result of my impending visit with the surgeon that Rover already called and said was denied. This company does not care about you or your dog. Rover.com is the worst pet sitting company and should not be used if you love your dog and treat him or her like a member of your family. Please don't give this company your money and let's work hard to put them out of business!

Tip for consumers:
Do not use Rover.com. If your pet gets lost, injured of even dies, they do not care. You will not get a refund for Vet care and most claims are denied.

Products used:
Pet sitting service

Service
Value
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Thumbnail of user richardg735
California
1 review
11 helpful votes
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November 4th, 2019

Rover.com #Rover should never be trusted. The promises "Local, loving pet care" and what I got was the opposite. My dog was so badly neglected that it's criminal animal abuse. I needed to board my dog for 28 days and when I got my 9 pound dog back he had lost 16% of his body weight. He was dehydrated and in deplorable condition. I rushed him to the vet who was horrified by his condition.

I filed a complaint with Rover as they have a guarantee to cover vet bills. Followed all of there long list of requirements to get some of the $900 in vet bills paid back and in the end they came up with a BS reason that they won't explain. That I'd have to file an appeal and blocked my emails to the person handling my claim. I have a statement from my vet stating the facts of the condition my dog was in on the day after I got him back. I have videos showing he was skin and bones and very weak, covered in fleas.

Please spread the word and don't ever use Rover.com or trust their guarantee.

I have the evidence and I don't mind sharing it.

Thumbnail of user monical85
Canada
1 review
14 helpful votes
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May 14th, 2018

I very recently had an extremely bad experience with one of their sitters, and he subjected my dog to inhumane conditions. The sitter did not follow any of my instructions, and I have proof of his negligence. I picked up my dog and he was soaked in his own piss, among other things. The sitter had put him in his travel carrier and left him there alone, which is very cruel because the carrier is not a crate and it is very small. The carrier was damaged when I picked up my dog. Everything in it was soiled with excrement. The sitter did not give my dog his supplements, as I had instructed. My dog is recovering from surgery and needs these supplements. This surgery was to fix my dog's leg; as a result, he should not be off -leash and running in a dog park as this puts him at risk of a rupture and lameness. However, someone from a greyhound Facebook group of which I am a park posted pictures of my dog loose in a dog park. When I brought my dog home, he seemed very distraught, was limping, had scratches in his legs, and refused to come to bed with me. He sat scared in his basket. This sitter clearly is not fully invested in dog care and is unfit for what Rover claims to offer. This was so unnecessarily distressing that I won't be looking to Rover for sitters anymore

Thumbnail of user denisek267
New Jersey
1 review
20 helpful votes
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January 11th, 2019

I had the misfortune of trusting Rover in taking care of my dog during the holidays. My dog came back changed. She had an infection in one eye, massive diarrhea, vomited, and also had zero energy for many days, almost as if they had drugged or neglected her. When I reported this fact to Rover, right after the stay, they acted concerned and promised that they would look into it and that there was some sort of guarantee. However, when the Vet determined that there was an infection, and antibiotics were needed and the bill added up to $360, Rover stated that they did not have any evidence that my dog's condition was related to the stay, and that their guarantee did not cover my dog's vet bill. My dog has never had any illness like this or close to this before. I decided to let others know that what they told me is that they have no idea what is happening during the actual boarding and that sitters are completely independent (and unchecked). They also dont have any power to tell you if anything like that has happened to other pets before. Beware, do not leave your pets with Rover, it's a total scam!

Thumbnail of user aimeec103
Arizona
1 review
2 helpful votes
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September 22nd, 2021

They abuse your pets don't trust my friends husky came with wounds and my other friend they let medication out and the dog ate it all they leave your pet unsupervised and neglects them

Thumbnail of user lindar3311
Georgia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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July 11th, 2023

Never left my dog for boarding as pet sitter cancelled AFTER PAYMENT WAS MADE and before my dog was dropped off. Sarah, Kennesaw GA left message stating she was not comfortable with situation. Scammers are everywhere!

Products used:
This is for rover.com, a pet sitting service!

Service
Thumbnail of user phoenixa20
Colorado
1 review
3 helpful votes
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July 31st, 2023

I've been a dog walker/pet sitter with Rover for almost a year. Definitely don't get enough clients to make it worth my while at all, but I love dogs and I do my best to care for them. The issue comes from Rover's complete and utter lack of support. They're supposed to send an email to allow a sitter to confirm if they've skipped a walk (due to weather, illness, whatever). But they just don't do that anymore. So that means that I don't get paid for walks I didn't do, but the client also doesn't get a refund. Meaning Rover just casually keeps the money themselves. This has happened to me several times with one client alone because I have sudden and unfortunate medical problems that keep me unable to do these walks. In one instance, I thought Rover had gone ahead and paid me for the walks I didn't do and so I gave that client two free walks the next week. It turns out they hadn't paid me. They just casually pocket the money themselves. Now that same client is insisting that I can give her a refund, but I have explained multiple times that I don't have the money, Rover does. I hate how this issue keeps cropping up. I'm going to move to a different app in hopes that they at least have some basic customer service.

Tip for consumers:
I would've liked to know they weren't going to be competent enough to have a simple return policy.

Products used:
I extended services.

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Thumbnail of user debbiem1141
New York
1 review
6 helpful votes
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June 21st, 2021

Two times in the past 4 years I have tried to use Rover with 2 different dogs and both times have been stranded 2 days prior to needing them. Both times I did the meet and greet with my dog at their home and both times they convinced me to pay them directly so that Rover would not get a part of it, which I did, Well yesterday I got a text from Emilie R that she was canceling for Tuesday, I was shocked and left with no options with such short notice. I called Rover and they were of no help and didn't really seem concerned, said the sitter has this option. NEVER AGAIN will i use Rover.

Service
Value
Thumbnail of user terris589
New Hampshire
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 11th, 2022

I have dog sat for one client Finn for 10 days and everything went smoothly. I need to find a way to get recognized in my area. So far so good. I guess we will see.

Thumbnail of user applef4
Nevada
1 review
1 helpful vote
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March 14th, 2023

You are warned. Rover does NOT I repeat NOT IN ANY WAY takes any responsibility or liability if anything happens to you! If you agree to walk or watch a dog and it attacks you, you are on your own! It's in their rules and agreement. It is NOT WORTH THE RISK for the money you make! You are warned! I had to learn the hard way.

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Thumbnail of user ryanc918
Florida
1 review
4 helpful votes
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June 3rd, 2021

I think I have written maybe 2-3 online reviews in the past 20 odd years of being on the internet. This website and service is literally less useful than my dogs poop. If you contact someone you can only contact one person or the 3-4 Rover "recommends". Why can't I curate my own list of 3-4 people at one time? I can manually retype all the information for all 4 over and over and over. Also there is no way to delete your "job" posting. So if you do start talking to someone and then they decide against it you have to start all over again. I can't even black list these people if they are non-responsive. Finally of the 5 people I have offered to watch my dog, 1 never responded, 1 after waiting a week said she couldn't do it, another after waiting a week offered her roommate instead of her, 2 others despite their calendar on Rover being open the weekend I needed them said they were actually booked and the last one never responded. This site is a joke. I guess the best thing to do is just ask your neighbor. Never again Rover, NEVER AGAIN!

Tip for consumers:
Call a friend or neighbor

Products used:
Neighbor

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Thumbnail of user gordonh45
Texas
1 review
12 helpful votes
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September 26th, 2017

My daughter contracted a Rover sitter to take care of her 3 dogs in Las Vegas. She had an interior camera in her house so she could check on the situation. After 24 hours she determined the sitter had not removed the dogs from their kennels. Soon after a neighbor called and asked had my daughter returned and left her car parked $#*!-eyed in her drive? It turns out the Rover sitter "borrowed" daughter's car from the garage without authorization (she is on video, shown removing the car keys from the kitchen counter), damaged the exterior, helped herself to $300 that was in the car and upon return, parked it, sort of, in the drive. After alerting Rover to this, the dogs were attended to, finally, after 24 hours in kennels, without food or water, sitting in their urine. A police report was filed and sent to Rover. Our out of pocket for this escapade by one of Rover's sitters was approximately $2500. To this, Rover says "automobiles are not covered by our insurance policy". Huh? How about theft? That not covered either? I wouldn't use Rover now if they offered their service for free.

Thumbnail of user lisaa386
New York
2 reviews
22 helpful votes
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December 17th, 2018

I booked a sitter two months prior to my vacation two days before my flight was to leave the $#*! canceled me and there's no way to review it on their website dont hire Kim S

Thumbnail of user heatherb1824
Maine
1 review
1 helpful vote
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January 1st, 2023

It's been over 2 months since signing up and my acct still hasn't been approved. Would like to care for folks pets/ walk them as a pt gig. Took my money and nothing. No update... Nothing

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Thumbnail of user kristinr174
New York
1 review
18 helpful votes
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July 14th, 2021

Worst decision I ever made choosing a sitter on Rover. I took my chihuahua and German shepherd to Miriah Elizabeth's house to be watched for 4 days. An hour into her sitting my dogs she calls to say the chihuahua darted and it's gone. Little did we know they had my dog dead in their house where their pitbull and other dog was. They brought my pets belongings out instead of letting me in to collect them and I called the cops. She lied to the cops that the dog ran away. So posts alerting the public about the missing dog and then the next day we get a call that our dog was hit by a car and we can come identify it. Well it was my dog and not hit by a car but attacked. No shirt and collar which miriah said he ran away in. I took my dog home to bury him. 3 days later the stranger who apparently Iikes to pick up random dogs up off the road and searched Craigslist or marketplace for the owners…? Messaged to ask me if I knew why the dog didn't have a collar and shirt.? So now things are making more sense past the worry about my dog and finding him. They hid this. Cleaned up blood, got rid of the dogs shirt bc it was torn like his skin. They drove my dead dog to this persons place and had them contact me to get the body. I told them he had a microchip and the cop said well if you got the chip you can track him and they heard the cop say that, that's why they made sure I got the body back. This has been a terrible experience and I hope no one has to go through what my family did. They do not vet their sitters and assume no responsibility for things that happen to your animals. Rover should be shut down.

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Thumbnail of user saml672
Florida
1 review
1 helpful vote
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March 8th, 2022

I used the service just for an overnight visit came back my dog was unattended shivering tied to the back patio where he never is ' cause he's a short-haired Tiny terrier it was the dead of winter overnight its a miracle my dog didn't die and it looked like the person had tied him there the night before and never come back there was no food no water no shelter I don't know why this person just didn't leave him in the house I'm assuming it's because he didn't wanna clean up poop If he had no intention of walking my dog and of course rover took no responsibility for this but I'm just so thankful my dog was alive don't ever use this company ever ever ever ever I cannot say enough never ever ever ever
PS they made me put one star or they won't submit the review but this company does not deserve even one star

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Thumbnail of user arianam89
Texas
1 review
1 helpful vote
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December 8th, 2022

HORRIBLE BOTH OF THEM, SCAMMERS. Go through PetsMart or your local dog sitting/boarding. NEVER USE HER SHE IS A STRAIGHT SCAMMER. AND ROVER LETS HER DO IT. SHE WILL NOT FEED YOUR DOG AND SHE STEALS THEIR COLLARS.

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Thumbnail of user saram898
Turkey
1 review
1 helpful vote
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September 26th, 2021

Your dog sitter in SC lost a dog or at least claims to have lost it. Find the dog and fire this sitter and make a public statement. No one trust this company until something is done with the situation in SC Involving Angela Clark's dog. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY, they don't care who they hire. Fire Samantha R. Who claims to have lost the dog.

Thumbnail of user rebeccad176
New York
1 review
18 helpful votes
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December 30th, 2018

ROVER customer service is terrible. The walkers are great and setting up the customers are great but the customer service team don't care about your dog at all. If something happens to your dog rover can care less! I had to drop in on a dog twice a day, who was kept in a tiny room by her self 23 hours a day. She was eating paint, legos and other stuff. She would pee herself and freak out during the walks. I had to bring my wife to help me because one person could not handle it. When the owners asked us to cage her for 23 hours a day we called rover because we felt as if the situation was not good for the dog. We were afraid she would hurt herself or get sick from the stuff she ate. When I called customer service Memory K. Pretended to help us by just telling us to cage the dog since that is what the owner told us to do. When I said we didn't feel the dog was safe and it was inhumane to do that to her 23 hours a day she kept insisting we just do whatever the owner said. Memory told us that rover is just a platform and could not do anything else. So as a customer and a sitter of rover I will never use them again. Knowing my dog is in the hands of someone and rover who takes FEES from both sides is just a platform is DISGUSTING. You are terrible rover. These are peoples dogs and their lives. Shame on you!

Thumbnail of user pennyp58
Arizona
1 review
17 helpful votes
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August 30th, 2019

We have a pet that gets anxious when left alone for long periods of time. Through Rover, we hired a sitter to come to our home twice a day, and be with our pet for 30 minutes each time while we were out of the country. Our Ring system records entry and exits from our home and it showed that of the 8 agreed upon visits, the sitter was only in the house 30 minutes one time, on two occasions she was there for a mere 8 minutes. For half of the 8 visits, she was there less than 15 minutes. To make matters worse, when we asked the sitter if she was able to be there for the agreed upon 30 minutes, she lied to us. Additionally, the sitter falsified her visit times on the Rover system, making it appear that she was there 30 minutes each time. So she lied to Rover as well. You'd think that would cause concern for Rover. Money is paid to Rover up front so we went to them with our concerns and requested a refund. They said we had to go to the sitter to get her to request a refund! WHAT? Needless to say the sitter ignored our outreach to settle the issue. We went back to Rover, who requested that we send them our evidence. After sending them the Ring system information, they refunded us less than half of what we paid and the sitter is still available on their website for jobs. If you love your pet, do not use Rover!

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