Rover

I booked a 2 month stay for my pup, making sure to clarify with the sitter that 1) their dog was ok with other dogs, because mine isn't. 2) she assured me that yes, this was fine and that her husband had 20 years experience 'dealing with dogs'.
Well they threatened to call animal service on my dog if I didn't cancel my reservation just over 1 WEEK into the reservation, while I was abroad, because they didn't want to cancel and hurt their ratings on the app.
Rover immediately took their side, even though my dog had had several successful and long stays prior, and over several years.
It turned out they were operating a puppy-mill style (unlicensed) doggy day care in a small apartment with a ton of dogs and my pup was traumatized.
They dropped my dog off injured at the new boarding facility (which was a dream come true--The Pooches Playhouse in Scarborough toronto, cannot recommend enough).
Ernie was covered in poop, missing a dew claw and had a gash on his snout above his nose.
And then they deplatformed me from the app before allowing me to submit my report.
The experience was so traumatizing that I'm seeking legal recourse.

I've had better experiences prior on rover (most of the sitter, I can only surmise, are fine) But with many more options, I highly recommend avoiding Rover at all cost in case you land on a bad sitter... BEcause Rover does NOT have your back, or your pets.

My dog got hurt a few times trying to find the right dog sitter. She had gashes and would come home smelling like smoke even though some sitters don't list that they smoke. They aren't able to verify individuals and so be careful and make sure you do thorough meetups before leaving your pup.

Had a few sitters not show up and my poor pup had to hold it in.

Also, they have horrible horrible customer service. Rude, will blame you, unhelpful, difficult to get a hold of, and they clearly don't train their call center workers. I needed to create a new account separate from my abusive ex and I couldn't due to glitch. They took 5 whole months to return my request. When they did, the email said I was using my ex's account when I was not as I stopped when I separated from my ex. They asked me to email/call them to provide info to complete a new account yet didn't provide a number nor the details needed. After searching (bc they don't even list numbers on their website) I called and I received no help, dismissed, had to do it myself, and was blamed multiple times.

After it all, I didn't want to use the site anymore. You are unable to delete your account as a form of their customer retention scheme so keep that in mind when signing up. You can't even delete your number address or CC info.

My 5-star 55 reviews, first aid/cpr certified rover sitter killed our 8-year-old healthy Pomeranian. The sitter then took her to a crematorium and didn't call us until after the place was closed and hours after our baby was killed. She tampered with the body so the next day when we were able to retrieve the body and get a necroscopy it was inconclusive since she was frozen without our permission overnight. Rover.com claims the sitter did nothing wrong and is still on their site as if we didn't exist.

Rover.com "rover protection package" only covers injuries, if they kill your dog they cover nothing besides partial refund and crematory fees. So the way they wrote their terms of service it is cheaper for them to have their sitters kill your dog instead of getting it medical attention if needed. Also, according to their own terms of service, the reviews on their platform are NOT accurate or legitimate. Beware using the rover.com service. This service platform can not be trusted.

Also a couple weeks after they killed her rover.com sent us a marketing text message acting like our dead baby wanted to reuse their 5-star service. According to rover.com a "5-star" service is killing your babies please don't use them under any circumstances. This is an evil dog killing company and I'm finding out the hard way just how many dogs they have killed/harmed including my own.

I never got my pet watched by this company. I am a vet tech at an ER in northern virginia. We had a dog present as a hit by car- a rover pet sitter was watching the pet and accidents happened and immediately the pet sitter took the pet in for medical care. They contacted rover once in our building to find the owner's phone number and contact info so our doctors could explain this grave situation.

ROVER CORPORATE REFUSED TO SUPPLY THE PET SITTER THE OWNERS PHONE NUMBER TO NOTIFY THEM IN A TIMELY WAY OF THIS EMERGENCY.

Our facility had to use this pet's microchip to contact the owners to let them know their dog had passed. Absolutely unacceptable behavior from a pet sitting company.

I had followed protocol and scheduled a meet and greet. The dog did not appear to have any visible sores or anything to indicate a problem. I had asked about recent checkups and if there was anything I should know. The owner did not disclose to me that her dog had recently had ringworm. Spots started to appear on my dog and I had to take her to the vet. Huge bill and Rover will not help with it. They say they will not cover preventable situations such as fleas, ticks, parasites. I DID MY PART IN PREVENTING MY DOG FROM GETTING A FUNGAL INFECTION! So why is there no support for the sitters when these situations happen? They have loop holes throughout and do not provide assistance with anything! I will not use Rover to do business again. They do not care that I did my part and it wasn't my fault the owner withheld that information. Their full of $#*!.

Filing a formal complaint! I'm livid with a pet sitter you allow your site that I just used over the weekend 9/11-913. She asked me to cancel my booking on your site, to pay her directly and cut you out of the deal... now I know why after returning home.
She violated my home and did not care for my animals or my home, in fact she disconnected my pet camera so couldn't check in on her and the animals. This person, Gayle, Clifton, CO +1 *******757, servicing the grand valley area. She COMPLETELY disregarded all pet & home care instructions and she's cheating rover out of their take by telling clients to cancel their booking and just pay her directly so she won't get caught, as anyone looking at her profile would think she's upstanding!
She needs banned from your site so no one else has to experience this horrific experience!
I had to go get vet care for one of my dogs bc of her terrible care & neglect of my pets, my cats were terrified and traumatized... I worried for a few days whether my animals would recover. I have to have my home professionally cleaned after she was smoking marijuana and cigarettes in it! She literally killed numerous plants by overwatering them when I strictly told her she was only here to care for the animals and nothing else. I said DO NOT water!
She is dishonest, she flat out lied to you and me, and my animals could have ended up much worse off had it been a longer stay! I would like to see her fined or have jail time for these offenses and I never want to find her on your site again!

I have been using rover for several years. First off, the app itself has a lot of glitches. Then they have changed the payout method multiple times which also has caused me multiple problems and lack of access to funds. I have had to open new bank accounts and use new paymebt platforms just to get my funds. I currently am out $600 of work that I did because they changed their policies and won't accept a joint or business bank account, so gotta go open a new account. The security precautions don't seem to be geared towards protecting sitters or owners. I got bit by a dog that I was sitting and they wouldn't pay out—it only applies to owners and their pets/homes. The fees they charge don't equate to what you get out of the site, not to mention that is the cap of the deduction for taxes. I've found more clients off site and I can claim all deductions without the high rover fees. Stay away from rover, it's a scam and it won't protect owners or especially sitters. There are so many articles about problems with rover. All these changes seem to protect rover from liability but owners and sitters carry the full liability.

Booked a sitter to home sit my dog. Met with her twice before our scheduled departure and were suppose to meet up again 5 days before our flight. A week before said meeting I contacted the sitter again asking to reschedule the time of our meeting. She never replied back. After a week of waiting I decided I had enough and canceled my booking with her. She contacted me 2 days after canceling the booking with some lame excuse about hurting her hand. Told her that since she did not reply my messages I canceled our booking. The company was kind enough to give me full refund and 20% discount if I still book with them gor my upcoming trip. They went as far as posting in my name to help find another sitter. This would have been great if their sitters were as professional as they claim to be. Next sitter I contacted, had to reschedule our first appointment. Fine. We then rescheduled for Saturday, 5 days before our trip, for 11:00 am. It is now 12:30 pm. The guy did not even bother contacting me, saying he'll be late. A complete no show.
Just stay away if you care about your pets.

This was the second time we used Rover.

First Time: The woman gave my pet the wrong food, and he passed away 3 months later. He was a medical cat. My lessons learned were that I went with a cheap sitter and probably did not look for reviews as much as I should have.

Second Time: This was just last week while we were on the other side of the nation. I had three walkthroughs with this person, he had plenty of great reviews. I come back to a house where my window sill was broken, my pets did not have water, my dog was crated most of the time, and worst of all: There was evidence of drug usage in my home. My car also seemed like it had been driven, and my pets were not very happy.

I am very sad about this service. I have spent both times really doing my due dilligence with trying to provide proof of these incidents, and they always come back with a generic message saying they essentially will do nothing and do not care. How can a pet service be this way? I trusted this for the last time. Thanks for making my financial status and home status worse with trusting your service. You are bad people.

We have used Rover in the past, but have always struggled with finding someone we can trust to house sit our dogs. Rover claims that you will get photos and updates, but does nothing to ensure that sitters actually provide these. My fiance and I went on a 5 day trip and have never been more stressed about our dogs well being. The sitter was hardly home and only stopped by for 7 minutes on one occasion before putting our dog back in his crate. She lied to us about her work schedule, despite coming up in a search as "sitter is home full time". The sitter left our dog in his crate for 12 hours one day! We constantly had to ask for updates and noticed that she would only go to our house after messaging her. Luckily we have a security system that logs when the door is open and closed so we were aware when she was and wasn't home. When we got home our dog had thrown up in his crate and she just left it, our throw pillows were chewed, our Chuck It stick was completed chewed and broken, both balls were nowhere to be found! The sitter did not tell us about any of this. We ended up having to ask friends to check on our dogs 2 out of 5 of the days she was supposed to be house sitting. We will never use Rover again, they do not properly vet sitter and do not guarantee the service you will recieve.

I hired a 20 yr old woman to pet sit and house sit. Her reviews were great. She was an absolute nightmare. Left my dogs in their kennel 16 1/2 hours the first night. I found this out because my ring doorbell monitors all movement. She put them in at 4:30 and didn't come back until 8:30 in the morning. I texted her and she said she had to p/u a friend in Denver and would not be back until morning. Their kennels were soaked with urine. My poor babies! Then she tore the front of my kitchen cabinet off in front of the sink. She thought it was the silverware drawer? We just had them refinished! I wrote out a 2 page instruction for her and she didn't read a damn thing. She didn't feed the pups hardly at all. The canned food was still in the cabinet. The pups were dying of thrist when we go home yesterday, their still gulping down water today. Asked her to water the flower in the baskets outside... their all dead! I am so mad I could spit. First time I used Rover and last. I was dumb enough to pay her cash and a very good tip up front. If I could give no stars I would.

This is the second time. The first time I used them I had a lady come to my house specifically to make sure my dog was walked many times a day. I paid three times the other sitters, hoping I would get good service. I think she maybe took him out once a day, and arrived at my house with a cold.
I thought I'd try again. Just booked Destiney D...to take care of our 5 mo old puppy...OMG...she was hired and paid well to come at noon and at 5. Well, we had a camera. She took the check and she came only at 5. The puppy had an accident. I told her I knew she never showed up earlier. She said oh sorry she had a flat tire. I said so you don't call the owners and tell them? So we could get backup for the poor puppy alone? You work for a company and say because you care about dogs so much. But you would act like you came and never did and I caught you. DONT USE ROVER. They hire anybody! AND just because they do a BK check, doesn't mean these are good honest people, with integrity. Our poor puppy! Probably traumatized forever. DONT USE ROVER!

I hired a sitter through Rover to take care of my two cats while I was away during the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Eve, the sitter sent me a text message asking me to give her a call. When I called, she gave me an odd story about having her tonsils removed, getting a rental car, and then the actual point of the entire conversation - she had lost the keys to my apartment! I called the Rover emergency line, and they suggested I call a locksmith. This really wasn't an option since a locksmith cannot just give keys to someone who does not live there, and I felt very uncomfortable giving another set of keys to this very irresponsible person. This would have also locked me out of my own apartment! Since I am new to San Antonio (husband is active duty military) I did not have anyone else I could call to help.

I ended up canceling most of my vacation plans to come home and make sure my cats were ok. Needless to say this ruined my Christmas and plans I had with family and friends.

This was my first (and last!) experience with Rover. I thought they would be able to help in the event of an emergency, but they did nothing. (They did offer me a $100 credit after this whole fiasco. No way in hell I would ever trust them again!) I'm not even sure if Rover did anything about this careless sitter. My advice - stay away from Rover and only trust someone you know or a boarding facility to take care of your animals if you will be out of town.

Hired a dogsitter. Sitter stole my laptop, changed her number, and cancelled her account. Rover said hire someone with insurance next time... there will be no next time!

I am extremely irritated and pissed off with this company. I have been on here for I believe 3 years maybe more and never once have I been informed that there are village codes on dog boarding and you can get fined! I have been dog boarding at my current location for 2 years and recently had a competitor complain that I am running a kennel without a license. I didnt realize I was breaking laws because in IL the kennel law is 5 or more dogs. My town doesnt allow ANY dogs to be boarded for profit. You all take my money that I work hard for and don't even care that I and probably a majority of others are breaking laws without realizing it. Getting a kennel license is unrealistic for people on this site like me trying to make a living doing something we enjoy. You're lucky someone hasn't sued you, maybe it's time it happens. You need to tell people when they sign up to check with their village about codes and laws on how many dogs can be in a house for profit. You wont be getting my money any longer since I can't use this app for dog boarding anymore and I will make sure to tell everyone I know not to use you

3 or of 3 of the bookings we made with Rover cancelled shortly before the service was to be provided. I'm not sure if this was genuine problems or people just finding out when we would not be home.

When I met Amy, I thought she would be a great dog walker for my little Pomeranian. Little did I know, Amy had other things in mind. She fed my chocolate everyday until my dog died within the week.

Their sitter closed the door to my cat's litter box and left for 12 hours, the cats then peed on my bed, and rover not only would not assist with damages but would not even refund the check in.

I have been on rover for 7 years as a carer. It used to be Dog Buddy a wonderful platform, amazing customer service. They used to charge just the first booking. If the cliente repeated the service, no fee would be charged from carers. Unfortunately Rover took over Dog Buddy. Rubbish rover it is.
First, not phone number allowed before the booking is confirmed. Ridiculous, because we can ask the clients number on meet and greet.
Second, rover won't back the carers up nor the client if an incident happens. So clients pay fee thinking their dogs are insured. It is not. If something big or small happens to the dogs, rover won't pay anything. They leave the situation to be solved between carer and client.
Third, rover just count "repeated client" if the client repeat the same service. Ridiculous. If a client books day care and then boarding, this client is not a repeated client. Yes, can you believe it? It's a joke. Listen to this. If a client leaves a 5 star review in your profile and doesn't write anything, rover doesn count as a review. That's it people. If you have 10 clients that gives you 5 star and doesn write anything on your profile- you are still a carer with no review. Rover is rubbish.

Rover.com
This was the worst experience I have ever had! We usually board our dog with a private sitter while on vacation.
This person has no business being a dog sitter. Her home is completely unfit for animals. The entire property is covered in trash and debris. The inside of her home is covered in trash, urine and dog feces. There was no air conditioning (it's in Las Vegas!). She had 10 dogs in a one bedroom one story apartment. When I dropped off my dog she was at the curb and seemed so nice. It was dark. We were in a hurry, I didn't think about it. I must have caught her off guard when I came to pick up because I came to the door and actually had to come inside to get my dog. The most horrific conditions I have ever seen in this place. My dog wreaks of urine, was completely dehydrated and seemed so traumatized. The sitter tells me during pick up that one of her dogs picked multiple fights with my dog. The crate that I brought is completely covered in urine. The sitter clearly left my dog in there for long periods of time without potty breaks. I had to beg for updates and received only a few out of focus photos during the 4 day stay. The sitter would not respond for hours. I am in shock and disbelief that this happened. Willow is resting peacefully now but I am traumatized and appalled that this person is watching dogs in those conditions. I am so disgusted. There aren't enough words. Customer service at rover.com is a joke. They won't do anything. There is no screening of their sitters. On top of everything she caught a mild case of kennel cough! DO NOT USE ROVER.COM

It was great at first however the sitter didn't show up after my dogs were crated 8 hours plus thanksgiving eve. I couldn't get ahold of her and ROVER customer service said it's too late at night to call her? She abandoned her job and my dogs were to suffer. My husband was going to book a flight home to get to the dogs... ROVER DID NOTHING TO HOLD THE SITTER ACCOUNTABLE... when I got ahold of sitter another time to cancel she cursed me out called me a effing B***** and said she will handle the cancellation on HER time and lied abt fees etc what a NIGHTMARE

Poor Quality Control:
In the past, I have used this pet sitting service for my 2 toy poodles (7 lbs. each) in Florida and have been happy. But the experience in NYC was extremely disappointing so I question how they screen both the sitter and the apartment the pets will be staying in. My experience demonstrated that they do a very poor job of both. Plus, some of their sitters are extremely expensive – daily rates run from $100 – $75 to care for one dog.

I was dropping my dogs off at the sitter's apartment on the Upper eastside – a very tiny and cluttered studio – only to find a huge Doberman Pincher was being cared for, in addition to her own dog. The apartment was so small and cluttered that it was completely UNSUITED for more than one small dog – meanwhile, she was going to have 4 dogs there.

The Doberman went at one of my poodles and she went into a panic and shook in fear. Thus I was unable to leave my dogs there, and Rover was unable to find a suitable replacement at that last minute – so I was really stranded. A very negative situation that makes me think I may not be using them in the future.

While they do suggest that you have a so-called "meet and greet" before booking a sitter, I was unable to do so because I was in coming from out of town. Just the same, you have to expect that Rover, Inc., has done a minimal amount of screening of the sitters and apartments.
PS I have proof of purchase but it's a PDF file that was not able to upload.

I cannot believe most of these reviews, sorry. I have built up a nice clientele through Rover due to my genuine love of animals, and my professional approach. Sitting for pets is very therapeutic for me since I have lost the last of mine 2 years ago. I treat each and every one of them like my own. I would never do anything to put one in harm's way. I only take 2 at a time to ensure their safety and to properly care for them. I have had owners lie to me about their pets, and have had my house destroyed a few times, but I put that on people being inconsiderate. Not the animals. I take precautions now, stock diapers and make sure I have lots of toys for them to chew on. Rover does take 15% of the fees, and I haven't had any issues where I had to deal with them yet. I hope I never do. But it is a great resource for people who do their homework, take advantage of the Meet and Greets, and be selective WHO you leave your precious furbaby with. I scroll the other sitters from time to time, and I can tell you there are some I wouldn't trust at all. It's a scary world out there, but protect yourself, go with your gut.