Rover
Reviews and Complaints

As someone deeply passionate about pets, I understand the importance of finding reliable and caring pet sitters. Looking at the reviews for A Place For Rover Inc, it's evident that there are mixed experiences. Some customers have highlighted issues with the majority of sitters not providing adequate care, leading to safety concerns for their pets. Instances of injuries, lack of attention to instructions, and poor customer service have been mentioned. On the other hand, there are positive reviews praising the platform for connecting them with responsible and caring sitters who have provided excellent service. It's crucial to carefully vet and communicate with sitters to ensure the well-being of your beloved pets. While there are concerns raised by some customers, there are also instances of successful and positive experiences shared by others. When considering using A Place For Rover Inc, it's essential to weigh these factors and make an informed decision based on your pet's needs and your expectations.

I have been a Sitter since 2020 and love it, I mandate Meet and Greets along i ensure pictures are sent everyday as requested by most Clients. I have been in the Pet business for 13 Years and Love and care for each and every pup that has came into my home. Please always do a meet and Greet and demand that Pictures be sent to you when using rover.com. We as sitters set our own prices, The Reason they are $45 a night or higher is because Rover takes fees out on top of our fees that we put in. As a Rover.com sitter i try to meet the Budget of each client to fit there needs and the pets. We have started providing all needs of each pet that comes in our door. Please don't paint all Sitters bad just because others do bad things, There are us who loves pets and care like myself.

I see many people, almost all of the reviews. Owners upset that their dog didn't receive the care that was expected. This is very unfortunate, and I feel sorry that this has happened. With that being said, I have over 7 years experience in animal care, and dog walking/sitting, and have never had one complaint. I do think that Rover does not take responsibility for their "employees" which feels like a scam, but they are technically private contractors. Call references, call past employment, and if you get a bad vibe don't hire us! Anyone can use this app if they pass a background check, that doesn't mean you did your homework on who you are allowing to care for you pet. I understand the frustration, but would you leave your child with someone who simply passed a background check? No. Do your homework, know who you are dealing with. Not all people who work through Rover are negligent, or untrustworthy.

I'm really shocked and saddened by the amount of bad experiences people are reporting. To those who had a negative experience with your pet under a Rover sitter, I sincerely feel for you, I cannot even imagine. The truth is, these sitters are from a pool of the general public who sign up to become a sitter to choose from. It's an unfortunate fact of life that some people are unprofessional and dishonest.

I want everyone to know there are definitely good people who take this job seriously. Speaking for myself, I've been a Rover dog sitter since 2013 (leaving this review in 2020) with 5 Star reviews. When I created the account, I got a background check and took the very informative online safety course. I'm a dog owner myself, and I enjoy working with my people and animal clients. I have always treated dogs and other animals I care for just as I would care for my own.
If you're new to Rover, you may use code *** for $20 off your first service. Never expires. Can be used on any Rover sitter. :)

So I'm a Rover sitter, and have been doing so for a little over a month because I recently left my teaching job. In that time, I have racked up about 30 clients, all 5 star reviews, and several repeat clients. The majority of the reviews here are completely bogus. I find it extremely hard to believe that these things would happen via Rover sitters.
Most sound completely fake to me based on my experience as a sitter and all of my conversations with my Rover clients, all of whom are very satisfied with the service. Yes, we are background checked, and clients have complete control over who they choose as a sitter, so for these supposed disgruntled clients, it's up to you to do your due diligence and get to know the sitter a bit during the meet and greet. 99% of us are wonderful, kind, educated, pet-loving people.
And regarding a review complaining about paying $25 for a 30 minute visit... what do you expect? That 30 minute visit is more like an hour for us when you include our travel time to and from your house. Not to mention the cost of gas. Most reputable sitters are not willing to work for pennies.

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.

I've had multiple positive interactions with many pet sitters on Rover. Most recently, I've found a consistent house sitter for my 4 pets who has watched my home & pets multiple times since I first hired him from the site.
There appears to be a misunderstanding with some people for the role the website plays when an owner is hiring their sitter for pet care. Before deciding to book a service on the site I checked their terms of service and also their descriptions. They are the neutral party/tool that a business owner uses to list their services. I can kind of compare it to Angie's List but specifically for pet care. Sitter's list their personal business, owners hire the business if they think it's a good fit.
When I book my pet sitter, I am hiring the pet sitter for their advertised service.
While I was searching for a trusted house sitter, I interviewed at least 5 different sitters both via messaging and in-person with what I think Rover calls a Meet & Greet. Overall, I was the one taking the time to ensure the person I allowed into my home was a good fit for my needs and my pets' needs.
When hiring anyone, it should be treated with care and intentional conversation. The website also has some handy tips & article that guided me on my questions to ask my pet sitter when determining their fitness for what I expect from my sitter.

I am a Rover sitter, and have been for about a year. I absolutely LOVE animals, and this part-time gig became full time, since I truly enjoy being around dogs more than people. I would never neglect an animal or mistreat them in any way. They sleep with me while I board them, and get lots of love, attention, walks and treats! I prefer to do a meet and greet prior to boarding, but some owners don't care to, which is fine with me too. But as a pet owner myself, I would NEVER leave my precious baby with a complete stranger without at least meeting them and getting some sort of gut feeling from them.
Nor would I cancel last minute because I know how much of a bind it could put someone in when they have to travel. I honestly don't understand how people can be so inconsiderate. Another reason why I love animals more...
I have had my share of dishonest owners telling me how well-behaved and housebroken their dog is. Only to find out their dog pees everywhere, and chews everything in sight. Not to mention the aggression some of their 'friendly' dogs have towards other dogs. I am well aware of what can happen when animals are concerned, and limit myself to not take in more than 2 at a time, maybe 3 if they are repeat clients. Rover is just an app that puts people in contact with each other. Do your due diligence! Don't have some false sense of security with sitters unless you do your homework. Rover does take 15% of fees, but as a sitter, I feel safer going through the app, so I don't mind. Don't let the actions of a few bad people take away from the great resource Rover is!

Listen, guys, I have the PERFECT scam for everyone that you CANNOT get in any legal trouble for! Create an account on Rover saying you will pet sit or house sit and don't do anything and still get paid! It's amazing and you can say you're available to anyone and everyone that asks you to watch their pet. Once it is booked, you can sit on your couch and pretend to go to their house, maybe stop by and eat some food in their fridge, scour the house to see if there is anything worth taking or throw some parties if they have a nice home! You can even take other pets that you are supposed to be watching to their house and store them there so you don't have to bring them to your house. Let them pee all over their furniture, destroy their belongings and walk away free and clear (and with money in your pocket)! IF someone tries to file a complaint, don't worry, Rover has your back! Rover will blame the damages on their pet and say the home owner was the one who took the belongings. You not only get paid, have to do nothing but you also have a team of people backing you while you do it! This is the scam of the century and if you don't believe you can get away with... well, about anything... while pretending to be a sitter on Rover, just read all the reviews of the pet owners that have used this service. Don't forget to invite me to the house parties you get to throw at these homes!

*** this is obviously a tongue and cheek review showing how absurd it is that so many people have had negative experiences and received no compensation while those who are Rover "sitters" suffer no consequences for failing to do their job. I do not condone any of the above behavior

I recently was solicited to use site jabber following an online purchase. While I was here I decided to look up Rover.com. The experiences some of you have faced brought tears to my eyes. There is no excuse for negligence on anyone's part, and as a sitter myself, the majority of us go above and beyond the expectations of pet parents when sitting for client's dogs. I only provide overnight sitting and I never go to a client's home. But I do follow Rover.com's procedures in booking.

When I receive a request online, I take a look at the dog's information. I make sure that this breed / size / weight dog is one I would be able to handle and would want to sit for. (I take in all kinds of dogs and up to 4 at a time, if from the same household. I also specialize in special needs dogs. I have dogs who are recovering from major surgery, have cancer, diabetes and need insulin injections, blind, and even stroke victims). If yes, I then contact the dog's owner, always through the Rover website so that you have a "paper trail", so to speak. I request a Meet & Greet in my home. This is non-negotiable. Once a day and time is confirmed, the prospective client brings their dog(s) to my house. I tell them to allow for at least 45 minutes. They meet me and my family. They look around my home. They go outside to see my 1/2 acre fenced in backyard. If they like what they see and if I like what I see, the next is the 4 page detailed questionnaire I have them fill out about their dog, so that I may care for this dog in the manner requested by the dog owner. While they fill out the form, I'm down on the floor with the dog, watching his behavior and interaction with the family. If both myself and the client are satisfied that we have made a good match, then I thank them and provide them with a flyer listing what they must bring with them when dropping off their dog. I adhere strictly to the owner's requests in all matters (sleeping, eating, etc.). If anything feels off about the owner or the dog, I kindly tell them that I don't feel this would be a good match.

On the day of the dog's arrival, my husband and I greet the client in the driveway (because I ask them to text when on their way). We bring the dog in the house with their things and I listen to any last minute instructions and/or advice. The pet parent leaves and the visit begins. I generally send 10 pictures a day after dinner, with a detailed description of how we spent the day.

To anyone who had terrible Rover.com reviews posted and you live anywhere near me, I would love to sit for your dog for a weekend, FREE OF CHARGE, to show you how a true Rover.com dog sitter operates. If you decide to give Rover.com another try, my best advice it to call customer support at Rover and ask for a high ranking sitter. If you go online, look for someone with a 5-star rating, and take the time to read their reviews. Reviews tell All! I'm posting my link to my Rover.com page below, but if you want to book me, reach out early, as I am already booking for February 2018:

https://www.rover.com/sit/rebeccade

Also, if you feel like just having fun while on Facebook, check out my Rover page for pictures, videos and funny little ditties:

https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaAtRover/

The very best to all! (Pictured are some of my regular dog clients)

the rover app isnt that bad but the problem is the payment method.. paypal shouldnt be the only way to get the money you earned .. this is just my opinion i think that should change its really a drag

I bought a very basic dog collar and ordered a size medium. The customer service is awful. No one to speak to live. They told me that this was a personalized special order and I would not get a refund. They said it was a special order. Since when is ordering a size medium a special order. This place is awful. They wont even talk to me live. I am Sillis g to pay the shipping back and now Im out over $35 for a basic nylon collar that doesnt fit. Terrible customer service!

This place took excellent care of him and their facilities are pretty good.

rover is so unfair on how they treat their walkers say if you wanted to report a client the response you would get is sorry we can’t do that or that’s not our problem then when you cancel your account goes under review people also have personal lives we don’t cancel because we want we cancel for emergency only I’m starting to dislike rover ! Rover needs an upgrade and this is why I’m reporting them to the bbb!

We had a really bad experience with Rover. We left our dog with a sitter named Sabrina Roe and she assured us that she and her husband were very reliable. She even said that her husband was an engineer at Lockheed Martin Space which is located close to their home. We trusted her and left our dog with her when we went out of town for a couple of weeks.

While we were out of town, Sabrina notified us that she took our dog for a walk and he got bit by another dog in her neighborhood. We were devastated when we heard this news. Ms. Roe claims that she didn't get the name of the person whose dog bit our dog and now Rover nor Ms. Roe won't pay the vet bill. Sabrina won't answer the phone or any emails. We were really disappointed with the service we received from Rover.

When we booked our dog at Rover, we had high expectations that our dog would get 'loving care', 'Dog sitters you can trust', and in Sabrina's writeup she said 12 years of experience. We feel that we didn't get the claimed professional service. We feel that Rover is advertising and misrepresenting to everyday people like you and me that they employ experienced pet sitters and walkers.

Our dog was bit and the vet said that the other dog tore the layers of skin apart which caused a baseball sized sack of bloody fluid to collect on the back of his neck. Our dog has been back to the vet to have the wound drained twice and is on antibiotics. As I write this it's over a month and he still has a now hardened golf ball sized lump at the site of the bite. We were really upset with the service we received from Rover.

We had to make multiple calls to get a response from Rover. We've been back and forth with Sean O at Rover from their 'Trust & Safety' department. Trust & Safety is their name for the complaint dept. We do have to say that Rover has great creative marketing. So far all the guy does is repeat the corporate 'speak' that Rover doesn't pay for the first 250.00 of vet bills. They like to call this a 'minimum contribution'. We wonder who the marketing person was that came up with that? What a joke. What they are saying is, when your dog gets ripped apart under the care of their sitters YOU have to make a 'minimum contribution'. Sean told us personally that many of these cases end up in court.

We went to the Rover 'Core Values' page https://www.rover.com/careers/core-values/and we got another ear full of corporate BS like 'Relentless focus on dog safety and sitter quality'. The best one is 'Prioritization of business goals above short-term personal career interests'. Under that they say 'No politics. We kick $#*! at tasks to move Rover forward.' MOVING ROVER FORWARD IS THE NUMBER 1 PRIORITY. We wonder how many employees have stock options?

Rover is nothing but another Seattle startup with tons of funding from venture capitalists. This means their goal is to go public making a lot of people super rich. They are not concerned about your pet. They are concerned about making their numbers. They do not want to set a precedent of paying for the mistakes of their sitters. This is kind of like the issue Uber and Lyft had regarding car insurance.

According to Wikipedia Rover.com takes a percentage of each booking made on its site, from 15-20% for dog sitting/boarding services up to 40% for its Quick Match walking service. There's a lot of money at stake here. They also said the in May of 2018 they raised another 155 million in venture capital funding.

We can only warn our fellow pet owners (and the rover employees that walk and sit the dogs) about the RISK of doing business with rover.com. We had a really bad experience with them and we don't want anyone else to go through what we went through. We have pictures of what they did to our dog. We had him back to the vet multiple times and she had to suck bloody fluid from the wound. There were 2 days where he didn't eat or drink.

I gotta say, as someone who's been dog sitting and walking for a while now, I've had some pretty mixed experiences with Rover. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some good things about the site - it's a great way to connect with clients and get some extra cash, and there are some really awesome pet owners out there who I've had the pleasure of working with. But there are also some serious issues with the way Rover operates that have left me feeling pretty frustrated at times.

One of the biggest problems I've had with Rover is their customer service. I've had a few instances where I felt like they weren't being fair or responsible in their dealings with me. For example, there have been times when I've had trouble using the website or receiving client requests, and when I called Rover to ask about it, they told me I needed to update my profile description. This was a new policy that they hadn't notified me about, and it was really frustrating to feel like I was being penalized for something that wasn't my fault.

Another issue I've had with Rover is that their website communications can be really misleading. For example, they don't always provide clients' last names, addresses, or phone numbers to the sitter on the website. Instead, they generate different phone numbers that I assumed were clients', but turned out not to be. This made it really difficult for me to track conversations and ensure that clients were legitimate. And to make matters worse, Rover changed my photos and profile information without notifying me or asking for my permission. They even listed me as a smoker, which is totally false!

But the most alarming thing that's happened to me on Rover was when I mentioned to a client that I was thinking about leaving the site. Suddenly, all of my phone texts - not just the ones from Rover, but all of my personal texts - disappeared. It was like Rover had taken control of my entire phone! They claim that they can only delete Rover-related texts, but I'm not so sure. And to make matters worse, they messaged one of my clients without my permission to tell her that I was no longer offering services. I don't even know what they said to her, because they didn't provide a copy of the message.

All in all, I have pretty mixed feelings about Rover. There are definitely some good things about the site, but there are also some serious issues with the way they operate. I'm not sure if I'll continue using their services in the future, but for now, I'm keeping my options open.

I gotta say, Rover is a pretty sweet deal for pet owners. As someone who's been using it for over a year now, I can tell you that there are some amazing sitters out there who will take care of your furry friends like they're their own. But, like with anything in life, there are some bad apples too. So, here are some tips on how to find a good sitter and how to deal with the bad ones.

First off, when you're looking for a sitter, make sure you check out their verified reviews. These are the ones with the star ratings, so you know they're legit. Don't trust any other reviews, because anyone can write those (even the sitter themselves). Also, look for sitters with the "Extended Background Check" and "Rover 101" badges on their profiles. This means they've gone through basic dog training and have paid for an enhanced background check. You want someone who's committed to the safety of your pets and your property.

Another thing to keep in mind is to not go for the cheapest sitter you can find. A lot of new sitters will lower their prices to try and get more customers, but that doesn't mean they're reliable or experienced. Make sure you do an in-person meet with the sitter before you book them, so you can ask questions and make sure they're a good match for your pet. And, be clear about your expectations. If you don't want any other people or pets around your animals, let the sitter know. Also, make sure their schedule can accommodate your needs and tell them how much communication you expect regarding your pet.

If you're worried about incidents happening, make sure you have an emergency plan in place before you book a sitter. Leave your local vet and emergency center info, an emergency contact, and tell the sitter to contact Rover ASAP. The more information Rover has, the more they can help (and they may even cover some of the costs). And, if something does happen, don't be afraid to report the sitter to Rover. They may reimburse or refund you for any incidents, but make sure you have evidence to back up your claim.

If a sitter cancels on you within 7 days of booking, don't worry. Rover will help you find a replacement and you should be refunded. But, if you cancel, it depends on the sitter's cancellation policy. Make sure you read that before you book them.

Overall, I think Rover is a great service for pet owners. Just make sure you do your research and find a good sitter. And, if something does go wrong, don't be afraid to speak up. A bad sitter can ruin your pet's experience, so make sure you leave a bad review if necessary.

I used Rover for the first time and it was a total disaster. I didn't want my dog to be boarded at daycare two weeks in a row, so I thought I'd give Rover a try. Boy, was that a mistake! I shared my experience with Rover right after the visit, but the response I got from Caleb on Trust and Safety was totally unempathetic. He even called me to tell me that "things I thought had happened might not have happened". What kind of response is that? I told him that my dog came home smelling like urine with a urine-soaked crate mat and no explanation, and he just kept gaslighting me. He said that my dog seemed happy in the photos he reviewed from the sitter and he had closed the case. What a total scam! There was zero accountability and I felt totally scammed.

I asked for a price adjustment to cover the cost of grooming, but the sitter declined and Caleb said he would not overrule because my dog had received "care". I asked if he considered coming home in that condition care - no answer. As disturbing as the lack of accountability was, it forced me to do more research on this scam company that takes no responsibility over the sitters on its site and now I know the outcome could have been even more dangerous for my dog based on others' experience. I will never use their website again and will tell every pet owner who will listen to avoid it too. Stick to a daycare your dog knows and trusts!

For both dropoff and pickup the sitter had me waiting for ten minutes on the street while no one responded to repeated knocks and doorbell rings, and in both cases I had communicated the exact time of my arrival in advance. The answer I received for drop off was that her alarm didn't go off. I asked to see the private backyard and saw broken glass on the ground and downed branches covering the walkways. I thought this would be one of the main places my dog would be able to run around and explore which is why I'd booked. I told the sitter that the glass would cut her paws and her response was that she usually put something in front of the glass so that dogs didn't walk in it. I still do not understand why for both the humans and the animals' sake they didn't remove the glass whenever it originally broke.

The house was cluttered and not clean. I went downstairs to the kitchen and there were broken pieces of plaster on the stairs and clumps of dust along the corners of the room. I said the room needed to be swept and mopped because my dog would put her nose in those areas. I did not get to see the primary area where my dog would be. I walked the sitter through how to brush my dog, how to feel for mats and provided the brush and told her at a minimum it needed to be done every other day.

The sitter regularly outsourced care for my dog to other members of her family. I received updates from her the first 1-2 days without asking but by the end of the week she provided no updates without me requesting first. Most of the times I asked to facetime my dog or asked what they were doing she said was out and her mother was watching her. After she sent one photo I could see my dog's coat was starting to mat and I asked that she brush her and she said no problem.

The day of my return I had a text from her claiming a family emergency. She said she and her mother were out of the house and asked if her teenage brother could handle the dropoff. Because she claimed a family emergency I agreed. I waited for ten minutes outside again, in 32 degrees while it snowed. Her brother handed me the crate mat I had provided them for my dog's comfort in a garbage bag separate from her other things. When I touched my dog I immediately felt some of the biggest mats I'd ever come across on her coat. When I got home and removed the crate mat from the bag I realized it was soaked in urine and that my dog herself smelled like urine. No one provided me an explanation for why she'd been made to use the bathroom on this mat.

Overall, my experience with Rover was a complete disaster. I would never use their services again and I would advise any pet owner to avoid them too. Stick to a daycare your dog knows and trusts!

No stars? That's not even enough to express how bad my experience with Rover was. I thought I was being smart by choosing a sitter who advertised herself as a "certified behavioral trainer" and listed her services as operating under a local training and boarding company. I wanted someone who was a legitimate business owner and had more experience than the many teenagers/stay-at-home parents that are on Rover to make an easy buck. But boy, was I wrong.

After having my dog for 24 hours, the sitter opened the front door to her home, without having eyes on or control of my dog, and allowed her to escape. She also TEXTED me to inform me of this, did not call, and also did not contact Rover (I was the one who did this). Can you believe it? And to make things worse, the sitter believed that Rover covered incidents like this under their liability policy (there is no such thing), and even though Rover's Terms of Service says they expect their sitters to be properly insured, licensed, and permitted according to local laws, they do nothing to enforce that.

I found out that Rover's vetting process is practically non-existent. All I had to do was request testimonials from a handful of different email addresses (who's to stop me from creating those addresses and making up those testimonials myself?), complete a 6-question safety quiz, and pay their review fee. That is an utter joke. And to top it off, Rover also does not give the last name for your sitter when booking, just first name. The following morning after my dog went missing, my sitter made a post on a local Facebook page, and there I found her last name. I Googled her and found that she had been arrested for a DUI earlier this year in March. I also went to City Hall to see if she was licensed or permitted for residential boarding and found no, she is not, she is indeed operating an illegal business out of her home.

When I went to the police station to file a police report against her, I found out that she and her family are well-known to them for criminal activity. Additionally, I started talking to other trainers in the area who are familiar with her and found that this wasn't even the first time that she had lost someone's dog! She had actually lost another client's puppy just a few months before losing my dog! I was able to contact that person and confirm this information. They found their dog quickly though, so that is why they never pursued anything against her.

So even though the list proving what an irresponsible human being she is continues to grow, she has Rover's stamp of approval with an enhanced background check. This proves how woefully inadequate Rover's vetting process is. The sitter completely misrepresented herself as someone who could be trusted, and she 100 percent failed and refuses to take responsibility for her actions. These are the kind of people Rover allows on their platform.

Please, do not use Rover to hire someone to take care of your beloved pets. Go to a legitimate business who is properly insured, licensed, and permitted. This has been an incredibly painful lesson for me, please learn from my mistakes. We are exploring our legal options.

Oh, and my dog is still missing. It's been 32 days. I don't know if my best friend is alive or dead, and I may never know. Thanks, Rover.

On June 18th, 2019, our experience with Rover pet sitter was a complete disaster. We entrusted our two golden retrievers to the sitter, but unfortunately, they got lost under weird circumstances. The sitter lost them while letting them potty, and they got spooked and lunged. The sitter dropped the extend leashes, and they ran away. We were on vacation at the time, and they were staying at her apartment complex called Marquis at Crown Ridge *** Babcock Rd, San Antonio, TX *** and they reportedly ran towards the Lutheran school, which is on the corner of Babcock and Camp Bullis rds.

We caught the next plane back at 6 am the next morning and have been looking for them ever since. We gave the sitter a 3-page bio on each dog explaining their routines, food, quirks, things they like, and things they're scared of. We told her that one of our dogs was scared of the dark sometimes and pulls wanting to go back inside and will jump off you in fear. We also said they sometimes lunge if they are excited for a walk at the beginning, that one of our dogs is scared of loud noises, and that having harnesses when going for walks is recommended.

This lady brought our dogs outside her gated complex, in a huge grassy area by the road/near woods in pitch black even though there is a gated dog park in the back of her building while holding bothextendable leashed in 1 hand. We later found out they set off fireworks at 9:15 pm near her building every night. She said she looked for them until 3 am. Please note, we asked for pictures of our dogs Monday, the day before, and never received any. We had some communication with her, but we always had to call her, and it was forced.

Two days later, a friend (took it upon themselves) and tried to book an appointment with her, she responded immediately and said she could do it later that day! Rover let her keep taking clients, and we feel like she should have been using her free time looking for ours, not trying to make more money. Rover should have shut down her profile and all abilities completely until the return of our dogs or a significant investigation.

We had a news interview on June 26th and told them we don't think she is looking anymore. She became aggressive, accusatory, and played the victim. She said she was being harassed and feared for her safety. To be fair, people who commented on the news interview, some did it in a threatening way, and everyone was very mad. People did get her name from my husband's private FB page the first week, and someone took it upon themselves to call her work because she works with animals at her other job too. When she asked us to, we immediately took it down even though we didn't legally have to. We have every legal right to expose her name to everyone and anyone but chose*** not to because we didn't want anyone getting hurt (if that were to even actually happen).

Since then, instead of being an adult and a responsible "business owner," she made everything so much worse and didn't cooperate at all. Rover printed flyers for us, made a couple of robot phone calls, called sitters in the area to help, but not one showed up to help and said they looked online for them. They also said that if we find our dogs, they may reimburse for some of the vet bills, and if they're dead, the "worth" of the dogs". They offered a whopping $100 reward. They cut off any help to us at week 3. IMHO they are a bait and switch company. They make these pretty commercials of assurance, trustworthiness, and accountability, but then if anything happens, they place all the legality on the sitter, and the way the contract is written, you can only sue for a max of 5k to the sitter. They take 20% of the sitter's fees for what? We have had phone calls of people sobbing crying because the same thing happened to them. This whole thing is horrifying. We still don't have our dogs back, and the sitter and Rover don't seem to care. She is taking new clients all the time and since moved out of her old apartment into a house.

She has lied while commenting back to us when we left a review that she wasn't informed of our dogs' behavior. She knew everything. She was 100% negligent, and quite honestly, IMO she is not telling us the truth. Be very very careful with these kinds of companies. They are a business, their first priority is money, not the animals. We urge you to think twice before entrusting your pets to Rover.

Sent: Wed, Mar 1,2017 9:29 am

Hi. Wow.

Does this mean that if a customer picks her/his dog up early, that I (as sitter) am going to have to report that every time? What about when the dog's people arrive early or come late? That extra work time for a sitter never gets noted/recorded or reimbursed.

These particular customers were last-minute customers and were fully informed before booking--were okay with it-- that^^^^ would be there to greet them. I was trying to help the customers out in a pinch and accommodate their wish to go skiing early. I did offer to come meet them at a different location and have the dog stay in my car briefly. As happens with a lot of people coming through ~~~~, they just want to get their dog situated fast. Just reread Rover's sitter-customer emails of our dialogue (as the last Rover support person did) as this was all emphasized. There were no surprises on my part.

Let me also inform you/Rover that I never communicated to the customers during the dog's stay that I would not be able to provide overnight services for them, as Rover reports and accepts as fact. Again, check the sitter/customer emails. I also saved all my texts with these customers and would be happy to forward those to you to show you that the customers had other unknown people pick up their dog early in order to avoid an incoming winter storm. I also never did tell these customers that their booking would end early, so please don't state that as fact.

These people had questionable emails to me right from the start, as was already brought to Rover's attention, which the customers attributed to their Rover account being hacked.
You/Rover really need to be careful how you address these matters and take action.
What I'm understanding from your email is that these customers called up to lie about me, maybe get a refund? Is this what you're saying?

Or, if you do have some policy where sitters are to report every time someone picks a dog up early, then I can tell you right now that I will no longer use Rover.

Maybe you/Rover should consider "pausing" customers who abuse the system just like you "pause" sitters. If these customers had told me their dog was not house-trained and chewed household items, I would not have taken this dog. He damaged objects and urinated on carpets. It was also not a safe situation for all parties--and I let them know this--that they did not inform me that their dog was not trained for leash walking--could not be walked on a leash. That's an extreme risk.

Let me just say that I care a lot about what I do, taking good care of the dogs entrusted to me, and trying to help people out, while getting paid very little. So I must say that your email is a real turn-off to me.

Sincerely,_________________________________________________________________________________________

Sent: Mon, Mar 6,2017 10:25 am

Hello again, Customer Support.

Rover never informed me that a refund would be given to the client. Rover did not review my case before siding with the customer. Please review my online review of these clients, and please review the Rover emails.

These customers reportedly had their day of skiing, had dinner, but had changed their departure time to get an early start out of ~~~~ to avoid a snowstorm. They never communicated a need of another sitter. My Rover fee is still $30 (from which I receive $25) for the day whether the overnight for the dog is included or not. Please honor and review my rate. In other words, these people would still have had to pay$30 for the day regardless if the dog slept here that night or not. (I encourage Rover to add more rate categories to help avoid such sitter/customer/Rover problems, which have the potential to turn into thorny issues.)

The customers' dog was in my care for eleven hours, which I can prove with the customers' last text. I gave this dog a lot of love, walks, food, and play time. He was never alone the whole time he was here nor was he confined to a yard, kennel, or crate.

It's interesting that the customers claimed their Rover account was being hacked and wrote me they would not be using the Rover emails anymore as a means of our communicating. Fortunately, I saved our texts and can forward them if you need to see them even though I believe that forwarding texts does not give the actual time of when a text was originally sent. It would therefore probably be best for me to take photos of my phone screen with the texts, upload them to my laptop, and then email them to Rover if Rover needs the times on the texts along with the customer's phone number showing at the top of the phone screen with the messages sent and received.

Please inform these customers that I would not consider future contact with them, either. After their misrepresentation of me, I sent them my reply via Rover as I have the right to do.

I challenge Rover's hasty decision that involved no investigation or discussion with me before a refund was quickly given to the customer. I worked hard for a mere $25, and I do expect to receive the $25 payment for my services--a very small amount--for eleven hours of care that this dog had--not even including the texting, phone conversations, and emails before and after with these customers. This comes out to a dollar-something of earnings an hour for me.

This dog suffered no harm while under my care. He did, however, damage my property, which these customers do not get charged for as Rover does not consider that. They led on that he was housebroken and chewed only on his toys.

Please also note that you state Rover requires a meet/greet for sitters and dogs. Realistically, that doesn't always happen based on emergencies or other situations such as people wanting a quick drop off. Although I offered to meet and greet these customers outside my home--to pick up their dog--they chose to deliver the dog to my home, knowing that I would not be present and that^^^^ would receive him. So what are you saying?______________________________________________________________________________

***, I am very sorry that you continue to speak untruthfully to me, Rover, and now the public. Fortunately, I have our texts and emails as proof. I tried working with you for the care of your fun, spunky dog that you wanted to drop off without much notice. I was up front about everything. You were not. In response to your claims above:
1) Before we met and booked the stay, I asked for pertinent information from you about *** in order to take precautions for you, ***, myself, and others. I rely on people being honest with me. You did not indicate or voice any possible concern that *** is not leash or house trained (yes, he urinated on the carpets) and chewed household items (wood, plastic, cardboard). Through Rover, you wrote to me that *** is "well trained" and "doesn't bark or chew." You also did not inform me by phone or in writing--but told^^^^--that you wanted *** to have a salve on one of his paw pads before and after walks. This too is information I as a sitter need to know beforehand in order to address the issue of the flooring or possible proper bandaging for ***. And when you say you had to ["relay] all the information" to^^^^ because I wasn't around, what exactly was "all" your information that you relayed to^^^^? All^^^^ knew about was the salve.
2) I gave you the option of my coming out to meet you for picking up *** myself or having you come to my residence and having^^^^ greet you at the door. You chose the latter because you were wanting to go skiing for the day but also not wanting to arrive at the house before 9:30 AM. As our emails show, I could have met you when you dropped off *** at the house if you had agreed to come earlier. I was doing you a favor by letting you come at a later time of your choosing.
3) You state in your review of me that *** "can obviously not be walked off leash this young as they are notorious for running off," then were you not concerned about my not having a fenced yard due to his inability to walk in a controlled manner with a leash on? And yet you were properly informed via email and on my rover profile about there not being a fenced yard. Also, the fact that your'e stating--stating only after the visit--that it's a requirement for *** to be leashed, then why did you not inform me of that important factor before the visit? I learned on my own that I could not hold *** back, and I certainly didn't want to unintentionally choke him as the leash tightened with his bolting. By the way, *** at ten months old is not too young to start leash training. There are huskies his age and younger who are leash trained. One dog trainer online at iheartdogs.com actually encourages that huskies start leash training at eight weeks old. In any case, you then write in your review "the fact that [dogsitter] thought it was okay to let [***] off the leash in a new neighborhood worried us." Like I said, *** could not be held back with his fiery spirit. And how were you not aware that you/he were coming to a new neighborhood? Were you expecting me to walk him somewhere else?
4) You state you did not feel that *** was safe with me. Let's not skip over the fact that I was the one who communicated to you after I had *** under my care that I had concerns about him due to his not being able to be walked on a leash and his picking up objects to bite/chew/swallow. You state in your review he was apparently "not given his two chew toys" during the stay. I did not take his chew toys away, believe me. I even sent you a picture of him with a frog "toy" of ours that he chewed part of the legs off. Let me assure you your two toys were available for his chewing the entire time. In fact, we played tug with his rope toy over and over.
5) Also, you were the ones indicating to me that you wanted to pick up *** early so you could get a head start in driving home for your long trip in order to avoid a winter storm coming in. I wrote to you prior to that that *** was "doing fine" and was "happy." (I sent you photos.) He also by that point had been running around like crazy outside and, luckily, was keeping me within sight and listening to me if I called him (unlike what he was doing before). You also indicated that you were "not sure if *** would settle down to sleep" that night, which you didn't explain after I texted you a question about this.
6) Also, I have no idea who picked up *** since this couple who picked him up did not match your Rover profile photo. The male just asked how *** was during the stay while the female put *** in the car. I was communicating with you throughout ***'s stay about how he was doing and what he was doing.
7) You state that the "whole experience was bizarre." What I myself found bizarre were strange emails sent to me from your account that you said you didn't send. Your concern was that hacking of your account was going on. Rover got involved with this issue but did not find hacking. Ive never had that kind of website experience with any customer before.

Finally, let me just say that I love dogs and I love helping people out in this way. All my other reviews on Rover are 5-star. I dont get paid much for the time and love I put into caring for animals. Thank you, though, for reminding me about needing to be much more careful about what people I choose to work with and welcome into a private home. Kennels where people might just drop a dog off and let the dog sit in a cage or cement dog-run all day with other stressed-out dogs can charge more than what I receive for my fee. It is unfortunate that dog sitters such as myself who enjoy dogs and want to accommodate their people need to be much more on guard as well as charge a higher price for the time commitment involved and the special attention given to each dog and the people involved.

We all take risks.

Best wishes to you and ***.______________________________________________________________________________

Sent: Fri, Mar 10,2017 10:37 am

Hello again. This has been a troublesome case. House property was damaged by a dog not housetrained, who required extra care and whose people were not up front about his behaviors/needs. The fact that the customers "***" supplied an erroneous phone number to Rover is worrisome. Also, the Rover photo did not match the couple who picked up the dog that night.
I believe I was not duly compensated for my service and time. Rover does not split a day and a night fee, but isn't that what you were doing in this situation? Please consider adding these day versus night categories to your sitter rates.
Although this case is closed, it's been a learning experience.

I had a HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE with Rover. Will never use the company again.

The dog sitter named Rashad in West Hollywood we hired to care for our dog BOARDED OTHER DOGS IN MY HOME without my consent! We have photographic proof of this, as does Rover, since he accidentally sent me pictures of ANOTHER dog in my home meant for the other dog's owner through the Rover app. Rashad caused over $2000 in damages to my home that Rover REFUSED to compensate me for, and additional damage to my car that Rover's "insurance" policy does not cover. If you care about your furry friend and your home, please read before you book...

I booked Rashad to care for my dog - an 11 year old recent Pit Bull American Bulldog tripawd - for 3.5 weeks in my home. A few days into our trip, Rashad accidentally sends me a message through Rover with photos of ANOTHER DOG, a small one, in my home, on my bed, on my couch (in my dog's spot) meant for this dog's owner. In other words, Rashad was dog sitting other dogs in my home without my consent! When we confronted him about it on the phone, he at first denied it, and only when my husband told him that he sent us those photos, did he come clean. He was very apologetic, offered us a refund, and said it won't happen again. Still, UNACCEPTABLE. My dog is post-chemo and any dog that he brought into my house could have potentially been carrying some illness, which could be detrimental to my dog. Regardless, how dare Rashad use my home to board other dogs?! UNACCEPTABLE. We felt so invaded, but had no option but to continue having Rashad watch our dog, since we were just a week into our trip and didn't have anyone else to care for our dog.

When we returned home from our trip, exhausted from 2 days of travel, Rashad had already left. There were was a very strong oder of urine all over the house. After investigating a bit, we found every single one of the rugs in my home (and there are many, I'm talking about a dozen or so, since we had to cover our hardwood floors with rugs since my dog's amputation surgery 6 months ago, she has difficulty walking on hard floors) were stained in urine. My dog's 2 orthopedic beds were stained in urine, and we later found another one under our bed, also stained in urine. All of the extra sheets, towels and blankets I left for my dog were in hampers COVERED in urine. We had to throw everything out that night and replace the rugs the next day to prevent her from slipping and injuring herself. There were 3 severe stains on my hardwood floors from urine stains that seeped through the rug, which I had to pay a lot of money to repair and despite the repairs, are still visible. Something my landlord will surely not appreciate when I move out, and will most likely be taken out of my deposit. Rashad left an EMPTY bottle of upholstery cleaner in the kitchen, that didn't belong to me.

Furthermore, there was dried up feces caked onto my bedroom rug and on the side of the cabinet in the bathroom, tucked in a corner that my dog - a 60 lb pit bull - could not even begin to fit into. This was obviously done by a smaller dog that could fit in that corner. In the nearly 11 years since I've adopted my dog, she has NEVER poo'd in the house. In 11 years, she's had two pee accidents on her bed when she was going through chemotherapy several months ago, and that was only because she was on meds and her body was weak and she hadn't been out for longer than 5 hours to pee when we were away from the house. Since she's recovered, she has not had any accidents.

While we were away, before Rashad sent us the pics of this other dog by accident, Rashad told us my dog had a pee accident on her bed, while he was at home working in my bedroom on my bed on his laptop. In the couple of times she had a pee accident in the house with us, it was never when we were home, as my dog is very communicative and makes it clear when she has to go outside. When I asked Rashad how long it had been since he took my dog out when this happened, he said he didn't remember, "maybe 6,7 hours, maybe a bit longer, I lost track of time." Later, we realized the timing of this coincided with the day that he sent me a Rover message and photos of this OTHER DOG on my bed, at Rashad's laptop is visible in the photos. Perhaps he was distracted with this other dog that he neglected to take my dog out. Unbelievable! Of course, I didn't know about the other dog at the time. I reminded him what we went over several times verbally and in writing - please take her out during day every 4-5 hours maximum. As our trip progressed, Rashad continued to mention to us that my dog had not had another accident since that one time. So we know for a fact that those urine stains in my house were all from another dog(s) - probably all markings or perhaps poor things weren't being taken out by Rashad when they needed to. Rover told me that Rashad was dog sitting at least 2 other dogs during the time he dog sat my dog. I'm fine with him walking other dogs, but NOT boarding them in my house and in my car...

Not only did Rashad use my home to dog sit another dog, we found a bag with another dog's items in my CAR (a blanket, bag of food, toys). Rashad used my car to transport other dogs! He was supposed to use my car ONLY in case of an emergency for my dog. He not only used it without my consent, but he damaged it and left it a complete mess; my middle divider was broken off and tossed in the back seat and my car phone holder was broken. The rim on one of my (very expensive) tires was damaged. The back seat was covered in items that were in my trunk (I have an SUV), and it smelled obscene. We had to air it out for 3 days before we can even sit in it. What the hell did he do in my car?!

When we tried to contact Rashad that evening asking what had happened, HE NEVER RESPONDED. He completely disappeared on us. We attempted to call him, left messages, emails. NOTHING. We asked him to just leave us our parking permit at least, which cost $35. NOTHING. He left some things here we wanted to return to him, which we told him we can leave for him to pick up. NO RESPONSE. Not surprising given he left my house and car a wreck.

Not only did Rashad have the audacity to board other dogs in my home and in car, allowing them on my bed (which I don't even allow my dog on, and which I explicitly told him), he fed my dog pasta when I told him both verbally and in writing that she is ALLERGIC TO GRAINS. I had to remind him several times about basic things like my dog's medication, her toys, and treats. When I returned home, I found my dog's basket of a variety of treats COMPLETELY UNTOUCHED, except for her bully sticks, even though he was telling me during my trip that he was giving her her treats. What's more, regarding her bully sticks, I verbally and in writing (detailed instructions I emailed and printed for him) told him they were choking hazards (especially given her dental health) and that he must be around when he gives them to her. Yet the day we returned, on our way from the airport, I asked him which treats he gave her that day so that I don't repeat any; he responded that he gave her a bully stick before he left my house "to keep her entertained" - what!?

The first thing I noticed about my dog when we arrived at home was that she had gained weight - 3 pounds! 3 pounds in 3.5 weeks! I had explicitly explained to Rashad that my dog was on a very specific diet to keep her in shape for the sake of her mobility (again, 11 year old recent amputee with severe arthritis) in terms of feeding, treats, and exercise (which is very minimal), and also given her many allergies. I had left her kibble and plenty of home made chicken soup frozen in multiple containers in the freezer for him to thaw and supplement with her kibble. Yet he still made her his own chicken soup that he sent me pics of - with pasta! When I reminded him that she was allergic to grains, he said "Good to know." WTF? I told him about this and it's in her instructions that I emailed and printed for him! He also took it upon himself to make her more chicken, which he sent me photos of covered in oil and spices! Why?! I had plenty that I had prepared for her. And as mentioned, I'm not sure which treats he was giving her, because he didn't use any of the specific ones I left for her. There were other issues regarding her toys, which he didn't put down for her as I asked him to, and had to remind him; and details about when to give her more of her pain pills... just complete incompetence.

Rashad agreed to brush my dog's teeth a few times a week. We went over how to do it. She is the most docile and sweetest, calmest creature, and it's the easiest thing in the world to brush her teeth, she basically licks the brush and falls asleep as you do it. When we arrived home, I noticed her new toothbrush and toothpaste were UNTOUCHED. Her teeth were covered in plaque and tartar, and the first few nights I brushed her teeth, her gums bled - which they never do - because he hadn't brushed them AT ALL.

Needless to say, this has been a very disturbing and frustrating experience. Not only did we return after our long trip to this horrible experience, the lack of professionalism on Rashad's part in not responding to us made everything even worse. His deplorable and unprofessional behavior completely broke any trust I have in the kind of care he took of my dog. My imagination is reeling as to what went on in my home while we were gone. Thank goodness my dog is ok - despite her extra weight impeding on her mobility and her gums bleeding the first few days I brushed her teeth. Obviously she cannot tell me what happened. All I can do to make myself feel better about the situation is that she is alive and ok, and that I'm warning other people about Rashad and about Rover's complete lack of dealing with this situation.

Now to Rover... dealing with Rover's "Safety and Security Team" has been a COMPLETE JOKE. They strung me along for a month; I spent so much time, energy, and went through so much stress while dealing with this - filled out all the paperwork, sent them receipts, spoke to numerous people including an incompetant agent Sean O. I was assigned to and his equally incompetent supervisor named Holly. Yet their entire argument of not compensating me for the damages to my home leans simply on Rashad's word against mine. Which by the day - he didn't respond to them for WEEKS, and only recently did he get back to them about this issue when I demanded a full refund for the stay. Even though I have all the evidence and he just says he's not to blame, they just took his word! This guy who boarded another dog(s) in my home - who knows of the ones I don't know about! - and lied to me about it; tried to get me to bypass Rover - they trust this guys! From Rover's most recent email to me yesterday:
"We were able to address this situation in-full with Rashad, and while Rashad declined to offer a refund for the booking, I was able to get approval to issue a $250.00 refund, which should reflect on your form of payment within 3-5 business days. As mentioned our prior conversations, our coverage for damaged property does not extend to vehicles, or damage caused by an owner's pet and we are unfortunately unable to extend coverage for those damages."

THE DAMAGE WAS NOT CAUSED BY MY DOG, BUT BY OTHER DOG(S) THAT RASHAD BROUGHT INTO MY HOME WITHOUT MY CONSENT AND LIED TO ME ABOUT IT AFTER THE FACT - WHICH WE HAVE PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF. Given that I spent $1250 on the dog-sitting and over $2000 in damages and repairs, not to mention the money that will be taken out of my deposit for the damage to my hardwood floor, and the damage to my car - which Rover does not cover - they can take their $250 and stuff it up their &$%. And what does the supervisor say about this: that there is not enough evidence on my part to show that the damage was not caused by my own dog - even though I sent photos upon photos of the rugs, the urine stains, the beds and rugs in the dumpster, screenshots of messages, receipts, etc, explaining the matter - what else could I show!? DNA samples of my dog's urine compared to DNA samples of the urine found in my house?! Disgusting customer service. They completely took the sitter's side. He told them that all of these urine accidents were my dog's doing - BULL$#*! - and that that other dog only spent an hour or so at my house while waiting for his owner to pick him up - BULL$#*! AND STILL UNACCEPTABLE - and that he used my car to pick up water in an emergency situation - ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!? My parents came by to drop off one of those huge waters for my water cooler during the stay, and I left plenty of water for him when I left. And even if there was an "emergency water situation" - why do you need to have a bag of other dog's stuff in my car along with it, and why leave my car a complete mess, and break stuff? BIZARRE and BULL$#*!. I live in central Weho walking distance to plenty of places to pick up water. Such a joke.

To add insult to injury, Rashad's profile is still up and running on Rover! Not only did he completely take advantage of my home, my car and my trust... I sent Rover a screenshot of a message Rashad sent me before our trip asking me if I want to BYPASS ROVER and book privately with him to save money - which is completely against Rover's contract with its dog sitters - (which I declined) and yet Rover allows him to continue booking jobs. When I addressed this matter with the supervisor, she said they have a "forgiving" policy with the dog sitter for doing such things, even though it goes against their contract. Unbelievable!

This is the company you're dealing with if you book through Rover. I've booked through them in the past for dog boarding and luckily had good experiences. But I will NEVER trust this company or its sitters again. They do not back up their so-called insurance policy. There is literally no more specific evidence I could have provided them in this situation and that was their main support for not reimbursing me for damages.

I will be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and I will be seeking legal assistance.

The photo I uploaded is a screenshot of the message Rashad sent me through Rover. This is NOT my dog. But it is my home, my bed, my couch.

Years ago we hired a sitter through Rover. To our horror, it was a sitter from hell. Our neighbor had concerns and used her key. She found one animal locked in a kitchen with the kitchen covered in filth, two others locked in a basement with the bathroom sink filled with uneaten wet food covered in maggots, the smell of pot smoking throughout the house and a bedroom with dropped food. We wrote a negative review and it was removed from the website so no one else could be warned away from this sitter. we let the issue drop since we never intended to use them again. However, a friend of ours recently used Rover as well and it was a similar experience for her as well though not quite as severe. Her house was trashed.

I signed up for Rover back in June.

I paid my fees to sign up, and to this day, I have no jobs from them, I have messaged them numerous times about this, no one has helped resolve this for me..

At this point, I just want my money back, this is horrible customer service.

I live in Ontario Canada, and will not give this company a good reference.

Please help me get my sign up fees back.

I don't want to get a lawyer involved, if I don't have too.

Thank You

Carol Ball

So, let me tell you about my experience with Rover. I live in Jacksonville, FL and recently got married in Asheville, NC. It was a big event that we had planned for months. My dogs, Chewie and Maisey, are a huge part of our lives and we wanted them to be a part of our special day. However, we were staying in an Airbnb that didn't allow pets for the first few days of our stay. So, we needed to find a pet sitter to watch our dogs from Wednesday to Saturday. We found a sitter on Rover and left our dogs in their care.

On Friday evening, we received a message from the pet sitter's boyfriend saying that Maisey had gone missing. Apparently, she had bolted out the door while he was coming in from a walk. We were devastated. We immediately left our rehearsal dinner to search for her. We searched for her for days, hiking through mountains and not eating or sleeping. We were heartbroken and stressed out.

Rover offered to help by making flyers with the pet sitter's number on them and sending untrained volunteers to help search for Maisey. However, we later found out that the pet sitter had lost a pet before and had let dogs out of her apartment off-leash. She also lived in a development where she wasn't allowed to conduct a private business in her home or have more than two pets.

We were depressed and distraught. We wanted to make sure that this never happened to another pet owner or animal. We also wanted our money back. We spent $200 on the pet sitter and we felt that we deserved a refund. However, Rover only refunded us 50% of our money. They said that the pet sitters are independent contractors and they couldn't refund us more than that.

We were shocked and disappointed. We couldn't believe that Rover would treat us this way. Our trust was broken and our wedding week was ruined. We would never use Rover again and we wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The company's behavior was disgusting and it was all about the principle, not the money.

I talked to Josh from Trust and Safety on June 3rd at around 7pm. My dog walker, Nicole, didn't follow my instructions, which were very specific. I told her to keep my dogs separate, both in writing and in person. My older dog, Teagan, can't be around other animals. I explained to Nicole that I was trying to find a new home for the younger one, Phoenix, because keeping them apart wasn't fair to them. Unfortunately, Phoenix had been abandoned at my home, and that's when Teagan started becoming aggressive towards other animals. I had taken Teagan to a dog trainer who abused her, making the situation worse. Rehoming Phoenix was the last resort. I also told Nicole that Teagan had just been spayed and needed to be kept separate to avoid injuries to her stitches. However, the dog walker ignored my instructions, and the dogs got into a fight. She informed me two hours after her first booking time that she was at urgent care due to bite wounds. She didn't provide any photos or details behind that. She said that the dogs had a minor fight, and there was a little bit of blood on the carpet. But they only had minor injuries to their ears and lips. She stopped responding to me after that.

When I got home, I found a bloodbath. The front door was left unlocked and not shut all the way. There was blood on the bathroom door, floor, and walls. Blood all the way down the hall. Blood all over the bedroom door, walls, bedspread, and all over the carpet. I got Phoenix out of her kennel first. She was severely injured, with puncture wounds all over her face that were still dripping blood, both of her eyes injured, and tear wounds to one of her ears. I got her cleaned up and back in her kennel to check Teagan. Then I took Teagan out. She couldn't even walk on one of her legs and had puncture wounds all over her neck. Phoenix's face started getting very swollen. I spoke to Josh from Rover, who said that someone would be in touch with me in a day or two. It has now been four days, and I still haven't heard anything from anyone.

The next morning, I had to surrender one or both to animal control. They took Phoenix because I think (hope) she'll be easier to rehome, and because Teagan has been in fights before, and I think they would put her down. And because Phoenix needed immediate medical attention. They won't tell me how she is. I am simply heartbroken about it and sick about not knowing if she's okay or not. Teagan is doing fine now.

No one even showed up for the remaining two paid for and scheduled bookings with Nicole. It just showed that the booking was still ongoing until the following day when the scheduled end time was reached. I was supposed to be out of town and unreachable. But I had a personal emergency, and thankfully was here to come home and check on my dogs, who were left alone in an unsecured house severely injured for hours.

There is also a massive amount of blood stains all over the new carpet that aren't coming out. Which is the least of the issues here, but still an issue.

And again, no one from the company has followed up with me. I cannot be any more disappointed in the services I received, or with how this company has handled the incident since then.

Nicole had another review two days later. So I guess she's doing fine?

My partner has been using Rover for a couple of years now to watch pets. Recently, he watched someone's cat while the owners went on vacation. He even tried to save them some money by allowing them to book him as an "overnight stay" rather than the rate for drop-ins because he's passionate about helping people save money and find good help. My partner is incredibly responsible, over-communicative, and has always gone above and beyond.

During his last booking, my partner watched this person's cat for a couple of days. Their cat was very shy and rarely came out, but he still tried to get photos of her to send to the owners so they knew she was safe. I went with my partner several times during his stay, and the owners were aware of this and agreed it was fine for me to come along. So I saw him physically taking care of her by cleaning her litter box, feeding her, and trying to give her space so she would come out.

After the booking ended, this owner began harassing my partner, saying that he didn't feed her or clean her litter box. On the day my partner was supposed to end the booking, he was booked to leave at noon, and the owner did not get home until midnight. The owner blackmailed my partner, telling him that if they don't get refunded for their booking, she would leave bad reviews about him online.

My partner called Rover and explained the situation, and was told by three different people that he'd be protected. They even blocked this woman from messaging my partner through the app because she was being very aggressive. My partner felt so upset by this situation that he even refunded the woman half of the booking money in an attempt to get her to stop harassing him and leave him alone. The next day, sure enough, she left a negative review with false claims. My partner immediately called Rover asking them to take the review down as he'd been promised, and was rudely told by an employee that there was "misinformation" and that the review may not be taken down.

Considering the fact that I was physically with my partner at this person's home, watching him take care of her, I am absolutely baffled at how quickly Rover turned against one of their most loyal pet sitters because the review "may not violate our review policies". My partner was in an absolute panic attack over this situation because he cares so deeply for the pets he watches and couldn't understand why somebody would say these things about him when there was a 12-hour difference from the time their cat was fed and litter box cleaned to the time the owner got home.

We will never be using Rover again as this company clearly cares more about retaining one unethical owner than keeping a pet sitter, who has over 75 five-star reviews, for life. It's a shame that Rover doesn't value their loyal pet sitters and instead sides with unethical owners who blackmail and harass them.

I gotta say, I'm not too impressed with Rover. I had booked a housesitting service for my senior dog, who needs to go out every 4 hours or so. But the sitter I got from Rover didn't seem to care about that at all. In fact, she left my dog alone for over 5-7 hours at a time, which is way too long for a senior dog to go without a bathroom break.

I tried to contact Rover support about this, but they didn't seem to care either. They said it was okay to leave a senior dog alone for that long, even though their own website says otherwise. And when I tried to get a refund or some kind of reimbursement, they just stopped responding to my emails.

I even had cameras set up outside my house, so I could see when the sitter came and went. I sent Rover screenshots of the timestamps, but they still didn't do anything about it.

Honestly, I think more people need to know about this. If you're like me, and your dog is more than just a pet, then you need to be careful with Rover. They make it seem like they care about your pet's safety, but in reality, they don't enforce their own rules and they don't seem to care if your pet is being taken care of properly.

And when I posted about this on Reddit, I got a lot of pushback from other Rover sitters. They said it was okay to leave a senior dog alone for 8-10 hours without a bathroom break, which is just ridiculous. I paid this sitter more than she was asking for, just to make sure my dog was taken care of, and she couldn't even be bothered to do that.

So yeah, I won't be using Rover again. And if you're thinking about it, just be careful. Make sure you're getting a sitter who actually cares about your pet, and who will follow your instructions. Don't make the same mistake I did.

So, I had a really bad experience with Rover.com. I told the dog sitter that my 1.5 year old dog needed a harness to walk and showed her how to use it, but she left it on our porch and took both dogs out anyway. Two hours later, while we were at Disneyland, I got a message and call that our pup was missing. They found him, but he was hurt and refusing to move. My brother had to go get both dogs and discovered that our pup had run onto a job site laying fresh tar. He was bleeding from a large gash on his leg and had burned off all his paw pads, one severely that still hurts him 1 month later. We had to spend the first week of our month-long road trip nursing our dog that couldn't walk or be left alone from day 1. We even carried him to use the bathroom, that's how hurt our 60 lb boxer/bulldog mix was.

Rover's support was a joke. They apologized for our dog's pain but took no responsibility for their contractors, saying they are merely a platform. They did cover his bill of $305, but when the emergency vet saw our other dog and wanted to access him as well since he had some cuts, abrasions, a lump, and some tar marks, we agreed. Rover refused to pay his check-up saying they have no evidence his minor injuries were related. It's so ridiculous it's laughable. Three and a half weeks after the incident, I got an email saying good news! $305 of the $350 was approved, but they can't cover a ruined vacation nor will they give me the dog sitter's info so I can sue her directly. Our vacation was ruined, and since our pup couldn't be boarded as planned due to his injuries, I sat on the phone with my aunt and grandma crying since we could not see each other.

The whole thing was a nightmare. Rover.com does not vet their sitters and then claim no responsibility when it goes wrong. I logged into Rover.com and paid Rover.com, so they reap the benefits but none of the liability? It doesn't matter that she had good reviews, I keep reading online that Rover.com removes the negative ones, including if you post to their FB page. I have used all my social media accounts to warn others of this company and now I am going on the internet to post warnings/reviews to everyone I can.

My poor dog is now scared of every loud truck or car that passes when we go outside. Also, they said it will take another 1-3 weeks to send me a check for reimbursement. Why not reimburse the card as they did for the days service? They literally acted like they did us a favor returning the sitter fee for the 4 of 8 hours she had my dogs in her negligent care and then again acted like they did us a favor for covering most but not all of our bills. Standing behind your product is not doing your customers a favor, it's called running an ethical business. Their young staff could also do with some training that teaches them not to address a 40-year-old woman like I'm a toddler when trying to express empathy for our dog.

Had I read the BBB reviews before using their service, I would never have elected to use them. I didn't do my homework on this company, and both my dogs and especially my pup paid for it dearly, not to mention a completely ruined trip that affected about 20 other family members' plans, schedules, and vacation days. The BBB stories were my story too, don't let them be yours.

Rover.com is a website where pet sitters can advertise their services to pet parents. Each pet sitter is their own business and they pay a fee to Rover.com for each contract they accept. The site gets high traffic, but I had a bad experience trying to hire someone to visit my pets twice a day. I needed someone to let them in and out of a patio pet gate and provide food and water. Even though the sitters advertised that they perform home visits, one sitter said that the Rover.com site does not permit the sitters to delete home visits from their services. This was frustrating because I needed someone to come to my home and take care of my pets.

After a while, the sitters get their own clientele and no longer need Rover.com to help them find clients. This can make pet parents feel like criminals for daring to ask for pet care help. I was not happy with this treatment and decided to take my $1000 for one week of pet care and purchase a professional pet resort for my pets. I want my pets to get the care they need without me begging for help.

I recommend that people be careful of who they contract with for their pet care. If your gut doesn't feel right, then don't do it. I'll take my mixed breed mutts to a high class resort with video cameras that will treat them with the kindness that humans expect when I am their nurse and care for their loved ones. Working with Rover.com is like going to Walmart to buy something then being treated as if I went to Saks 5th Avenue. Maybe that's what the Rover.com contractors want - a Saks 5th Avenue client. If the Rover.com contractors want a Saks 5th Avenue client, they should indicate their preference in their description.

I live in what was until the 2000s - a rural farming and ranching community. New comers don't understand. New comers are arriving from New York and LA wanting high society clientele. It doesn't register in their minds that I might have the references they want. So I'll take my money elsewhere but before I go, I will share my Rover.com experience with other pet parents. I recommend that people use their veterinary clinic to source pet care providers. Get to know the veterinary techs and begin to source help from known pet care providers. Use the resources at Petsmart. I have found them to be solid sources of information. Start sourcing petcare providers before you need them. That's what I'm doing.

As for the Rover.com site, if it works for you, good. Just be aware that the pet care providers are not screened and the services they say they provide may not be true. Going to someone's home to check on a pet for $10 per visit is NOT a realistic payment at all. I never got that far in the discussions. They look at your address and assume that $10 is all they will get. They didn't know about the other $1000 I set aside. I test the water before I swim. I suggest you test the water before you leave your pet with a stranger. If something in your gut doesn't feel right - don't do it.

As for the Rover.com site - it's like leaving an infant in an inverted childcare contractor. Do not do it. Keep the highest standard of care for your pets. Test the water. Will I recommend Rover.com? No. Does Rover.com have lots of happy contractors? Yes. Are there happy Rover.com pet parents? Yes. Just because someone can fit Nike doesn't mean that I can. I just really didn't like the treatment that I received because I asked for a service the contractors said that they provided. If Rover.com does not permit their contractors to change their services, how can I trust anything advertised on Rover.com? If I can't trust Rover.com for the little things, how can I trust Rover.com for the big things?

So, I just had my first experience with Rover and it was not a good one. I was really worried about leaving my dog alone at home, so I made sure to ask my pet sitter if she would be with my dog the entire time. She said yes, but then stopped responding to me when I asked for a photo. I was really worried about my dog on my wedding day and it turned out that she had left the house and wouldn't be back for three hours. My dog has a lot of health issues and I hired a rover to watch him at all times, so I was really upset that she had left him alone.

To make matters worse, my dog was in a strange apartment and she didn't leave any lights on, so he was in the dark. I was so worried that I had to leave my own wedding early and have my family go pick up my dog. I was really upset about the whole experience and asked for a refund, but the sitter responded to my review saying that I was lying. I sent Rover multiple screenshots of our messages to prove that I was telling the truth, but they said they couldn't do anything about it.

It's really frustrating that a company like Rover can have false information on their website and not do anything about it. I just wanted a refund and for the sitter to be honest about what happened, but instead I got accused of lying. I wouldn't recommend using Rover after this experience.

This review is about a sitter named Timea who can be found on Rover.com. I made the mistake of entrusting my dogs to her and it will probably be the only time I ever do so. Before their stay, we met up with Timea and her partner at their place for a meet-and-greet with our two dogs, a French Bulldog and a Shih-tzu, both around 12 years old. We informed them that the dogs needed to be with someone at all times and we were assured that at least one of them would be in the house with them throughout their stay. We dropped off the dogs in the morning and picked them up around 6-7 PM for both days while we attended New York Comic Con.

I was surprised when, a little over four hours into our convention experience, I received a message from Timea demanding that I pick up my dogs immediately. She explained that she had left the dogs unattended in the apartment, which was a new environment for them, twice for a duration of at least 30 minutes to an hour, depending on which version of her story is true. She claimed that the dogs panicked and, as a result, defecated and urinated inside the apartment, knocked over lamps, and bit the cable wire. I was furious that after all the preparation and reassurance Timea gave us, not only did she inconvenience us in a huge way, but she put my dogs in harm's way.

Our group of three immediately set out to look for a cab as Timea's messages became more and more frantic, demanding that I come ASAP. We didn't care that we had to cancel the rest of the day that we had planned for months. We didn't care that the props I built for the event that I spent weeks completing all went to waste because of Timea's incompetence and negligence. By the time we got to Timea's apartment, less than 40 minutes later, she brought down the dogs to the entrance and they were visibly shaken up. We showered and groomed them the evening before, but she returned them to us with feces stuck to their fur in different places.

I tried to discuss the situation with Timea, but all I heard were excuses and varying stories of how long my dogs were left unattended. She made it seem like the fault lies with the animals. Needless to say, I will never use this service again. Rover refunded the entire stay, but nothing else can be done about everything else that happened. I hope that our experience here will be a lesson to anyone else thinking of using her services in the future.

I've used Rover a few times now and I have to say, it's been a bit of a mixed bag. I've had five different sitters and while one was a no-show and another neglected my dog, the others were okay to good. However, I really want to stress the last sitter I used. This was a couple who used to take very good care of my dog up until 2015. I booked them again in July 2022 while I attended a wedding and boy, was I in for a shock.

It was clear that the pet sitter had changed so much. She was not well, mentally and physically. She told me her partner had dementia and that she was losing it as well. I should have known better, but I put the wedding before my dog's health. The door to their apartment was left open and one of the dogs was running outside the door when the door to the building was wide open. That was my second clue that I should never have left her.

Four days later, when I was on my way back to pick up my dog, I got a phone call that my dog was sick. When I asked for more information, I was told that her partner fed her junk and that she was vomiting and wouldn't eat anything. When I got there, my dog didn't even come to the door when she heard my voice. I brought her home, and she seemed sick but okay that night. The next morning, she was vomiting, had diarrhea, and wouldn't eat. I took her to the vet, and she had a belly full of junk. They treated her, and she was still sick. I took her to another vet, and after about three weeks, she was back to herself. The vet bills were $2000, but that was not my issue.

When I went into the apartment, the dog sitter's partner was screaming and pounding his fist on the table because of another dog's barking. It was so obvious that neither the sitter nor her partner were well, and they were certainly not capable of looking after someone's beloved pet. I called Rover, but I didn't want to say anything too negative because at one time, I did and still truly do like these people. They just aren't capable anymore, and anyone who would step foot in their door would recognize this. It was that obvious.

So I basically just gave Rover some basics, but after thinking about it, my conscience told me that I had to tell them everything because I didn't want another pet owner to see a good review and think these people were okay. They are older and are physically and mentally disabled and have no business taking care of anyone's pet. I called them back and provided all the information and pleaded with Rover to make a site visit. Months later, I checked, and those people are still on Rover. I called Rover again, and nothing was done. I think they just take anyone.

As I mentioned, I had two other sitters who were pretty bad as well, but none like these people I used to be very happy with. I don't know what they fed her to make her so sick, but she now has kidney disease, which most likely doesn't have anything to do with that stay, but I will always blame myself for leaving her in the event it did. So warning, definitely make a home visit before you leave your pet with anyone on Rover. I will not ever use Rover again after this.

I don't want to mention the people's name because they are nice people without a lot of money, and I think they have a couple of regulars that must still be okay with them. I am being asked for proof of purchase, but this was six months ago, and you pay Rover with a credit card. I don't have the same credit card. I'm sure I still have the receipt of purchase, but I am going to go through all my 2022 statements to find it. If it is absolutely necessary, I will, but since I'm having surgery in less than two weeks, I can't do it for about a month. I would not make this up.

Rover.com, also known as "A Place for Rover, Inc.," claims to provide pet owners with carefully chosen "5-star pet sitters" who prioritize pet safety. However, my recent experience with a Rover.com sitter has led me to believe that this claim is simply false. Despite the company's assurances that they carefully vet their sitters, it appears that they do not check anything that their sitters post on their website or carefully check their backgrounds to ensure that they can provide safe and reasonable services.

In fact, the company disclaims all liability for any fraud perpetrated via their website, which is concerning. While the company's website and ads for pet sitters suggest that they prioritize pet safety and quality of care, the reality seems to be quite different. Sitters are considered "independent contractors," which seems to be a way for the company to avoid taking responsibility for any issues that may arise.

After my two dogs stayed with a Rover.com sitter named Sheila C. in San Diego while we were out of town for Thanksgiving, one of my dogs became very ill and may not survive. Sheila's abilities did not match her advertising, and she did not seem to be intuitive about any potential medical symptoms that might arise or comfortable providing any necessary medical treatments. Despite claiming to know pet first aid, she did not seem to be aware of basic canine medical problems and did not examine her yard for dangers or try to determine what my dog had eaten once he became sick.

Furthermore, Sheila's yard was not fully enclosed, and our two dogs walked out of her yard on the first day. One of our dogs even crossed a dangerous street to return home but was fortunately found uninjured by another dog sitter who had been sub-contracted for the first few days while Sheila was out of town. This sub-contracted sitter had to find boards to block the gap in the yard's enclosure.

When I requested Sheila's gardener's contact information to see what other toxins my dog might have ingested, she refused to provide the information and falsely asserted that I was trying to cast blame for a medical condition that was already present prior to my dog's stay with her. This response was hurtful and presumptuous, and it only added to my frustration and concern.

Overall, my experience with Rover.com has been disappointing and concerning. While the company claims to prioritize pet safety and quality of care, it seems that they do not take any real steps to ensure that their sitters are qualified or capable of providing these things. As a result, I will be lodging a complaint with the relevant regulatory bodies for what appears to be internet fraud by the company. I hope that others will be cautious when using Rover.com and will take steps to ensure that their pets are in safe and capable hands.

If you are a Rover customer or a Rover provider, this is your wake-up call. If anything happens you're out of luck. If you're a sitter they'll throw you to the wolves and let you get sued. I wouldn't be so sure that your home owners insurance will cover you for liability. What happens if a customer slips and falls on your property while he or she is picking up your dog? Rover will not stand behind you. If you're a customer you're really out of luck.

We left our dog with a rover sitter over in the Waterton Canyon area on 11/10/2018 when we went out of town for a couple of weeks. Sabrina Roe assured us that she and her husband were very reliable. She said her husband was an engineer at Lockheed Martin Space which is located close to their home.

While we were out of town Sabrina notifies us that she took Zorba for a walk and he got bit by another dog in her neighborhood. Ms. Roe claims that she didn't get the name of the person whose dog bit Zorba and now Rover nor Ms. Roe won't pay the vet bill. Sabrina won't answer the phone or any emails.

When we booked our dog at Rover we had expectations that Zorba would get 'loving care', 'Dog sitters you can trust', and in Sabrina's writeup she said 12 years of experience. We feel that we didn't get the claimed professional service. We feel that Rover is advertising and misrepresenting to everyday people like you and me that they employ experienced pet sitters and walkers.

Zorba was bit and the vet said that the other dog tore the layers of skin apart which caused a baseball sized sack of bloody fluid to collect on the back of his neck. Zorba has been back to the vet to have the wound drained twice and is on antibiotics. As I write this it's over a month and he still has a now hardened golf ball sized lump at the site of the bite.

Like many companies these days it took multiple calls for them to even get back to us. We've been back and forth with Sean O at Rover from their 'Trust & Safety' department. Trust & Safety is their name for the complaint dept. I do have to say that Rover has great creative marketing. So far all the guy does is repeat the corporate 'speak' that Rover doesn't pay for the first 250.00 of vet bills. They like to call this a 'minimum contribution'. I wonder who the marketing person was that came up with that? What a joke. What they are saying is, when your dog gets ripped apart under the care of our sitters YOU have to make a 'minimum contribution'. Sean told me personally that many of these cases end up in court.

Go to the Rover 'Core Values' page https://www.rover.com/careers/core-values/
and you'll get another ear full of corporate BS like 'Relentless focus on dog safety and sitter quality'. The best one is 'Prioritization of business goals above short-term personal career interests'. Under that they say 'No politics. We kick [censored] at tasks to move Rover forward.' MOVING ROVER FORWARD IS THE NUMBER 1 PRIORITY. I wonder how many employees have stock options?

Rover is nothing but another Seattle startup with tons of funding from venture capitalists. This means their goal is to go public making a lot of people super rich. They are not concerned about your pet. They are concerned about making their numbers. They do not want to set a precedent of paying for the mistakes of their sitters. This is kind of like the issue Uber and Lyft had regarding car insurance.

According to Wikipedia Rover.com takes a percentage of each booking made on its site, from 15-20% for dog sitting/boarding services up to 40% for its Quick Match walking service. There's a lot of money at stake here. They also said the in May of 2018 they raised another 155 million in venture capital funding.

Below are some pictures of what they did to my dog. We had him back to the vet multiple times and she had to suck bloody fluid from the wound. There were 2 days where he didn't eat or drink.

I want my vet bill paid and my money back.

As a highly rated dog sitter/walker I did not always find rover customer service to be fair, responsible, practical, far-seeing, ethical, forthcoming/transparent, or good at listening. Their website communications could be misleading. For example, clients' last names, addresses, and actual phone numbers were not provided to the sitter on the website although different rover-generated phone numbers (that I had wrongly assumed were clients') were provided. Clients' identities may not therefore have been bona fide or trackable, which became most troubling for me in one particular case.

There were other issues. Full, continuous history of written dialogue between the customer and sitter was also not always displayed to the sitter on rover's client profile which made it difficult for the sitter to track conversations. (Individual emails would have to be opened instead to search for parts of conversations). Also, a rate category for a day and night package is not available on rover, which customers complained about. I pushed for rover to add that to their website so that clients wouldn't be confused. Rover also changed my photos and their placement on my profile without notifying or asking my permission. After this, they changed information on my profile as well without asking me so that it was false information, such as indicating that I was a smoker when I am not. They claimed they did not make these changes.

Sitters will be blocked from using aspects of the website and blocked from receiving customer requests without rover informing them of the reasons. Sitters will have to figure out the cause. For example, I was having trouble using the website and wasn't getting client requests for some time. When I called rover to inquire about this, rover told me that I needed a longer personal profile description in order for rover to unblock me. This was a required, new policy for all sitters that rover had not notified me about.

As an exception to this rule of not notifying sitters, Rover recently sent new terms of conditions that I had to agree to in order to continue using their services. For a long time I had been thinking about discontinuing with rover and, as I didn't agree to these terms, I informed them I wished to discontinue with their services. Rover replied that only they could be the ones to deactivate my account. The deactivation process was problematic. For example, Rover did not wait before taking action or explaining things, and they even changed my email subject headings of our conversations.

Most alarming was that during a conversation with my last rover client via texting when I mentioned the process of leaving rover, ALL my phone texts (thousands)—not just rover's correspondence on my phone but personal, important records—instantly vanished! It appeared that rover had gained control over my entire phone text records. A shocking discovery.

Rover claims they can delete only rover customer texts on my phone and no other texts. Yet at some point during my time with rover, they gained the capability of instantly texting me sent emails to and from customers (while emailing to my personal email and rover email accounts my same texts to and from customers) without asking for permission to somehow always sync my phone and laptop devices with triplicate messages, which would not have been my preference. These copies to and from my phone and laptop continued until the last message was sent/received between me and a rover client. I still do not know how rover synced my phone to my laptop and their computer system.

Recently, when I subsequently tried to contact a neighbor, who is a client, rover had already messaged her—without my permission—that I'm no longer offering services. I don't know how rover explained to her that I was no longer working for them because rover provided no copy. But rover also blocked me from that neighbor's phone and I had to use a different phone to contact her.