Rover.com | Pet SittingReviews of rover.com

I have been using rover for about 6 years now. There used to be a feature that notified me when the sitter was entering or exiting my property. I recently send a customer service request asking why it went away and was just told the app had been updated. I would like to know why. You are trusting a stranger to be in your home. It would be great to know when they are actually there and for how long. Also, the app should require that the sitter send at least one pic every day. This is very inconsistent among sitters. You could force this action through the app if you wanted. I have also found more sitters to list their status as available on searched dates and then they say that they are not. Not long ago, I had 4 sitters say they were not available. Also, so many don't seem to understand that "house sitting" means staying at the house. Is this not defined for the sitters when registering through the app? Having said that, I have found it to be very helpful to find sitters and most have been good.

I used Rover because I was hoping to find boarding for my dog, within my neighborhood, for a reasonable price. My first experience, I got that. I put my dates in and got to scroll through lots of people who were interested in taking in my dog. Some profiles were more helpful than others. It was nice to see photos and details like house rules, preferences and questions they wanted to know to provide the best care. Pricing (for overnight boarding) ranged from about $20-$40 a night, depending on factors such as a house or an apartment, fenced yards and the level of care offered. Other services like home sitting, check-ins, walks and daycare are also offered. I compared the prices to professional businesses (ie: kennels) and they are comparable. I do believe that Rover takes quite a large percentage (I think 20% but am not certain) from the sitter, as well as charging you a 10% service fee on top, which is why I rated them at 3 stars. While I agree that the site should be profitable, this feels excessive and takes a huge amount from the sitter. To boot, the app cues you to tip after the job is finished (which of course, I did) but honestly - I had no idea this was going to be asked of me. Rover needs to lower their commission rates so carers can make a decent wage and stop gouging their users. Overall, I did find a lovely woman to care for my dog. Communication was fine but nothing amazing (no photos of my dog, no updates unless I asked) and when I dropped off, my sitter did have a large foster dog in care that I didn’t expect. My dog was a bit nervous but she did fine and came home happy. I wasn’t unhappy with my experience, however it was fairly pricey after fees and tip. In considering this, there is nothing really stopping me from undercutting the middleman and working out a private agreement with my dog sitter. Rover didn’t do anything special that really made me feel like it was worthwhile of the extra fees. The site itself is a little glitchy and information isn’t always easy to find or user-intuitive. Updating my dog’s profile was frustrating (age wasn’t saving properly and kept changing itself) and there was no app tool for pandemic needs (ie: a video chat for social distanced meetings). I still had to share my phone number with my dog sitter so we could FaceTime each other. In the future, I would probably give it another go, but Rover didn’t particularly impress me. I think they could do a few small things differently and it might make a big difference for their users.

Hate that they don’t guarantee their sitters will follow through and do what you pay them to do. I’ve had issues with an in particular sitter, and when I asked rover for a refund they said “it’s to the discretion of the sitter if I get a refund”. It’s such a frustrating hands off approach that I’ve looked at other avenues for pet sitting.

I am writing this review from a sitter's perspective. I have used the platform once and unfortunately my experience has not been great. The platform offers ' house sitting' without clear definition of what house sitting entails and that is misleading for both, sitters and owners. There was an issue during the sitting, I rang the customer service and although I got through to them without any issue, they couldn't give me answer regarding the service that the client paid for. The person on the phone had to check the website thoroughly and eventually got back to me without an answer. I also learned that if there is an issue, they will not contact the owner...Luckily the situation got resolved with a help of my friend however the customer service proved unhelpful. They take 15% fee on each booking which is slightly less than other platforms. Also, the app is made for dog owners/sitters rather than people who cat sit. The app design prompts you to tailor your services as if you were a dog sitter. I am sure that expansion towards cat/small pet sitting would be beneficial for the website

Useful but the website and app could be a lot better. The search functions are pretty rubbish and there is no option to sort walkers say, by price, review, area, or other. The fees are also expensive.

I've used Rover twice. I had one good experience and the other was not that good. However in the future, I plan to use them again, but will creatively try and vet the sitter as best as I can.

My dog walker was the best. However, Rover was not easily to follow. Had issues with billed charges. Had to cancel.

Hit n miss Depends on individual ...