Is it Safe to Hire Someone From Rover to Watch Your Pet? Everything You Need to Know · Kinship Leave a comment

On January 2, 2025, Jennifer Gallegos’s pet, Phoebe, went lacking from a park in Queens, New York, whereas within the care of a five-star pet sitter booked by means of Rover. The pet sitter informed Gallegos that she had Phoebe in a stroller with a zipper closure after which began taking part in fetch along with her personal canine. When she turned again round half-hour later, the stroller was open, Phoebe was gone, and the sweater she had been carrying was mendacity on the bottom a couple of toes away.

Rover informed Gothamist that such incidents are extraordinarily uncommon, although a fast search brings up a couple of instance of an incident. Additionally in January, a Tampa couple’s six-month-old pet, a Bernedoodle named Blue, went lacking whereas underneath the care of a Rover sitter. The couple informed an area information station that this was their first time utilizing Rover.

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“I truly informed the Rover [sitter] earlier than we left that please watch after Blue. He’s our child, he’s our the whole lot,’” Blue’s mother, Shelby Caldwell, stated. “She has a younger child, and she or he additionally has a pet, and she or he stated ‘belief me, I understand how you’re feeling. My canine’s my child, too.’ So, once we obtained that decision that evening, it was actually simply essentially the most heartbreaking factor.”

In a press release to 10 Tampa Bay, Rover stated, partially: “Most Rover crew members are pet mother and father, and our hearts exit to Blue’s household; we be part of them in hoping for a wholesome and swift reunion. Our crew has performed a radical evaluation of this example, and the pet care supplier concerned is now not in a position to provide providers by means of the Rover platform.”

As for Phoebe, Rover informed Gothamist that they’re providing a $1,000 reward for her return and offering Gallegos with flyers to submit across the space. In addition they took down that service supplier’s profile and gave Gallegos an entire refund.

Stasha Vincent, a PR supervisor for Rover, tells Kinship that they shared details about Phoebe with on-line pet-finding boards, despatched alerts to native shelters and veterinarians, and reached out to Rover neighborhood members to assist with the search.

As of now, there have been no studies that Phoebe or Blue have been safely returned. However there may be hope (a Las Vegas canine named Gunner was reunited together with his household final yr, 4 months after a Rover sitter misplaced him). Tales like Phoebe’s, Blue’s, and Gunner’s beg the query: Ought to pet mother and father belief Rover with the care of their beloved animals?

Are Rover service suppliers reliable?

It’s vital to grasp that Rover will not be a direct employer of canine walkers and pet sitters. These service suppliers are impartial contractors who’re employed by particular person pet mother and father through the app. Though they require every service supplier to cross a security quiz, Rover doesn’t prepare the individuals who make an account with them, nor do they maintain them to any specific requirements of conduct past these prescribed by legislation.

We spoke with a couple of individuals who have labored with the app. All of them requested to stay nameless; now we have used pseudonyms to guard their privateness.

“There isn’t any coaching or normal throughout sitters in any respect,” says Lucy, a pet sitter and canine walker who began working with Rover in 2021. “We’re given actually zero data. Rover does sometimes ship ‘Security Data’, however when you’ve got any pet care expertise, it’s nothing you don’t already know.”

Samantha, a cat sitter who has labored with Rover for over a yr, does say they not too long ago added a brief on-line coaching, however it’s not required.

Rover does background checks on all their pet care staff, however they take no accountability for his or her accuracy: “Rover doesn’t warrant that any such display screen is correct, full, conclusive or updated,” their phrases of service say. In addition they take no accountability for the validity of any opinions posted on their platform.

This isn’t to say that Rover’s service suppliers are inexperienced, untrained, or untrustworthy, however the app’s position is as an middleman. In different phrases, they go away it as much as you to resolve if somebody is certified to care on your pet. As their phrases of service additional state: “We make no representations or warranties concerning the high quality of boarding, pet sitting, canine strolling, home sitting, or different providers offered by Service Suppliers.” In different phrases, if the individual you rent does a nasty job, you can’t blame Rover for this.

Sitters, walkers, and so forth. can add testimonials from previous purchasers that pet mother and father can learn. Nevertheless, as Rover states of their phrases of service, they do “not endorse opinions of Service Suppliers by different Pet House owners that could be obtainable through the Rover Service, and Rover makes no commitments that such opinions are correct or legit.”

What do you do if one thing occurs to your pet whereas they’re underneath a Rover supplier’s care?

The corporate takes no obligation on your pet whereas within the care of somebody you employed by means of them, however they do provide one thing referred to as the Rover Assure. This gives as much as $25,000 in eligible veterinary care reimbursement for accidents or damages which will happen throughout a reserving, although there are limitations. For instance, the app won’t cowl any vet prices that proceed past 30 days. The app additionally gives 24/7 help and sure “out-of-pocket medical prices for third-party accidents.”

This doesn’t appear to be a nasty deal, however leaving your pet with a stranger you met on-line has its dangers. “I typically inform individuals to not use [Rover or other apps like it], except you’ve already developed a relationship with somebody on there that you just belief,” says Jessica Jacobson, a New York Metropolis-based canine coach and conduct knowledgeable at Dapper Canine Coaching. “You simply do not know who you’re going to get. As knowledgeable within the subject, I’ve many tales about individuals whose canines weren’t receiving one of the best care — some caught on video — from walkers making an attempt to [dump] aggressive canines out of their crates, to sitters who had been barely strolling the canines.”

As an alternative, Jacobson recommends working with individuals who’ve been referred by somebody you already know. “This works as a result of there’s private expertise there,” she says. “It’s the explanation phrase of mouth is without doubt one of the strongest referrals.”

After all, not everybody is aware of somebody who is aware of somebody they’ll belief with their pet, which is why Rover and apps prefer it (Wag!, Pawshake, DogHero to call a couple of) are so helpful, even when they aren’t excellent. And nothing on this world is ever one hundred pc protected. We are able to’t fall into the lure of believing that uncommon scary situations imply a whole service or firm is unhealthy. That stated, it’s as much as you to look out on your greatest pursuits.

Rover truly suggests establishing a meet-and-greet with any and all potential service suppliers and even gives a information on how to take action safely. In addition they provide pattern questions on their web site that can assist you talk about your pet’s wants and your expectations for his or her care. 

Rover service suppliers may very well be much less protected than your pet.

The potential dangers usually are not simply to you, your pets, and your stuff. Pet sitters are additionally in danger. “Most of Rover’s insurance policies and its Rover Assure [are] constructed to guard house owners [and] their pets, not sitters,” Samantha says. “If, for instance, a pet on Rover attacked or bit a sitter, the sitter will not be protected in any means. For me, a reactive canine on Rover destroyed my iPhone, and I used to be anticipated to pay for it alone.”

That is true. The assure gives injury to the pet mum or dad’s house however doesn’t cowl “property injury or accidents to service suppliers, house owners, their roommates or households.”

Samantha goes on to say that if a pet mum or dad had been to cancel a reserving along with her, she would get not receives a commission in any respect. Per Rover’s cancellation coverage, the consumer will obtain a full refund in the event that they cancel earlier than the reserving begins. In the event that they accomplish that after the reserving has begun, they’ll get a 50 p.c refund for the primary seven days. They get one hundred pc of their a refund for any days booked after that seven-day interval. Additionally per their coverage, all “add-ons,” resembling “prolonged care, sitter pickup and drop off, and bathing/grooming) are refunded one hundred pc when a reserving is canceled.”

Fortunately, the app permits its pet care suppliers to set their very own charges. However for these customers who joined after March 1, 2016, they take a 20 p.c chunk of that closing cost (and 25 p.c for these suppliers who used their on-demand characteristic, RoverGO). Pet mother and father additionally get charged an 11 p.c service charge after they guide.

As well as, Samantha notes that pet mother and father don’t have to make use of their actual names, however Rover service suppliers do. “[This] has positively raised considerations for me a couple of occasions when going into an entire stranger’s house and I decline any bookings the place the house owners refuse to share their actual names.”

Lucy says that based mostly on her expertise, it appears Rover is just searching for his or her backside line. “Rover doesn’t care concerning the sitters or the purchasers,” she says. “To be sincere, all they care about is that cash. They inform sitters to not guide if we really feel uncomfortable to cowl their very own ass, as a result of finally, we’re dinged once we decline new purchasers [and] it messes up our metrics. It’s important to be taught to stay with this as a sitter, or you find yourself taking jobs you aren’t snug with.” (When you’re in search of extra testimonials like this, the r/RoverPetSitting subreddit is filled with tales.)

Not everybody we spoke to was so essential, although. “I, personally, have by no means felt unsafe whereas canine sitting/strolling on Rover,” says Naomi, a part-time sitter who has been working by means of Rover for just a little underneath six months. “I’ve seen lots of people complain about Rover and their pursuits, however I do know they do their greatest to ensure the whole lot is totally protected, which I can recognize. When signing up, I used to be given an emergency Rover quantity [that I can] name at any time if I am in an emergency scenario. [Most apps don’t provide] one thing like [that], which makes Rover that a lot better!”

And it’s price noting that even the service suppliers who had been essential of Rover inform us they most popular working with them over their rivals. “I’ve labored with Cat within the Flat and Urbansitter,” Samantha tells us, “however the interfaces [on the website/app] had been not so good as Rover.”

Lucy additionally charges Rover’s interfaces over different apps she’s used for gig work generally: “I used to do Instacart pre-COVID, and it was OK, however I positively earn more money and have higher management of my schedule with Rover.”

What occurs legally if one thing goes down?

If something occurs to service suppliers whereas they’re on the job, Rover states that can also be not their fault: “To the utmost extent permitted by relevant legislation, in no occasion will Rover be chargeable for any damages in anyway, whether or not direct, oblique, particular, compensatory, and/or consequential, arising out of or associated to the conduct of you or anybody else in reference to the Rover service, together with with out limitation, property injury, theft, bodily damage, loss of life, emotional misery, and/or every other damages.”

Not that any of that’s more likely to occur when you use Rover. If horrific outcomes like these had been tremendous widespread, you in all probability would have heard by now. Or perhaps not? The phrases of service state: “All features of the arbitration continuing, and any ruling, resolution or award by the arbitrator, might be strictly confidential for the advantage of all Events.“

Which means anybody who makes use of the app can’t sue Rover in open court docket, and the phrases of any settlement reached throughout stated arbitration are by no means disclosed to the general public. After all, you may decide out of the arbitration clause within the phrases of service, however you should accomplish that through “a written, opt-out discover“ inside 30 days of your preliminary settlement.

All that being stated, when you learn the phrases of service for any massive firm, you’d in all probability encounter a number of related language. Simply because Rover indemnifies themselves towards legal responsibility in sure excessive (and never so excessive) circumstances, doesn’t imply that they anticipate these circumstances to come up. They’re overlaying their butts—and it’s as much as you to cowl yours. 

A widespread items of recommendation you’ll discover on-line for Rover caregivers is to get their very own legal responsibility insurance coverage