I really try not to complain or give bad reviews. But after a few weeks of this stewing in my head, I decided I have to warn other doggie parents. Ever used the dog watching/walking app Rover.com? I would suggest you don’t or you stop. I found a sitter that I really, really liked. I booked her multiple times on the app. However, the last time my dogs were there, my poor Monty was bitten by another dog. On the eye. This is in NO way the sitter’s fault. After taking Monty to the doggie ER because his eye was bleeding, they said the bite went through all three eyelids and were concerned that it hit his cornea. However, due to the extremely bad infection, they couldn’t tell until that was taken care of. So off we went with some meds for my pup. Needless to say, I was devastated. Then Rover contacted me and said they would pay for the medical expenses within a 30 day period. Somewhere there must have been some miscommunication because I was under the impression that because this was going to need time to be properly diagnosed they were going to pay it all minus the $250 deductible. (They also claim to have premium insurance.) This was GREAT news. I took Monty in for a follow-up. His eye was still bleeding, only it was on the inside and not draining. My vet recommended I take him to a doggie oncologist. I did, and they said he had an ulcer that needed to be taken care of before she could tell what the damage is. I went home with more meds. A few weeks later we had a follow-up appt and sure enough, he was blind in his left eye due to retinal disconnection from the dog bite. From the day of the injury until the discovery of his official blindness, was just over a month. So Rover.com reimbursed me the costs within the 30 days and denied my costs outside the month window. There may be more costs in the future depending on if his eye bulges and pain level, his eye may need to be removed. In my opinion, this is flat out wrong. Some may think otherwise, but Monty is my fur-baby, he’s my firstborn. I treat my dogs like they are a part of the family. Now due to an injury, he got while under the care of a rover sitter he is permanently blind in his eye and I’m expected to pay for the rest of the medical expenses accrued due to this dog bite. Not cool.

Avoid this service at ALL COSTS. Our 14-week old puppy was nearly killed by a Rover sitter (Caroline S. in St. Louis) who left him unattended for 10+ hours and starved him of BOTH food and water. Our brand new $1100 sofa was covered in his vomit, diarrhea, and urine (as was the puppy himself). We caught the Rover sitter in numerous lies and discovered evidence that during the time she was in our house, she consumed alcohol and did not care for our animal whatsoever. Rover’s reply? That they are not liable and they have ALSO not suspended the sitter so she is currently putting other animals in danger as I type. Absolutely Disgusting. I cannot even explain the emotional stress and anxiety caused by this company. Run, don’t walk, in the other direction.

WARNING!! If you use ROVER.COM this can happen to you! I booked a dog sitter from Rover.com to stay with my dog when I took a 5-day trip. I met the sitter first. She seemed nice and my dog liked her. I scheduled and paid for this service three months in advance. I gave her a key to my home. I even stocked food for her stay, making every effort to ensure her comfort. I bought my round-trip plane ticket and awaited the arrival of the sitter. She NEVER SHOWED UP. She failed to answer any of my calls and failed to respond to any of my texts. My plane took off without me. I called every boarding facility I could to find a last minute arrangement and finally found one, thankfully, and then I had to buy another round-trip flight. Extra costs for the second flight and extra boarding fees ran over $650. The amount of stress I went through for hours waiting for the sitter who never showed up then frantically trying to fix this … I would not wish on anyone. When I contacted Rover.com I was told that they would only refund my payment to them and offer me a $30 credit toward future service. They would not in any way compensate me for ANY part of my financial losses due to their failure to meet the contractual obligation of their online agreement. After this experience, I would never book them again. Since it is their policy that they will NOT compensate you for any losses associated with your engaging of their “service” and it is not made really clear up front that this could happen to anyone who uses them; I am going out of my way to relate my experience and maybe save someone else the horror and financial losses associated with trusting and using Rover.com. Feel free to share this post as a public service.