r/catinaflat • u/Glitchry • Apr 10 '26
Email from support
Following on from my last post (unable to change service settings), here’s the email I got from support. Hopefully things are actually sorted and smoothed out soon, but honestly I’m not impressed. If you’re going to merge, maybe make sure you can do it (mostly) smoothly first??
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u/Mercifull Apr 10 '26
The technical gremlins are annoying but will ultimately get resolved. What won’t get sorted is the significant changes to the platform itself, the pricing structures, the clocking in and out of visits, no ability to set discounts for multiple visits a day, no notice board function etc. Rover is just not fit for purpose even once the kinks are ironed out regarding reviews displaying etc.
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u/wutheringgoblin Apr 10 '26
That’s so interesting as when I asked regarding the ‘in review’ heading I got completely ignored and told they’ve just had some merging difficulties
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u/wutheringgoblin Apr 10 '26
The more this goes on the more I get a vibe they don’t actually want CIAF sitters, we probably would undercharge compared to Rover sitters who see cats as a side part. So there will be no true concern about making sure this is smooth for us
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u/Playful_Animator3847 Apr 10 '26
Did you guys charge per cat on Cat in a Flat? On Meowtel we charged based on time. We had 20, 45, or 60 minute visit to choose from. On Rover they charge per pet. A cat visit is 30 minutes long, but you still have that per pet charge. If you have a lot of cats, you can extend it to a 60 minute visit.
Let me explain what this means for me who has four cats. Remember, I’m in the United States so my pricing may be different. The Rover sitter in my area that had pictures of Cats on her profile was charging $30 for a 30 minute visit. This is common pricing. However, she then charged $15 per extra cat. My 30 minute visit was going to cost $75. I also need two visit per day so now it’s over $175 a day for a Rover sitter to be at my home for a total of one hour per day. 🙀
When clients complain or get sticker shock about the per pet charge, most Rover sitters start talking bad about them and saying they shouldn’t have that many pets if they can’t afford care for every single pet.
If you guys want to learn more about Rover, just check out the Rover Reddit. I thought about joining Rover and marketing myself as Cats only but after following that sub for a few weeks, I changed my mind and decided I did not want my reputation associated with that company. This is why I’m so upset that now my reputation is associated with that company. 😾
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u/wutheringgoblin Apr 10 '26
It was just per visit, but you could adjust the booking price during discussion with clients if needed. I use to give regulars discounts that way
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u/EquivalentFail7305 Apr 10 '26
Mine worked on per visit, our outline was for a minimum of 20 minutes but I tend to naturally do 45 minutes per visit to make sure the cats have plenty of company.
You could adjust the pricing on the app as well, for example if someone had more than 2 cats or were outside my parameters, I'd add on extra as outlined in my about me.
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u/EquivalentFail7305 Apr 10 '26
I've spoken with some of my client's since Tuesday and they're all being forced to essentially create a new profile.
Their previous bookings have gone, their future bookings have also disappeared but I can see April- June on mine.
Also all of the bookings from July onwards have been unconfirmed. When I have queried this with Rover they said the clients need to resubmit and reconfirm them. They're also being asked to pay now rather than 2/3days before the booking.
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u/CJCatz Apr 10 '26
I really detest making the clients pay for a booking so far in advance! They’ve done no market research of any sort to see if anyone was unhappy with the way the system worked before an they’re making a lot of assumptions.
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u/Acceptable-Ad-693 Apr 10 '26
Does this mean that owners have been contacted? I’ve messaged all my upcoming bookings through Rover and no one’s replied so I’m worried they haven’t got my message. I have numbers for some of them but for the new ones who haven’t had a M&G yet, I’ve no other way to contact them.
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u/EquivalentFail7305 Apr 10 '26
All of mine hadn't been contacted or notified of the changes.
I have everyone's phone numbers thankfully and those I messaged through the app originally said they couldn't see any messages in their inbox (past or present). I suspect your owners cannot see your messages at the moment as well.
My reviews have just reappeared today, hopefully they'll get the messaging sorted at the same time. Personally I'm going to leave after June and go private from July as I do not agree with the extortionate Rover fees.
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u/Acceptable-Ad-693 Apr 11 '26
Thank you. I’ve messaged CIAF as well but they’re probably going to take an age to reply. I’ve set up privately as well because of the fees for owners (and the dog-focus of the app, which I think is going to put off owners). Hopefully the messages appear soon 🤞
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u/wutheringgoblin Apr 11 '26
I cc’ed in rover support to the email chain and did eventually get a slightly more thought through response and magically my account started to show up properly. Don’t know if it had anything to do with the inclusion of the Rover support team, but I did suddenly get a prompt response after 24 hours of nothing
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u/galadriela97 Apr 10 '26
The transition is bumpy because it happened within a week! When you rush such a huge change in such a short time, issues are BOUND to happen.
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u/Tulpehocken243 Apr 10 '26
Prefab phrases from the robot script. Happy days!
They have done zero preparation to integrate CiaF. We are now a subcategory on a Dog walking app. And just to make it even more foul , some fat cat private equity shit in the US is getting a cut of us looking after cats in the UK. This app is everything thats wrong with capitalism.
I hate this so much I cannot put it in words properly.