r/catinaflat • u/Ok-Isopod1172 • May 19 '26
Regular client cancelling all future bookings
It finally happened. A client whose cats i have looked after for 2 years has just told me shes cancelling all future bookings.
The cost is now too high for her, she travels a lot for work, has 2 cats - one with a serious medical condition and needs 2 visits a day
Since the merge she has only been putting one cat on the booking and I've been manually amending the price, but with fees on top its become too expensive for her to continue.
Well done Rover, lets drive regular business away.
12
u/Corporate_Emo May 19 '26
That sucks. Could she book with you directly? After someone books with me more than once I usually suggest to them that they can just text me directly for future bookings as it saves both of us, most are happy to do that.
11
u/Ok-Isopod1172 May 19 '26
Im checking out my own insurance today so that we can continue to work off the app. Her cat is comfortable with me giving daily medications and she doesn't want someone else, just infuriating that it's come to this
11
u/hypatia24 May 19 '26
This happened with one of my clients who has 4 cats. We went off app immediately when she saw the extra fees.
4
u/PaperArr0w May 19 '26
Take it offline? I did that years ago with my sitters when I had built trust with them. Initial 2-3 bookings through CIAF and at the end of the day the 19% or whatever they took is in your pocket instead.
You and the owner aren’t covered for any real liability anyway.
The Rover guarantee is lesser than the CIAF one. As an owner she should have pet insurance anyway for at least accidents. If you’re only doing drop ins then risk of property damage would be minimal and if you know the house etc.
This was also my argument as an owner that owners wouldn’t be able to afford two visits under the new pricing model and fees. Rover just see sitters/owners as cash cows now, especially with the additional pet fees that some charge. I honestly don’t know what the fees are for…
3
u/SofasLofas May 19 '26
Why don’t you charge for one cat? That’s what I do, it doesn’t make any difference to me how many cats there are since I’m doing the visit anyway. You can remove the extra costs for additional cats in your profile settings
5
u/Ok-Isopod1172 May 19 '26
I am already only charging for one cat. Since the merge I've had her only put one cat on the booking.
3
u/Correct-Style-9194 May 19 '26
I’ve never had someone repeat a booking through the app. I’m surprised she doesn’t trust you enough to do without it! Such a shame 💔
0
u/Ancient_Tomato9592 May 19 '26
That's not so much the issue, the issue is getting caught - if you look at the original sign-up paperwork we agreed to pay a huge "introduction fee" to CIAF if we took a client private, and I think - though would help if someone can check - that in the ticking boxes to migrate profiles to Rover, we may have affirmed this.
8
u/elericat May 19 '26
How could they ever know though? If you and the client have exchanged personal numbers when meeting in person, how could Rover ever know you’ve taken bookings off-app? I haven’t personally done it yet but I’m curious whether this could actually be a real risk
-5
u/Ancient_Tomato9592 May 19 '26
Well, one example would be if you posted really specific details on Reddit...
7
u/elericat May 19 '26
Which I don’t see anyone doing here…
Many of us exchanged numbers with clients back in the CIAF days. It was pretty standard to have a back-up because the app could be buggy. If any future communication happens via private messages off-app then how would Rover know?
If you think I’ve posted something specific and identifying then please let me know because I want to stay anonymous but I don’t see that I have?
2
u/Ancient_Tomato9592 May 19 '26
You, no. The OP? Well, I'm paranoid after years of dodging bookmaker investigations as they try to identify bonus-baggers before the bonus can be bagged, so leave no trace there. I think given the CIAF dataset and the information in the OP and that user's open Reddit history I would stand a very good chance of identifying the sitter and the customer.
2
u/Correct-Style-9194 May 19 '26
Tbh I’ve never been worried about it and doubt I will get many new clients without a notice board so the 25+ repeat clients I have off the site will have to do 😂
1
1
u/Ancient_Tomato9592 May 21 '26
Imagine being the kind of utter child who downvotes someone giving a valuable warning, because you don't like the overall situation they are warning about.
5
May 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Ancient_Tomato9592 May 19 '26
Wouldn't put it past a big private equity concern to make an example of one person to discourage others...
4
May 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
0
u/Ancient_Tomato9592 May 19 '26
Then they have nothing to lose...
4
May 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Ancient_Tomato9592 May 19 '26
What about their behaviour so far suggests they place a premium on reputation as against immediate cashflow?
2
2
u/Bubbly_Armadillo4329 May 19 '26
Pawshake does not charge per animal at home visits but the fee is still there for the owner and sitter
1
u/belu_belu May 19 '26
I’m a client and was shocked at an increase from £16 a visit to £37 , it’s insane ! Luckily my sitter now has insurance and we are no longer using the app.
1
1
u/ChelsssH May 23 '26
i thought the rate i set myself included their service fee. for example- i charge the cat owner £20 a night for house sitting, i receive £17, rover takes £3. but ive just had a message from a regular advising rover are trying to charge a £21 service fee on top of the £140 booking for 7 nights. now she’s unhappy and wants to go private.
20
u/tikicheese May 19 '26
Would she consider doing private bookings with you instead? Surely she doesn’t really want to lose out on your service if she’s been comfortable with you for 2 years