I would agree with @AnthonyC and @hyouko that while the pet parents profiled in the CNN article clearly suffered tragic loss, they are not in themselves evidence of widespread malfeasance by Rover. My wife is a pet sitter, and has used Rover to find many of her clients. She insists on meet-and-greets, and is fastidious about sending picture updates. It’s an anecdote, I know, but most of her new clients give her horror stories about friends or family members that dropped the ball when asked to take care of pets.
The best you can do is to thoroughly vet your sitter, and don’t use a new sitter for a prolonged stay. Have a meet-and-greet, get a sense of whether your sitter is responsible, has good chemistry with your pet, and then do a check-in or two, maybe a single overnight, before booking anything long-term. Make sure the sitter understands exactly what your pet’s needs are. And insist on updates, including pictures taken during the actual sitting. Any sitter worth their salt won’t mind the trouble; that’s what they’re getting paid for. Finally, always be sure you understand a company’s terms of service before you sign on. If you don’t like how they handle disputes, don’t use them. Rover might be the most accessible name in sitting, but they’re far from the only ones.
