Pawshake Dog Sitting?

[kwirky]

Hello,

We found a company/service called Pawshake which offers pet sitting etc on Facebook and looked into it a little more. Has anyone heard of them or has any experience? I am a little nervous as we have never had a non-family pet sitter/house minder before and just wanted to put out some feelers.

We are looking at one of the minders in Melbourne - Mel and Lawrence who have been doing this for 2 years. They provided a reference and will provide a contract. We are hoping to arrange a meet and greet sometime this week.

Thanks

Joanne

[Tom@PetHomeStay]

Hi Joanne,

Full disclosure - I am the founder of PetHomeStay.com.au so a direct competitor to Pawshake.

You need to know that Pawshake (a Dutch/ US company) offers no insurance or support whatsoever for either Host or Guest via their site. $10m Public Liability cover for pet sitters is the minimum legal requirement in Australia, so arguably they are acting illegally by exposing their Hosts to this.

In addition to $10 liability cover PetHomeStay ( a full Australian owned and operated business) also offers $2500 Pet Accident & Emergency Insurance for all bookings transacted via our site, plus 24x7 support. We have over 250 Hosts throughout Melbourne at present.

many thanks and I hope this has been informative.

Tom

[kwirky]

Thank you so much for your reply.

I guess i already know the answer to this but have there been any issues with your minders? Are they screened in anyway?

I am nervous about having a stranger in my home and taking responsibility for the welfare of my boys.

[Ally @ Pawshake]

Hi Joanne (and Tom!)

Full disclosure - I'm the Australian representative for Pawshake. ;) I live in Sydney and started out as a Pawshake pet sitter before joining their admin team.

Apologies it's taken so long for me to find this post! I hope your booking has been sorted either way. Mel and Lawrence sound like great Pawshake sitters if they're offering a reference and contract, so thank you for mentioning them. I'll keep an eye out for their profile.

It's true that currently Pawshake does not offer insurance, however as we've only been active for a few months in Australia this is something we're working towards at the moment. What we do recommend in its stead is a meet and greet - any where you like - so that you and the potential pet sitter can discuss your pet's routine and your home, and exchange contact details and important information.

Even after the meetup, there's no obligation to book with a pet sitter if you're still unsure about letting a relative stranger mind your beautiful boys! It's understandable - I had a little trepidation booking my first Pawshake sitter to mind my cat Tiger at our home, but he treated our house beautifully (even washing the dishes we left!) and Tiger seemed pretty happy when we returned. Of course every pet sitter and situation is unique but hopefully if you do end up booking through Pawshake you'll have a pet sitter who is equally as loving and careful.

I guess what Pawshake is aiming to foster is a community where pet lovers - whether they own pets or not - can gather and scratch one another's backs. We've got a fair few professionals signed up to the site who use Pawshake to boost their bookings, but most of us are just animal lovers who want to help out (and get as many pats and licky kisses as we can in the process). Just a note that the admin team does check every profile and you can see at a glance how the Pawshake team has verified their identity, be it through phone call, email, SMS or Facebook. I hope that helps!

Feel free to private message me and I can provide more information and my phone number if you'd like to chat - this message board is great so I'm keen to hang around!

(Oh - and we also have a staff member in Melbourne if you'd like to meet up with her! Her name is Jess, she lives in Carlton and she's absolutely lovely.)

Best,

Ally

[Ally @ Pawshake]

One more thing! The only issue we've had with our bookings so far is one situation where a doggy client broke a lamp in the pet sitter's home (doggy was okay! Lamp was not). If anything like this happens we're happy to help out.

Currently it's best to discuss potential issues directly with your chosen pet sitter, and have written out a detailed emergency guideline for your boys so that if anything does happen, you're all prepared.

I have a whole bunch of guides written up in regards to this if you wanted to check them out on our blog.

Time for a cup of tea now, I think. Have a lovely day! :D

Ally

[Ally @ Pawshake]

Just an update to this for the record - Pawshake is now backed by insurance from Lloyd's of London. And our deductible is pretty excellent compared to our competitors. ;)

https://www.pawshake.com.au/insurance

[DZaak]

Thought I'd revive this thread as I've recently come across Pawshake myself and am thinking of booking for Late January. They also have a nifty little phone app now. It kind of reminds me of the furry version of airbnb (or eBay) which relies on strong input of user reviews to foster trust in the pet sitters.

Also in my research, I've found a competing platform called Madpaws. Seems like basically the same thing, however with less users, there are nowhere near as many user reviews or testimonials. I have both installed on my phone, just in case there is a sitter who is more convenient on Madpaws. Still I'd be more interested in Pawshake due to more reviews.

Is there anyone on DOL with first hand experience using this service? Any good stories? Or bad?

Thanks.

[lovepedigree]

I just had an amazing experience with https://www.petcloud.com.au. I booked a pet sitter for 1 week who was an RSPCA volunteer in Brisbane and I made a booking again for Australia day weekend :)

Edited January 11, 2016 by lovepedigree

[VictoriaF]

I worked for pawshake since last year over the last few weeks I have seen the flaws as I have been ignored and treated with rudeness and total disrespect. 

I had repeat customers and great 5 star reviews for my work for which pashake have taken a huge cut of 19% from each time. 

I received an email saying my account had been permanently suspend for taking payment outside the website I had not taken any payments out of the website. 

I emailed so many times but have been ignored despite sending 5 emails over the past two weeks. I had bookings which now have been left in the dark.

I get a reply for Sam after sending my last complaint saying he will continue to ignore my emails.

They have also disabled any reviews being written anywhere but here. 

So sneaky and no worth the hassle of dealing with this company and this Sam guy.

 

[alpha bet]

These online groups can only check so much... They say they verify their sitters 
Quote "Just a note that the admin team does check every profile and you can see at a glance how the Pawshake team has verified their identity, be it through phone call, email, SMS or Facebook. I hope that helps! "

 

Anyone, with any background can set up a phone number and email an SMS or have Facebook... this is NO VERIFICATION as to who they actually are.... what name they are using or even if they have had a criminal record for theft, animal cruelty....
There is no POLICE CHECK...no WORKING WITH CHILDREN CARD.... no COUNCIL APPROVAL.... no INSPECTION OF THE PROPERTY/FACILITY... not even to sight a DRIVERS LICENSE... 

 

I'm not saying you won't meet some wonderful people offering pet sitting in either Your House or Theirs.... however any Joe Sleezy Blog can set up the account and join.....

 

Sheese... the 'Millenials" will see to accept anyone or anything as long as it is recommended on Google or social media.....

 

Let the Consumer

 beware!

[RuralPug]

Your best bet for a pet minder is to ask on local noticeboards or Facebook groups for recommendations. People who have had good experiences are happy to recommend their pet minders and people who have had poor experiences are equally happy to warn against the one that they had.

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by RuralPug
fat finger typo

[Teebs]

This post is 3 years old ..

[tojasonharris]

On 19/02/2018 at 12:35 PM, VictoriaF said:

I worked for pawshake since last year over the last few weeks I have seen the flaws as I have been ignored and treated with rudeness and total disrespect. 

I had repeat customers and great 5 star reviews for my work for which pashake have taken a huge cut of 19% from each time. 

I received an email saying my account had been permanently suspend for taking payment outside the website I had not taken any payments out of the website. 

I emailed so many times but have been ignored despite sending 5 emails over the past two weeks. I had bookings which now have been left in the dark.

I get a reply for Sam after sending my last complaint saying he will continue to ignore my emails.

They have also disabled any reviews being written anywhere but here. 

So sneaky and no worth the hassle of dealing with this company and this Sam guy.

 

I had this same exact experience with this same guy!! Sam and Jack are apparently the only guys that work there and they treat their people horribly!

 

I worked with them for two years, had the best possible status, five-star reviews only, and piles of repeat customers. They suspended my account on a whim and literally cancelled the bookings I had with my clients!

 

Now that I'm digging into them, I'm finding they are dodgy as. They don't even have an ABN in Australia and their trading name is not registered. I've got friends who use madpaws so I'm probably headed over there now. Just blown away by the arrogance and ego at Pawshake.

[Julia Guilia]

Very very disappointed with PawShake. Used them to find a pet sitter on the Mornington Peninsula. Gave detailed instructions on caring for our pets to their sitter. She was booked to visit our pets every day however when we got home, cat litter tray was completely saturated so wet litter hadn't been removed for days. Bird feeders were overflowing and chooks water was filthy.

 

Complained to PawShake and despite sending them photos, we were treated as though we were making it up !!! Dodgy as. Would never trust them with our pets again and would not recommend at all. 

 

Hardly surprising they don't let people leave reviews on their FB page!

[Billy Jane]

Stay away from Pawshake!

 

As a minder in Sydney, Australia, being with this company for over 18 months, I can confirm all the comments from other sitters are true.

 

This is an American company (governing laws are state and federal courts of the State of California) and they have only their interest in mind. They don’t care neither about pet owners nor sitters.

 

From their own Terms and Conditions:

“Pawshake may, in its sole discretion, for any reason or no reason, with or without notice (i) terminate or suspend your account and your access to the Site”

 

My account was suspended three times so far, for no valid reason, only to be re-instated a week later, after proving they were wrong.

Imagine leaving your precious pet for a few weeks, while going overseas, expecting updates and photos on the website, and suddenly the minder you left your pet with disappears from the site???

 

Stay away from Pawshake. There are other more reliable companies like Madpaws.com.au or Petcloud.com.au who’s even donating 5% to RSPCA. Or search local facebook groups.

 

You can find the best and the worst minders on any site. Definitely do ‘meet and greet’ first and do what feels best for you and your pet. But please stay away from dodgy companies like ‘Pawshake’!

[Karen$$]

Yes totally agree with the negative comments - stay clear of Pawshake! I just had two very bad experiences where they haven’t delivered on their promises and as a result of the last one I missed an overseas flight which then cost me $200 to change. The pet sitter lied and Pawshake took their side - obviously because they just want money. I’m very bitter over this incident as my overseas holiday was cut from 10 days down to 7 days as I’ve also had to then  find  emergency accommodation for my beloved fur babies when pawshake didn’t deliver on their promise of pet sitting. I’m also questioning if they are operating legally in Australia and I won’t rest on this one! I was not provided with a legal tax invoice when I paid the money the first time, can’t find them on the Australian business register, neither on the goods and services tax information. Do they have employees or do the contract put to individuals who have an ABN? Who knows if they and their sitters are contributing to this country. Even worse the pet sitter was happy to accept cash. It’s so wrong - spread the word everyone - unless it’s legit and a contribution is made to this country they should be shut down! Yes I’m one angry past customer the way it all unfolded. 

[PossumCorner]

Pet-care with most of these franchise type outfits is a gamble.  It's underpaid work and does not attract people who could do anything 'better' like run their own business.  It is comparable with letter-box-dropping which brings in new droppers til they realise they are working hard to earn less than pin-money and resort to dropping their pamphlets in a waste bin and claiming to have delivered them.  It is a flawed system and brings out the worst in people (in both cases) because it is a classic churn and burn business like telemarketing - throw them out and get new ones when they can't make their quotas.

 

Why are pet owners fixated on using these franchises when there are good pet sitters working solo who take a pride in doing a good job to build up a regular customer base for their own business?

[dkee]

My dog was kicked by one of their favourite sitters, another mine not walked; and I don't think that applies to all on the site obviously (or unaware like I was until  4 times stuffing my few very good bookings up, huge potential to have got more, staff lying, taking me off site everytime was busy, they definitely don't seem about equal opportunity with sitters and I've experienced first hand/conflict of interest maybe one sitter who worked for them was in my area).

Just found this forum now.. (had I known earlier, I wouldn't have even registered or at all used if no accountability whatsoever, it's all false advertising) and I was very good considerate, happy to share, they booted me off for made up reason, not even to their own terms & conditions did the opposite of written, they don't follow at all - hypocrits. I had bookings NO COMPLAINTS PLENTY OF INTEREST = their loss, for those also genuine who been through this disgusting damaging behaviour too; and to the Owners find somewhere else or be aware of hugely biased faves, some even accepting cash, though I get it though now shouldn't follow their terms if they're not -haha fools deserve each other!

 

and owners who still use site have had your awesome sitter before who had great reviews/you favourited, be aware this is what they do to some, so look elsewhere for your faves perhaps (if they are no longer published), do internet search or whatever to find those who are no longer on the site - due to pawshake's doing! ..Or send 'em a msg txt or contact them personally to see if still doing, they lost your numbers and contacts pawshake deletes even your own intellectual property.  As maybe 'they' (your previous sitter) was left behind & ignored by pawshake, no 24/7 support, creating issues, typical bullying: nitpicking/subjugation, singling out / unpublishing when they want - even when you make yourself avail. 24/7 and offer every service.

 

[Anne]

The Pawshake platform is also difficult to use. There is no customer service, by that I mean there is an email address that takes forever to respond and the people on the other end have an awful attitude. They block accounts with the stupidest reasons i.e. you didn’t respond to a message quickly enough. They won’t tell you that you were blocked you have to work that out for yourself. So you may have a regular sitter and be unable to find them because Pawshake block them. I know someone who has been banned from their platform because he dared to challenge them for blocking his account over Christmas season- the busiest time of the year! Appalling!! Look at Mad Paws instead much better system and easier to use and the people are much more helpful. I had a dog left with me and the owner never came back to pick them up. I had no idea what to do and MadPaws were incredibly helpful, calling to check in every now and then until it was sorted. 

[juice]

I don’t think suggesting using a company that donates to the RSPCA is a good way to source a pet sitter, rather the opposite.