Laura S
I had been a sitter on Pawshake with no prior issues, with 5-star reviews after every booking, and this was the first time I experienced a dispute. I completed a 6-night booking and cared for the pets as agreed. After the booking ended, there was a short delay in communication due to illness. Although the keys were returned once contact was made, the owners escalated the situation to Pawshake. The booking was fully refunded to the owners, and no payout was released to me despite the service being completed. While Pawshake confirmed that no negative review would be placed on my profile, I was left unpaid for the work I had already done. This experience made it clear that sitters carry significant financial risk and that dispute decisions prioritise client reassurance over fair compensation for completed services, in addition to the 19% platform fee taken for dispute handling, platform usage and insurance. As a result, I will not be continuing to offer my services through Pawshake. I would strongly encourage sitters to carefully consider how disputes are handled and to be extremely cautious about post-booking communication and key handovers.






