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My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

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Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#151

Post by thomasec »

We had a similar (but thankfully, less serious) thing happen with Rover. We booked a dog sitter for 4 days with a woman named "Leslie". When we showed up to "Leslie's" place, the lady who we met did not match the person in the photo, and barely spoke any english. We were on our way to the airport, so I really didn't have a choice at that point but to leave our dog (I realize now I should have done more vetting, or met this individual in-person ahead of time, but the person I booked - Leslie - had dozens of positive reviews). After dropping off our dog, we received extremely vague updates/text messages over the next few days, and no photos. Things like - "Your dog is doing great", "he is behaving so well", etc... Whenever I asked for a photo, they would say they'd send one the next day.

Needless to say, it became obvious that whoever was watching our dog was not the person we were communicating with. Thankfully, our dog doesn't have special medication, or a specific diet that we needed to monitor. Who knows what would have happened if there was an emergency, and we needed to get in touch with one another.

These services like Wag and Rover have literally one job, and that is to make sure you trust the individuals watching your pet. The response from Rover was completely thoughtless, and it was clear they were going to do nothing to investigate the situation. The fact that they don't care that people like this woman who clearly has some sort of questionable scheme going on just shows how little they care about protecting their customer's pets.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#152

Post by astura »

labster wrote: post #120
astura wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is basically a side effect of the "gig economy." One can even just sell their account (and good will) when they decide to quit dog walking. Pretty scary when you really think about it. Also heard of uber drivers hiring illegal immigrants to drive under their uber account, not sure of the credibility of these reports.

Why would anyone care if an undocumented immigrant drove your uber? As long as they're licensed and insured, they're just as qualified as any other driver.

When I hire an Uber I expect my uber driver to be vetted by Uber?

Beyond that

People driving under other people's Uber accounts don't have a license or are otherwise ineligible to drive for Uber (criminal, underage, etc) otherwise they'd get their own Uber account. Uber literally pays people to sign up as drivers - there's no legitimate reason to drive under someone else's Uber account.

Commercial Insurance would probably exclude coverage for any incidents that happen when an unlicensed driver is using someone else's Uber account.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#154

Post by ddingus »

labster wrote: post #120
astura wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is basically a side effect of the "gig economy." One can even just sell their account (and good will) when they decide to quit dog walking. Pretty scary when you really think about it. Also heard of uber drivers hiring illegal immigrants to drive under their uber account, not sure of the credibility of these reports.

Why would anyone care if an undocumented immigrant drove your uber? As long as they're licensed and insured, they're just as qualified as any other driver.

I care because it is a lie and manipulation.

Business done without a solid basis is often high risk. That risk unlikely to be worth it.

Finally, as a basic matter of principle, I do not do business with people who are dishonest.

Doing that is on par with debating liars.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#155

Post by max76 »

gig3m wrote: post #129
labster wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would anyone care if an undocumented immigrant drove your uber? As long as they're licensed and insured, they're just as qualified as any other driver.

At least in Texas, illegal immigrants cannot get insurance (for themselves) or a driver's license.

Twelve states and D.C. allow illegal immigrants to acquire drivers licensees [0]. Washington State was the first one in the early 90s, but the list also includes the boarder states of California and New Mexico. I would imagine if a state will issue a drivers license then someone has to be selling insurance, otherwise the license is moot as their would be no legal way to drive.

[0] https://immigration.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=...

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#156

Post by ddingus »

masonic wrote: post #144
Judgmentality wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I did some googling and like most things, "it's complicated." It varies by state, but killing a police dog can put you in jail for 10 years (and this has happened) and that is a federal law. There are some states pursuing stricter measures themselves where killing a canine officer is equivalent to killing a human officer. As to what I said about killing a police dog having a harsher punishment, that was based on a…

and that is a federal law. There is no such Federal law, as Federal law has no nexus in a local police encounter (unless there is a civil rights element).

Or one encounters federal police. DHS is out there and on patrol now.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#157

Post by clairity »

bfdm wrote: post #91
spraak wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand why people get upset about their companion animal bring purposely hurt, but I don't understand how most everyone in that same demographic has no problem killing (or having killed through their economic transaction) a cow, pig, or chicken. I don't understand the disparity or the difference. And yes I'm aware it's cultural, because some places eat animals that other places think of as companions (dogs in C…

I haven't spent years raising, training and forming an emotional bond with that cow, pig or chicken. I believe it's possible with the cow or pig, in which case I expect the owner to be just as upset and rightly so.

pigs are often clever and affectionate, cows indifferent, and chickens dumb, but it's easy to get attached to any individual animal.

but it's also not hard to eat animals that we don't get attached to. it's not entirely contradictory in that light. just as we can love and defend the people around us and yet be callous to the famine and war needlessly affecting those elsewhere.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#158

Post by swayvil »

damm wrote: post #29

I think this is the problem with social media / networking... it used to be when I was a young kid that if someone wanted t heir dog walked ... you would find someone in your neighborhood that you knew. Now we use online services and trust people blindly... As far as the person who lost their dog; I am sorry. I know I did not cause the harm; but it's the only thing I can say. As a pet owner I would be mortified. I al…

People are weirdly alone these days, their faces always in a screen. When you gotta trust somebody, blindly appears to be the only option.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#159

Post by masonic »

james_s_tayler wrote: post #31
toomuchtodo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is I can’t tell which ones care, and those are the only ones I’d want to do business with.

I can respect that. You want to maximize the likelihood the dog survives. I call this "The Hard Problem of Delineation". You can't delineate between who will and won't kill your dog no matter what system you use. That's the problem. Though I take your point about the cold, uncaring, capitalist dog walker. Hmmm. Edit: now that I think about your point I can see what you mean. The "sharing economy (Uber for X)" has bec…

  You want to maximize the likelihood the dog survives.
Wag, however, has a huge financial incentive for the dog to die even if it could be saved, due to the cost differential between surgery and subsequent care vs. cremation cost.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#160

Post by ddingus »

will_brown wrote: post #85
nanoseltzer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience, people signing up for these type of work range from generally ok (most Uber drivers) to absolutely desperate for money (living out of car, signs up for petsitting while owner is vacay). It seems the lower the bar of entry in terms of capital, the shadier it is. Ie Uber at least requires you to have a car, which involves some kind of credit check which is embodied in the car procurement before it e…

>From my experience, people signing up for these type of work range from generally ok (most Uber drivers) to absolutely desperate for money Come on down to Miami, where it’s not unusual for the actual uber driver to be different than uber drivers profile. You can’t really get more shady than exploiting undocumented immigrants who can’t get a DL, and having them illegally without a DL by driving under someone else’s u…

There is no way I would get into the car. I personally avoid gig services for a number of reasons.

Seeing a mismatch? Yeah, never again.

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