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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 77 reviews, reviewers had a great experience with this company. Customers frequently praise the staff for their helpfulness, professionalism, and quick responses, making interactions pleasant and efficient. Many people highlight the excellent customer service, noting its understanding and proactive approach in resolving issues. Reviewers also found the website easy to navigate and appreciated the swift processing of applications. However, some people were dissatisfied with the service, citing issues like sitters not providing adequate care for pets, leaving enclosures unzipped, or not responding to requests. A few customers also mentioned that the website could be user-unfriendly and that the company sometimes failed to take responsibility for sitter mistakes.

What people talk about most

Customer service

Consumers generally express satisfaction with customer service, highlighting their helpfulness and... See more

Staff

People report positive experiences with staff. Many customers praise the helpfulness and expertise of the... See more

Service

Reviewers mention ambiguous feedback about service. Some customers praise the service, highlighting... See more

Response time

Users describe positive interactions with response times. Many customers praise the quick replies to... See more

Website

Reviewers highlight ambiguous aspects of the website. Some customers praise the website as great, easy to... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Mad Paws was introduced to me by a friend, and I’m very glad I tried it. I found Mad Paws to be a professional and reliable company. My experience using the platform has been easy and user‑friendly,... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

We had to cancel last minute unexpectedly due to a family friend being very ill. It was within the time frame where I would have only got 50% back. Due to my reason, Mad Paws reached out to my sitte... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

My puppy was attacked right before our booking. We were so thankful when the sitter and mad paws agreed to give me a full refund afterwards as it happened a few days before the booking. Will definitel... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I made a cancellation and because the other party was happy to waive the mad paws team facilitated this even without me asking. They had reviewed the chat and could see this was what we both wanted. P... See more


Company details

  1. Animals & Pets

Written by the company

Mad Paws is Australia's #1 go-to Pet Sitting community. With Mad Paws, Pet Owners can find trusted Pet Sitters near their homes. With nearly 20,000 trusted Sitters, Pet Owners can find a range of pet-related services such as Pet Sitting, Dog Walking, and Pet Daycare.


Contact info

4.1

Great

TrustScore 4 out of 5

209 reviews

5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

Replied to 30% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 1 month

How this company uses Trustpilot

See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.

Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Automated text message system continues…

Automated text message system continues to send sales messages at 3 am after I have unsubscribed.

20 November 2024
Unprompted review
Mad Paws logo

Reply from Mad Paws

Hi Evan, apologies for the experience you have had, if you reply STOP to 0447987278 you will be immediately removed....I would do it on your behalf but can't identify you here. Thank you!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

MJ today

MJ was quick to respond and was happy to answer multiple questions and helped me enormously over a period of time today. I am new to the site and really need a bit of help to get going successfully, so I appreciate the assistance.

14 November 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I love being part of the Madpaws Team…

I love being part of the MadPaws community and meeting new clients. It’s always rewarding to connect with pet owners and learn about their pets’ unique needs. Offering various services to help clients and spending quality time with their animals is something I truly enjoy and find fulfilling.

While I’m generally satisfied with my experience, I think MadPaws could improve by providing more comprehensive guidelines for Pet Sitters on what to expect when visiting a new client’s home. Additionally, it would be helpful if there were clearer instructions and support for trial nights with clients to ensure a smooth experience for both parties.

11 November 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent customer service

I had a very positive experience with Anne in customer service. She was very understanding, helpful and gave excellent customer service. Thank you

7 November 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Good idea, bad team.

Wouldn’t recommend it as a sitter. I had read reviews saying the same but opened an account anyways.
In case of a problem, they’ll always stay in the side of the pet owner and won’t believe you. Luckily I had proof but they blocked my account anyways and nearly didn’t pay me for a job done.
Save yourself the bad times, it’s not worth it!

27 October 2024
Unprompted review
Mad Paws logo

Reply from Mad Paws

I had a look into your case and the way it was dealt. The pet in your care was let to escape and also two unknown people were sent to look after the pet, this is a breach of the owners trust and our terms as the insurance policy would not cover those individuals.

We always look at each case on its facts and never favor one side or the other. Our Pet Sitters are the life of the Mad Paws community, always have been and always will.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

My wife and I travelled from regional…

My wife and I travelled from regional nsw and have accommodation in Woolahra with our small dog.l booked a female from Madpaws to mind our dog while we were to attend our daughter's wedding tomorrow Saturday 5 October. Yesterday, the sitter cancelled the service. We are left in a quandary now and all we got was a refund, no substitute sitter or apology.

4 October 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Had a great experience with MadPaws…

Had a great experience with MadPaws last Christmas (only just created a trustpilot account), we had a last minute get together at our friends and planned to stay the night. Booked a sitter and they provided regular updates, overall good experience.

28 December 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The leave you up ship creek without a paddle service

The sitters do just enough on a short term stay to convince you to book again but then weeks out from your overseas booking, that you have had with the sitter (sudden vague reason and cancellation). It forces you to scrape the bottom of the barrel, invite someone into your home at a higher premium and then of course you have no idea what they are going to do. There are several instances where sitters offer a service only to find out that they dont really provide the service. Like pet sitting is overnighting with the pets at your residence but then some sitters offer that in their profile but tell you they can't do it. Then you have sitters that try to make out that they are confused about things only to find out that they are trying to double and triple stack bookings and work around system constraints. To say I am livered that a 2 week booking that is a repeat booking with a sitter that did a short stay with my pets, that suddenly cancels a couple of weeks out - is an understatement and quite frankly unacceptable. Dont believe the fluff and advertising.

25 September 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Good concept poor implementation.

Good concept poor implementation.
As a repeated pet sitter, minding and pampering the pet is easy. Keeping the oner happy is easy.
But getting paid from MadPaws sours the experience.
For such high fees, the level of customer service and battles to get paid, despite good reviews is absolutely not acceptable.
Zero Communications from Support, they just continually cancel payment.

26 August 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Needs Improvement, especially with payment and fees

The site has a a good idea/concept, but needs alot of work and refining to make it more appropriate practically.

The biggest issue is that the pricing model is terrible and deceiving. The payment the app shows as final is never the amount you are getting in your account. As a sitter, there is no breakdown of the payments (ie holiday season surcharge, long stay discount, the fee MP is taking). Not to mention, after speaking to many of the dog owners, the double dipping Madpaws is doing. They take 20% of the sitter fees + 10% of the owners' fee. However, we are still not sure what this is for or what this is covering? If you read the MP T&Cs there is no insurance or cover of any sort to cover damages (physical or death) to the sitter, sitter's home or the pet. The only insurance mentioned is to cover "public liability".

Another major issue is the single pricing option for all dogs, regardless of size or needs. Large dogs, for instance, often require more maintenance, exercise, and cleaning—especially if they shed a lot or slobber. In contrast, smaller dogs need less of these things. It doesn’t quite make sense to charge the same amount for both, considering the differences in care required. This is something that should have been factored into the user experience design.

Finally, the lack of reviews for dogs and their owners. Currently, only carers can be reviewed, which makes it hard to get a full picture of what you’re signing up for.

From my ongoing experience with Mad Paws, it can be quite unpredictable how a dog will behave or how transparent their owner is about the dog's level of training and needed care. The meet-and-greet isn’t always enough to fully understand a dog’s behavior or the level of discipline and training they’ve received. We've encountered issues such as dogs crying throughout the day and night unless they're right next to you or on in bed with you, being unable to be left alone, barking throughout the night, and accidents inside the house. Many owners are not as transparent or knowledgeable about their pet’s training and care, which can make looking after their dog more challenging.

Introducing tiered pricing based on the size and needs of dogs and allowing reviews for both dogs and their owners would significantly enhance the experience for everyone involved. And the way pricing works needs to be reviewed ASAP

2 September 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

WARNING: Pet Sitters that advertise on this site can be extremely unreliable

I have to say at this point that my experience of MadPaws has been very hit and miss, with only one success and two abject failures.

The first booking I tried to make was accepted, confirmed and paid-for. But the sitter who accepted the booking never replied to a single message, phone call or text message after accepting the booking.

The second (who was back up to the aforementioned first; stepping in at the very last minute) was hugely successful; looked after my dog with fantastic care and at very reasonable rate on five or six occasions in the past eight months. I’m just very sorry that they moved away from the area.

The third was when I started looking for a replacement for the second sitter. I found two suitable possibilities and just happened to meet-and-greet one before the other. Despite being considerably more expensive than the other, we agreed to have a first try. Then at the very last minute, without warning without reason, this sitter raised her advertised daily rate by $15/day.
When I complained to Madpaws about price gouging and false advertising by this sitter, they stated that the sitter was perfectly within their rights to do this and advertised prices are there as a guide only.

THIS NEEDS TO BE MADE VERY CLEAR ON THE MADPAWS WEBSITE.

They also refused my request to accept and display a one-star rated review of my experience with this sitter.

This third debacle of an experience makes a one in three hit rate of my experience with the MadPaws website. Not exactly a roaring success, is it?
Potential users of the site need to be made more aware of these types of failures before putting their faith in such unreliability. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the bias of the site leans towards the interests and profits of the pet sitters and certainly NOT the pet owners.

1 September 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Extraordinary services

Our pet sitter Maina has been amazing from the first visit to going extra mile to send me pictures of my babies when I was overseas and unable to access the website.

The customer service was also amazing and screenshotting all messages from Marina to reassure me them comfort.

I was and still am very grateful for their help.
Thank you 😺😺😺🥰

22 June 2024
Unprompted review

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