Looking for advice on a negative homestay experience on Rover.

Let me first start with what went well. My partner and I were planning to go to an international wedding for my best friend, albeit last minute due to the high expenses. We were really worried about finding a good sitter to stay with our two cats and dog, but thankfully we were able to on relatively short notice. It was about 1 month before our 1.5 week trip and we found someone with great reviews and repeat visitors, so we thought it would be a good fit. They were super responsive and offered to come to our home for an interview/meet and greet, which went really well. We talked about our concerns, our expectations. They made us feel relatively confident that they would take care of our babies, and we offered to do a few rounds before the actual travel dates arrived. These went well to our knowledge and we were happy with the updates.

We left the house nice and clean, and ready for our new home sitter. We had a small load of laundry that could serve as extra towels that had not dried in time, and we requested she remove it so it wouldn’t block the other neighbors who use it. Other than that, she let us know when she arrived and that was that.

Now, let me start with everything that happened after. I definitely had the expectation that I would at least receive daily updates from our sitter, and set that expectation explicitly in person and in our care guide. This did not happen. I had to message the sitter to get any update, which was usually a photo of (only) our dog with little to no description, which made us feel really out-of-the-loop about what our pup/cats were up to. After two days of requesting them, I paused to see if they would send us anything at all - they didn’t, which frustrated me. It felt like the effort to keep us updated and comfortable was just not there. While I don’t expect an update every few hours, I would have loved to see more initiative on her end, considering it was such a long trip and frankly, a lot of money ($2000).

After feeling so far away, we finally got back yesterday. The kitty litter box was full of poop, there was dried dog poop on our balcony, and hardened cat throw-up on our windowsill. She didn’t appear to use the measuring cup to feed any of them, since we found a solo cup in the food bags. Our one cat is also on a diet restriction because she is overweight, and there was a huge pile of cat food just sitting in the bowls, which made us feel like she didn’t even consider the care guide we took so much time and care to create. Outside of pet care, she put damp blankets/sheets on our bed and never even got the laundry that we had reached out about at the beginning of the trip. Our mailbox was full of mail and our HelloFresh box was left to sit overnight.

Overall, we were just really upset about the updates and what we came home to. We’re so happy to be back with our furry friends, but man, it makes me never want to leave again. Is there anything I can do to help our sitter understand our POV without disrupting her role as a dog sitter? I wanted so badly to give her an outstanding review, but I just feel awful. Thanks for any advice in advance.

EDIT: Forgot to add we received a message halfway through our trip from the upstairs neighbor of our dog crying, which we assumed was just because she was alone. However, when we received another message that is was worsening, we called them to find out what was going on and left a voicemail. All we got was a one-line message that she was fine and she took her on a walk once she came back.

EDIT: Wow, was not expecting so many responses. I’m definitely going to reach out for a refund but am still struggling with the concept of giving her a 1-star. I want to provide transparency to her but don’t want her to lose business or her account. It’s unclear whether or not she did what was requested, as we don’t have a camera, but I’d hope she’d learn from my honesty. Thank you all for you support, I feel much better about my decision to reach out to Rover and your comments helped so much.

EDIT: For those pressing for the review, I get it. We have decided to give her a review but have concerns. Specifically that they know our address. Our first thoughts are to get a camera and never put our key where we left it. Any other advice? Thanks again!