REVIEW: Task Rabbit (part 2)

In my last review I gave Task Rabbit a bit of a bad rap. In my opinion fairly deserved given that their policy for hiring seems a bit crazy and their customer service left a lot to be desired.

But I LOVE giving second chances so after staying at a friend’s place for the weekend I decided to book a tasker to clean her apartment. I asked both the wonderful girls who live in the apartment if that was ok, and they replied sure, although one of them told me about her experiences with Task Rabbit.

She had booked a Tasker to help her clean her apartment before moving out of a rental property, so there was a lot more riding on her booking. But the Tasker cancelled at the last minute, leaving her in the lurch and almost losing her her bond.

I thought that was interesting but probably a one off bad experience. And besides with my previous experience I already knew that Task Rabbit had plenty of cleaners so I thought it would be easy.

Well first up there weren’t that many cleaners in the area. Just two that were reasonably priced. I requested one tasker who said no, and then requested another who confirmed.

We chatted via the site and by text, and after having to move the date around (which was a bit annoying) it was settled for Tuesday at 10am. We discussed parking 9she wanted me to book her a spot but I didn’t know how). Then today at 9.34 I get a notification that she has had to cancel the task due to a family emergency.

To their credit Task Rabbit also called me and told me that apparently her mother was ill and she had to fly overseas. The Task Rabbit support person also told me that she would ‘put the call out to the community’ but I recieved no responses.

Now I know that Task Rabbit is still new in this country but it makes me wonder why they would reject my application given that they don’t seem to have that many people available? I also wonder why they would not try and up their service by having contractors (i.e. professional cleaners) that could step in when someone cancels at the last minute? It seems like a smart move given that once you’ve had a tasker cancel and ruin your plans you might not be so willing to give it another go. Like they say ‘once bitten twice shy’.