Care.com review: deceptive practices/exploitation 18

Skipper,

Hi, this is Tricia from Care.com. I wanted to write a quick response to your experience using our service. If you have any questions or concerns, we would really like to connect with you at careteam@care.com.

We work hard to give families a safe, easy-to-use way to connect with local care providers. At Care.com, we help ensure the safety of all our users—both families and care providers—by offering two levels of membership. There’s a free, basic subscription that allows families to try out Care.com, search for care providers near them, and post a job opening. We also offer a paid, premium membership which gives members full access to care provider profiles, allows them to contact providers, run free background checks, review references, and more.

Please note that at any point in time, members are able to downgrade or close their accounts! We understand that situations change, children grow up, and people find the care they need so we give the option for members to change their subscription status within their own accounts. If you’d rather we help you with this instead, we’d be happy to! Just shoot us a message at careteam@care.com!

Also, if you pay for full access to Care.com, post a job, and don’t receive a response within 72 hours, just tell us! We’ll close your account and refund your money in full—it’s just one of the ways we’re trying to make sure everyone who uses Care.com gets full value for using our site.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to our response. We appreciate you trying out our service!

Cheers,
Tricia

Just to add to the original post, we also provide two different kinds of memberships for our loving caregivers on our site! A free basic membership allows the provider to create care profiles and apply to as many job as they would like! A featured membership gives the care profile a more prominent listing, allows those members to receive a free background check to post in their account, gives the member priority notification of new jobs in addition to express profile approval!

Totally agree...I am fuming right now...this fraudulent company that I signed up for in order to find someone to pick up our children from school - used Acxiom Information Security Services to do a background check on me and they in turn sent Care.com a wrong report - the only thing that I and the person on the report shared were a first and last name...everything else was incorrect...no one tried to call me and verify the information, Care.com just sent me an email letting me know they were closing my account and refunding my money due to this report - now i'm going through hell trying to clear this erroneous information. Once my information is verified and they see that I have a clean background as I've never been in trouble with the law, not even as a youngster, they can go right ahead and leave my account closed as I want nothing to do with this deceptive and ill-run company. Reverse this and ask yourself, how many people did they get a "good" report on, who actually have a bad background? It can happen both ways and these are people working in your homes and with your children - so be safe and leave this company alone - they are not trustworthy.

Boy you got that right as I stated in another comment they refuse to take the time and investigate any errors from Axiom. Its quite strange how at least the State of Florida gave me a Level II ACHA background clearence with finger printing and yes I passed. Obviously the state of Florida takes the time to verify any information, especially if it in any way can appear negative. I really feel for all who have be caught up in these pathetic business practices but that is why also they dont show a phone number on the web site...the less employees they have to hire for any issues or problems. Its just plain disgusting. I have had wonderful luck with Go Nannies and Sittercity. I suggest you try them!
Regards,
Ajay

As a user of the site and a professional in the software and services industry, I think the word scam is misused here. It's quite clear that in order to access contact information you will need to have a paid membership. This is true with many many sites and is a very standard practice. Unless a site is paid for with advertisements, then membership cost is how they finance their business. Sittercity operates the same way. I registered with them and was able to post a free job, see that I had applicants, but then had to upgrade to a paid membership to see those results. The users of this site really need to understand this does not make a 'scam'. If you are annoyed by the practice then don't pay for the membership. If they had taken your money under false pretenses that would be an entirely different story.

Great input though not totally true. This all started with Care.com and their unethical practices. They load families that are NOT members on their data base and DO NOT let the applicant know. In essence the potential employee applies to many job positions with families that are not members. Care.com uses and abuses these applications to lure the families into a membership. The applicant wastes their time applying and the family is NOT initially informed of the cost but elated by the FREE service! This is where all parties are SCAMED.
Furthermore as a software individual obviously you must be aware of the massive email lists that are being sold by Care.com and their co-company The Ladders. So tell me how Craig’s List makes money? Yes darlin that how!
At least sittercity lets you know when your applying the family is not a member! Great to be honest and ethnical in this day of economic demise and tremendous unemployment!

Regards,
AJay

So basically the websit is totally useless unless you have a paid account right? OK, I might have done so until I saw it was 50 BUCKS a month. That is the most expensive membership to a website I have ever seen. Guess I wont be using them.

Yes your Right and notice this is one complaint Care.com does Not choose to comment on!

I posted a job to get a dog sitter and was in a bind to do so. I agree that they should tell you at the very start that yes, they will post your job and yes you will get replies but no way no how are you going to communicate with the potential employee until you upgrade! Tell me up front. Don't waste my time. Let me decide up front if your service is worth the 35 or 50 bucks to use it. I felt bad for all the people who replied. I didnt pay and everyone got left hangin". NOT COOL.

I paid for a 3 month membership. I got notice that my account was going to expire... I let it. Funny, they've been billing me EVERY three months since then. over $400. AND my CC information changed in that period of time, too. I am SEETHING right now. They are frauds and crooks.

BBB complaint filed - CHECK
Attorney General - Next step.

Please read my complaint: I actually found someone to do my housekeeping and it took them 30 days to reply to me that I can't leave a review for them!

Complaint Type: Consumer to Business Complaint ( BBB )
Nature of complaint: A failure to honor a contract or agreement
Problem description:
I was subscribed to Care.com I hired a wonderful housekeeper and I wanted to leave a review for this person, but when I went to add a review I found I could not leave one. Apparently, there is a time limit on leaving reviews. I contacted customer service and she stated in an email the policy: Unfortunately, the account that you hired this provider through has since been closed, so you will be unable to leave a review on the provider's Care.com account as reviews are posted on the provider's account through your account. Yet, the FAQ on the website states otherwise, as it does not give a time limit on leaving a review: Who can I review?- As a care seeker, you can review any care provider within the service to which you are subscribed. Please review only providers who have worked for you or with whom you've had contact! I would think that a company that "prides itself on finding caring and safe individuals" to watch our children, or just let into our homes, as I hired a housekeeper from them. That they would be interested in their Care.com caregivers receiving a review to let others know about the process, the person, the care, etc. There should not be a time limit on leaving a review.
Desired Settlement: Change the Store Policy
Desired Outcome:
Again, I would like to see a change in this review policy. I think there should not be a time limit on leaving a review for the caregivers of Care.com

Agree

Totally agree with the FOLKS who are LOOKING for CARE GIVERS and NOW realize they HAVE TO PAY in order to contact them or visa versa on CARE.COM. Sure, they have lots of great "care givers" - you just cannot contact them without "UPGRADING" to a ridiculous monthly fee. Shame on you Sheila M : You used to provide a decent service for a decent price but NOW YOU ARE GREEDY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. To potential families with a need : ask your friends, families and neighbors before you succumb to these greedy ### who pretended in the beginning to "CARE" but obviously are now only in it for the money. Put an ad in the local paper; use Craig's List (how somehow has not succumbed to the evil corporatism) and do things the old fashioned way - it still works..you really can trust people to come into your home, if you do the proper vetting ; just like our parents and those before us did. Don't let these kind of sites try to talk you out of what you know in your gut : you can find someone who fits with a little bit of work - these A holes don't do any work AND take your money.

In the last couple of months since registering with this company I have received several text messages from a third party saying they got my info from "Care' and have a friend moving into my neck of the woods and can I please respond to the email address provided! This sounds very fishy to me and since have found out that an employee at "Sittercity" has been let go because of fraudulent behavior...are these people in cahoots or what? Very disappointed!

I paid $20.00 to do an application. At the very end, they wanted a video or close up picture of face, which I do not have, or can get. So...I lost $20 as I sent an email immediately, asking for them to send my $20 back. I have not even been put up on their list to show I am looking for a job. They did not even answer the phone when I called their # which is [protected]. I signed in with them around February 15, 2016. Please try to get a refund back to me. Thank you for your time and consideration.

I became a member of care.com back in August of this year. I have had about 7 job offers which are complete scams. Two that hired sent me checks that were fraud. Another one wanted to get supplies only thru for her friend for dog supplies. A third sent me payment and the check was deposited. The person then asked for me to send them money for dog kennel for $900.00 and money gram not to the person that hired me but to a person i never heard of. Then i found out three days later the check sent to me for payment was returned and the check was deducted back out my checking account. Now I am out my payment for services. The last one was a housekeeping position that she stated it was a permanent housekeeping position but then stated it was a one time clean out because she was moving out of house. And to top it off hired us and then said she had did a time analysis and it took two people 4 hours to do a deep cleaning including cleaning windows inside and outside.
So far all the jobs I have applied for that responded turned out to be bogus. This is the jobs that hired me.

I found the same thing when we tried care.com for house cleaning services. This is a total rip off. Other people providing house cleaning services that we have contacted won't use this site. Sad it is such a rip off.

Care.com victims should consider a class action lawsuit.
They terminated my account for requesting that they update my stats to accurately reflect the number of families I am working with.
Oh well, their loss. All if my clients are being informed of their actions and after they hear what bullies they are, they will be closing their accounts. 😚