Editor’s note: This article was updated in October 2015 with new information and affiliate links.
When you’re juggling work, family, and home responsibilities just about every minute of the day, you really can use all the help you can get. And while it’s wonderful if you have parents, siblings, neighbors, or friends ready and willing to pitch in at a moment’s notice, most of us simply don’t have that luxury.
That’s why I’ve been a proponent of Care.com since they first launched back in 2007. At the time, I shared details about their services here on WMAG, declaring Care.com an “incredibly helpful, easy-to-use, and trustworthy resource for finding childcare providers, tutors, pet sitters/dog walkers, and senior care providers.” (Yes, I realize just quoted myself.)
Services galore
We’ve kept tabs on Care.com ever since, and wow, they’ve come a long way—covering 16 countries and has 16.5 million members. Working parents can easily and reliably find all sorts of help for their home and family through this online resource. Their offerings include:
- Childcare (in home, out of home, tutoring, and special needs)
- Adult and senior care (personal care, companions, dementia)
- Pet care (training, grooming, walking)
- Home care (housekeeping, errands, events)
- Date night babysitters
- Online payments and tax filing for home care services
How to find the right person
When you’re seeking a caregiver, you can quickly create an account and post a job for free. Monica Bell, a nanny who lives in my area and has been hired via Care.com in the past, says it helps when you share specifics about hours, location, days of the week, etc. on your profile. Interested candidates will contact you within three days.
In order to view contact details and make contact with an unlimited number of caregivers, purchase background checks, and access references for providers, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee ranging from approximately $37 for a monthly subscription to $147 for an annual subscription. You can save 20% at Care.com with code 30SAVESM.
Once you upgrade your account, you can check out the caregivers who applied, request background checks, do interviews, and hire the person who’s right for you.
Side note: My friend Amy, a mom of two boys and full-time Cincinnati real estate agent, took a slightly different approach when she used Care.com to hire an in-home nanny. She posted the job on Care.com to get it in front of lots of potential nannies, but created her own Google form to customize the questions and information she collected from candidates. She took the rest of the process offline and ended up hiring a fabulous nanny.
The mother of invention
From the big picture to the smallest details, there’s no doubt Care.com is the brainchild of a working mom. Sheila Lirio Marcelo founded the company after struggling to find quality care as a mother of two who was caring for her parents at an early age. You can learn just about everything you’d want to know about caregivers before deciding to meet or interview them. (Sorry, Craig’s List, but you just don’t compare.)
The site puts you in control, sort of like real estate sites do for home buyers. It’s ridiculously easy to search and sort based on your criteria, and a snap to quickly go through search results to narrow the choices.
If you find what looks like the perfect math genius to teach your son geometry or the next Mary Poppins to watch your kids on Saturday nights, you can contact providers via the site or directly by phone. From there, it’s up to you to decide who’s right for your fam or Fido. (Before you say “you’re hired,” you might want to visit Care.com’s safety center.)
It’s not for everyone
If you ask around or search for Care.com reviews online, you’ll find plenty of success stories and negative experiences—just like with any service-oriented company. Heck, even in the comments of this very blog post (many of them from years ago), you can get a taste of the love-hate relationship people have with the site.
My suggestion: Take the anonymous reviews you see online with a BIG grain of salt.
Instead, ask people you know and trust who have actually used Care.com what they think. My blogger friend Courtney said she had a horrible Care.com experience last year (she lived in Savannah, Ga., at the time). That sucks. Two other local friends said they’ve discovered wonderful Cincinnati babysitters via Care.com, and my blogger friend Sherryl said both of her daughters are care providers with profiles on the site. That’s awesome!
Get the facts for yourself. Then, make up your own mind about the best way to find the help you need.
Care.com spotlight: Monica’s story
For an in-depth example of Care.com in action, I wanted to share WMAG contributor Monica Froese‘s experience in her own words:
“I had family watch my daughter until she was a year old. After her 1st birthday, my mom told me that she could no longer cover Thursdays, and all the daycares in the area required a minimum of 2 days. I couldn’t justify taking her away from family for two days when she only needed coverage for one day a week, so I turned to Care.com.
“I found their process to be very straightforward and easy. I signed up for a 3-month period., and immediately put up an ad with what we were looking for. We were flooded with candidates. Mainly college students or recent grads, a few SAHMs and people who had grown kids.
“We decided to stay away from SAHMs for two reasons. First, the whole point of paying more for a nanny was for the 1:1 care. As a mom, I know that a mom’s first priority is to her own child and I don’t judge that at all—it’s how we are wired as mothers. Second, I was not willing to drive her anywhere to drop her off. I wanted someone to come to our home and watch her.
“I also managed to negotiate my work-from-home day to be the day the nanny would be there, so I could get comfortable with how their interactions were.
“We interviewed a few nannies on the phone first. We picked three we liked and met them at a local coffee shop. We settled on a 22-year-old who just finished her education degree and was looking to pursue her master’s. After meeting in the coffee shop, we used Care.com to run a background and DMV check. Once she passed that, we asked her to come to the house and get to know our daughter in her surroundings.
“The biggest comfort that Care.com brought to us was the access to background checks and the DMV records. We also signed up for their payroll management, which allowed us to properly employ her and write off her income and taxes with our daycare FSA.
“There are some major legal issues that go into paying a nanny under the table, and I always prefer to give myself peace of mind and do it the legal way. Everything from tax write-offs to liability concerns are things you need to consider when hiring someone to come into your home.
“It really is the parents’ responsibility to determine whom to leave their child with. This is why I made sure I was home for the first eight months she was there. I realize that this not feasible for everyone, but as a parent this is why it’s still up to you to use your best judgement.
“You have to feel comfortable with the quality of person you are inviting into your home, and that is what Care.com helped me to do.”
Beyond caregivers
There’s more to Care.com than job posting and care providers. Check out all the helpful content for working moms: expert advice about children, pets, housekeeping, workplace benefits, and more; hiring guides for finding the care you need; plus Sheila’s fabulous blog.
As Monica mentioned, you can even use Care.com to pay your care providers and manage the tax returns. Their HomePay system makes it easier for families to cover their bases, from a payroll perspective.
I would definitely recommend a premium Care.com membership to any working mom who needs some help managing your hectic home life. It would also make a very thoughtful gift for the WMAGs in your life.
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96 thoughts on “Care.com: The Working Mom’s Friend”
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Hi,
As a stay-at-home mom, I found http://www.care.com by accident on the internet and it was the best find for my family. Usually, I would find a babysitter through friends, but it was getting more difficult, as other didn’t want to share their Great babysitters! Care.com gave me a list of sitters, their availability, non-smokers, etc. It allowed me to post a job looking for one night sitter and I felt safe with the people who applied, because of the background checks!
I wish this site was available when I was working as it saves time, you can quickly scan profiles and weed out the ones you are interested in. Go Care.com!
I possess a level 2 background check (allowing me to work in healthcare facilities); however, Care.com would not accept it. They wanted to run their own check and charge my card an additional $79. When I asked for a copy of it, I was denied this. I was also told I could not view my letters of references from former employers. Yet, I am expected to, site-unseen, send them to potential employers. Who does that? In addition, unless I upgrade my profile, yet again, I cannot post a profile title. As of now, this is what my title reads” A Full-Time, 48 yr old senior caregiver from Riverview, FL with 10 or more years of experience and a background check on file.” Please tell me how that grabs anyone’s attention. I wished I had read all the NEGATIVE reviews on BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU before wasting my money.
That draws my attention! Unfortunately you are in FL and I need one like you in NJ>
If they will not let you view your report – I was able to get it directly from the company who does the reports for them. I don’t remember the name. If they don’t have the name online, you can call them and they will tell you.
When you sign up for a 30 day membership, you think that it expires in 30 days, right? Nope, it’s a scam. If you read the VERY SMALL print, you realize that you are actually agreeing to a monthly subscription, for which your credit card will be automatically charged. This practice is actually illegal in some states. When I finally realized how much I was being charged (long after I stopped using the website), they stood by their practice of scamming people and would not reimburse me. Being in the business of childcare, I would assume that being ethical and establishing trust with your customer is a priority. Care.com has failed miserably in this domain. Do not fall victim to this scam!
I found a much better website that is more modern and responsive. I had a very expensive problem with care.com and was not able to get a human, all the emails are from “noreply”. Search again, there are better ways to find someone these days! Lots of new competitors. care.com has TERRIBLE customer service.
Do tell…
What is the name of the other company you used to find a caregiver?
These people “on” the care.com site are NOT EMPLOYEES MANAGED BY CARE.COM. You may as well go to craigslist.org and get the same low quality. Better off going with a home health agency with managed employees that handles taxes and workers compensation for lost wages and medical.
If you care about your children, do not use this site! It is no different than an online dating site. My experience was with a sitter who misrepresented themselves as a non-smoker, and showed up smelling of cigarettes. My three year old started screaming when I told him this person was coming back, and I simply had to cancel the person out. Nonetheless, this person’s background check was clear, references OK. Everything the site checked for said this person was safe. The site simply doesn’t check them out enough.
To add to this, I told care.com I wanted to cancel my membership and they have not responded to any of my emails requesting a refund for months of service I will not use. There is no option to contact them by phone.
I would strongly recommend parents find more reliable sources with agencies that actually meet with service provides, instead of simply allowing them to log on for a fee.
Don’t waste your time!
I was supposed to be billed $25 for one month which I thought was outrageous but I was billed $40 instead. I never did find a sitter as most profiles were old.
What a remark Susan made! She doesn’t think sitters or dog walkers can handle taking videos. Wow, has she got a supperior attitude or what. I wouldn’t want to be her sitter.
childcare provider for thirty years
I noticed that, too-ummm…….how narrow-minded! People from all walks of life could be seeking one of these positions, and for many reasons!
Agreed. It’s not only narrow-minded, it also suggests she isn’t savvy about the subjects she claims to have some knowledge about. If she knew the type of people that sought dog walking/sitting gigs on care, she’d realize a bulk of them make up college aged 20 some year olds. Aaaaand, one thing we know about millennials is that they are tech savvy. The real reason there aren’t many profiles with videos? For me, I don’t think I need to spend extra energy putting up a corny video. My profile and pictures are sufficient enough. Video is just overboard that could potentially be more off putting to the types of families id like to work for.
My two cents.
I signed up for the site then realized that my area only had a few people listed. None were to my liking. I immediately canceled so as to not go over the free period. I received an email from the company asking me to stay as they build the business in my area. I ignored the email and never came back. I did however, several months later, receive a charge! AFTER I CANCELED MY MEMBERSHIP and they reactivated apparently. I am lodging a complaint with my cc company and with the BBB. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!
they are terrible, after I signed up and payed the fee, they somehow managed to cancel my account. I can not log in , I never got a refund of my money. so in the end I lost 45 $ and can’t even look into my account. in addition to that , I send several e-mails and they ignored all of them. I got so upset that I found their number on line at yellowpages.com they are located somewhere in the east coast. I left 4 or 5 messages of course nobody called me back, also no one picks up the phone there. It’s a scam !
Care.com is horrible. I’ve reported them and have been working with the BBB. I suggest you all do the same or they won’t be made to stop. I even did a screen shot, as I also do when purchasing an item online, and it stated one month at a $25 fee. Well it was $40 on my card and the same $25 repeating fee that you all mentioned. I also mentioned to BBB that care.com has not commented once regarding my additional concerns besides the $40 dispute so it’s obvious they have no intentions of improving their online receipting policy- every other web site gives you the printable receipt option after a purchase showing your final amount, their blank references for caregivers across the board- something I was supposedly paying for yet is never required by any caregiver to actually post, their generic green checkmarks supposedly passing as a background check- no details given which is something else they state you are paying for… and so on. Overall care.com is a waste of money and has the worst customer service I’ve ever dealt with. Celeste Jones with care.com was rude to me more than once and it was from the start! Everything was so unethical it caused me to contact the BBB which is something I’ve never done. They are closing my complaint as consumer not satisfied because care.com is refusing, due to “internal policies”, to refund the addition $15 which caused the initial $40 instead of $25 charge, and the secondary $25 which was never to be charged- totaling $40. I did get the information on where to go under your profile to end the charges only after the second charge hit and I had contacted the BBB. For a company connecting families to caregivers this business should be having huge red flags to other agencies and watchdog groups. One can only hope also that these watchdogs will get word out to consumers that the ‘service’ provided by care.com is a waste of money. It still infuriates me!
agree. they charged you (all care providers) the fees for background check that you can’t have a copy or verify and confirm the accuracy yourself. they turn around charge the parents the fee to look at. I thought once I join in the membership, I can see them without paying extra and that’s the membership fee for. apparently, it’s not the case.
Thanks to comments sections! I am glad people know about the BBB. its the best thing in the business world. This site is very shady. there is a free 3 day window april 24-26, but nowhere on the site does it say how much will be charged after. It is simply retarded to have a site with 3 different levels of use and mention one as free and then completely leave off how much everything else will cost.
Stay away from this site! I used it to try to find childcare, and after I had sent a bunch of messages to prospective caregivers, I got an e-mail telling me they had cancelled my account because childcare agencies are not allowed to use their site to recruit. I am a Mom who was looking for care for my own children! And now the people who responded can't get in touch with me…
Please stay away from this site…They are fraudulent!!! They will keep charging you every month…Signed up only for a month, but they kept charging me because all subscriptions are auto-renewal, which means you must call THEM to cancel…There is no customer support..No one will ever pick up the phone..have been trying to call for 5 days now.. they only want to communicate by email…i think it is fraudulent to keep charging people after their subscription is over….Very bad and I am still trying to resolve..Will be reporting them to every agency possible to shut them down if they do not return my money!!!
wow! I was just going through the care.com site thinking of trying to find childcare. I am so glad I read these comments. I have no desire to get caught up with a company that has poor customer service. I think online sites CAN be helpful and useful but if the person/people behind the site are careless and dishonest it will eventually catch up to them. Shame on care.com for treating working moms this way. I will never sign up for this site. This is a case where word of mouth has just cost them at least one customer—ME!! And I was prepared to sign up for a year based on the recommendation of the WMAG review. Thank you girls!! Also to WMAG columnist, I am a Realtor and a working mom and I can tell you that some people DO need real estate agents to help them find a new home…….when you look online you can be VERY deceived as you just witnessed. I dont appreciate your undermining my occupation. As you can see, finding something online is only the first step, you need someone who cares to stand behind you and do further research……..we see how easy it is to make things look "great" on the internet when what lies beneath is really "not so good".
I have used care.com and I never have had a problem. I do conduct my own past history checks and act 33/34 clearances.
Be very careful with this service, I posted a listing for someone to do housekeeping and laundry and I got six responses by the next day and all of them seemed to be very similar in form, content, and writing style. Im not going to find out if any of them are real. I also looked around the site, checking out pet sitters, tudors, and houskeepers, and I found the same person and picture for housekeeping and reading tutor. ??? You have to pay to get the contact information and your credit card is automatically billed every month continuously. This business model relies on the inability of its customers to cancel the membership or dispute charges once they have your credit card number. I would strongly advise not to use this service, the BBB report is littered with complaints about billing and customer service. Buyers beware this scam-site.
I find the same thing. I think that they should be more upfront about the fees they charge. What good is posting a free ad if you can’t contact anyone that replies to it unless you pay a fee.
Agree. once you Google “care.com”, what you see is asking you to join in but no where to click to find out the fees. I was even directly Google “Care.com fee” but got nothing.
I guess without giving them your email address and creating an account with them, you won’t find out how much the fee.
This site is disengenuous and a fraud, as is their surrogate with supposedly "real" reviews of care.com, "bestcareforus.com." I signed up for their service and although I did end up finding a housekeeper through them, I am disgusted with the site itself. Here's what I found:
– unqualified/suspicious profiles (i.e., housekeepers who posted pretty pics while telling subscribers they didn't know how to clean!)
– NO posting of REAL reviews. Not a SINGLE negative review – when I submitted one for a provider that came to my house and spent over 8 hours and didn't even manage to vacuum one complete room, didn't know how to operate a mop (I'm not kidding, she had to actually ask me), and thought it okay to mop a bathroom floor with plain water WITHOUT sweeping it first) Care.com deleted the provider instead of posting the negative review.
– Site is frequently unavailable – apparently can't handle capacity of viewers.
If you are looking for a site that really wants to help busy professional families find qualified help and avoid wasting time and money on unqualified providers,look elsewhere. You won't find it on Care.com.
I have had the exact same experience. I wish I would have read these reviews before getting involved with the awful company!!
We too signed up for Care.com, and then canceled after our first month. We have continued to be billed every month by Care.com for the past 6 months–and it finally stopped when we got our credit card company involved. We wrote to Care.com (as calling them is not an option) and a month later have not heard a response. POOR!!!
Hi, this is Tricia from Care.com. I work in our Member Care department and I wanted to write a quick note and address some of the concerns shared about billing issues for our members. If you have any questions or concerns, we would really like to connect with you at careteam@care.com to help address them!
We work hard to give families a safe, easy-to-use way to connect with local care providers. At Care.com, our premium membership allows members full access to care provider profiles, allows them to contact providers, run free background checks, review references, and more. As part of those subscriptions, we offer automatic renewal of Premium accounts and highlight this feature on the enrollment page when a member joins Care.com. Many of our members find this feature useful as they like the insurance of having a community of caregivers available whenever they need care.
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! In the very near future I am happy to say that we will also be establishing a call center to help address your needs by phone as well!
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
I don’t see the need to pay for care.com when there are so many other good sources out there. I just used this new website aladom.com and had a great experience. While there aren’t many users yet, I was able to find the perfect match for free.
This site is a total scam. You think you are buying a trial month and then tthey charge your card until you notice charges on your account that you weren’t expecting. They do not even have a billing questions option when you try to call. It is virtually impossible to get through and when you do, they tell you to go jump. They take your money through clever marketing and have no intention of ever returning it. SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM BEWARE
I am a nanny/babysitter who recently made a profile on care.com. I saw that one person noticed that the same person had two profiles, one for a tutor and one for a housekeeper. People can have more than one skill. I have a page as a caregiver, a tutor, and a pet-sitter. I have knowledge and experience in all three areas.
Personally, I did not list my references or have a background check, but I am happy to provide information during an interview once I feel I can trust the person or family interested. We are just as much at risk of scam as you are. I also tell everyone I sent an application to that I have a resume, a Teaching Certificate, an AA in Early Childhood Education, and will soon be receiving a Teacher Permit (which required fingerprinting and a background check with the Department of Justice and FBI). I have paperwork to prove all of this in a portfolio and have copies to give during an interview that the family can keep.
I did not see any option to post a video. I think only premium users can do that, but I’m not sure. If I could, I absolutely would. Instead, I posted five pictures taken at various locations to show that I am a real person, and so interviewers can clearly see my face and recognize me. I also tried to use pictures that showed my interests. All of my pictures were taken outside, showing my love of nature and my ability to be active outdoors.
I hope this helps clear things up. As far as being overcharged goes, I can’t say anything. I do not pay to use the site. I have considered getting a background check, but I’m not sure if I trust them enough to give them my SSN. If parents are interested in hiring me, I can give them a receipt of my fingerprinting and background check that I had done myself.
I have signed up for care.com premium membership in September 2011. Apparently, somewhere on the website the fine print says that you’ll be billed continuously on the monthly basis until you downgrade the membership. I have not noticed that and have been billed by care.com for almost two years now with no notifications or statements whatsoever. My mistake was using the credit card that is rarely used otherwise and being overwhelmed by a suicide in a family at the time, hence is the need for a nanny and negligence to check the credit card charges.
However, regardless of my failure to monitor family finances, care.com is an unethical and immoral company. Clearly, their system is set up to make revenue dishonestly, taking advantage of people instead of fairly charging customers for the services they use. Respectable companies ALWAYS notify their customers of recurring charges. Care.com doesn’t care about reputation or customer loyalty.
There are dozens better and safer ways to find a babysitter. Care.com charged me $700 for using NONE of their services in the past 22 months. They didn’t respond to my email either. Please don’t contribute to this scam and don’t let such shameful practices proliferate.
On 7/15/2010 Tricia from Care.com posted that they were putting in a call center to address the communications problems.
Has anybody noticed improvement on the phone side?
I was just about to sign up…..not so impressed with them now.
John
I am a babysitter and care.com keeps terminating my profile for no reason. I am very glad I did not pay. Please use sittercity.com! I found a wonderful family through them with no problems at all!
Meg, I just had my care profile deleted today for no reason whatsoever. I have been going crazy so upset trying to understand how they can do that. I reported a family profile that was soliciting sex on their website and 30 min. later care. removed my profile and then told me I can never sign up again. I am so upset about this. I am a professional nanny with 23 years of experience and a teaching degree. If it wasn’t for the fact that sittercity doesn’t have any jobs in my are and most families are on care I wouldn’t care so much. But gosh they are screwing with my career here and for no reason. Makes no sense, what horrible business practices!
Care.com is a good idea in theory. But if you think about it, why are these people listing themselves online for jobs that are typically found via word of mouth? Because they are not good or reliable and can not keep a job. Every time I thought I had a candidate to watch my son, they either didn’t show up or did something else unprofessional. Care.com is a last resort.
Care.com is a joke and legally found a way to rip off the public; however, I am a licensed practical nurse and able to hold a job. I joined because I am working toward my BA and wanted to pick up a few private duty shifts. I have found nothing but have given them quite a bit of money.
CARE.COM IS A SCAM AND THEY DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT WITH A REASON.THEY HAVE SCAMMERS ON THERE EMAILING PEOPLE THEN YOU RESPOND,YOUR ACCT IS DELETED WITHOUT A GOOD REASON??I HAVE FILED A COMPLAINT AND NOONE FROM MANAGEMENT HAS YET TO CONTACT ME BUT IF I WANTED MORE INFO ON HOW TO UPGRADE A PAY FOR THEIR SERVICES,I BET THEY WOULD CONTACT ME!!..THIS COMPANY NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN COMPLETELY!CARE.COM DOES NOT CARE AT ALL!!
I’m jabbing this site because I am absolutely sickened by the commercials, which show bratty children tormenting their caregivers while cutesy music plays and the company owner shrugs and laughs. Is it really funny when a child says “NO!”? Can’t we find a proper balance between the uber-strict 50s children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard method and the current laissez faire mentality? I once watched a busy Manhattan mother come home from work and immediately fetch some crackers that her toddler was screaming for before she even removed her shoes…even though the very patient and kind nanny had just told him it was almost dinner time and he couldn’t have the crackers because he’d just had a snack. Any idiot could see this was out if guilt, but what did she think she was teaching her son, that mommy loved him? No, she was teaching him that he was more important than her and could always have anything he wanted. So what happens when that little boy grows up and learns a much different lesson from the world? Read Think! by Lisa Bloom and set a standard for healthy boundaries and discipline that will actually create good human beings, not entitled, egomaniacal monsters, PLEASE! And Care.com owner, if you’re listening…stop dumbing America down!
Care.com cares about one thing and one thing only. They care about charging you as much money as possible, regardless of whether they provide you any service whatsoever. After upgrading to their $140 per year service and failing to find a babysitter, I didn’t log on for nearly a year. In the meantime, I tragically lost my children to a terrible accident. Then they charged me $140 again. I tried to get the charge reversed. I went through the credit card company and everything. No result.
I worked for a client of care.com who ripped me off a shift’s worth of services. When I complained to the client and care.com, the deadbeat client wrote me a false bad review. When I complained about the lying and the stealing of care.com’s client, care.com cancelled my account. I had written a very nice rebuttal to the deadbeat client’s review, explaining that actually, this client owed me money, however, care.com refused to let me argue the bad review. In the end, care.com sided with a lying, stealing client over me. I am very sure it’s because they were a paying client and I had a free account. Care.com should be don’tcare.com, because they don’t care, when all is said and done. After reading these reviews, I’m very glad they don’t have my credit card information! At least they can’t charge me any money! I will say that the day before they falsely cancelled my account, some poor lady paid like fifty bucks for my background check…and now has no way to contact me. Wow. I bet she’s really pleased. Anywhoo, I’m booked out all the time, anyway. I checked with all my current, paying clients, and 100% of them came from care.com’s competition. I don’t guess I need care.com, at all…but what a horrible experience. If you are a caregiver, stay away. You will have your services stolen, your reputation defamed, and care.com will back the crooks. Very ugly business indeed. Ug. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. Buh-bye, care.com.
Molly: I had this same problem! I’m an impeccable caregiver with an excellent work history and reputation who found a client thru care.com who turned out to be a very unpleasant employer. When I quit the position, the client (client daughter) – who BTW had been thru many caregivers – retaliated by submitting a bad review. I challenged this with a response which Care.com refused to post. I forwarded to them a correspondence outlining the difficulties of the employer and David (who evidently has no last name) at careteam@care.com responded that Care.com has no obligation to my satisfaction. This after over a year of monthly membership payments. Any organization who treats members in such a manner and whose policies are hostile to caregivers is NOT place to find good care for your family.
What I do not like about Care.com is that they make you pay to be able to actually contact a caregiver, babysitter, etc. and also find a job. I think that is messed up. You can’t even put your email address in a job you posted for a babysitter. They make you pay, stating that it is not “safe” to simply put your contact information in a job posting and only those whom you want to hire should have that info. Paying is also the only way you can get caregivers’ contact info. Well what if I don’t feel “safe” giving care.com my personal payment info? Sorry but I will find other means of looking for a babysitter!
Yes I just discovered a bit of repetitiveness in my comment but I am sure you all get the idea of what I am talking about…
Looking at website after signing up for free account, I seems to be more like Craigslist, where you can post a job or get response for your job, but no responsibility or guarantee taken from Care.com. It is all up to you pay for all kind of checks and decide. Important thing is just pay and get some information and way to contact babysitters. Don’t tink that’s a good model, at least it does not makes me comfortable leaving my kid to anyone unknown when the company which sent the person, do not hold any responsibility.
Care.com is a joke. If you love your children stay away from this website. My experience has been absolutely horrible. I thank god that my son is safe and try not to think of the things that could have happened. All this site does is collect monthly fees. They don’t do anything to ensure the safety of the children or to help parents feel better about not being there with their kids. My experience was this: I located a profile on care.com requested background checks (which really doesn’t provide much info, completed an interview, requested copies of drivers license, etc only to find out that the 23 year old I hired was really a 19 year old with 3 kids of her own and a fake Id. The girl worked for me approximately two months and during that time put my son in numerous dangerous situations and stole practically all of my belongings. I have since filed charges however she is still out there walking freely. She even admitted to stealing as well as lying. Charges are currently pending. Care.com took her profile off the site after sending me to their “safety” team. Wow, that really helps to make things better.!
I’m so sorry that you had a bad experience on care.com. I am a caregiver with several years of nanny experience, and have used care.com in the past to find jobs and to hire nannies for my son. It’s too bad they can’t offer more checks for you.
I just wanted to let you know that there are good caregivers out there, and not to give up! Be sure to interview your sitters well, check all references, etc, and don’t go cheap!
Hi, I am a babysitter on the awful website…I signed up because I wanted to see potential after school jobs, because I get plenty of week night babysitting from family friends and neighbors. I have applied to numerous jobs with no responses. Also, the customer service is pretty bad, as most of you know. What I would like to know from parents on the site, every parent profile I’ve read is all the same. “Arts and crafts lovers are strongly encouraged to apply”. Can someone tell me if parents actually write their own, or? Anyways I don’t know why I’m still on this website after I’ve called them, read BBB reviews and post like these.
Also, I do not have a “premium” account because I don’t feel like I need to pay for getting jobs, when I can have my mom put on Facebook that I babysit, or talk to the people I do work for. I agree 100% they could care less about the “safety” of the users, and just want money.
There’s NO HELP from care.com what so ever. I don’t have the money to pay them that’s why I’m looking for a job. They don’t tell you you need a premium account to get jobs. I have wasted alot of time . They tell me I’m hired I don’t hear anything else back. I’ve wasted time replying to people that don’t even get to respond to me… care.com also changed what I put in my profile and put things in it I did NOT put in it.
The auto-renewing subscription employed by Care.com is in violation of California SB 340, which took effect on December 1, 2010. The California Negative Option Law was specifically implemented to end the practice of ongoing charging of consumer credit cards without the consumers’ explicit consent. Care.com is inviolation of multiple aspects.
A copy of the Legislation is readily available at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov. (“Business and Professions Code Section 17600-17606”)
Many states in addition to California have implemented similar legislation.
Specific violations include:
(c): “Clear and conspicuous”…means in lager type than the surrounding text…”
The copy of the webpage provided by the merchant readily shows that the type referring to automatic renewal is not larger than the surrounding text.
(a) (1): “It shall be unlawful for any business making an automatic renewal or continuous service offer to a consumer in this state to…fail to present the automatic renewal offer terms or continuous service offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner…”
The wording used by Care.com is not compliant with “clear and conspicuous”. The term “subscription” is generally reserved for the purchase of ongoing services, not a single purchase, therefore customers purchasing “1-month” are not purchasing a “subscription”. “Subscription” is located under the “3-Month” and “12-Month” plans (“subscriptions”). Because a customer purchasing “1-month” is not purchasing a “subscription”, the automatic renewal plan is not invoked.
Unfortunately, Care.com is the subject of literally hundreds of similar complaints. It would behoove them to ammend current business practices in accordance with the law.
I was amazingly surprised at how many people have been terminated from Care.com without explaination. I hired an attorney who can not get any information, based on what we all signed saying we can be terminated for any reason at any time without explaination.
Someone, an attorney friend of mine who knows how contracts like this work. She has suggested going on the news or reporting it to the news.
Anyone here willing to do that in there area? I am in the Boston area, and am looking for people to join in. It would also be wonderful if we all did it on our own local news.
What do ya think?
christinemello@comcast.net
Are you a paying member of care.com? I haven’t been terminated, but my bio wasn’t correct. The options for the references isn’t good. Unfortunately these sites apparently aren’t controlled by anyplace.
I have had better luck on craigslist finding a job!!!!
KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR CREDIT CARD BILL THAT YOU USE TO PAY FOR CARE.COM
I signed up for the basic membership and was told it would be a one month subscription. They never stopped billing me and I didn’t realize it until five months later.If I got a sitter out of it I wouldn’t be too upset but I had no luck. I received 7 messages from people interested in taking care of my disabled son the fist week. Five of them didn’t respond back to me when I returned their calls and two decided the hours weren’t for them. I never received another mesaage after the first three weeks. When I realized they were still charging me five months later I called for a refund and Dianne and Cara on the CARE TEAM said they couldn’t refund my cash. I wouldn’t have a problem if I was receiving e mails regularly but I didn’t receive one message after the first month. They literally stole $175 off me. Stay away from care.com due to their deceiptful business practices. They should be ashamed of themselves for the way they handled my sitaution.
Gary,
Look up Care.com from a different aspect. Look at what they have done to people, both caregivers as well as potential employers.
You would be amazed at how they are ruining peoples lives and job searches.
They have cancelled hundreds of thousands of memberships and wont tell anyone why. They just say they reserve the right to do this.
Being ripped off on your money…………. Im sorry to hear this. But try being one of the hundreds of thousands of people that are trying to use the #1 employment site in the country.
There are NO other sites that are effective.
Taking away my ability to use that site, me…. having been a member for years…….. attorney is getting no where.
Many people are contacting news media……. and I am among them.
THIS IS RUINING PEOPLES LIVES!!!!!
Help take action!
Very Sincerely,
Christine
I have received more replies for jobs in craigslist in one week than I have from care.com in months!!!
I hear ya Christine! Care.com has screwed lots of people and are still advertising like their a saint. Sure maybe some people have luck, but a lot more don’t. They send me so much spam, even though I want no more to do with Care.com they never cancel you’re account giving a false number of hiring cliental- essentially lying to those on their looking for jobs.
I have contacted CBC.com – marketplace, but haven’t heard anything back. I plan to keep harassing them and other news places to get the word out. I get spam all the time from them, but I never once got a bill notification- that isn’t right and I know it’s not legal. They are supposed to send you a receipt every time they take money, and they didn’t.
To those who are thinking of going with care.com, don’t. Spare yourself the agony of a shit system designed to steal money and never let you cancel your account.
I appreciate everything that everyone has said. There are so many different sites coming out about Care.com – most importantly BANNING YOU AS A MEMBER FOR LIFE AND NOT TELLING YOU WHY! This is happening not only to clients seeking jobs, but believe it or not they are doing this to people seeking to hire!!
The thing I am right about to give up on is getting help. I don’t know what to do by myself. there are so many sites about people being banned from membership for LIFE!
Whats bothering me is that there are thousands of people going through this. Some are just wasting time trying to get answers with Care.com. Others like myself have hired an attorney and we are getting no where. Some are making petitions, some have contacted news stations I did them all. But if anyone out there knows a way that somehow we could get people to help, we could like get all the info together on one site…………… links to pages like the one we are on, instead of one person trying to get a puny list of names, it would be awesome to just have it all in one site.
Wouldn’t that be awesome? One site where its so easy to put a link to a site……………
Don’t listen to me Im just dreaming – but wouldn’t it be awesome if we all came together somehow? All the people filing class action suits, right down to pages like this one………
Its those types of things that we need to join in on – – what a ton of information that would be…….. all on one site!
Christine, I just sent you a personal email, I had read an earlier post where you gave your email. I just got screwed royally by care.com and banned for life all because I reported a family profile where they were obviously soliciting sex or trying to harm a young girl. Instead of removing that disgusting profile from that “family” they removed me! I am a professional nanny with 23 years experience and a teaching degree and was on care since they started 7 years ago. They gave me no reason and were horrible to me today. Anyway I am so upset about this. I went on their site and wrote down the names of ALL the main people that work there, including miss perfect Sheila who obviously doesn’t give a shit about us nannies, and Sheila Marcellos personal address is in the white pages. I am going to send her and some of the others on the board, snail mail letters everyday until they respond and fix this horrible injustice. I suggest you ALL do the same. They have given us no other options.
I’m sorry to see all the negative here for people…but if will heed the advice…I will forget I ever thought about signing up for care.com
Please don’t use this care.com website!! I was loving this website until I had a bad experience with a sitter. I posted an accurate review of her and she reported me. Without any investigation into the facts I was kicked off the site. If you cannot rate a sitter accurately without retribution, I find this horrendous. Please do not use this site!! There are other much better sites that are honest with you about the sitters that you are hiring to watch your children. Please do not use this site if you want an honest representation of the sitter that you are hiring!!
This is our opinion based on our experiences with care.com
Please do not use this site if you care about your child. Our first nanny from care.come turned out be an alcoholic. She was 22 years old. Our second was stealing antique books from our library. Our third struck our 2 year old daughter “to teach her a lesson about pain”
She also gave us a reference that turned out t be her boyfriend and we only then learned she had no nanny experience. Our fourth decided to fabricate information about us after we cut her hours. Evidently she could not pay her bills with the hours we were offering.
We soon learned that among other things, she was emotionally unstable. Each of these “nannys” interviewed very well. They were very convincing. We are both well educated professionals and very thorough in our interviewing process and we were completely fooled. When we spoke with care.com about each of these experiences, they would only say “we’re very sorry about your experience”. They do not check the backgrounds of those who post on their site and as a result anyone can pose as anyone and be left alone with your child. Based on our experience, please don’t use this site if you care about your child. You stand the chance of placing your child in a very dangerous situation
Are there any actual FREE websites for finding childcare? We’re Canadian, travelling to Florida and need a trustworthy sitter a few nights. Care.com won’t even take a non-US credit card. Thanks!
Care.com is awful! My complaint is the same as everyone else here. They make it extremely hard to cancel the auto pay. And even if you are lucky enough to find it, it doesn’t work. I called my credit card company and filed a dispute. I think it’s the only way to stop the charges. After I initially cancelled my membership, I couldn’t get back into the website to try to cancel the auto pay again, and the phone number is a joke! You can get a real person or even leave a message. Good companies respect their customers and don’t try to scam them. Can’t wait to see this company go under.
I was considering using the site because my 7 YO loved the commercial and asked me to look into it, but it ended up being another lesson on how you can’t trust commercials to tell you the truth, you have to do independent research from people who aren’t getting paid to tell you they like something. Good lesson for her. Not the first time, either, but she’s learning to be skeptical of advertising, which is a good thing.
I checked their website. There was a 25% off deal with coupon but after signing up and submitting my credit card I found no place to get the 25% off. I searched Google for their number (877.227.3115) because their website doesn’t list one and asked the woman who answered about the 25% off. She said she would have to issue me a refund/credit. She didn’t know why I couldn’t add the code before the credit card info. This company is a joke!!! I just called and got a message “we’re closed. If you want to hear the answers to most frequently asked questions, please say on the line.” NOTHING HAPPENS but their phone system just hangs up! OH…the message also states that there’s a link to their FAQ on the bottom of each of their web pages. NOT ONE OF THEIR PAGES LISTS AN FAQ SECTION/LINK!!!
Do not use care.com!!!
I also signed up for 1 month and only found out they have been charging me for 6 months because my debit care number changed and they emailed me to ask for a new card to charge. I have not accessed the site the entire time. They have refused to refund any months other than the last payment. Also, I did not like any of the sitters I did interview. I would rather go through a friend, school or neighbor. This is not a safe resource and they are preying on busy moms who are too busy to read the fine print.
Do not use care.com if you care at all about the safety of your children. The background checks are provided by an outside .com company that clearly states it is not liable for the accuracy or completeness of any background check. Care.com also states they are not liable for the background checks in any way since they themselves do not provide them. They use predatory, unethical billing practices. The auto renew disclosure is buried so deep even Nancy Grace cold not find it. They do not send e mail receipts about auto renew billing because Ceo’s do not want customers knowing Care .Com is intentionally ripping the public off. They advertise its a free membership when clearly its misleading and well documented all over the internet about the scam they are running. They allow illegal activity on the site until it is reported and usually by a customer not by Care.com. Prostitution and scam artists are outnumbering the real ads lately. The fake check babysitting scam only exists because of Care.com’s lack in its security procedures. Care.com is not protecting clients information and its being sold by Care.com employees internationally. Care.com is run in 16 countries and has over 13 million accounts. Care.com in not monitoring its international accounts whatsoever and Americans are getting raped with credit card fraud and falling for scams daily on this site. Please stay away if you have any sense. Dont be foolish.
Care.com is a misrepresented, fraudulent .com platform that endangers children lives daily by providing false, misleading, and inaccurate background checks and qualifications on caregivers. They should be shut down by the federal trade commission and fined to the greatest extent of the law.
Gurl, get down with your bad self.
Here is evidence supporting what many parents have written about Care.coms incomplete and incorrect background checks that are endangering kids lives by enabling criminals to babysit and also ruining adults reputation by coming back with wrong information when no records should be found on a clean record. Very negligent background check company.
Google: NBC investigates Caregivers Sites Found Approving Sitters With Arrest Records/Criminal records
Google: NBC 5 Chicago “Criminals Pass Background Checks On Sitter Sites” (Very Informing News Video)
PLEASE NO NOT EVER USE CARE.COM IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR BABIES AND CHILDREN. ANOTHER CHILD HAS DIED BECAUSE OF CARE.COM LACK IN PROVIDING ACCURATE BACKGROUND CHECKS. GOOGLE NBC CARE.COM BACKGROUNDCHECKS. CARE.COM IS WELL AWARE THAT THEY ARE PROIVIDING FRAUDULENT, INCORRECT AND INCOMPLETE BACKGROUND CHECKS AND THEY DO NOT CARE.
I am a nanny and I have found two jobs off care.com, and I really love the families. The only negative experience I’ve had with this website is the fact that somehow scammers got my information from the website and at least once a month I get a text from a fake job offer. This has only occurred after I signed up. I don’t pay for a membership, but I’m horrified at the way they practice business! Things I never knew!
We signed up for a discounted first month with Care.com and cancelled well before the month was up. 4 months later, we discover they’ve been charging us (at the non-discounted monthly rate) even after we cancelled.
They refuse to refund the charges, so we filed a complaint with the BBB and challenged the charges on our credit card. We noticed that there are hundreds of unresolved complaints on BBB (not sure how they have an A- rating…), and many of the billing complaints are about this issue precisely. Care.com reps always respond that they show no errors on their website and that therefore the person must not have actually downgraded their membership. It’s pretty obvious that they’ve got some sort of problem, given the massive number of complaints about post-downgrade billing. Hell, some people have even tried to remove their cc info from the site—and still saw charges after that.
Fortunately, Capital One was able to refund us for 4 months of fraudulent and erroneous charges. In fact, once they looked at the details and the merchant, they offered to post the refund to our account immediately. I guess this isn’t their first time around the block with Care.com!
Truly unbelievable…I canceled once and it didn’t take. I canceled again and they stated they had no record of my original cancellation. So I canceled twice. Now, I just received my credit card statement and lo and behold, they have charged me yet again. What a nightmare! This is a truly heartless organization. Incredibly unethical.
Hired a housekeeper from care.com. Not only did she steal thousands of dollars of things from my parents home, she also had methamphetamine drug pill bottles with different prescription names on them. She messed up my mother’s medicines. Did not take care of her, ignored her. And never cleaned. Even after confronting hired help about missing items, not cleaning, etc. she denied them all. Fired after 3 weeks. Actually had to have the “housekeeper” arrested from my parents home. She was put in jail and later found out she was a fraud. She had scammed many other families before mine. DO NOT TRUST care.com! Now I can not get a phone number to discus this issue with care.com. They are still charging me and I am very upset.
Our family loves Care.com. Not only have we gotten care for our child, but my wife even did some nannying part time via Care.com and the experience has been wonderful! When we had a billing issue (my fault) they quickly corrected it as well. We are so happy Care.com exists and hope to use it for years and years to come!
Warning for those looking for caregivers on Care.com. This company makes their money through deceitful billing practices. Without your knowledge or permission, they will upgrade and auto-renew your account and NEVER let you know about it. You’ll never be notified or receive an e-mail or anything! They make a dubious claim that it’s in the “small print” when you sign up. Many States now have laws against the sort of deceptive practices that Care.com engage in. This company’s profit margin relies on the hectic schedules of busy parents who forget to check their credit card statements. And, when you request to cancel your account, they instead “downgrade” it… They only way I was able to stop the billing was by cancelling my credit card and having the bank issue me a new card. Care.com is a morally corrupt business that only cares about money.
shellygouvas@yahoo.com
Care.com runs an auto renewal scam in which people sign up for 1-month and end up paying for years before finding out that care.com has neen billing them for years while providing no service, senfing no receipts, hiding the auto-renewal scam and badically ripping off their customers indefinately. You could sign up for one month then years later notice that they’re secretly charged you hundreds or thousands for nothing.
WARNING! if you sign up to care.com, please note that the only way you can stop them from charging your credit card, is to call the bank, cancel your card and have them issue a new one. Sign up at your own risk!! Sheila Marcelo and Dave Krupiniski should be put in jail for their credit card scam operation.
Aw, this was an extremely nice post. Finding the time and actual effort to
create a top notch article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a whole lot and don’t manage to get anything done.
It’s interesting that virtually 100% of the significant number of comments are totally negative regarding care.com. What does that say about working moms against guilt? They wrote a glowing article shilling for this obviously awful company. I found this site while searching for reviews of care.com but shame on anyone who uses or trusts this site regularly.
I do not recommend Care.com. I used the service and once I no longer needed it I thought I canceled it. I guess I didn’t do it correctly because Care.com proceeded to charge me approximately $40 per month for 2 years totalling over $900. The reason I used care.com in the first place is because I was a busy working mother and I admittedly did not take the time to read the “fine print”. However, I never once received a bill or any indication that they were charging my credit card. When I discovered I had racked up $900 in charges for nothing, rather than Care.com refunding my money for something I didn’t intend to buy and never used, Care.com sited their carefully worded policy which allows them to do this. They can see that I never logged into the account and never once used care.com over the 2 year period. The fact that Care.com would not refund my money illustrates that they are not a business intent on providing a service but rather part of their business model is to trick people into paying for something they don’t want, don’t need and accidentally purchased. This is not an ethical or honest business. Do not do business with Care.com.
Care.com is a scam. I signed up for a month. Found all it has are fake reviews. Cancelled. They still silently billed my credit card. Highly unethical. Go with Craigslist and use the money you saved for real professional background check.
Wow – so many negative reviews seems like a redflag. And the promo code in this article itself is not valid. Very questionable to say the least.
It’s actually very complicated in this busy life to listen news on Television, so I only use web for that reason, and get the most up-to-date information.
I have been a member of care.com for years. I have found excellent work through them. However, now I am unable to apply for jobs without paying. This is new for me and is something I cannot afford. Who can if one is out of work?!
I am now disillusioned.
Wow, this is clearly a paid post by Care.com as the site is a complete hoax, and clearly this writer knows it. Anything to make a buck I guess. Let’s see how long this comment lasts, don’t worry, I’ll save the web copy before this Susan Wenner Jackson takes it down so I can publish elsewhere on how much a sham this WMAG site obviously is for promoting paid scams like care.com.
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Care.com is a dark, scary machine. Read this: https://medium.com/@erdorsey2/care-com-multiple-deaths-and-child-abuses-fraudulent-billing-and-a-harvey-weinstein-babysitter-7468edb54ea0