Care.com Reviews

I subscribed to Care.com for three months, and in those three months, I was not able to get anyone to respond to my request. It seems they let just anyone sign up as a caregiver just for the money. I was never able to hire anyone based on no response from the providers. After my three months, they automatically renewed my subscription without my knowledge and when I called them to let them know I had not authorized the renewal, their response was that they automated renew and they have a restrictive no refund policy.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Horrible the way they treat there caregivers! Nine years with these guys!

The way they treat there sitters/caregivers horrible. Anyone can write a review and say anything and get you removed even if you have never worked with this person in your life.

Anyone can call in and say a horrible thing about you, and they can remove you and not ask a single question or give you a call to ask if it is true or to ask to show any evidence or proof, they just delete you with an e-mail, no reason or explaining. Unless you beg to find out what was the cause possibly...

Not one supervisor will speak to you. Just an email that states we wish you the best after nine years of being with them and 51 five star reviews etc., that is it! Beyond horrible.

Care.com, you need to fix this. Not a single other company I know treats people the way you do!

Care does not care at all!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Care.com enforces you to pay money only to send messages to caregivers. I paid $62.40 for a 3-month subscription. I contacted 33 persons. Only one replied saying she's not available. Even after more than 10 days, none of the other 32 responded. The refund policy on their website states that I can get a refund if no one responds in three days and if I contact them within 30 days of initial subscription. Which is what I did. Of course, they tried to get out of it, giving excuses one after the other. I held my ground, unfortunately, because I didn't want to waste more time with them, I agreed with a 50% refund.

I canceled my subscription. I will never use this scamming website again. I definitely DO NOT recommend Care.com.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Care.com takes your money but does absolutely nothing for you. They allow reviews from unverified fake accounts. When you tell them they will lose your business, they tell you that you will never be allowed back again. Like I want to pay money to people who allow my business to be potentially damaged. I would expect that from a free site like Yelp but not form a paid site like Care.com. It would be easy enough, at least in my case to prove a review is fake. They are not interested in helping. $171 a quarter for nothing. Spend your money elsewhere.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I have been back and forth for 4 days now with their "customer service" team, and the issue is still not resolved. I am not able to send or receive messages from potential employees I've applied to, getting the "your account is inactive" message, which makes me look like an idiot when someone is trying to contact me. For whatever reason, they will not fix the problem. As a result, I am missing out on even getting a request to work. I've emailed about 6 times, and it's still not fixed.

The worst customer service EVER!

I DO NOT recommend if there are other similar sites! Be aware, they will NOT fix their website!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I am an employer seeking a nanny. The website Care.com itself constantly had glitches, my "job" listing would expire not only every 10 days (as the guidelines said it would) but also just at random, then leave me no option to re-list my job! Although they never skipped a beat charging my card every 30 days! Very frustrating experience when you are depending on finding a nanny in order to work yourself, but the listing won't post or has suddenly "expired" on its own with no notice or warning. Leaving you to be needing to check it each and every single day.

As for the "nannies" that are on this site looking for work, let's say after an entire year of hiring and firing a stream of them off this site, I actually can put some percentages on it. About 90% of the workers on here are people who simply cannot keep a job, are horribly horrible and undependable, have no skills, lie on their applications and are basically pretty lazy and unemployable elsewhere. Now if you are looking for a different babysitter every now and then to come for a few hours to just sit on her phone and watch TV while your kids are in bed, this site may be for you. But if you are looking for a real worker, one who has some skills (like making toast and knows how to use a vacuum) and will come to work every day and on time and has some work ethics, this site probably is not for you. I actually paid these girls twice the minimum wage and they still would not work. I had to call the police on the last one and file a report.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I am a daycare provider, and on Google, I have a 4.7-star rating. On Care.com I have a 1/2 star rating because in my business we do not use Care.com.

I belong to a large group of daycare providers and we work together to obtain our continued education and to help one another maintain state licensing compliance, and as well to support one another in this business in a large number of other ways.

For us, Care.com is a fraudulent website that demands money from us in order to keep ourselves in good standing on their website. We reject this website because it is nothing more than a way for the Care.com owners to create income for themselves without earning our trust or support.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I am writing this on behalf of Ryan and McKenzie. I am 70 years old and have cared for their 4-year-old and 20-month-old sons since birth. Their Dad is a firefighter and their Mom an attorney. In the interview process, we were clear about Ryan’s rotating shift schedule. We made at least 5 hires where the candidate understood and agreed to the schedule, which is 24 hours on shift then 48 hours off. These candidates are young and irresponsible. They would call after accepting the position only to cancel, or fail to even notify the parents they were no longer coming. We are truly appalled and disappointed at their lack of a work ethic.

Care.com, you need to do a better job of screening your applicants. Very disappointed, and I was the one who recommended Care.com to them. We are fed up.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I have been on this site for four months. No one replies back. Terrible access to jobs. A waste of time and money! I will not use again! I have also been on before and the same results - NOTHING.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Greetings. Lengthy, but WORTH the read:

I was a Premium member on Care.com (now giver with new app) for over year paying $24.99 with four 5-star reviews. My most recent potential employer asked to run a background check. Having passed the MA CORI in 2017 through Uber and USA Hockey level two criminal check in 2013, I approved. Two days later I could not log into my Care account. The third day I found an email buried in my Clutter file (Care continuously sent other email notifications directly to Inbox) stating they had suspended my account, to contact Sterling InfoSystems and GAVE a phone number of 1-833-780-7902.

Knowing a DUI incident from September 2008 was accurate (I was working for a bar in Georgia, went to work for sister property in South Carolina, drank after my shift, was pulled over and per "Unwritten rule of Management" chose not to take the breathalyzer, which in South Carolina is an AUTOMATIC plea of guilt that I was NOT aware of at the time. I know, I knoooow, "Ignorance is NOT an excuse for breaking the law." I paid $4K in legal fees, plus $1K+ more for ADSAP class, Court Administration costs and DMV reinstatement for license. Accomplished everything accordingly to resolve in terms of the law), I emailed Care.com to politely ask they re-activate my account, keep the background check available to allow persons seeking my employment to be the ones who make character decision and to kindly allow me to continue being a PAYING customer. I had to keep submitting for several days after no responses. Then I received a blanket (other than where my name and case number were typed) reply letting me know I had TEN DAYS from the date of FIRST email (I was now a week or so in) to clear up my background check or my Care account would be PERMANENTLY closed.

Next, again KNOWING my background check was accurate, I called the number Care provided for Sterling InfoSystems. I was on hold for over an hour listening to put-in-a-trance music with a recording citing "All representatives are busy you can leave a message or remain on the line." While holding I Googled "Sterling Infosystems dispute number" and this number came up: (866) 291-2985. When I hung up and redialed I was speaking with someone in Customer Service within EIGHT MINUTES. Twelve minutes in I was talking to a Supervisor who informed me, as I already knew in my heart, "there was nothing she could do," suggesting I pay to get my record expunged. (DUI in South is not an eligible offense. Expungements in all states take a MINIMUM of 4-6 weeks and couple hundred dollars.) When I told her about the over an hour wait time she said, "Give me that number." I could hear her clicking on the keyboard as I said each digit. She replied, "That is not one of our numbers..." Then she said, "Wait, it is, but it will NEVER lead you anywhere within our company." What the heck!

Meanwhile, more disheartening than bad judgement/a poor decision combined ten years ago re-interrupting my life and leading to my no longer having access to positions for my livelihood via the Care.com app is the humiliation of the following: While FOUR out of five "jobs" I applied for as a Premium member on Care were scams (stay away from generic postings, "I need care for loved one in their xx’s, non-smoker...") and at some point you do get to the point you HAVE to give personal info and references, which if you make it through the first series of scams to next, people then sell your contact info to robo callers for monies for another degree of scam, Care does in SOME instances work. I have cared for a few fabulous families, so imagine me crying snot bubbles hysterically when I found out Care uses the private background check (which you agree to when joining) to then email every person you have ever messaged to notify them you (enter your full name here) have been removed from Care site due to "security reasons," not explaining specifics because the background check is PRIVATE.

It would be best if Care cared more about their clients and remained a facilitator only site, allowing the potential employer/employee to agree on what is best suited for each. Never the less, save your resource and do NOT allow Care to run a background check. Sterling InfoSystems says they "had no idea Care was using their background checks to report to anyone other than the person who requested it." That is difficult to believe with 7K+ complaints through-out the internet.

Side note: I was on auto-pay for $24.99 a month. Once Care closed my account I considered creating one under a pseudo name like most (until I went to SitterCity and found my current Senior) to see Care offers discounted packages as low as $11.66 a month for a six-month membership. If you are in enrolled in auto-pay, restructure your account for less!

Also, if you are going to reply to bash me about a DUI, don’t bother. I have been through enough. I spent time typing this post to help enlighten and save time for those whom Care disregarded without second consideration or review and hopefully save others a hassle, not to give haters a platform. I guarantee if your Senior loved one needed assistance I would be the clean, compassionate, dependable, fun, loyal, and OCD organized person you WOULD want to hire.

Thank you.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I have been paying for a premium membership for Care.com for months and I got hired by a family. This family NEVER paid me. I called Care.com three times and reported this family online. They did nothing. The family's account is still active, despite the fact that Care.com told me four times that their account would be taken down. Care.com also refused to help me at all. Their advice was to "show up at their house," which is unsafe and makes me extremely uncomfortable. Basically, I paid for a service that provided me no rights to my services. After I expressed this to Care.com, they still refused to refund me all the money I have paid for their service. My advice - never sign up for this website.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I have tried for hours, trying to find a caregiver for my mom. I had 22 applicants and did four phone interviews. One caregiver, I set up an interview but she texted the morning of and told me that her doctor's office called to remind her of an appointment that day, and said she needed to cancel. She then reapplied for the job, and when I told her it was the same job, she gave me a different excuse why she didn't come. That time she had to assist a hospice patient to go to heaven! Her profile now is suddenly gone.

I had four people not show up, and several gave me excuses once I called them why they couldn't come for an interview. Several said they weren't available for a phone interview. I gave my phone number and address to several people before reading these reviews. I'm now going to contact BBB because I believe this site is a total scam. I asked for a refund and was told just to downgrade AFTER I was promised a refund. I wasted so much time and my husband had to take time off work to be here for the interviews I set up to which no one showed up! I do not recommend this company to anyone.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

They say that the caregiver account is free. I sent an application for a pet sitter. However, the employer couldn't respond, unless I upgraded to a premium account. When I emailed Care.com they responded by saying, "Only premium members are able to respond to caregiver applications." However, they would give me a discount to upgrade my account to premium for a 3-month or 6-month subscription. I had already paid $60.00 for a background and driving record report. I am unemployed looking for work. Just thought I'd set the record straight.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I paid to join as an "employer" I was looking for a housekeeper. I found someone I wanted to work with. I could not contact individual through the site, how to contact them was not clear since the message I sent wasn't answered. I forgot about that they did recurring billing every three months (so it was harder to pick up).

It is VERY difficult to figure out how to cancel the membership. In fact, there's nothing about canceling, terminating, etc., so that they stop billing you. You have to "downgrade" through accounts and settings, membership, then downgrade. This is BS. Do not use this company. Advertise on Craiglist or something.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Totally awful, please be aware and don't be cheated!

It doesn't help you to find anyone suitable at all, and also you'll be billed automatically without any notice, incredible! Someone just created this fake website to earn money from the parents.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

This platform to find on side jobs is nothing more than a plot for Care.com to beg you to upgrade your package to get better hits on jobs plus pay for the phone service they provide to contact the ones seeking childcare, housesitter or petsitters. It’s ridiculous, my profile was filled out beautifully and they terminated it. I asked why and they had no reason.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Terrible company and not a great resource! I have tried over the course of four years and never found a sitter. Most recently, last September I renewed my membership looking for a sitter. I found one, not on their website, called three times to cancel but had to wait on line for 10 minutes. I'm a working mom so kept giving up. Eventually, I got so busy I totally forgot.

Well, they have been charging my credit card, one I don't use anymore so never look at for the last 10 months. I never got an email confirming payment or an automatic email to see how my search was going. Finally, once I saw these charges I called, sat through the 20 minute wait time only for them to tell me they couldn't refund more than a month and to lie about having someone from billing or a manager to call me back.

But to top it off, I got about six emails a day once I downgraded my service trying to get me to upgrade. What a slimy, unethical, and obviously uneducated group of people to make it so hard for busy, working families. Shame on you!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Care.com is very misleading. I created an account in order to become a tutor. After a few months, I contacted Care.com because I was unable to retrieve messages. I was told that I needed to pay for a premium account in order to correspond with potential clients. I paid the money and upgraded. I am still unable to communicate with potential clients. I emailed, I called, I sent messages via Facebook to Care.Com and still no resolution. This company sucks! Don't waste your time or money!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I joined Care.com looking for help in the home with my 80-year-old husband. He has mobility issues and recently had a stroke and now has serious communication issues. I posted the job and got several applications near my zip code. I spent several hours whittling the list down to four.

I then preceded to the next step of trying to communicate with them. A big screen pops up and says something to the effect that background checks are strongly recommended. I clicked to see how much it would cost. First, it came up at around $59.00 for three months use. Money is tight so I just canceled and decided to think about it. I then decided it was worth it and so I went back to this screen and the offer was at a much lower price. This fee would auto charge every three months without cancelation. Ok.

Then I picked a candidate and asked for a background check. Another screen popped up indicating that there would be a charge for criminal background check and another charge for a driving background check. I thought I had paid for this and so I waited two hours for the customer service 800# to come online. (10:00 am Illinois time). I spoke with customer service and they explained that I only paid for background checks on applicants who have posted or had one done on themselves! For my monthly payment, I could look at these. None of my candidates had this.

Care.com did not make it clear what I paid for. They did not make it clear that I would be charged again for different kinds of background checks. They were reluctant to give me a refund. I had only set the account up one day before. I had to shed grandma tears of frustration and anger and a very long time on the phone to get this "one chance and this one chance only" of a refund. I took the refund, but am still angry about the situation and that they implied that I was the one committing some fraud. Avoid this site unless you have a fat wallet. I presume the site is really owned by some background check company who profits from their site.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

We are a cleaning business for over 18 years. After seeing other reviews our experience pails in comparison. We never even knew we had an account with Care.com. We had never been charged for anything but kept getting emails that we just deleted because we didn't do business with Care.com. Then one day one of our employees saw a negative review of our business on Care.com. When we went to Care.com to inquire how we could have a negative review with a company we don't do business with we were informed that our account had been closed and that it was company policy not to tell us how we had an account or why it was closed. Then when I inquired about reopening an account they told me, once a companies account is closed they can never do business with Care.com ever again. What?

Good thing we don't need Care.com. Terrible business practices and ethics. Sounds like a real scam. I would stay as far away from this company as possible!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Care.com is a scam. I set up an account, as a teacher looking to tutor this summer. Less then an hour later my account was terminated for no apparent reason and without warning. I urge you to look elsewhere when it comes to the education and safety of your children.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

As a former sitter on the site, I have to say I was absolutely appalled. I had a negative experience with a parent (which is a whole different thing, don’t get me started), and in addition to HER posting a negative (and false) review about me, she asked a friend to post a negative review as well. I contacted Care, saying I had never talked to or met the second person who posted the review and I was told that I should try asking the person to take it down.

If Care is reading this, just because I ask you to take something down doesn’t necessarily mean you will. I find it absolutely baffling that you have the power to disable accounts, but you don’t have the power to take reviews down. How hard is it to go into your system and see that I never talked to this person on your site (or anywhere else I can assure you)? I really do wish this website (or any sitter website really) allowed sitters to review families in addition to families reviewing sitters. There are families that show up late without notice, families who don’t pay on time, etc. and it is important to notify other sitters before they take a job from them.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

So I have signed up for this site when I was 16 with no luck until I was 18 when I finally landed a small job with a single mother who needed someone to take her daughter to school. Over the past few years I’ve gotten spam text messages promising a job and with pay but the email is a basically dealing with fraud and bs.

When I first signed up, to be a caregiver was completely free and to just complete your profile before looking for jobs. I recently found out you have to buy credits to apply for a job or pay a subscription to apply for as many jobs in a time period. I closed my account that same day. One star, but it’s far below it.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

The caregiver seemed eager up until the day when they became unreachable through the site. I suspect the site employs and creates fake profiles, to attract attention and interest, however, do not expect to actually obtain a caregiver.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

This company is extremely misleading, they say that you would get paid for your work within 30 minutes after your first payment, but that is completely NOT true! I have been waiting for my payment for a week now. NO ONE calls you back, there is no supervisor to speak to! They tell you that you would get a callback, that NEVER HAPPENS. They even choose to stop emailing you, when it relates to YOUR payment and YOUR account. Extremely unprofessional and misleading!

Caution: Work at your own risk.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I read all the negative reviews and either everyone with bad experiences has had bad luck with the site, or I am someone special, LOL!

I haven't had any problems with costumer service at all, on the contrary, they are always prompt to resolve my issues. A couple of years back I pressed the downgrade button by mistake, contact customer service, and they fix it at no charge. Two years before that I closed the account, then they sent me a discount coupon to reactivate and paid way less for a premium membership.

The most important thing about us providers in Care.com is THE BACKGROUND CHECK. All my current recurring clients found me on Care.com, and they choose me over someone in Craigslist because let's be honest, would you let a person YOU DON'T KNOW go into your home or be around your children and precious possessions? Do you know if they have a criminal record? I live in the border near Tijuana and a lot of people cross the border to work illegally in the house cleaning business. Although I charge double, my clients choose me just because they know I have a clean criminal and driving record, I have the right to work in the USA, hence pay taxes, and they know where to reach me in the USA, not in Tijuana.

Overall, I love the site, it has brought me lots of clients and whatever I paid for a premium membership has paid itself over 10 times.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

I created an account in November of 2017. I posted a job in desperation but lucked out and found a family to help me. I was bombarded with emails on discounted rates to buy premium. I posted another job after the new year but no luck with any candidates. Again I was bombarded with spam emails to join and pay premium membership.

Finally, I posted a job, need a summer sitter for June. I updated a photo of my son, wrote a clear description of the job. I was sent an email saying the job was rejected because I wrote in all caps and was deemed yelling (I didn’t). Personal family info was rejected because it violated terms and conditions. I wrote that I’m a single mom to a 7-year-old boy. That was rejected.

Then a third email stating my account was terminated because I was sharing with neighbors. I live in rural Maine, on six acres of private land, I live alone and my closest neighbor is several miles away. There are no children in my area. No explanation, no reason, and now I’m struggling to find decent help. This site is horrible; they rejected me because I didn’t upgrade and pay them money. All they wanted out of me was money, they don’t care about anything else.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend