Care.comReviews 12,031

I am a legitimate business offering services and pay $39.50 per month membership. I contact potential clients through the site. Have been for at least 2 years now. I have reached out to many people, and can see when they have read my message, and when they have not. I have a very strong feeling that Care.com puts up fake potential clients to puff up their image on the site. Out of 15 people contacted, only 1 viewed my message? And these people need help ASAP? They would be looking immediately, even if not interested. Something isn't right about this. I am cancelling my membership. This smacks of SCAM.

Complete waste of money. They tell you to purchase the background check and driving record so your profile is stronger but this actually doesn't build credibility at all. Over half the jobs listed are no longer available so when you see 203 jobs there are actually 98 if that many. Of the 98 only 35 may be legitimate jobs. The rest are scams. My very first nanny job was a scam. Don't bother trying to call because there is no number. I finally got in touch with the safety center to report what had happened and they said they would look into it. I made a public post on FB with the check that was mailed and the picture the guy used. A lady I am not friends with contacted me and had the exact same ran on her in another state. Logged on to Care.com and five more of the same scam are listed. I requested my money back but received a very polite email saying NO. I received another email shortly there after saying my account would not be charged the following month and I could go on the site but I would not be a member. Honestly, I would not give them another dime but it is bothersome that they are making me out to be the problem. They do have safety tips on the site, but you cannot tell legit jobs from scams or jobs that are no longer hiring. I worked in the corporate world for 20 years and have never experienced anything like this. I wanted to be a full time nanny because I love kids and I was ready to stay close to home instead of traveling every week and still be able to make the money I need to cover expenses. My husband has a very good paying job and he supported my decision to do this. You have been warned! I have reviewed them everywhere I can! Don't be fooled by the word "CARE" in there name.

Website is a pain to use, jobs close at random without warning, messaging is a pain, sitters are SUPER flaky and unprofessional. For my first job I had 44 applicants yet only a couple replied when I wrote back to their initial applications. Another showed up at my door before I had hired her, another cancelled at the last minute, another was a no-show, no-call for our interview.

After many weeks and a couple hundred dollars, I've ended up with ONE reliable sitter. I've had better luck with Craigslist and Facebook.

For what we pay as members, Care.com owes it to us to do better screening and quality control of the sitters they are charging us to learn about.

I had a very bad experience with a sitter several years back. As soon as I left her a negative review care.com removed my review and deactivated my account this was around 2014. Since then I've tried to see if they would allow me back on site and they have completely blocked me! This sitter was so nasty when I fired her she threw my key and gate opener in the grass! Thankfully I was able to find them but when I notified them about her behavior they blocked me and deleted the review! They do this because they don't want any bad reviews so all you see is good reviews! This company is a fraud! They don't truly care about you and your children!

I have been on care.com for years. Always successful, and had great families. I was five star rated, had all excellent references, 100% on dependable, and punctuality. I paid for premium membership. A couple weeks ago, I asked for help with my account, bc I pay for premium, and several prospective clients hadn't even checked my applications. I found that strange, someone who needs someone not even checking, so I wondered if something was wrong. THEY TERMINATED MY MEMBERSHIP. NO REASON WHATSOEVER, except I asked for help with my account. I emailed several times begging them to look into it, review it, appeal it. That it MUST be some mistake. They sent me back their standard "we can terminate you for any reason and no reason and don't need to tell you, but we can tell anyone you've corresponded with!" I reviewed the reasons one can be taken off site, and none remotely apply. I'm sickened by this, as it's how I make a living. I'm excellent at what I do, and bc I never dreamed this would happen, they have all my stellar reviews! All my clients wonderful words. Gone. For nothing! I begged to talk to someone. Nothing. This is the most awful company to do this to me. I asked for help with my account! I know i could clear this up, and they've refused to even give me a chance. I want to sue.

Mainly its about them continuing to charge me after I thought it was a one time deal. Here's a message I sent them.
"So I missed the detail that if I didn't cancel you would continue to charge me. I guess I failed to check my bank statements. But you couldn't have made all this clear or I would have caught it - pretty shady IMO. I plan to cancel in June when this 3 month period is ended. I finally got to my account, which wasn't by the steps you show below. I see you've got me for over $120 for services I never used. If everything was on the "up and up" I would have known I needed to cancel. In fact, and I wish my recollection was better, I think there's a good chance I did request cancellation or your presentation was such that I thought it was a one time deal. Maybe you made all that clear in your vast presentation. It looks to me like you made the presentation vast to intentionally get people to over look the recurring charges."

In attempting to get jobs through this site, I had a few possible clients try to contact me, and then as soon as I went to respond was informed that I needed to join via a monthly fee to respond. Once I coughed up the $30 fee- I received zero asks. Of course once I canceled the membership- suddenly I was very popular. And once I logged on... aw shucks! Can't read the blurred out contact info unless I rejoin. So disheartening that a website for those who want to "give care" is rife with scams and upwelling by the company.

They need to have more constant and incentive costs for private persons seeking caregivers. I have hired numerous caregivers from that site and I expect incentives such as lowered monthly rates taken off my card especially if I have hired their clients.

Secondly, they need to offer a more thorough background check for less money than $300.
Nowadays you can get that 300 background check that they conduct for about $125. They are making over 60% profit. The Care folks need to interview these caregivers better before giving them access to their paying clients and their clients loved ones. I have had individuals who steal and are shady. One caregiver threatened to sue my mother's estate when taxes were taken out of her check. Instead of her asking me about it at the time of her check because it stated in the info line how much taxes were removed. She failed to show up at her next appointed time, She abandoned her post. This same individual received incentives from my home like huge bag of recyclables. A similar bag yielded me $25-35. Mind you this was roughly what was held from her pay check (50), This person broke several dishes while working. Instead of her offering to pay for this mishaps she boldly stated you got to get plastic ware, I cant afford your stuff.

When I called Care to report the situation, they sent me a letter stating we are sorry for your experience get a mediator, we don"t do mediation. Fine but they sure sell you on their caregivers.

I foolishly paid for all of Care.com's add on services when I joined. Paid extra for unlimited background checks and also for their assistance with figuring out nanny pay. I never was able to get a single background check completed. The nanny that I ended up hiring had to pay for her own background check despite the fact that my membership that I paid for should have covered it. There is no phone number to contact a person at Care.com to resolve these issues. I was sent back and forth between tons of online customer service people about my issues with being able to actually use the membership for unlimited background check service. Nobody helped me! They sent me around and around in circles! I also tried to use the service that I had paid for on how to pay my nanny and it was a scam. Basically a guy just trying to sell me a payroll service. Don't let them fool you into purchasing any of their extra services. Just get the basic membership. Get your nanny and get off!

Unless you like calling your credit card company to file stop payments and disputes don't hand them your CC information. Just look at the reviews here and on trust pilot, it doesn't paint a pretty picture about the trustworthiness of this company.

Their purchasing system is misleading, they'll take you through the ringer before indicating you have to pay, when you do pay it is unclear that it is a subscription service. When you realize it's a subscription service and contact them to cancel, they'll promptly ignore your requests. They attempt to hoodwink you every step of the way.

We submitted a request for a cancellation and a refund. Never heard back and sure enough months later are still being billed.

They'll cry that "if you look at our terms of service" etc but it doesn't explain why they feel justified in ignoring customers requests to cancel/refund.

Just stay away, and find another service.

This company needs to fold. It is preying on honest people with the moniker of "care" when it is nothing but bogus! I was looking for a dog sitter in a certain area. I carefully read each of the profiles provided and bookmarked 8 that fit my criteria and messaged them. Strange how not only did none of them reply, my messages were not even marked as seen. So I went back on my bookmarks to review their profiles to see if they have not been on in so long they were essentially expired, and what do I find?! Different profiles for each of the candidates I bookmarked showing the same people were now nannies and elder care givers and not dog sitters! They lured me with false candidates to get my membership. Do not use this company! There should be some protections for us besides giving reviews. Contact the Better Business Bureau and get this company closed.