Care.comReviews 12,031

I used care.com to find babysitting jobs for a few years. I wasn't a very active user, being busy with school and other jobs, so I only worked for one or two families. For that, it was a good site.

THEN I almost lost $2000 through a scam-artist who contacted me using the site (just glad I realized it before it was too late). Apparently this is quite a common concern with them. I had years of satisfactory experiences with care.com, but this one event ruined the site for me. After I reported the event, no one even sent me a follow up email! I closed my account and I feel like that was the right decision.

I've been on care.com for about 3 years now and have had decent results. In that time I've received 2 really great jobs and 1 that just wasn't for me. However, I feel like for every 12 applications I send out, I might get 1 reply back if I'm lucky. I feel like there are a lot of fake employer profiles on this site or people just post a job for a nanny and never look at it again (which doesn't seem that likely if you're paying for the site.) It seems like other caregivers on here have had a similar experience. Does anyone question if care.com makes their own fake employer profiles to make the site seem like its getting more action than it really is?
In regards to all the fraud and scam texts, I've gotten those too. My advice: Use common sense. If it seems fishy or too good to be true, it probably is. Just delete the texts and block the numbers. You can also change your account settings so your phone number isn't visible.

I have used this website twice. I understand that you have to pay for the service which is fine, but after a few flaky babysitters, I realized that Care.com does not do their own background check. They expect you to pay $35 a month to find the nanny, then an extra $59 to do a background check. Why am I am paying a monthly fee when I could use craiglists for free and run my own damn background check. I also have issues with the automatic payment system if you do not cancel.

Or pick any news reporting entity and slam care.com. We should all pick at least one news reporting agency and get the word out. These cowards are hiding behind their so called "Terms of Use" to screw us all one at a time. If we join together we will create a force to be reckoned with.
I demand a public apology from these bottom feeders. I demand they send emails out to everyone who was in receipt of their scathing "warning" about me and that my account was terminated retracting it all and apologizing to me personally for their attack on my character and reputation.
I'm not stopping until I receive some satisfaction.

My friend told me about this site. We both created profiles the same day hoping to find jobs. Immediately we both were contacted by people with need of house keeping. We compared our emails and texts and they matched. We both were contacted by same people, same story. These are some red flags:
1. They give you some feel sorry for me story like "I am deaf and I will only be communicating via text or email" (we cut that one off quickly) "My son needs a wheelchair and I need you to receive it"
2. They are moving 5 minutes from you (priority to live by the sitter and not close to their work or hospital)
3. Urgency to get your personal info to transfer or send you money
4. Advance payment to insure your commitment (usually 300 or 500)
5. Inconsistent information about the job descriptions (I was approached for a house keeping job, he started referring to me as his son's new nanny)
6. For some reason his job description to me and my friend both included cutting vegetables?
7. Horrible grammar or English that you usually do not use like referring to Emergency Room as Emergency Department ( a normal person in the US would just say "ER")
8. Emails coming in past 11:00pm and replies almost at the same time the following day. (that is when they are getting up on another part of the world)
9. Google numbers instead of a normal Local number. Where you have to state your name and then Google connects you. (Of course, no answer)
10. This individual even send me their family pictures. All we had to do was to Google search the images and we realized the people on the pictures are stolen pictures from a personal family blog (they were already aware that scammers are using their pictures and had a disclaimer)
11. I decided to play along avoiding at all cost not to give out my true information or my bank account just to see how far they went. Until he finally called me. Heavy accent. He did not make sense, did not speak clear English and when he did not understand what I said he began to speak "Gibberish" to me. I believe he got nervous and hung up.
12. References to God. Like "God bless you" I don't know what god you pray to! Not mine for sure.
This all happened this month 7/2015
*What I learned: never give your personal information to people, specialy financial to anyone. Advanced Payment is a big Red flag(people never do that). There are not many places to report this. Blogs and review sites are helpful. If it had not been by the girl in San Francisco who posted her story, me and my friend could have fallen into the same trap. I plan to post this in as many places possible so it can help someone out there. This is not fair. I feel violated and with no one to turn to.

I have been a member with care.com for over a year. I have only received one message back from a family. This is extremely frustrating. I am extremely qualified. Then, to add insult to injury as I was reading through the reviews, the one message that I did get seemed to be very similar to ones that others had received, about a man whose daughter was in a wheelchair.
I am not at all pleased with this site and will be discontinuing my membership with them!

Anyone living in the Smyrna Ga. * should be very cautious before hiring her as a Nanny or caregiver. Some how she has managed to get cleared through care.com background checks but apparently were not as thorough as they should have been. Somehow * seems to have slipped through the cracks and makes me wonder how many others that they have on their website have. Be careful who you trust your loved ones with. This one snaps with no warning and has caused extreme damage.

*personal info redacted by admin

I recently started with the company and went on 2 face-to-face interviews in my area. Both were lovely women and I accepted one of the jobs. I also got the texts people are talking about and they sounded fishy. When you can't talk/meet someone before you start caring for their child, that should be a Red Flag right away. If you can't see that, maybe you shouldn't be in this business. No one would have someone care for their most precious possession without meeting them first! Come on people... Use your heads. Of course they are scams! If you are not getting hired maybe you should ask yourself why! I know some of you younger people might think you are responsible, but there is a lot that goes into being a truly responsible caregiver. Be patient, be kind and do your very best honest work!

Want to actually address the person who is giving the responses to the reviews as the "business response".
1. Telling people to send you a private message without telling who you are and how to go about that is nothing more than lip service
2. You have 84.4% reviews on this site rating you as 1* quality.
3. Your responses such as "im definitely gonna provide your feedback" isnt what people want to hear. Fix the problem. Address it. Offer solutions. Telling people that they should read the finer print and where to find it sounds very arrogant and snobbish. Also telling these pissed co sumers that instead of looking into their problem you are simply going to pass on their "feedback" is again a non starter. This review is simply for you. If you are the best that your company has to offer in terms of expert customer svc then you are simply a mouthpiece. Nothing to do with your website. Only yourself. I care nothing for your response or your phone number as it is referenced only to you

I was contacted by someone saying they got my number off of Care.com. They said they needed me to babysit and run errands. They were relocating. They were Deaf so could only text or email. Then asked for MY bank account information to send me money to help them get stuff together before their arrival. Crazy. When I said I didn't have a bank account I only deal with cash... they asked me to go set one up. Weird accent in the language and way they communicated. I reported but have heard NOTHING from Care.com

Received this email:

Hi, How are you doing? I'm Babra Jennings and my husband's name is Mark, I asked my Employee to help me seek a Babysitter and housekeeper. We are relocating from Australia. I am a research analyst and I recently got a contract with a company on a private research job. However, We need a competent person that will help in running some few errands and babysitting.

Which city and suburbs are you?

We need someone to work 3 days per week 4 hours per day and your responsibilities includes to pick up our baby Mason from daycare. Someone that is mature whether young or older, loves children, reliable and punctual is what we need. You will take care of my 2 year old son for three days a week and will have to take him home, give him a bath, brush his hair, clean his lunch kit/bag, and monitor him with the best care possible. We are willing to provide a metro card to pick him up at daycare.My child is my life so I expect you to give him the best care.
I will be offering you $350 weekly, I will be needing your services for 4 hours at any suitable time of yours between Monday, Wednesday and Friday and if this doesn't fit your schedule please let me know, so I can work with yours. If you believe you are fit for this position in as much you will prove yourself to be a reliable and good person,
I will instruct my financial secretary to pay for the first week before our arrival so as to secure your service in advance.

Please get back to me asap.

I will be waiting to hear from you.

Then received:

Hi, how are you doing? Thanks for your response. Please send me a copy of your resume. I and my family would be moving to Oxley Ct, Newtown Square, and we'd be coming into town less than two weeks from now. Let me know when its most convenient for you to start and also Brian's financial Clerk will make out a check that I will send to you before our arrival.
You will receive the Cashier's check which you will deduct your wages of $350 for the first week and the remaining funds will be used to buy foodstuffs and other things needed in the house. You will be getting the foodstuffs on or before the day of our arrival which is less than two weeks away.
I will also instruct my estate agent to mail the keys of the apartment to you so as to do all other necessary preparations before we arrive.
You have to get all this shopping before our arrival so that we wont have to start running around when we arrive,
So the financial Clerk would be needing the following Information to make out the check payment.

Full Name:
Full address with zip-code & Apt Number:
Age:
Gender:
Phone number:
Acceptance of offer:

I really look forward to you response

BE CAREFUL if you receive a similar offer. This is a scam!

I used care.com When you sign up you have the choice between 1 month, monthly, and 1 year. I chose 1 month. I found 0 qualified nannies. Most were 18 year old neighborhood babysitters and the others were flaky. I also purchased the 1 month background check.

When I decided I wasn't using them anymore I just stopped going on. A month later I noticed I had been billed for two months I didn't use care.com I called and asked for a refund as I hadn't even been on the site and I purchased 1 month ONLY. They told me all account are automatically signed up for auto renew and they will only refund on purchase! I am beyond upset that this is their policy. I would have used them again if we had moved as they are easy to use. But after this never again

Within the first 24 HOURS of being on care.com, someone contacted me regarding a job. The job was 100% fraud- already starting off on a bad foot. The person contacted me saying that they had a son in a wheelchair and needed me to babysit for her because her husband had passed away. They were willing to pay me $18/hour and I should have known that was too good to be true from the beginning. After everything I went through with this person, I considered staying with care.com contingent on how their customer service worked with me on this situation. I e-mailed their customer service right away and have yet to be contacted back with any useful information (it's been over a week). Stay away from care.com!