Care.comReviews 12,031

As of yet... I have not found anyone reliable to watch my children after 3 tries. The first nanny had used my children to meet up with her ex-husband and told me she had driven a car into a school to stop children from selling drugs/told me her grandchildren thought she should be able to take my children whenever she pleased/fed them junk food/drove around in the care to keep them napping when we thought they were at parks/ psychoanalyzed our entire family "with her illustrious Berkley psych background. No overstepping of any boundaries. Second nanny (to replace unstable nanny) quit via text message on a Saturday with full knowledge we would have no one to watch our children and I was working nights... Last nanny quit Friday informing us she was taking a new job for $5K a month and would not be back Monday. What kind of background checks is care.com really doing. This is frustrating and WRONG. And now my children are heartbroken and spent Saturday crying when they found out...

I had a promo code for a month of free premium membership to Care.com which required you give your credit card info in order to use. I tried the site, found all the people that I interviewed totally not qualified, and decided to cancel. The link to "downgrade" your account doesn't work. I tried it on numerous browsers, my phone, my ipad etc. Never works. They clearly don't want to make it easy for you to cancel. I tried calling... just finding a phone number took a 30 min google search. And I was never able to speak to a real person. My frustration level is through the roof. I sent an email and if I don't hear back within 24 hours I am calling the better business bureau and registering complaints EVERYWHERE I can. I sincerely hope this business fails. I also noticed that the Care.com representatives stopped commenting a few months ago. I guess they ran out of excuses.

Care.com is a joke. I have been a nanny for 20yrs. They suddenly kicked me off their site claiming I failed their background check. However I have a 100% clean background! They will not discuss this with me at all. They completely ignore my emails and messages through Facebook. I have even offered them proof of my clean background! Nothing. They are extremely unprofessional!

I have had so many scams from the website. It is unreliable, and I have unfortunately wasted a lot of my time! Care.com should really check out the individuals that post profiles of needing babysitting, housekeeping, tutoring etc. There are a lot of college students that come on here to make some extra money and it ends up being disappointing and a complete waste of time, and when you're in college... You have barely anytime at all to deal with crap like this. Please pay more attention to who is making profiles on here because I have been scammed well over three times from this website. It is absolutely ridiculous.

I too have been taken advantage of with their unethical billing processes. I have been in communication with them via email, since they apparently do not readily display phone numbers (one would think with all of the $ they are scamming out of people they could afford a call center). I have received the same response from two cs reps and they were very blunt about their no refund policies. I did receive a refund for this current billing cycle because it was not yet closed for the month but was told they have a strict policy about any further refunds. I am appalled and disgusted with their business practices and have filed a complaint with the BBB and I urge others to do this as well. At this point I am more worried about them changing their unethical billing going forward than receiving a refund but hope both can be achieved and the more complaints the better!

Care.com edited my profile bio without my consent. They changed it so it included grammatical errors and misinformation. I was not aware until I looked at my public profile. I have no idea how long a grammatically incorrect bio was present next to my name! So unbelievably frustrating! Thanks, Care.com, for making it harder for me to get a job by making me look like an uneducated idiot.

Also, I have had problems getting photos approved by them, even though I followed all of their guidelines. Eventually did get one approved after communicating with the service department extensively.

Care.com is disorganized, unprofessional, the website has continuous technical problems, and communication with the site administrators is limited, confusing & contradictory!

I Signed up, paid 1 year's premium membership, posted a job for a caregiver, began to communicate with interested applicants through the Care.Com site, then suddenly I was notified my membership was terminated & account closed! No explanation, no warning, just bam, terminated with a note that says the site reserves the right to terminate anyone's participation at any time for no reason at all!

If you are a care seeker or caregiver: DO NOT USE THIS SITE! You will regret the time, energy and money you invest into trying to utilize this site.

I signed up for a profile in hopes I would find a job with care.com. When I got to the end it asked me if I want to pay $10 a month for 6 months. I thought what the heck its only $10 so I put my card info at the bottom and selected $10 for 6 months. Then the next screen came up and said thank you for your purchase of $48.00. I got a $12 discount for something not totally sure. I just stared at the page in disbelief. I didn't know I was being charged that much. They didn't plan on telling me that. They just wanted my money. They are a scam. I have been on this site for 3 weeks now and I have applied for about 7 or 10 jobs and have never gotten a response back. This is a scam. I'm a single mom and I can't afford this. I thank goodness got t some of my money back but not all of it. This site is a big scam do not use!

I am a nanny/babysitter with over 20 years experience and cannot get a job through Care.com. I joined Care.com and signed up for free membership. I've been filling out applications for several months now with no responses. My applications have included a lot of details about myself, which certainly should have been an advantage. My credentials are excellent, and I have been at my wits end wondering why there have been no responses. I contacted Care.com for some help and all I get is the same excuses in the form of there standard letters. After researching this company, I have come to the conclusion that they are a scam! My belief is that they offer free membership to suck you in. With this free membership the unsuspecting babysitter submits application after application and gets no response because nobody sees it! Care.com is operating under the hope that the applicant will get so frustrated with getting no response that they will decide to upgrade to a paid membership. There always sending emails to tell you of the advantages of paid membership. This company is strictly out to make a buck off of the unsuspecting public.
EVERYONE, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR. DON'T GET INVOLVED WITH CARE.COM

If you love your children, you will not use care.com I interviewed a nanny and found her to be quite unstable. I notified care.com to warn them and potential future parents, and they sent me a notice telling me I was dropped as a member. They did not try to contact me in anyway. I told them I had texts and proof of her instability. No response. If they truly cared about children, they would listen to parents when they see perhaps a future tragedy.

Think care.com is a reputable company? Think again! Please read and be forewarned.

The Story of S:

S is a former caregiver on #caredotcom. During a babysitting job she had concerns as to the baby's living conditions and physical condition. She was so concerned that she called the police to file a report. They encouraged her to file a CPS report. When the mother failed to give a definite return time and showed up 90 minutes late, S called the police again, fearing a possible case of abandonment. The mother showed up the same time as the police, and showed her outrage by complaining to care.com.

What did care.com do? They deleted S's account with no warning and without getting her side of the story and sent all of her potential clients a vague email insinuating that she had done something bad. A potential client told her that she could not hire her because of that email.

S tried to give her side of the story to care.com, but they refuse to reinstate her account. They obviously care more about money than a child's well being.

My story:

My complaints are much more minor but show the fullness of care.com's failure as a company. I subscribed to be an in home daycare. The rules for posting a picture are strict but I followed them. Several pictures were rejected with a vague form email before I finally asked for a specific reason why they were being rejected. Again I received a vague form letter. I still have no idea why I could not post certain pictures. I have had no business traffic in the couple weeks I've been subscribed, despite actively seeking out clients. I cancelled my subscription.

I ask that you boycott this deplorable company.

I have never had a problem with the billing as I have only ever joined for a month at a time, however I have had other user problems, so bad that they issued me a refund recently.
The good thing about Care.com is their great marketing so they seem to have a very good membership of babysitters (which is what I generally look for).
Unfortunately their website functionality isn't up to the same standard. Their user interface is so bad, it repopulates the job postings with data you did not put it (for instance it changes zip codes, whether the job is regular vs one-off etc). I have joined, left, rejoined, left again over the course of 2 years and in all that time it has never improved. It is ridiculous that the site is so dysfunctional. Recently they removed pay rates of under $10 usd an hour, rather sad as it removes any opportunity for inexperienced people to get their first babysitting jobs (for instance mother's helper type positions, usually for people under 18). I am looking elsewhere to hire babysitters now.

This site is the worst. If you don't pay them they don't help with contacting sitters or families. I've sent out many requests for jobs and not one response is it me or them. The one or two that did respond we frauds and I requested to have them remove. This site is scam they just want you to pay them... well how about find me a job and I'll pay.

Don't use this service. They will bill you for monthly even if you don't sign up, then refuse to refund. It is almost impossible to speak to or even email a real person on their site. Terrible customer service and then, to top it off, it's even very difficult to discontinue with them.

I had the need for a petsitter. I posted it on this site, and someone responded. We had a nice ongoing email and phone conversations and I will use her. My complaint is not about her. My complaint is with Care.com.

I noticed that if I were a premium member, then I could get background checks. While I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself, since I"m busy I thought I'd just get it through the site and joined as premium member. I immediately looked at the site and found that the 'background' check wasn't available and that any background check would require an additional $79 +++. I realized I'd been 'had' by the site and their lame 'benefits'. Within 10 minutes of my buying the premium membership, I emailed telling them to void the charge and explaining why. They didn't have a phone number listed.

I received a canned message that essentially said "We'll get around to it shortly". 12 hours later I get another canned response, stating that I'd used the site and that there would be no refund. Well, DUH, I had to use the site to try to find out about them and to find that what they offered wasn't' really there. Then they said that I'd communicated with the woman who is doing the pet sitting. Well, again, DUH, I communicated with her PRIOR to this membership scam of theirs.

One of their canned emails said they could give 'no further' refunds, when in fact, they have given NO refund. It also stated I'd contacted several of their providers, which is not true.

I've disputed with AMX, took screen shots of their site, and have the emails they sent. I know there will be no problem, but these people are truly nuts.

I feel they're scamming their providers as well as the end users of their services. What is most amazing is that these crooks post syrupy responses here and elsewhere, but do you ever see them offering to make it right? Do you ever hear of a refund for their unsavory practices. Nope! As another poster stated, in the search engine window, type care.com fraud. Lots to see!

Never buy their 'services' since you get nothing extra except a massive headache.

This site is ridiculous! I needed to find someone to watch over my infant son. I hired a babysitter and unfortunately had to end the employment 2 months as my sitter claimed my 7 month old was being abused because he wasn't getting enough formula. (My baby is a healthy boy in the 75% tile for height and weight by the way and she is NOT a licensed medical expert who can make that decision). The very next day, My account was terminated by Care.com and the site would not tell my why. When I emailed customer service they stated they still could not tell me why my account was terminated. Now, I need to find another care giver and cannot use this site. Could it be this one person (my ex-sitter) complained about me and Care.com removed my account because of her? Coincidence? I think not. How can one person determine the fate of another on such a large site without legitimate facts? Care.com is the most useless tool if they let one person control their memberships.

I just had someone text me on the 17th of Aug. Regarding a childcare position the person offered me 20.00 an hr to care for her 2 boys 5 & 1 she wants my full address so she can mail me a check for 2775 she wants me to keep 400.00 as my 1st week pay I figured it's all a scam because how are you going to just mail me a check in that amount without even knowing me so I read other reviews & it seems this has happened to other people so I'm going to contact the B. B. B on care.com

I was notified just like Stephanie's daughter that I was hired without even interviewing and the person wanted to send me a check for a wheelchair plus my first week's salary. I was to deposit the check before our first meeting and the motorized wheelchair would be delivered to my house at which time I would pay the company, then bring the wheelchair to our meeting. This was supposed to be a motorized wheelchair! Unless you have a lift or special vehicle, this is impossible. I have told this person I have secured other employment and I have deleted my account with Care.com

I see so many other unsuspecting parents reporting on the SAME issue - Care.com continues to charge your account a monthly fee - without making it clear to the registrant. It's just unethical.
Why would so many people be shocked to see this charge if it is clearly stated for a user to understand? They do this because no one would pay the premium membership knowing that they need to set a reminder for THEMSELVES to circle back and cancel a membership.
Make sense of this for me: Why would I pay the largest monthly amount ($39) for a 1-month membership and pay it for an indefinite amount of time? The 2- and 3-month options are much cheaper. So, CC just basically coerced me into paying double what the 3-month cost is, and continued to charge me for 3-months. Thats literally robbery.
Is anyone else having trouble finding a PHONE number to call for these scammers? How about a "contact us" link like every other website has? It just speaks to the type of business they are running. They put the important details in small print, and then they make themselves unreachable.
Here's what I'm going to do:
1) Take this to the Better Business Bureau - if they won't make their terms clear, then I'll be the squeaky wheel to make sure people know. Maybe the regulators should mandate clear and concise terms to this site - as they've done with the banks.
2) Cancel my membership. Funny thing you must choose a reason for cancelling. They literally have an option in there I didnt know my membership would be continually renewed. Im in awe of this its clearly a consumer issue but theyre OK because they are getting paid.
3) Call my credit card company and they will honor their service terms, and write off these costs for me. I sincerely hope that they reach out to CC for restitution for their losses.
It goes without saying - I'll never use CC again and I'll MAKE SURE my friends know the same.