AuPairCare review: Horrendous Business Practices 25

We had a near-identical experience with a different agency. We told them 7 days after she arrived that she was a fraud. They forced us to keep her for 60 days until we finally threw her out when they were doing nothing to remove her. They then promised us a replacement au pair and two weeks before she was scheduled to arrive, pulled the plug due to our "dissatisfaction" with their agency. We are left with no child care in place, two kids, and a baby on the way in February. Planning a suit for unfair business practices. Anyone else gone this route?

Please read: Don't make the same mistake we made.

We have had three aupairs with AuPairCare. The first from Brazil only lasted four months and quit because she demanded her own car. She later rematched with two families, overstayed her visa and found an American to marry so she could stay in the U.S.

The second aupair from South America was great. I wish we could have kept her but she had already been in the U.S. for one year.

The third aupair lasted less than a month, yes, less than 30 days!

We lost over $4300, half our total investment and Aupaircare refuses to refund us any additional funds. Please do not go with Aupair Care...Don't waste your money. Please read the reviews. I would recommend CulturalCare because the aupairs seem to get better screening and they are happier.

AuPairCare failed to adequately prepare our last aupair for her duties. It is our belief the pre-screening was insufficient and the aupair's background regarding child care experience was not fully explored by overseas partners employed by AuPairCare.

The aupair gave us 2 days notice of her departure which left our family with significant financial loss and strain. We were forced to put our child in daycare because they were able to provide care immediately. Although AuPairCare had a rematch policy, we believed it is unhealthy for our toddler to be exposed to a third aupair within 30 days.

We requested AuPairCare reconsider a more just reimbursement for the untimely departure of the aupair. They refused! Again, $4300 for 30 days of care!

AuPairCare should establish a new protocol where the aupair is penalized for failing to provide two weeks notice prior to departure and/or failing to stay less than 30 days with a matched family. This should also include adjusted reimbursement to the host family who is out approximately 50% of the original cost.

The area director called and called us over and over for months pushing us to move forward with the program. When the time came for us to make a decision, she had definitely SOLD US so well that we chose to go with APC. I'm not even going to go into the major details including our crazy AP soliciting herself on Craigslist for "personal jobs", leaving our children unattended, not knowing how to drive, but listed as a "driver", going out until 4am every night, driving with my kids in the car down a one way on several occasions and had to find out through my 5 year old. The list goes on and on and on...That well natured and energetic area director all of a sudden wasn't so caring anymore and apparently or au pair was going behind out back saying she was overworked and exhausted. We have 3 kids, 2 in school all day until 3 so she watches one child who naps 2 hours, so she technically works 6 hours a day, does not work weekends, and we let her off early on Fridays. Tough Life. She is now being RECYCLED to yet another poor, naive family member. These programs need to be immediately banned before a child gets hurt.

This has been our experience exactly. We were with another agency which was much more professional and had much better au pairs to offer and supported us as a family. This agency is about making a quick buck. Our area coordinator nice when she wants something but rude every other time. Our au pairs have been sub par to the first one which lasted 6 weeks was out right dangerous. Our current one complained about being overworked as well when she was not worked any extra. I am sick over the wasted money and effort. It is not you get what you put in. We still have great relationships with our au pairs from the other agency. This place is terrible. I would never ever recommend them.

So sorry, I had a very similar experience.

Totally agree! I have been with Au Pair care for some time now. There has been issue after issue with the couple of Au Pairs that I have had. They have all put my kids in harms way, from no helmets on bikes, taking naps and forgetting to pick up the kids, leaving them outside on the main road while they are inside eating their lunch or chatting with their friends. Then there is the not getting up for work, no control over the children, letting them sit in front of the TV or video games on 70 degree day, the children missing the school bus several times a week, not doing what is clearly written down on the sheets given on day one need I say more.
I have welcomed my Au Pairs into our family, treated them as family, I cook nightly, clean the house, leaving just the kids rooms for the Au Pair, to which i do not think is unfair.
Au Pair Care on the other hand, thinks the families should be honored to pay them $7500.00 to host the Au Pair. My family has been treated, quite honestly like crap. We were told to reapply or leave the program. I did not want to go through all of that again, they have now decided to retaliate, stripping me of every penny they can take. I paid for 12mths, had an Au Pair for four, they took over $1400.00, citing "Did you read the host family agreement"
AU PAIR CARE IS A FRAUD AND DYFS ALONG WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE NEED TO STEP IN.
PS All of my Au Pairs were re-matched with other unsuspecting families. I asked to see what was on their profiles as in comments and we are not allowed to see it, they block that Au Pair from the previous family SHADY. Its going to take a child to die, before anything is done. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER AU PAIR CARE!

I have been with AuPairCare for over two years and have had nothing but a nightmare experience. The Au Pairs are told first and formost, this is a cultural exchange. When they get here and they realize they actually have to work all hell breaks out.
My children have been left alone, forgotten to be picked up and much more.
I was instructed to write everything down prior to the girls arrival, to which I did.
Still week after week the few things were not done.
The small amount of training they are given in the first few days after arrival is, fast and most of the girls dont understand what is being said. One of the days is a trip to NYC, seriously? They are not rechecked for CPR, they are not taught about dangerous animals or plants. They are not taught about local US laws pertaining to the state they are going too. This is very important. My state requires helmets on children under the age of 16. I wrote this down and I arrive home and they kids are riding their bikes in the middle of a busy road with no helmets and she is inside eating her lunch.
Overall AuPairCare is money hungry and once they get their loot, they dont give a crap.
When you are having a problem, they make it all your fault and heaven forbid you ask for a refund, they will give you half of your money back and say good-bye. NEVER EVER USE AU PAIR CARE!

Terrible customer service. I agree they are greedy and disingenous. When you cancel and decide not to rematch they make a killing when the au pair rematches! Yet they give a stiff penalty for leaving them. I know most au pair companies do the same thing, but I will never use this company again and will recomend that none of my firends ever use them. Their director of client services was not helpful and my area coordinator was very cold. I should have known when I first met her to go with the agency ...

Yesterday I posted a polite but critical commend on Facebook (which they deleted) because of their gross overcharging for airfare ($112 on expedite $460 through Aupair Care). In response they tried to cancel my aupair 7 days before arrival in the US as a scare and pressure tactic. And not without trying to nickel and dime me again. I’ve already filed with the Department of State and may need to also file a predatory business practice complaint with the FTC. LOOK ELSEWHERE.

Avoid AuPair Care at all costs. Very greedy and disingenuous.

I have used Au Pair Care agency and my experience was horrible. I hired the first Au pair who felt depressed and left me after three months. There was no night life in Pittsburgh. I was without help for three weeks because the agency could not give me somebody else before. The second Au pair left for Brazil and did not even give me two weeks notice. She left and she was gone. Again the agency did not help me. And I had no help for three weeks. Now they do not want to give me a full refund. They kept almost $1, 000 as a credit. Can u believe that? A credit toward my next Au pair. The problem is that I'm done with immature Au pairs that cannot take care of their responsibilities and an agency that does not help. I'm a military spouse with my husband deployed. And I work full time. I have four kids. Can u think about the problems this agency created for me and my kids? And believe that this agency is advertised on military.com. I cannot believe that. Shouldn't they help military families instead of making their lives harder? That is alll I have to say.

Au Pair Care is like any other business purely driven by profit. To say it’s simply a “personality” mismatch is just another excuse for them to be able to recycle the bad gene pool hoping the new hosts can adjust to them better. Two nights ago we almost called cops on our 26 yr old Thai Au Pair JINATA KITTIPONGPITTAYA (aka Bow) who had only been with us for 2 months through AuPairCare.com. She’s stolen more than once from us, even caught stealing on her way out. Apparently we caught her trying to sexually seduce our 15 yr old son. She turned PSYCHO when we told her we wanted to rematch. We realized too late how many au pairs are like her who can be extremely manipulative, using Au Pair service and host family as stepping stone to stay in this country. Many times I overheard Bow talking to her Asian au pair friends about plans to extend stays illegally in this country without having to work for a host family. I can't hold AuPairCare fully responsible for Bow coming into our family, even though they could definitely do a better job screening to get to know their applicants. In my situation it was the same thing that my area director never spoke or meet her until a few days after she came to our home. What is astonishing to me is that even when I made all the facts clear to the company, their reaction to the issue was very indifferent. The regional director told me that they were not required by law to disclose all information to new host families of transitional au pairs. When asked if she would still consider to put Bow up for rematch under all these circumstances, she said that's something she could not decide. So I guess the question is then, when will there be a bottom line by which these companies can realize that money should never be a good enough motive when it comes to our children? Do we really have to wait for another Columbine or Sandy Hook to wake up and realize the damages already done to our kids?

We matched with an Au {air from Germany after skyping with her several times. She seemed very excited to come here and she was very attentive to the kids when we were on skype. We told her when we matched that we were going on vacation on August 6th and that we would like her to come the following week (the 18th) but that if she wanted to come on the 4th that we would wait to leave on our trip and she could go with us. She said she really wanted to come on the 4th because there was another girl from Germany coming that day and they could travel together. After she got her arrival date we only talked to her twice because she said she was so busy. When she got to New York we texted her to welcome her and see if she needed anything. We heard nothing from her until two days later in the evening she texted a picture of her plane ticket arrival time. I texted back to say we would be there to pick her up. When we picked her up at the airport my 7 year old son carried her luggage and my 9 year old daughter carried something for her too. We went to the car and drove the 50 minutes to our house in the country, which we had showed her on skype and still pictures. When we got into the house she dropped the welcome posters my children had made for her on the floor. She asked to do her laundry so I showed her the laundry and how to start it. She had no idea how to do laundry. We went to the kitchen to eat the pizza we had picked up on the way home as she hadn’t gotten in until 7 PM. She asked me to turn on the WiFi. We tried to talk to her but she was constantly texting so my kids finished eating and they went to watch a movie to settle down before bed. The Au Pair remained in the kitchen texting on her phone. I asked her to join us I asked her if I could do anything I asked her if she needed a hug, I gave her a hug and told her it was OK to be homesick. She looked at me and said “We must talk. Your house is too dirty for me I cannot stay here.” I asked her what was too dirty, what needed to be cleaned and she could not point anything out. I will admit that towards the end of the week my house is cluttered. We are gone to work and the kids make messes that I cannot clean up until the weekend. But it’s not dirty. There are no dirty dishes around, the floor is swept, the counters are cleaned. There are toys and books and games out around the living areas and baskets of laundry to fold in the living room where I fold it while I finally get to sit down at the end of the day. I called the au pair director and left a message that the au pair said she could not stay at my house and that we needed a solution because we were supposed to leave on vacation the next morning. I called my husband who was out of town for work and he talked to the girl and explained to her how many hours I work and that I get no help and that is why we got an au pair. So we would have somebody to watch the kids and help them pick up so I could have a better chance at having a clean house. She said she would be our au pair and help me with the kids.
We went on vacation the next morning and we took her with us. We drove from Iowa to Spokane Washington. We discussed the details of this trip with her in great detail before she arrived. She told us she was excited and she wanted to go. We also explained to her that because we would have to wait for her to get here to leave that we would have to change our reservation and we would not have first choice on a vacation unit. When we got to the vacation place we got stuck with a studio unit. Our kids had to sleep on the floor and she had to sleep on the couch. We explained to her that this was not our choice but because we changed our reservation for her this is what we got. She said all is OK no problems, she often shares with her mom or sister a bed on vacation. On vacation we had plans to go horseback riding. She said no she didn’t want to because she doesn’t like horses. Funny that never came up when we told her we have horses behind our house (and showed them to her on Skype) and that we were going to go horseback riding on vacation. We cancelled the reservation and went to the pool instead. The entire time we were on vacation she was connected to the WiFi and refused to disconnect so anybody else could use it. The next day the phone calls started from the agency. After four days of phone calls we told the agency and the au pair that the only option was to send her back to Iowa on a bus because she didn’t bring her ID. At that point she quit complaining about vacation. She has constantly complained about vacation since we got home and said she didn’t talk to us because she was uncomfortable because she had no privacy. We have told her we understand that but she needs to realize that we had no privacy because she chose to come and go on vacation. We have also tried to explain to her that nobody else had any privacy either. The only time she spoke to us on vacation was when she wanted to talk about getting a new family or when we would let her drive the car to go meet friends. She told our son she did not like him that he was too grumpy. She said he was too active. She texted home to her mother who made a complaint to the agency in Germany and said our son had a disorder and we didn’t disclose it. A complete lie. We told her on skype that we planned to go to Glacier National Park and camp 1 night. She told us she loves camping and that she often goes camping with friends. When we went to Glacier we offered to buy a separate tent for her and she said no it would be fine. Then when it came time to camp she slept in the car and complained about it.
She has been here 1 month and has provided a total of 3 hours of child care. And on one of those hours she refused to make lunch for my daughter who had to then make her own lunch because the au pair was too busy on the texting. In three days of a billing cycle she used 3.5 GB of our 10 GB data limit. I told her I would have to turn off the WiFi because we can’t go over the limit. She texted the agency and told them I was refusing to let her contact anybody. She left out the part about her being told that she had to share the data with the family. 9ooo
We bought a car for her to drive and told her that she was required by law to get a state license. For five days in a row she started conversations saying that she talked to other au pairs and it is OK to drive with just the international driver’s license. I finally told her that I was not going to spend money on insurance for her to drive my car because she had no intention of staying in our family. At this point she went to her room and refused to come out.
The Au Pair coordinator came the next night and talked to her and told her she needed to make up her mind. We provided her with our common household cell phone so she could make phone calls. In the first day we received three emails stating that account changes were being attempted. Then I discovered that somebody was trying access my google playstore account. We have received no help in finding a new au pair to fill our child care needs and this au pair has already received assistance from the agency to find a rematch.
After she decided she did not want to stay and it was made official the coordinator told her she needed to help out around the house because she is staying for free. She did nothing. She was told that she could help by doing two loads of laundry. She then washed her own laundry and left the two loads of laundry on the floor. When I confronted her about helping around the house she told me “I don’t work for you and you don’t pay me.” I then reminded her that she was told to help out because she was living at our house for free. She then told me that she doesn’t know how to do any chores.
Tonight she has told me that she has a rematch and she needs to go to the airport on September 3 to go to a family in Washington DC. I asked her about the rematch and I asked her if she knew when she came to our house that she would go to another family. She said that yes, she knew before she came here that every 3 au pairs makes a rematch so she knew she would just get another family before she even came to our house. Good luck to the family in Washington DC. This is the most selfish person I have ever met.

http://www.race-talk.org/the-au-pair-company-doesnt-care/

I have been using Aupaircare for over 5 years. I have hosted 5 aupairs, and not without some ups and downs. My first aupair stayed for 2 years, my second aupair left after 8 months because we had a baby and she didn't have infant care. My third aupair fell into my lap from a rematch that my LCC recommended to me and she was BY FAR the best aupair we have had so far. My fourth aupair was with me for 2 weeks when she told me that "this situation was not for her" We have 3 boys (twin 4y/o's and a 1 y/o) It was not what she expected, I don't know what she expected because I was VERY VERY clear about how my boys have A LOT of energy and I needed an aupair with LOTS of energy. I was without childcare for over 2 months and Aupaircare's response to me was that they were extremely sorry but it is not their responsibility for the lapse in childcare. I was a little peaved to say the least. I finally got another aupair who unfortunately had a death in her family 5 months into her program and opted to go home, once again leaving me without childcare for over a month. I still have "faith" that my new aupair (who arrived 3 days ago) will be the new best aupair that I ever had. We enjoy hosting the aupairs and I TOTALLY put the interview process on the HF. I interview girls for at least 2 weeks and I make sure they TOTALLY understand that my PRIORITY is my children and that they understand what their responsibilities will be. I make sure I skype with them at least 3 times and we instant messanger too, just so I can make sure their English is up to par for me. I think many of the problems other people have is that they leave too much up to the aupair company instead of being their own investigator when interviewing a prospective aupair. I have tried 1 other aupair company when looking this last time for an aupair but I was not impressed with the process or my "matching expert". So until I can retire, an aupair and Aupaircare is the best solution for me. I still keep in touch with all my old aupairs...including the one who left me after 2 weeks, sweet girl but better suited for the family with 1 child she was rematched with.

Hi Carol,
I actually didn't have any luck disputing the charges through the credit card company. I ended up having to deal with the Au Pair company itself, and they did work something out that was mostly fair. Good luck !

Faith

We had a horrible experience with Au Pair care. We matched with a girl who was listed as a driver. When she got here she could not back out of my driveway. We asked to re-match after 3 days and then tried for weeks to find a decent person. After 10 or more failed attempts we asked for a refund not knowing that in the fine print - and NOT clearly communicated before we matched, that 3 day debacle and months of childcare gaps and transition, Au pair care thinks we owe them over $2000. Affordable, dependable childcare it is not.

Nannies have private life and party at night. With an au pair you at least have a better control and understanding of their life and if you value the cultural exchange part it makes a perfect combination for the family. Every family has to be very diligent when interviewing au pairs and don't just rely on your agency, it is your job to know who you are hiring, and also shop around for the right agency and compare their local representatives, coordiantors and see who you like the best.

I disagree with you because I'm an au pair myself, and i can honestly say that you make the terrible mistake of generalizing. It's not because you had a bad experience with an au pair, that all au pairs are immature, unexperiencend and lazy. We are actually not told that it is just a cultural exchange, the focus is really on the childcare part. Also all of my references were checked by my local office, to see if i actually had all those hours of experience.
And i strongly agree with the comment before this one, that it is your responsibility to find a match that fits with the needs of your family.
A lot also depends on the communication before and after the arrival of the au pair. You may not forget that in the beginning everything is new for us and we don't always know the cultural differences.
It's also a good idea to make a handbook for your au pair with your expectations and her duties, so that she exactly knows what to do.

I absolutely disagree. We have had AuPairs for 3 years. It is not that you get what you pay for, but that you receive back the effort that you put into it. It sounds as if you needed to do better due diligence and matching, better communication around expectations, and better partnership with the area director. Sorry, but these responsibilities fall on YOU!

We received an au pair from aupaircare and she stayed with us for 3 weeks. On the first day it was clear she had absolutely no childcare experience and was only interested in partying. I have a 3 year old and twin 4 month olds. She refused to interact with the 3 year old and would care for the babies when she wasn’t on facebook or chat sites. But she spent 8 out of 9 hours chatting with new friends. She had no interest in our children and only cared about running around in our new car and sneaking into bars and meeting boys. Plus these girls all go out and compare stories about all their awful host families who make them “work to way too long”
Our local coordinator said they were going to re-evaluate her before matching her again. They re-matched her in one day to a MD in Philadelphia so clearly put no thought into her qualifications. I feel so sorry for this family and hope they quickly realize what a disaster they have inherited. We all work very hard and join this program to find help. What we are getting is immature girls who are only interested in partying and cause more stress to our families then help. I gladly kissed away the lost money and would never trust another girl from aupaircare to watch my babies. It is very sad because the concept of a au pair is good, but the agency clearly does no screening whatsoever. All it takes is a few minutes with a child to see if someone is good with children or not.

I hope things are OK for the poor family from center city who re-matched with that awful aupair. I read her facebook page and she is already complaining about them expecting her to work too much and can’t wait to go hit all the bars (and she is 19).

For anyone thinking about this program...invest in real childcare, it will cost a few hundred more each month but worth every cent.

I am also not a fan of Au Pair Care and have switched to another au pair agency. The refund policy of this agency is terrible and absolutely not communicated up front. So I feel your pain on your "lack" of a refund! The agency I am with now has a clear refund policy (which I read carefully) which I understand.We split with our au pair for personality conflicts and just could not continue with the company. . .that's when we got shafted!

My other big complaint with AP Care was my local "rep" . . . she has a very large group covering lots of geographical area. She didn't even know my au pair's name. We needed help at one point and our calls were not returned by the coordinator (I think she has too many families. .. ) Maybe we could have saved the situation with my au pair if the local person was more involved? Well, after losing so much money, I am not giving this agency a second chance.

The agency I am with now has much better coverage of the towns in my area. The woman who is my LC is caring, knows the au pairs and checks up on us regularly. AP Care is a whole lot of money for very little customer service.