Care.com
reviews and complaints

I registered for care.com 2 years ago. I never used their services as we found a nanny ourselves. I just found out that they have been billing my cc for $39 each month for that period with no monthly confirmation, email or otherwise. I understand their terms are covering the hides on this one but how many companies do not inform you that you have been billed and/or your bill has been settled each month. This is a highly scrupulous and dishonest approach to billing people who may be unaware or in my case forget I had an open subscription, in my lowly consumer opinion. If I had the time to think about this stuff I wouldn't need a nanny. The fact that it took me year to see it blended in with all the other items on my bill is on me but, care.com, you have some seriously misleading billing practices in place. Reading the terms and conditions does not cover you ethically - you know full well that no one reads the terms and conditions, which is why better practices exist to avoid this from happening - use them. If you store my email on my profile, why would you not send me a monthly billing statement? Or is that an option in the terms and conditions as well?

I have recently submitted a profile on Care.com. Last week I received (2) texts from different phone numbers stating they had an elderly family member that needed care, saw my profile on care.com, and wanted me to email my resume. I was skeptical so I researched online and found out that these were both scams (2 of many apparently). I emailed care.com with my complaint and received a reply forwarding me to a safety tip section on their website. It's not my problem, it's theirs! They are obviously aware of the problem from the many complaints but refuse to accept any responsibility. Besides the fact that people can hack into their database and retrieve confidential information, I am also worried about how many scammers have my information for future use and what they can use it for. Of course, I canceled my account immediately. I'm furious!
1) Jan 26, 2016 Phone# [protected] from "Ellen" requesting care for 81-year-old mother. Email resume to [protected]@gmail.com
2) Jan 27, 2016 Phone# [protected] from "Therese" requesting care for 76-year-old mother. Email resume to [protected]@gmail.com

I received an email on [protected] from care.com member services that my account was terminated. I thought it was a mistake or spam, so I called the phone number that I found online. The representative confirmed that my account was terminated and that they are "under no obligation to inform me of a reason for termination." When I requested to speak with a manager, they simply told me to respond to the email that they had sent with my request. Based on the number of similar complaints I have just read online about care.com member services, I am not hopeful that I will receive any further assistance or resolution from the company. I have also seen that care.com responds to most complaints with the same response; that they can terminate any member with or without reason at any time. I understand that their terms of service outlines that they do not have to provide a reason for terminating an account, however, that doesn't make the policy fair or reasonable. On the contrary, removing a long-time member in good-standing without any reason (and without any explanation) feels discriminatory and unjust. At the very least, a member who requests a valid reason for termination of an account should be contacted by a supervisor and given a reason. I am also concerned that someone may have been using my account illegally or that there was spam through my account or something of that nature, which I am not able to view since my account has been closed and I no longer can view anything online. Furthermore, the email states that all care.com members with whom I have ever made contact may be contacted by care.com to be informed that my account was terminated. This would (rightly) cause any member that has worked with me to have a negative impression and not wish to work with my family on any future occasions. That isn’t something that should be done without valid reason because it could harm my chances to work with good caregivers that my family has gotten to know and trust.
I have had my account with care.com for the past 2 years. I have always made payments on time, have followed all care.com rules and guidelines, I have never done anything inappropriate, illegal or unethical in any way. I have successfully hired multiple caregivers through the site. I am a teacher so I know that I have a perfect background check (I don't even have a traffic ticket) so that couldn't possibly be an issue. I am very disappointed about this situation and the fact that I now see how many other members have had similar negative experiences with this company. I have also submitted a complaint to the BBB because I strongly feel that care.com does not properly resolve or respond to complaints or concerns by paying members. Thank you.

The charged me every month for a subscription service unbeknown to me. I thought I was signing up for a 30 day trial subscription. It has been occurring for 16 months! Over $600 in charges when I never used the site. Unethical and fraudulent! Taking advantage of busy mothers.

Truly unbelievable...I canceled once and it didn't take. I canceled again and they stated they had no record of my original cancellation. So I canceled twice. Now, I just received my credit card statement and lo and behold, they have charged me yet again. What a nightmare! This is a truly heartless organization. Incredibly unethical.

They charged me on 17 NOV 2015 £29.00 for the one month service, where I listed one advert. I did not know they would continue charge me and today I discovered that they charge me every months since, They charged me on 17 Dec 2015, 17 Jan 2016 and they are going to charge me February as well. I left them message that I want to stop charging my credit card immediately and refund me the 2 months total 2x29.00 is £58.00. I am shocked and I called them, nobody there. I do not know what to do. Best wishes Alexandra King 2 Holly Grove Verwood, dorset, UK [protected] [protected]@btinternet.com

After being a member for a year, I tried to upgrade my acc. And they terminated my whole account.. They said that they didn't have to give me a reason and they could delete me for whatever reason or for no reason! To me, that is a horrible way to treat good honest people! I give care.com a 0.. Terrible site!

I was given NO reason for my removal from the site. I was contacted via email fro someone named Jennifer who told me that Care .com has a poleicy in force that allows them to eliminate any person from their site without any notice or reason for that matter . I had complained about the scamsters that had contacted me through my cellphone, I was told that they took care of that problem and I should not display my phone 3 on my profile. I hid my phone number and for about 2 weeks there were no more scams . As for the last 2-3 weeks I was getting them again. I am disabled partially and have stage 4 C/R Cancer in remission, but never the less its stage 4 Cancer I am limited as to how much I can do . This removal has caused me a lot of stress since I have to work, I am all alone and have no choice in the matter with no family close by .I understand that they have a certain responsibility to their Clients, BUT WHAT ABOUT THEIR PEOPLE WHO DEPEND ON THEM FOR EARNING A LIVING? AS I DO . It seems to me that this particular entity does not care about us at all and thinks all we need to do is pay them . I was contacted By a person for a job on12/15 but I did not see it as I had computer problems . I lost a job because of CARE.COM, how very UNPROFESSIONAL of this COMPANY, they should change the name to CARELESS .COM that suits their attitude much better .

I paid for care.com After several months I downgraded through their website ( or thought I did). I downgraded to basic. Their IT Dept has serious issues as the site led me to believe I had in fact downgraded. When I called customer service through e mail ( no phone number available), I was refunded month ( after cancelling 5 months previously. The rep. informed me that it was MY responsibility to confirm cancellation went through by contacting them for a confirmation number. Their website didn't register my downgrade and they told me it was my irresponsiblity that I did not receive a cancellation number. I asked to speak to billing dept and was informed that " they don't have a phone number". I asked for a supervisor but was informed this was not possible but that a supervisor would call me at my home within 2 hours. 72 hours later I received an e mail letting me know about policy # whatever and that 1 month ( actually charge for the next billing cycle, so not really a refund). Faulty website and IT service, poor customer service, no supervisor to actually speak with and get this... billing department does not have phone access. Do NOT subscribe to this service unless you are an attorney. I am a physician and am absolutely certain that I downgraded. Unless you are an attorney and can take further action when they hide behind " sorry we don't have record of your downgrade ", don't subscribe because you have no recourse.

I purchased a ONE-month membership on February 28th, 2015 from Care.com for $25.35. After one month of using the Care.com services, I was billed for the automatic premium monthly membership without my knowledge. The automatic charge at the premium level in the amount of $39.00 has been charged for seven additional months to my Visa credit card for a total of $273.00. I never received any monthly receipts or payment notifications of these charges and have not used the services of Care.com during the last eight months. I am requesting a refund of $273.00. The Care.com website is misleading in the options of payment. If a customer is going to be billed a monthly subscription, this information should be very straight forward and possibly in bold. In addition, I have received over 200 advertising emails from Care.com since my first month as a member back in February - not a single email notified me that my credit card was being billed nor was there an email thanking me for my ongoing support/payments. The lack of communication about payments misleads customers who are unaware that the 1- month membership that he/she signed up for is indeed an ongoing subscription. If Care.com emails customers when the credit card on account fails to go through, then Care.com should also be emailing the same customers a thank you for their ongoing subscription payments. In addition, I contacted Care.com by phone on 11/2/2015 and was on hold for 42 minutes before requesting a call back for the following day between the hours of 4:00-5:00 PM eastern time. I never received a call back from Care.com on 11/3/2015 at any time during the day. I called Care.com again on 11/4/2015 at 10:59 AM eastern time and waited for 25 minutes on hold before Jill (she refused to give me her last name) in the call center was able to speak to me. Jill forwarded my request and complaint onto her supervising team. I was told by Jill that a supervisor would return my call 11/4/2015 by 6:00 PM eastern time; I never received a call back from anyone at Care.com on 11/4/2015 to address my concerns. As a final attempt, I emailed the care team at Care.com on 11/5/2015 and finally received an email back from Ervin later that day letting me know that I was not eligible for a refund. WHAT A SCAM!

After moving to a new city, I signed up for care.com's "1 month membership." I found a sitter and never logged in again, never thinking that my membership would extend past one month. Over six months later, I realized I was continuing to be charged. I should have been more aware of my account activities, but shame on care.com for blatantly trying to deceive consumers! After trying to reach one single human to discuss this with at Care.com, I disputed the charges. I knew they would at least be able to see the account hasn't been accessed in over 5 months. Care.com didn't budge and is taking my money, sighting that in their tiny print it says is somewhere on their website. In a time with outstanding customer service offered by most companies, I truly can't believe care.com still exists! I will not be recommending them to anyone and will warn everyone I know to stay away! If care.com was an honest company, they would CLEARLY write the account will be auto renewed instead of offering one/three/six months memberships! That is just ridiculous. Well I guess they won again in taking someone's money who didn't use or want their service. Hopefully, others won't make the same mistake.

Long-time care.com member, blue-chip employer of caregivers for a senior. A serious felon passed their background check for in-home care - carjacking, armed robbery, just released from 3 years in prison. If that wasn't enough, two years later after a good relationship with care.com in the interim, they suddenly terminated our membership for no reason. They won't discuss it or reveal their reasons for terminating. There is no reason - we haven't done anything wrong, have paid our bill regularly, etc. Didn't even criticize them about the felon - just changed our method of doing background checks. Trying to get to the bottom of this, I guessed that a caregiver we'd recently employed had retaliated against our family by making false claims leading care.com to terminate our account. With this hypothesis, I provided care.com with a statement about our experience with this former caregiver, indicated that I thought we were being retaliated against, and asked for our account to be reinstated. I was apparently right about why our account was terminated, because I got an immediate email from care.com stating that the former caregiver's account at care.com had been terminated. I had not asked for this action or any action against this former caregiver. In trying to determine who was retaliating against us, I also provided care.com with other names of caregivers who could be retaliating. I was immediately notified by care.com that one of these people's accounts on care.com had been terminated. I had also not asked for this or any action against the former caregiver. It appears that any unverified complaint, or any negative mention at all, about either a service consumer or service provider on care.com, results in the target of the negative information having their care.com account terminated. The negative information cannot have been verified, and the targets cannot have been allowed to present their side of the story, because the termination of accounts by care.com happens immediately following a complaint or negative input. This appears to be a care.com corporate policy, perhaps to weed out troublesome members, going seriously wrong. There is no verification or dispute resolution process, simply immediate termination of membership by the company if there is any negative feedback. This will present care.com with some serious problems, not only with customer relations, but they are opening themselves up to possible discrimination actions since there seems to be no legitimate basis for their termination of members' accounts. The complaints being made could accuse other members of anything at all - being tall, being disabled, being elderly, being gay - and care.com can be making its termination decisions on that basis. This policy can also prevent taking legitimate actions against individuals, such as the felon who lied on her job application, for fear that such people could retaliate by contacting care.com and saying whatever they like, whether truthful or not, and have one's care.com account terminated by the company on that basis. Our care.com account has not been reinstated, despite my repeated requests to the company to do so. We have done nothing at all wrong, and have been a premium member of care.com in good standing for several years.

Over this past summer I purchased a one month membership to find a nanny. I noticed that Care.com kept charging my credit card even after the expiration of my membership. I called and they told me that per the tiny scrip at the end of the web page, they automatically renew the memberships and continue to charge your credit card until such time as you pick up the phone and formally terminate the membership. I asked them what was the point of buying either a one month, 3 months or 12 months membership if they were going to automatically renew the membership. When you give someone the option of timed memberships, there is the presumption that it will expire at the end of the relevant period. Apparently, they felt that this logical assumption of timed memberships was unreasonable. So, beware if you have purchased a membership because you will continue to get charged (for very mediocre services I might add) unless you actively terminate your membership.

I tried for six months to downgrade my account to basic and stop the continuous charges to my credit card. Six times I went through their process for downgrading an account and six times I was charged again. I finally disputed all charges through my credit card company, Care gave me a one month refund, ONE month. And when I called to demand a full refund based on email evidence that I downgraded my account they said "THERE IS NOTHING ELSE WE CAN DO WITH THIS ACCOUNT, WE ALREADY REFUNDED YOU ONE MONTH". That was after searching aimlessly on their site for a contact phone number and dozens of emails that went unanswered. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SIGN UP FOR AN ACCOUNT WITH THIS COMPANY. THEY MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO CLOSE/DOWNGRADE YOUR ACCOUNT, CONTACT THEM OR GET YOUR MONEY BACK. THEY STOLE OVER $200 FROM ME AND REFUSED TO EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE THE MISTAKE. SHAMEFUL.

I am a blue-chip private consumer of in-home eldercare services. I spend about $150K per year on full-time care for one elderly parent. I have been a care.com member for several years. I currently employ 3 caregivers recruited through care.com, one for over 2 years. We treat caregivers very well, pay well, pay overtime, pay all employer taxes, and provide many benefits. The first red flag with care.com was about 2 years ago (2013) when we used their background checking service and got a convicted felon - three charges with enhanced penalties, including car-jacking and armed robbery - who had just been released from three years in prison. None of this showed up on the backround check they provided. We stopped using their background checking service. We now do background checking through our payroll service, ADP. Things were fine for the next two years. We continued to use care.com, regularly paid our bill, and our account was in good standing. Then yesterday I suddenly got a message that my membership at care.com had been terminated. No reason given. I called and spoke with a customer service representative who said they could give me no information about why the account was terminated. There is no investigation, rebuttal, or even communication with the client about such a decision. I looked online to see reasons care.com accounts are terminated and we had done nothing remotely resembling any reasons they list as examples (e.g. searches including prohibited words, non-use of an account for a prolonged period of time, etc.) We are the kind of employers most caregiver services would strongly desire to have as clients. I've looked online and see many similar stories about care.com. Care.com's behavior seems exceedingly strange. One envisions corporate attorneys putting in place a practice such as this without understanding the implications. Can't figure out why care.com would have this practice, since it simply drives away business. When combined with the negative experience with the felon, I now have very strong questions about care.com as a business.

I signed up with Care.com about a month ago to offer my services as a house and pet-sitter. I have received 3 replies from 3 different families, saying that they will be moving to my area soon and will need someone to look after their dogs. All 3 of the email-writers stated that they would like my full name, address and phone number so that they can send me a check before they arrive to purchase dog food and other pet supplies, and one of the letters said that they would need me to use part of the check (at least $2000.00) to pay a builder of custom doghouses, and to pay my first week's wages with the rest.

Ok, this just sounds fishy right off the bat. Would you send money to someone you have't even met yet? Or spoken to directly? Plus a couple of the emails read almost like a Nigerian prince scam letter.

Anyone else have this experience on here?

I had put an application in for this company when I found out they do charge a fee for their service I took my name off their list they gave my email out to two different ladies they both stated they needed help with a family member and one lady scammed me out of $1, 700 dollars.Which is pretty nasty why would they give a persons email out when you take your name off their list.

Hi Care.com,

I signed up for 1 month of service and promptly called to cancel. I was told that my service has been canceled. I never logged on to the account after that but you had been charging my $40/month until I noticed after 6 months. I have been trying to call you but have given up in despair after hours of holding.