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We were looking for a nanny to help out with our daughter so I signed up with Care.com and ran an ad. At first, things went well. We got some applicants and were in the process of scheduling interviews. Then one day, I went to sign in and couldn't. I sent a message to them and received a generic response stating that my account had been terminated. They had just taken money out of my account so it wasn't like I didn't pay for the service. I wrote them back and asked them to give me a reason and a refund. They wouldn't - only gave a regurgitation of their policy that states they can cancel your account at any time without warning. I really don't care what their 'policy' states. They took my money and then cancelled me for no reason. It also angers me that they don't even have a phone number listed anywhere so that I could talk to an actual person. It is just bad business.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I filed a complaint with the BBB, and this is how it went:
Me:
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Complaint Details:
I was a member of Care.com for nearly 2 years, using them to find people to help around the house when needed. I recently paid for a full membership again, and then they cancelled my membership the next day after renewing. They sent an e-mail with a generic reason about how they can cancel a membership for any reason or no reason in accordance with their terms of agreement. I asked for the exact, specific reason by e-mail twice more, but they sent the same generic e-mail response. I think maybe they did this to me because I explained in a recent job post that I need help doing some things from an errand runner since I'm not an American and still don't know how to do things here. I think the reason they won't say why they cancelled me is because they are discriminating against me for not being an American. They don't post any customer service phone number, or any phone number, on their web site but would probably give the same generic answer over the phone anyway.
Desired Settlement: Change the Store Policy
I want them to reinstate my membership and apologize for their treatment of me.
Care.com:
Friday, March 04, 2011
Care.com takes the safety and security of our site and our members, as well as the adherence to our terms of use, very seriously. When Ms. Lee joined our site, she agreed to our Terms Of Use that state that Care.com reserves the right to remove a member from our private community as we deem appropriate: “Care.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate your access to all or part of the Care.com Site, to remove your profile and/or any content posted by or about you, from the Site, and/or to terminate your membership in Care.com, for any reason or no reason, with or without notice. Following any termination of any member's use of the Site, Care.com reserves the right to send a notice thereof to other members which whom you have corresponded.”
Unfortunately, we will not be able to reopen Ms. Lee’s account with Care.com. We do hope that Ms. Lee was able to find the housekeeper that she was looking for.
Me:
Friday, March 04, 2011
The message sent by Care.com is not any different than what they have already sent to me three times before I contacted the BBB. Their practice of cancelling an account without providing a reason is a very poor business practice even if it is part of the lengthy rules they force everybody to agree to that are so long that nobody bothers reading. Given their unwillingness to state what rules were broken by me and/or the reasons behind their decision, I can only assume that they are disciminating against me after finding out that I'm not an American or they are doing something illegal or inappropriate when finding or using criteria to cancel memberships. What does Care.com have to hide?
Care.com:
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Care.com is an equal opportunity community and we do not discriminate based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. We have found that Ms. Lee has violated the terms of use that she agreed to when joining our community and unfortunately, we will not be able to reopen her account with us. We do wish her luck in finding the housekeeper that she is looking for if she was not able to find it on our site.
Me:
Sunday, March 06, 2011
This is still not an acceptable response or a proper way for a good business to conduct itself. The reason given is still a generalization rather than specifically telling me why my membership was terminated. The general statement that I violated the terms of use without saying which term specifically was violated is not acceptable. The weasely terms of use say that Care.com can terminate a membership for any reason or no reason, so they can terminate anybody anytime for violating the term of “no reason.” I believe it is my right as a customer to be informed of the specific term I violated, and a better business practice would be to inform and warn the customer when they violate a term of use and tell them that they can be terminated if they repeat that violation again in the future. It is unreasonable to expect the customer to know everything that can result in revocation of membership when the terms include “any reason.” I would not have violated a term of use knowingly or intentionally. My membership was terminated only after I included the information in a recent contact with a prospective employee about needing some help since I’m not an American, leaving me to conclude that this must be the “any reason” that Care.com is using to discriminate against me. While they claim that they “do not discriminate based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, ” I can’t help but notice that they didn’t include “national origin.” Unless they can give me a specific term of use that I violated, then I can only make the above conclusion based on the timing.
BBB:
Monday, March 7, 2011
This notification is in regards to your complaint submitted on 3/3/2011 10:08:05 PM against Care.com, Inc.. Complaint # 8521751.
BBB has closed complaint #8521751.
After reviewing the position of all parties, BBB determined that the business made a reasonable effort to address the complaint and has closed the complaint. This complaint will be publicly reported on the business's BBB Business Review for 36 months. If BBB has additional information to provide you to assist you in pursuing your complaint with a government agency, and/or provide you with some educational tips, the information will be displayed below.
Thank you.
Better Business Bureau
[Note: Care.com is a member of the BBB, so the bribes, er, I mean dues they pay give the BBB incentive to side with them even though it is obvious the Care.com failed to state the clear term that I violated for which my membership was terminated. Now there are 74 complaints filed with the BBB against Care.com. 11 of those complaints were closed administratively by the BBB, meaning that the customer was not satisfied. How can they be considered a "better business" when they don't know the fundamental rule of every good business?: THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT]
Care.com has had to settle 73 complaints with the BBB as of this date!
Contact Info:
Customer Service Contact: Robyn Neill, Director of Operations
Phone Number: [protected]
[protected]
Email Address: rneill@care.com
I was a member of Care.com for nearly 2 years, using them to find people to help around the house when needed. I recently paid for a full membership again, and then they cancelled my membership the next day after renewing. They sent an e-mail with a generic reason about how they can cancel a membership for any reason or no reason in accordance with their terms of agreement. I asked for the exact, specific reason by e-mail twice more, but they sent the same generic e-mail response. I think maybe they did this to me because I explained in a recent job post that I need help doing some things from an errand runner since I'm not an American and still don't know how to do things here. I think the reason they won't say why they cancelled me is because they are discriminating against me for not being an American. Care.com is the one that is unamerican. I'm so upset that I'm thinking about paying their office a visit dierectly to tell them what I think of them since they don't post any customer service phone number, or any phone number, on their web site and since they would probably give the same generic answer over the phone anyway. Never, ever, ever, ever use Care.com.
I had the same experience with Care.com.
Thanks for the positive feedback AJay! It seems as though Casey has posted the exact same reply on multiple posts. I've reached out to hopefully solve the issue, but nonetheless, thanks again for the response.
-Ashley, Sittercity.com
Dear Casey,
Your so wrong sittercity costs NO MONEY, and yes as in any site as this the more often you visit the site your profile moves to the front. There is no identity theft involved here, you are not obliged to give sittercity your social or drivers license. Any person can try to obtain your personel information from any site, thats where your own common sense comes in to protect yourself. I personally have recieved calls and jobs from sittercity and when I was with Care.com I never recieved one call! Furthmore their data base is not full of potential employers that have not sign up with them. In essence people I would waste my time to apply to that have not paid Care.com's fee. Sittercity lets you know they are not a member . I hope this helps you in your lack of being informed.
FYI I have passed a level II ACHA background check with the state of Florida that even includes fingerprinting. It is the state required background check for medical personel, teachers, daycare workers ...etc. Yet Care.com tossed me out of their data base because of their lazy business practices and unprofessional concerns for a potential employee in these hard economic times. Shame on them!
Regards,
AJay
Sittercity is a scam, Babysitting jobs are false advertising, they lie and say they are matchmakers, but they are not, Parents dont even know you exist if you are not on the first page results. It sucks, save your money, before using them and protect yourself from Identity Theft. Complaints keep coming and coming from my friends. Do not use sittercity.
Mike,
Your designation that you are not an employer is in Serious question, as you are pulling credit reports under Federal guidelines of permissible purpose for employment, and not a "Connection Service"! Sounds like a big Federal legal permissible purpose violation to me! and it seems that your companies business definition is a “Kay –sir-rah” manner!
I did contact your customer service and Acxiom originally. My complaint was addressed in an inappropriate business manner with your customer service department, which was a great waste of my time. I got the ridiculous response that any notation on a national background check, whether negative or not, Care.com immediately removes them from the site. No questions asked …….final answer. (OMG!)
I had stated to your department that Axciom’s report revealed I have NO criminal record, have Not been arrested, Not charged or even Served in this case. Axciom DID report this correctly and gave this same information to Care.com. It was simply a case opened and closed by both the courts and the plaintiff. Yet Care.com just eliminates anyone instantly without regard to a valid reason. You have a mandate to investigate this, by EEOC regulations and your site states your “Mom force” also takes this responsibility. They would Not return my call nor would customer service let me even speak with them.
I am not debating you’re compliancy of Care.com with regards to the background check. Yet I am appalled that Care.com is making blanket decisions and company policies to discriminate against anyone who like me only has a public record that is in no way negative! You have totally misunderstood my complaint and not addressed this issue. I doubt seriously if you or anyone at Care.com would find it acceptable if a company handled yourselves in this manner.
This is WRONG, discriminatory, and incompetent business practices to treat anyone as such, especially with our countries horrendous unemployment rate and economic demise. It is pure laziness and unprofessional not to address these issues properly and call it company policy! This is the nature of my complaint that you have not addressed!
In the normal company customer satisfaction is of number one concern and policies are dictated regarding this standard.
As far as your company and or customer service phone number it is NOT listed on your site………again (hint, hint).
The many complaints on this Complaint Board consistently reveal your unethical company policies.
Regards,
Ajay
Well said! They terminated me as well. I was trying to restart a home business. I have no criminal record nothing that should be a red flag No negative things going on except I'm newly divorced and a single mother of 5 children who could have used a company like this for both baby sitting needs of my own and for help with my income...When this company first started it was very decent but not anymore. I would never recommend anyone to this company.
Karen
AJay-
This is Mike from Care.com. I just left you a response to your other posting about your removal from the Care.com community. To reiterate, Care.com is a private community that allows for families in need of help to connect with people who provide those services; Care.com is not an employer of caregivers.
We hold the right to remove anyone in the Care.com community at anytime, for any reason. If you were removed from our community because of a background check, you would have received a message from Acxiom, our background check provider, with information about the results and potential options. We can assure you that our background check process is completely FCRA compliant.
We are sorry about your concern and would like you to contact us if you would like to discuss this further. Our Member Care team can be reached at [protected], M-F 10a-7p EST.
Best of luck in your job search,
Mike
Greetings,
I too was cancelled! and agree...FYI their
phone number is [protected]...
...and yes your right it was an investigation to get this number. I find it questionable business practices and poor customer service for any company not to freely publish a phone number. (Hint, Hint) Also beware as you can never speak to any authority personel, only a customer service rep with a canned response such as you received in your complaint!
I suggest that you file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau...they have had to settle 59 complaints with them as of this date!
Try Go Nannies or Sitter City so far I have no complaints with them!
Hi, this is Tricia from Care.com. I'm sorry for the experience you had using our site. Per our Terms of Use, Care.com reserves the right to remove users from our community for any reason, but we do refund the member when they can't be a part of our website. Again, I do apologize for the frustration, but wish you the best of luck.
Best Wishes,
Tricia
Care.com Member Care