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SitterCity review: scam 35

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4:29 pm EST
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I went to this website thinking it would be an easy way to find a job. They offered a background check for 9.99 so I stupidly took the offer. The 'results' said that I didn't even exist and never actually finished processing and were never even made available on my profile. I contacted customer service several times for a refund but they said that it had been completed (which it hadn't, it was still 'processing'), each email was stock, impersonal and uncaring. When I tried to call there line I sat on hold for several minutes before being hung up on each time. Then, several days and several emails and phone call attempts later I get an email saying that my account has been terminated. Not only will they NOT put you in contact with parents, or anything of the sort, but the services they offer are complete scams. DON'T USE THIS WEBSITE!

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35 comments
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Karen avery
, US
Mar 19, 2018 8:11 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Sitter city is a scam. I signed up for one month and then was charged for multiple three month renewal charges. I paid for one year of service in total. They would not cancel my service and to date I have never met even one nanny from sitter city. They would not respond to me so I had American Express deal directly with them. Use care.com or another site. This is not a professional service for a nanny search but instead a scam.

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Arely23
, US
Oct 30, 2015 10:35 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I just joined sitter city and some folks (3 different people) from CANADA are asking for my address to send me some money before I start working.
They want
full name
home address
age
sex
Paypall account to send the $$ right away$$

and some other stuff.. saying they would pay 450-500 for a personal assistant and what not, , and one of them talked about sending extra money so I could rent them a house and blah blah blah! Remember these are 3 completely different families and they are all saying almost the same story.. THIS WEBSITE IS SUCH A SCAM! I'm not giving my personal information to anybody! Sticking to care, com!

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aznails
, US
Jun 06, 2015 11:50 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I hate that sittercity.com does not supply a character counter on their application page, even though they limit your application to 2500 characters. Am I supposed to count each character as I type my application to make sure I don't go over the 2500 limit?!?

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Jessica26
Diamond Bar, US
Feb 05, 2015 10:52 am EST

In my situation I didn't know it was a fraud check I did what they told me to do and I lost a lot of money because of this and after that sittercity barely warned me about fraud. How can that happen they should have warned me first in first place. I'm so disappointed at this website.

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Unhappy looker
, US
Dec 09, 2012 11:50 pm EST

We tried a one month trial since we did not know if this is worth it. We soon discovered the company charged us monthly for several months. This happened twice. The first time we figured it was an honest mistake, but then it happened again. We had to call our credit car company to stop the payment.

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anaik13
Katy, US
Sep 23, 2014 12:38 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

A lady by the name of Victoria Bower, ( vicbow1@hotmail.com) made me believe I was going to be working for her we messaged for over 2 weeks she gained my trust as a sitter and then she decided she wanted to sent my first week payment in advanced. When I got the check it was HUGE amount of 2, 790 she made me believe her and manipulated me into cashing this check and sending her a total amount of 2000 at first then she asked me for the rest because she couldn't afford her plane ticket. (Again since it was her money so I did what I thought it was the right thing to do) well it was all A FRAUD! Now, I'm -2, 790 dollars in my account. I am a college student and my bank is making me pay everything back (OF COURSE) so this whole situation sucks. I know it could have been worse but please watch out. I know that I was way too trusty with this people and it was def not the case. I would hate anyone to have to go thru this situation like me soo please pay attention and DON'T TRUST ANYONE. My mistakes were telling them my address, agreeing with them to receive an early payment before even meeting them.
Underneath is the whole conversation since day one just in case your wondering how did she involved me:

Victoria from Sitter city!(13)
Victoria Bower
To
Me
Sep 4
Hi Ana,

I'm glad to receive your email and also very happy to let you know that the position is still very much open and i am not sure how best to go about this nanny choosing, as you should understand that a child is not what you just leave in the care of anyone as there has to be trust and love as very good parent would give to a child. Will be nice to have a personally interview so as to create a concrete ground with the hope of all best expectations. I did lose my dad about two weeks ago and only had his funeral some days back here in London and we should be back in states in a week from now, hence, we have been for a look out for a nanny even before the death of Dad. It will be nice if we find one before we get back home and if it happens to be you then we would be the happiest people as myself and my husband will be so occupied by work in the coming week and we just seek to have the best person to look over our child. We can kindly get on with all formal interview before we arrive back States so we could have a formal chat and of course conduct some interviews and exchange a few questions so as to prepare ahead of our coming home. You can simply text me on: [protected] as I can not receive international calls here because of the tariff is ridiculous on roaming but i can send text messages and also receive. Just fix a time and i will make out some time within the next 24 hours.Thank you so much and i do hope for a better communication and look forward to having you as best of family and friends.

If you have to know a little about my family, my name is Victoria Bower I am 32 years of age and a mother of a wonderful boy Jamie who is 11 months old. My husband's name is Timothy, he is an Engineer and job mostly takes him out town so he mostly away from home. I work as an interior decorator and work from home, so you certainly will have me at most times but am always occupied with work in my home studio and i need a sitter for some days in a week let me know your availability from from Mondays to Fridays between 9:00 am -4:00 pm each of these days but, we can work on each other schedule and will definitely be needing a sitter at least 3 times a week a week.

I have listed some questions for you below as i was advised by the nanny site that these questions should be the basis for for us to make a choice of a good baby sitter.Our kid mean everything to us and we would do all within our best of efforts to give him the best of things in life.

I hope the questions are not so breath taking, we are only trying to act as we have been directed by the nanny site so we can know we are having someone with enormous experience when it comes to baby sitting.

Questions are listed below:

Do you speak any languages other than English?

Have you ever been treated for mental illness/depression?

How many children do you feel comfortable caring for?

What ages do you prefer?

What are your weaknesses/limitations?

What are your strengths?

What do you like to do your free time?

How much do you charge and what hours are you available?

I hope to get your response back soon enough so we can get on with this.

You you can text on [protected] if you need to get a hold of me but I cannot receive calls here in London due to international roaming cost.

Thank you and stay blessed.

Hello Miss Victoria,

Thank you so much for getting back at me so quickly, I really appreciate it.

I am also so very sorry to hear about your father, I'm sure he was a great person, father and grandfather. With my deep condolence to you and your family.

I'm glad that you expressing the need for a knowledgeable and trustworthy babysitter because utilizing my childcare skills and experienced, I’d be able to make a perfect contribution in emotional and physical development of children.

A little bit about my background
My name is Ana, I'm 22 years old, I drive (I have my own vehicle) I live in Katy with my family, my mom, my stepdad and my 2 sisters were all really close. My major is in Business Marketing and I'm at HCC right now. I moved to Houston last summer from San Antonio, however my parents have been here for a few years now. Currently, I do have another job I work a TopGolf is on I-10 and hwy 6. I been there since last November. But hours have been a little too difficult for me. I have approximately six years experience in childcare and babysitting. In addition, I possess an exceptional stamina and staying power to deal with difficult kids, toddlers and even babies. Necessary to mention, I live a vigorous smoke free and drug free way of life.

Now I would like to answer your questions:
Do you speak any languages other than English?
Yes, I speak fluent Spanish (speak, write and read)
Have you ever been treated for mental illness/depression?
I have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. So I take Meds for it.
Furthermore, if I was going to hire someone to watch my child I would them to be 100% honest with me therefore I will tell you the following. I had a boyfriend since I was in high school who passed away tragically in a motorcycle accident in September 11 2012 therefore the doctor decided to put me on another medicine to help me because it was really hard for me. That's another reason why I moved to Houston to be with my family, now everything is good it has now been 2 years. Time helps or somehow makes it better.
How many children do you feel comfortable caring for? Four kids.
What ages do you prefer?
I have had the opportunity of taking care of children between the ages of 8 months to 6 years.
What are your weaknesses/limitations?
Academics wise, math is one big challenge for myself but I've persevered with tutoring and extra effort. Furthermore, I realize that a life without a balance isn't right for me, so I try hard to keep the balance between my family, school work triathlon and friends. Living a healthy balanced life is a must for me.
What are your strengths? I believe in myself, I'm discipline, I like to reach my goals, highly energetic, team player, committed to everything I love, willing to help others, love to learn new things, and I'm not afraid of failure.

What do you like to do your free time? I do triathlons, I'm currently raining for a half ironman 70.3 & I before that I have Chicago marathon on October 12th. I'm also part of team and training for the Leukemia and lymphoma society where we fundraise donations for cancer research.
This is my website your welcome to visit:
(I DID SHOW HER MY TEAM WEBSITE)

How much do you charge and what hours are you available?
Parents usually Pay me $15-20 hr.
I hope my qualities and skills will be beneficial for you family.

Btw: Today all day I'm available It is almost 1:00pm here in Houston right now.

-Thank you!
Have a great day.

Ana
Sent from my iPhone

Victoria Bower
To
Me
Sep 7
Hi Ana,

Thanks for your condolences and thanks for answering my questions free to ask any questions OK. We can afford to pay $20 per hour and will pay on a weekly basis and we can always make it more better as we get to work together as a family. We do seek a happy person and if it happens to be you then all is fine. My spirit goes for you but i just can't take an out right decision on this as i have to discuss about you to my husband and have his own opinion as well and also have him call you. He leaves for China this coming week for some official duties and won't be back for another month and he needs us to clear all issues as regards having a nanny before he leaves for his trip and we get back to state, as he intends to make sure charges for at least your first week on the job are handled for whomever we choose so myself and my child don't have to worry much about bulk bills while he is away and also to make sure you don't have any difficulties starting your new position with us. I have a time limit to work on and i will like to get this settled as best and fast as i could. I will let you know his opinion but i would appreciate you sending me photos of you to my email so i could show that also to him while i talk him into having you work with us as a family. please kindly get back to me ASAP so we can move on with this.

Lastly I have attached photos of our family for you so you know exactly who you are talking to.
Till i hear from you again stay great always and have a wonderful time and hope to hear from you soon. Also if I do not respond to your email soon enough just know am not close to a computer but I will do my best to get back to you as soon as i can and I must let you know that am talking to two other people on this position and I will certainly let you know my family's opinion or decision on it.

Thank you!

Victoria.

Me
To
Victoria Bower
Sep 7
Hello Miss Victoria,

That sounds really good to me, I hope your husband and you find the best fit for your family. and if that happens to be me I am more than excited. Furthermore, I am happy to see some pictures of you guys. and attached are some pictures of myself. Some of the pictures are of me during triathlons and the other one during with my family.

Some of the questions that I have for you are:
• What do you expect of me? cook meals? etc..
• Is your child on any medications? Does he have any special medical needs, such as allergies or asthma?
• Does he have any habits you are trying to break? Reinforce?
• What is your parenting philosophy?
• Does he have a routine such as playground etc..?
• Have you employed a nanny/babysitter before?
• Why did the previous nanny/babysitter leave the job?
• Would I be helping you Mondays to Friday from 9am to 4pm? or how is my schedule going to work out?

This are just some of the questions I believe are core to know about a new family.
Hope everything is great! travel safe.

-Ana

Victoria Bower
To
Me
Sep 9
Hi Ana,

I will like to first of all say thank you for the letting me view your pictures and I must say your picture is quite nice and we sure look forward to seeing more of you in person. Anyway i am most delighted and also I'm happy to say congratulations to you as i did have a long discussion with my husband over the issue and we did review a few applications together but we figured we should let you have the position as you seem nice and very sincere and also i wish to inform you that you will be starting this job as soon as we get back from London and when we meet i will put you through all necessary routine, Jamie as no special medication he is a healthy kid No habit yet he is just 11 months plus and he is very playful and likes watching cartoons and playing with his toys which i think its normal for his age no special philosophy because he is very young just normal daily things eat watch cartoons play with his toys and sleep, this my first time i am employing a nanny i just got back to working fully now!I will be so happy if you can help out Monday to Fridays because i need all the help i can get!.

So i am happy to say welcome to our family. We decided to let you have position and we all look forward to having you join our family as soon as we are back home. I'm sure Jamie will love having you around him as you appear to be a vibrant and enlightened person. As there happens to be a limited time at this time i wish to inform you that we concluded on getting to you your first one week pay ahead so you can get yourself prepared starting your new position with us, hence, letting you not have any troubles finance wise or any hindrances starting your new position. I want you to know that you have to be of good behavior and also very much upright and never to let this opportunity become a pain for us as we do intend to give you our best support as family and we need same support from you as well.

At this point i will need you to forward all your details in regards to mailing address(es) and also what your total weekly charge will be so my husband can ask his assistant to handle all that on our behalf before he leaves for his trip. I will forward you our flight reservations as soon as we make all plans.
Kindly get me your name payment should go in and where it should be mailed to and i will keep you posted if any matters arises.
Congratulations once more and we all look forward to having you come into our family and wishing you a happy time.

Warm regards,
Victoria.

Miss, Victoria

I highly appreciate you responding to all my questions. Indeed to say thank you and your family for offering me this exciting opportunity. I am very enthused about getting to know Jamie he sounds like a wonderful kid. Furthermore, I certainly plan to continue to build your trust in my abilities by working hard. You can count on me to be dependable and reliable. Monday to Friday sounds perfect to me. I look forward to meeting Jamie and your family. Be assured that I am grateful for this opportunity

My mailing address is:
(I gave her my address)

The Check can be under my name:
(I gave her my FULL NAME) WHY!

Safe Travels!
-Ana

Victoria Bower
To
Me
Sep 14
Hi Ana,

How have you been? I apologize for not responding earlier i have been extremely busy! I hope you had a great weekend..

Here is my flight schedule.

Outbound: Thu 18 September 14 - Non-stop - Duration: 10:10 Iberia

Departing: 10:20 Thu London Heathrow Apt, United Kingdom Terminal 5

Arriving: 14:30 Thu Houston George Bush Intercontinental Ap, United States

We can meet anytime this coming weekend and hangout so that i can put you through all necessary routine depending when you will be available!
I will compensate you on gas fee my husband assistant as issued your first week salary and you will have it this coming Tuesday to get you prepared.

I hope to hear from you soon!

Cheers!
Victoria Bower.

Me
To
Victoria Bower
Sep 14
Hi Victoria,
I had a very good weekend, I did a lot of triathlon training and Saturday all day I did volunteer work at Octoberfest for leukemia & lymphoma society, we had awesome weather thank God! & it was a really successful event. Hope yours was great as well!

I am very very excited to see you guys are coming back this week. Well my schedule is clear on Friday so we could meet then, however I know you might be a little tired from the flight so we could always arrange, but just let me know.

Furthermore, everything sounds absolutely great,
Thank you so much.

Looking forward to you guys arrival

Me
To
Victoria Bower
Sep 16
Hi Victoria,

I Hope you and your family are doing well. I received the paycheck that you told me about. However, I know you told me you will only pay me one week in advance? Just wondering if the paycheck covers the whole month or if there was a mistake because is made for $2, 790 dollars and I would like to confirm with you before depositing this check.

Sincerely
-Ana Bernal

Victoria Bower
To
Me
Sep 16
Hi Ana,

I got to find out that my husband assistant that was supposed to handle your weekly pay as we had discussed previously but sadly I received a message from her saying that she had mistakenly mailed to you both your upfront pay and money meant to cover for my traveling expenses and flight reservation back home thinking she was to make out a few weeks salary for you and i was actually suppose to go to the ticketing office to pick up tickets on today as we only reserved it previously so as to secure the reservation for specified date which is this Thursday! The situation really knocked me off and i have been pretty sad all through till this very moment and I just have not been able to get on a computer to talk to you sooner. This is a huge blunder and a very terrific issue to come up now, I have been totally devastated ever since I got his message, as i wonder what on earth was she thinking to have been so absent minded with this.

Below is a copy of the email she sent to me:
"Hello Mrs Bower,
I have mailed out the money from the post office to the information you sent to me. I put all the money in a check as i thought that was what i am suppose to do to cover for a few weeks salary as i had understood the message sent to me, the amount is exactly $2, 790.00, I put it in the check. I do plead with you not to be offended as this is a total mistake coming from me i was in so much hurry going to California and when i got there i mailed the check . I'm not sure what i can do right now as i am presently out of town and won't be back for 9 days as I do have some work/Family visit to do here but i think the mail should be delivered sometime now as it takes about two to three days to be delivered as i did post it on Friday .

My deepest regrets Mrs Bower,

"Helen Liao"

I'm sorry for any inconveniences this might be causing you and i need you to be sincere to me about this as we are already packed up and was hoping to pick-up tickets ahead of our flight for Thursday! When she messaged me saying she mailed all the money to you .
How best do you think you can help us with this so we can still cover for tickets and get back home ASAP. I need you to deposit the check and it will be available for cash within 24 hours all you have to do is deduct your upfront pay and i will see to the best possible way for you to send the rest of the money to me here to pick up flight tickets

I'm sending my warm and sincere regards and we all look forward to meeting you soon..Jamie is not feeling too good as he seem to have developed some sort of cold and i am taking him for doctor's appointment. I just feel sick about all these, please get back to me soon.

Thanks!
Victoria Bower.

Me
To
Me
Sep 17 at 12:31 AM
Hi Victoria,

I am more than happy to help you guys out, it is not a problem for me I could go and deposit the check tomorrow morning and send out the rest of the money anywhere you need me to. Give me all the information to where it needs to be sent to and I will do it. Mistakes happen and that's okay I'm just glad we were able to find out on time. I was actually really surprised when I saw that amount on the check, right away I knew that it must of been a mistake, so I didn't wanted to go ahead and deposit it unless I talked to you first. so I appreciate you clearing everything out for me.

Hope Jamie and you feel better soon get some rest, everything will work out!
Ana

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hair103
92603, US
Feb 19, 2014 2:06 pm EST

This site is a total scam. I paid the 15 for the background check and now it's impossible to login into the site. It keeps saying I have the wrong password. I wish I had seen this page before I signed up. Now it has all my information like my credit card and SSN. What a scam!

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too many fraud to tell ya my name
Dayville, US
Jan 01, 2014 7:38 am EST

Sittercity is filled with nothiinq bt people trynna scam real honest people seekinq for employment. Rather than them ruininq applicants backqround they should qet more strict on who posts jobs on their site. because if theyre so honest and bla bla bla why they have all these ###s trynna scam people. Always oferinq biq amounts of cash on a check mailed out to u. Usinq stupid sad stories such as a 6 yr old on a wheelchair. Men they needa qet these people before they ruin other peoples life by makinq them cash a false check. NO MATTER HOW DESPERATE YOU ARE IN NEED OF A JOB. DO NOT LET THESE MOORANS FOOL YOU. or u will soon c urself in court fiqhtinq a case on ur own cuz the person behind these email probably DONT EVEN EXIST.

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Monica Havner
, US
Nov 17, 2013 10:42 pm EST

We found a babysitter and everything. Even though she was terrible, that was our mistake. Sittercities mistake was charging me twice when I terminated my account after the first month was payed for. I had to pay for a month I didn't even use! Is there a way to refund their stupid mistake?

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sf1029
Cincinnati, US
Sep 30, 2011 4:18 am EDT

I joined Sittercity after hearing nothing but praise about it. I soon found out that I was very wrong. Not only did it never let me contact families, but when I finally gave in to the background check it failed me! Saying I had questionable areas and that my name didnt go with my social security number. I have never had so much as a ticket in my life and I get my account terminated!Also, Sittercity made many random charges to my bank account at various atms in Chicago where the headquarters is located. When I contacted the corporation of Sittercity not only did it take forever to get any response back, they took absolutely no blame, saying they do not handle anything with the background checks, but it is Lexis Nexus. All responses I got back were similar and heartless.
DO NOT USE SITTERCITY! IT IS A HUGE SCAM!

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Nikifitz
St Clair Shores, US
Oct 21, 2013 12:21 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I found two sitters on sittercity and both were a complete disaster. One completely fabricated her profile. I let her go after my 3 year old told me she was scary and begged me never to leave her again. Hired another one over the weekend, loved her immediately, today was supposed to be her 1st day, and she cancels with barely an hour notice. I might as well use craigslist.

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D. Armstrong
Dublin, US
May 25, 2013 12:20 pm EDT

Sittercity is a SCAM. Please read the fine print before you give your credit card information. They not only bill you recurring fees but take the money out a week early. I will be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. By the way, when I sent them an email regarding this situation, they sent me a stock email that did not address the issue and directed me to call their toll free number. Please do not use this website.

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Lagertha
Tampa, US
Apr 22, 2013 5:44 pm EDT

Sittercity is all about making a profit... Stay away! To complete your profile you have to pay around $15 for a background check or have them do a credit check on you. Either way you must submit your Social Security number. I'm with care.com and had no problem finding work. They have never pressured me to give them my S.S..

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Marieba
Henderson, US
Jan 11, 2013 6:38 pm EST

I don't think they should force people to use their background checks. Why don't they use a reliable background check service such a http://intelligater.com Well I'll tell you why because they know if they use a reliable background check Site then they can't deny your account. I say everyone should file a class action lawsuit against them.

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chelseane2007
Pasadena, US
Sep 04, 2012 3:02 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Just wanted to say.. I have had a wonderful exp here at sitter city..I can work when I want and the job post keep rolling in..However..I would never let a internet based co run a background check on me EVER.. The headache it could cause would be awful..could be the wrong person..could give the wrong info and ruin your reputaion ect ect..comp not worth the risk...anyone wanting to hire a babysiter should run thier own background on me personally..Never let an internet based company take your info or your creditcard information...just a lesson that most people learn the hard way...doesnt meen its a scam just means TOO MANY THINGS CAN GO WRONG..AND USUALLY DO. I love sittercity but thinkl they should recomend that people also could provode a police clearence id# rather than a background check just saying..

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Kwag
Colorado Springs, US
Aug 23, 2012 5:53 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I am new to sittercity and things look promising. PLEASE don't tell me to "Look out" or "We warned you...". My comment has to do w/ the cc charges being made w/out your authorization -- All you need to do is contact your cc company and tell them you didn't authorize the charges. The cc company will (At a minimum) suspend the charge, and contact SC requesting proof of authorization. If the cc co. doesn't hear from them (@~ 30-60 days?), they will cancel the charge. Also, if it is a recurring charge, tell your cc co. that any future charges will be unauthorized (Thus fraudulent), and they will decline the charge every time after that -- Cancellation of your cc will NOT be necessary. I just extensively hate it when people are taken advantage of! In reality, I find at least 8-10 errors / unauthorized charges (Servers like to change the tip - especially when you leave that area blank. Use caution, no service is perfect (Not even my AmEx black card! :0)). Good luck!

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cc7!
Dallas, US
Aug 16, 2012 11:41 am EDT

I, too, am having problems with a background check. I ordered and paid for one for a sitter I'm trying to hire, and the Sittercity website says the report is "Complete" but neither the sitter nor I can access it! What's more troubling, I've emails Sittercity customer service twice, with no reply, AND their phone number is not working! I also tried to call "Jerome" the customer service manager referenced in Sittercity's replies to all these comments, and his number is not working either. I am not happy with this site and will never use them again.

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Kathy moore
pgh, US
Jul 09, 2012 8:46 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Sittercity Chicago charges came off my debit card! Who is this company?

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Tigress66
Rincon, US
Jun 26, 2012 12:05 am EDT

Sittercity my friends, is all about the people who are looking for sitters...either for their baby or their dog, and in some cases, it's the same thing! They are not here to serve people looking for sitting jobs! Although we are pressured to pay for a background check, it is not mandatory.You can get your own background check for much less outside of the company they chose. My personal gripe is with the system of how those looking for sitters get to determine how much they are going to pay for said service.I am a Pet Sitter.I have been working in the Pet Care field for over 25 years.I am insured and all that, certified in this and that.(I know you don't care about my resume').My point is, I get emails for pet sitting jobs, and these folks think they're going to get someone to take care of their dog Fluffy for $5-$10 a day? Are you kidding me? Go hire the 12 year old down the street if that's all you plan on paying. I have bills to pay.Will not be renewing my membership.Pet Sitters, give PetSitters.com a try...real leads..and you only pay for the lead if they use your service!

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BIG SIGH
, US
Apr 13, 2012 9:05 pm EDT

I had a customer service guy trick me into revealing my password (he said he needed it to activate my account) when I kept getting an error reading. Anyway nearly a month later when I checked in to see a message I was frozen out. I called CS service who informed me that I had written them a nasty letter -of course not true and they were disabling my account. You are pretty much SOL trying to prove your innocence. I still got updates from them so what gives? I usually go to a competing site as I have had better luck there. Sittercity needs to get their act together but I doubt it. They dont care about their jobseekers.. I have gotten more responses at least. Wow the fee 120? No wonder. To be honest you might have better luck on Craigslist as sketchy as they seem sometimes.

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JL Mahoney
Green Island, US
Feb 09, 2012 7:14 pm EST

I joined sitter city two years ago in hopes of finding a job since I lost mine. I am a college educated woman, and I was hopefull about the site. I hadn't signed on in a few months because I felt as if it wasn't working for me, but I was still looking for employment. They then deleted my account and when I emailed and asked why they simply stated I violated TOS. Which I find strange since I haven't logged on to that site in six months. And that wasn't in the TOS. So when I called the place the woman was rude and curt and told me that the company could delete accounts just because they want to. And also that it's their policy not to tell you what TOS you broke. I found that rude, and unethical. If something is going on I have a right to know and to clear my name.

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Queenkbr
Va Beach, US
Jan 25, 2012 7:20 pm EST

I signed up for Sittercity looking for a babysitter and after a few bad experiences with sitters on the site I found a great babysitter through my husband's coworkers. The next month sittercity charged my account after I was sure I had signed up for only one month. At that time I went in and changed the setting to not automatically renew and requested that the account close at the end of the time that was already paid for. This month I was charged again. Not only have they not responded to my email complaint but the phone lines are not working so I have no way of contacting them directly to assure that my money is returned. I don't want to have to cancel my credit card and report it to the BBB but they are leaving me no other options...

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ALDF
, US
Jan 23, 2012 9:43 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

While I wouldn't necessarily accuse Sittercity of running a "scam, " I would be VERY CAUTIOUS when applying for a background check. My background check came back squeaky clean but my membership was terminated due to a discrepancy in my name (legal vs. married). I understand that this might raise a red flag, but so far it has been impossible to sort out.
Sittercity customer service has been extremely ineffective. IF you can FIND the contact information in order to communicate with a CSR, it will take days to get a response. I have yet to be able to contact a SitterCity representative by phone, but have received some short responses by email which, while polite, were completely useless in helping me to resolve the problem. Sittercity refuses to resolve the issue - they will only refer me to Lexis Nexis to resolve the problem. Because there is no problem with the actual background check, Lexis Nexis can't resolve the issue. Lexis Nexis DOES have very good customer service, and is attempting to contact Sittercity to resolve the issue.
I see that I am not alone, and even Lexis reports that they have experienced difficulty dealing with SitterCIty customer service.
I feel that my reputation has been compromised and I've wasted hours of time and energy trying to resolve what should be a very simple issue.
Bottom line - Sittercity is great when things run smoothly. If you do experience a problem, expect to waste a lot of time and energy trying to get said problem resolved. Background check? Definitely not worth it, avoid it like the plague.

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missmeganalexis
Las Vegas, US
Dec 12, 2011 7:50 pm EST

I have been using Sittercity for about 3 years without a problem. Today it wouldn't let me log on. (it kept saying my username & password was incorrect) Finally after several attempts it said my account has been terminated. I call them up to find out that it was because I "someone how was in violation with their terms of service" She couldn't tell me what I did. I looked through the terms of service & couldn't figure out what I did wrong. I don't believe I did anything wrong. I spent a lot of time on that site & had a bunch successful jobs from that site as well. I'm very upset. Their customer service is a joke. We deff should do a class action suit! I as well payed money for a background check!

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haceg
Columbia, US
Nov 10, 2011 1:41 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I also have been scammed buy them .Even thought the background check company I gave them y full name and they new exactly who I was and said I passed everything .sittercity said that they were failing it because could not verify who I was seen as i didn't write down all of my names.in reality every name was there either on my app or what I put in my background check .I asked them even with my full name which is five names plus a divorced name.( Which have no places to put down other names) .That with out ID they could not be sure if that was me . She did like that.So she said they were going to terminate me .I told them not to bother. I was canceling my account and reporting them . They are making 13.00 a person concocting "problems". Funny thing is I worked for the government in child and youth services and passed an FBI background check . I am also reporting them to the BBB.Also there are several social sites we could my groups on to make others aware. I should have known better I have never had to pay for a background check for a childcare job its always be provided in the job.

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ginagemma
North Plainfield, US
Sep 18, 2011 7:07 pm EDT

I also had an AWFUL experience with sittercity. just today i received the "results" of my background check. It said that i was using an alias and all my information was wrong. Meanwhile, they said my real name was my mom's name and that's why all of my information is wrong. i have no idea how they even KNOW my mother's name. I am furious and want a refund or a CORRECT background check.

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bekalus
Montvale, US
Sep 16, 2011 1:18 am EDT

Hi fellow people screwed by sittercity,
I will be suing sittercity with a class action law suit. Anyone that would like to participate, please feel free to comment on my comment, and we will get the ball rolling and this site taken off of the internet. Hope you all have a lovely day.
Becky

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Lexie Bingham
Poway, US
Aug 26, 2011 7:37 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I stupidly payed for the background check on Sittercity only to recieve an email days later that my accout had been terminate due to false information. Everything I had entered as my information was correct, however "Lexisnexis" insisted that I am not who I say I am. I do believe that LexisNexis is a scam and I would not advise anyone to do their background check. As a result of my account being terminated, I lost the babysitting job that I had. I would go argue this with LexisNexis but I do not have the time to deal with a company that cannot perform its job.

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Ashley Lumm
Chicago, US
Feb 21, 2011 3:44 pm EST

Hi William,
I'm very sorry you had this experience with Sittercity. The company is nationwide, but we're headquartered in Chicago so perhaps that's what you are seeing. Either way, we would love to take care of this immediately for you. Please call Jerome with Member Services, and he can absolutely help you out. He can be reached directly at jderradji@sittercity.com or [protected].

Thanks,
Ashley, Sittercity.com

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William5858
San Jose, US
Feb 19, 2011 5:12 pm EST

I live in California and Sittercity Chicago charges are popping up on my Mastercard now multiple times. I have never even heard of this place. This place is a total scam. I will be reporting them to the better business bureau. Sittercity is one guy, and he should be thrown in jail.

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casey88
Tempe, US
Feb 12, 2011 8:42 am EST

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.

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Priscy
Waterford, US
Jul 13, 2010 9:37 pm EDT

Same here... For my surprise after a family trip with my husband and my mother in law, came back and found out my account had been terminated. I obviously contacted the customer service and the lady told me to call Lexis Nexis... well, short story, the last say information is not accurate... how is that possible? Still my husband warned me to be careful to release any private information specially related to SSN. So I contacted my former host mom who is lawyer and she said Lexis Nexis is a reliable company, then I sent my info. Hopefully, hopefully... I will get this fixed. I used this website (sittercity.com) because a friend recommended it to me... If I would recommend it, I would give a 4.0 from 1 to 7.

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Ashley Lumm
Chicago, US
Jul 13, 2010 12:12 pm EDT

Kate,
Sorry that you had this experience. As Melissa mentioned above, Sittercity uses Lexis Nexis to run our background checks, so we'll have to work with them to get this issued resolved. If you contact Jerome, who is our Manager of Member Services, he can definitely help and walk you through this process. He can be reached at 312.428.4670 or emailed at jderradji@sittercity.com. (We also received your email, so I'm sending this information to you there as well.)

You can also contact us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/sittercity) or reach us via twitter @Sittercity.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks,

Ashley, Sittercity.com

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acadiababy
albuquerque, US
Jul 13, 2010 1:11 am EDT

Cassandra -

The same thing just happened to me - I am unable to re-enter my information and I am also being told that my background check is accessible to parents, while it meanwhile is saying my social security number doesn't match my name and that I, therefore, have several "risk indicators". meanwhile I've lost money and have given both m credit card information, as well as my social security number (!) to what seems to be a scam website. I'm researching online now to see if others have had this issue and if it's worth a class action suit - this is awful!

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MelissaU
Chicago, US
Feb 19, 2010 12:53 pm EST

Hey Cassandra -

I'm with Sittercity and am sorry you have experienced issues with the background check process. Because we use a third-party company to run our background checks, Lexis Nexis, all issues that arise within the process need to be resolved by them. I am happy to put you in touch with the company to get it resolved directly. You can email me at partners@sittercity.com and I will make sure to put you in touch with the right people.

Sincerely,

Melissa

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