Home Instead Senior Care
Reviews and Complaints

I also agree, same employer. A short one day training and then off to a few hours watching someone who has had the same client for years. No warning, sent off to client for 12 HOURS. Have to sign a paper upon employment that you are part time, yet they want you to work like a dog 24 hours (3 different clients in a row) and then whine when you have other obligations like a family to take care of. Always on call, 30 minute notice to run off and cover someone who called in at the last minute or THEY screw up and scheulde you on a day someone else is scheduled. Unorganized, don't return phone calls, shunt you from one client (who said they DIDN'T say they requested you not come back) to another at a moments notice. They DON'T set you up with people you are 'compatible' with like they said they would. They say you are not allowed to lift more than 25 lbs., yet when you inform the office the client is requesting unallowed things, they ignore it. You report a hazard to the home office and they also ignore it. Then they drop you as an employee and NEVER TELL YOU! They won't return calls, emails, or when they do answer the phone and you ask, they put you on hold and then hang up on you. They want you to be single, no home life, no other obligations whatsoever so they can call you to work 24 hours a day. I met a female caregiver who hadn't been home in DAYS because her schedule was 12 hours here, 12 hours there. Sleep overs? Not on your nelly. If the client needs assistance to get up several times in the night, you have to be awake to hear them call. Also some are bedridden and have no use of their hands so, again against the rules, you have to assist them with their meds. Any allergies? FORGET IT! Any and all complaints will get you canned without notice. They lie to you about clients, put smokers with non-smoking clients and vice versa. Don't get attached to your client because someone may get a buddy working there and you get yanked from your client and they put their friend in your place. No communication about what a client needs (toileting, bathing, assistance getting up, lifting which isn't allowed) or information about the household until you get there. GOD forbid you think you can have a flexible schedule. HA! You get who they give you. Sometimes they want you to drive so far you're working for gas money and nothing else. I had a client ask me to explain her bill and I was aghast at the MAJOR amount she was paying for us to come and help her with a few things like meal prep and laundry and a little companionship! These people are RAKING IN the bucks BIG TIME and paying diddly squat to the employees. A shyster company for sure.

Home Instead owners rarely take a paycheck? You're joking! They make an absolute fortune off of unsuspecting seniors and their families. Getting paid thousands of dollars from each client and then don't even perform the job they're paid to do.
I understand the income/money issue for the aides but money has nothing to do with the crap attitudes of the owners. I was charged when aides never showed up, my Mother was left to sit in her own excrement for 9 hours and when I tried to contact Mrs. Owner, she flat ignored me. Then I called their home phone number (publicly listed) and I was told to "F" off and the fat little husband hung up on me.
I had legitimate concerns and this POS hangs up. I called corporate and I was told they'd have the owner to discuss the matter. I never got a call. I'm sure Corporate tells the owners how to handle employees and clients. Eventhough Corporate feels they can't be touched, they're wrong.
People need to start initiating class action suits and filing complaints for things such as not being paid for hours worked etc...I had The Dept. Of Health in my situation and the agency was cited. They need to be shut down otherwise their unethical ways will keep shining through. So many owners act the same way and display their corrupt attitudes. That's obvious by the postings on this site. Nothing but a bunch of low lifes.

I understand franchises are individually owned however the home office is just as corrupt as the franchises. I paid thousands of dollars a month to have care for my 89 year old Mother only for aides to never show up and the office lie that somebody was at my house. I called while standing in my kitchen, after taking the day off of work. It was 3 hours after their reporting time and 2 of the office staff including the manager assured me an aide was at my house. Once I told them I was at home and nobody was there, they tried to back pedal as quickly as possible. Lying is obviously a regular ocurrency for them as it wasn't the first time I caught them.
I also came home to find my Mom sitting in 9 hours of her own excrement. The Dept of Health stepped in and investigated and the aide admitted to not touching my Mom the entire day. Why the heck am I paying $20.00 an hour for my Mom to sit in her own waste for an entire day. Then of course, when I called the owner to discuss my concerns, I was cursed out and hung up on. Really? I pay thousands of dollars a month for a bunch of I'll trained people to abuse and neglect my Mom and I get cursed out?
There needs to be a class action suit filed against the whole operation. They need to be shut down and a bunch of people need to be tossed behind bars. Talk about corruption and a complete lack of ethics.

I work for homeinstead in Virginia and it is a awful company! They send you on intros by yourself! The manger D Franks is rude ! They are all about money! They charge the clients for personal care, then send over a home helper. Then when the gone helper gets there to complain because it should be a pca client. They tell you to deal with it, which is wrong & unsafe for the client & care giver! They sent a person to do a overnight & she almost got killed by a client, he chased her on his lawn mower in bye middle of the night, she got to a phone & called homeinstead they said they will be on their way, and never came! They are crap!

Nice try at trying to keep your job, but you too are expendable. Have fun in the unemployment line!

My wife left a law practice after 40+ years. She had always wanted to be a nurse. She works for one company where she takes care of 3 independent special needs clients. But even there the BS and unprofessional people in management positions is appalling. They have replaced testing equipment because it could show damaging results, etc. Hence, I was trying to locate another position for her BUT IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION that when I do a background check on all of these health care agencies they all appear to be run by inept management. What a pity! Even when someone tries to do what is right for their client upper-management screws it up. Some of these individuals don't even know the procedures they are in charge of. This is why I always do a background check on these agencies. Unfortunately, they all appear to come from the same mold. Their attempts to state that these inconsistencies only exist at a few locations is absurd. Government enforcement agencies are also to blame. "Oh by the way" we will be conducting your 2-year review in a week. What ever happened to surprise inspections? This appears to be the standard rather than the rule.

ya tell us winch one you work for that is so great like i said the worst place i have ever worked in my life i will warn everyone so they dont sign their loved one up with this horrid company i was a nurse in another state and unfortunatly moved to a state that i could not transfer my nursing license to i had to work as a caregiver getting half of what i used to make and was treated like i had not a day of experience in anything serioulsy treated as a second class citizen and yes every time i was called to the office it was on my time no pay and was ganged up by more then one office staff member

Brett,
I wish you well in your new business. Reading about the complaints of the care givers will give you ideas what you will be going through. if you have any questions i will be happy to help.
Good luck

I'm all about finding good senior care franchise. I really want to learn how to start a home care business so I can help out other people and give them reasonable care like they deserve. Hopefully one day Ill own a senior care business and help you guys out.
http://www.startuphomecare.com

You didn't give your location, so I guess you don't want anyone to expose your company truths. Each may be independently owned, but they ALL require you to sign paperwork stating you are PART-TIME which is a load of crap. MANY of the employees are MORE than full time except the college students who come in for sleep-overs (12 hour nights). 12 hour shifts? FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT is what it is called and HOME INSTEAD is requiring potential employees to LIE about their employment. In the orientation, the videos allude to the main company being a CHRISTIAN company. How is it they can sleep at night? WHY DON'T THEY TELL THIER EMPLOYEES WHEN THEY HAVE CANNED THEM? Why do they LIE to the unemployment office when they drop them as an employee? They are a really BAD BAD company to work for. I would recommend NO ONE work for them if they want employment. They will schedule you 24 hours a day if you don't say no. BUT, if you DO say no, they get nasty.

I believe this comment is very uneducated and ignorant cussing and accusing people of being stupid. Have you read your complaint? This is very unprofessional and shouldn't be an accurate reflection of this company. I'm glad that I don't work for an unprofessional boss such as yourself.

Very true. They give you a LOT of information in the orientation, but do not let you keep ANY of the booklets to study later. NOT ENOUGH TRAINING! Many clients need more care than we are allowed to give. These people need MEDICAL professionals not caregivers, but HISC want the almighty $$$$ and jeopardize their clients with this one day, sub-standard training. Many caregivers are wrongly accused of being bad when we haven't been trained properly. I have had experience taking care of family memebers when they need a caregiver and this job was NOTHING like that. This was the WORST company to work for.

I just want to add to this and keep this up to date. I am now working at my second Home Instead office. I started out working at one in Southern CA. I was so new at this that I didn’t know that there could be anything to question. However I agree that the training is far from "good" training. I had helped take care of a parent, raised a child, babysat, and cooked for a couple elderly sisters (about 30yrs ago) that was enough to get me hired. My “training” consisted of watching videos, read booklets and answered questions regarding each part of the video or booklet. Its informative, however, there is so much information that is given that you are really on a brain over load for remembering the information. Then you go out on an assignment. In CA I was fortunate that the majority of my clients were "easy" mainly housekeeping, running errands, companionship, med reminders (not giving meds- more on this later), assisting with exercises per OT or PT. Ambulation assist, bathroom/bathing assist (daily existence assistance).
A year later I was put on a fill-in shift... this client had c-diff, on a catheter & diaper, and was on hospice/end of life. The person the respite was for informs me about the c-diff (never heard of it before and was extremely concerned about dealing with changing the person) now mind you; a year ago I watched a video on catheter care, changing a bed ridden client.. Now I am trying to remember what I had watched... needless to say I did my best, but I could not get the person clean enough after a very runny BM and had to put on a new adult diaper by trying to roll this person by myself back and forth to get this diaper on... I got it on but it barely fit. I had to inform the person I was giving the respite care for about the situation as far as not getting the client very clean/diaper poorly fitting. I was assured it would be ok as hospice would be in the next day and could bath the client.
Now I am in King County WA... every complaint I have read about on the internet about Home Instead sounds like the office I am currently at. I had a client we were doing live in for after he got out of the hospital while recuperating. He complains to me about how he felt he was coheres into signing a contract for continued live-in at $350/day, for two weeks… a mighty expensive cost. I explained to him about the Client Bill of Rights, that he did not have to have this amount of service if he didn’t feel he needed it... Another client is downright rude to caregivers, has fired several, and when I said I wanted off this client, I was told I needed to find a way to work with the client, but fortunately I did get removed after another shift worked. Another client, in a facility... Advanced Alzheimer’s. I am up all night to watch the client sleep and to prevent wandering. This person is dead weight, the CNAs are supposed to come around during the night to change this client, however this client urinates more than once or twice a night and tries removing the diaper because its wet. I try changing this client myself, dead weight, doesn’t understand what is being asked (such as roll over on to your side) where was the training... oh wait I had a manual to read and questions to answer regarding Alzheimer’s... this was "advanced" training mind you...
I don’t want to sound disgruntled... but this office is all about the money... at a meeting caregivers complain about having to do things that are beyond our "NON-MEDICAL" scope/training. However the 'grey' area seems to be the expected result... meaning you are filling meditrays, (for those who have no family helping the client... no Dr ordered medtray set ups)... you are expected to make sure the client gets the meds... We are told if uncomfortable with peri care to let the office know they will send someone out to assist... haven’t seen any one yet come out to help... so there you are washing a man/woman whether you are comfortable with it or not...
Next, they hire constantly...there is a huge turnover ( by the way I will be leaving too), the caregivers I have seen are very young, very inexperienced, and lot of them affraid of their own shadows and the company puts them out there taking care of weak vulnerable people!
I have said to my family many times "there is something about this office, the way they run it, treat the caregivers, smooth talk the clients, something I was not able in the beginning to put my finger on”.. But I finally figured it out...They ARE all about the money. What they charge the client for home helper/companion/personal services is outrageous! The clientele they seem to get frequently are very medically needy…This is a NON MEDICAL COMPANY not a HEALTH CARE... We DO NOT provide medical advice, diagnose, change bandages, do wound care, clip nails, and dispense meds...so why are we as caregivers being sent out to these medically needy clients? Why is the client being charged the same as if an LPN is taking care of the client?
The pay, yes it sucks, it is very exhausting work at best, you are dealing with various stages of decline in elderly persons for hours on end, day after day... I am aware of what is being charged and by no means am I getting paid even half of the amount. Example; client charged $350 for 24hr care -caregiver receives (if doing the full 24hr) $145...but if they split it between two caregivers and now its 2-12hr shifts each cg gets $98.78... Ok mathematicians... divide that... barely minimum wage... 12/98.78 =$8.23hr... (I finally after a year in CA was making 9.78hr, with no flat rate positions/overnight or live-in shifts- In WA I on average will make $10.50hr for shifts under 12hrs... (Flat rates paid otherwise).
I do enjoy helping the elderly, I am all for those who would like to remain in their own homes to be able to provide some help that makes that possible, And I think what I do is invaluable to help the elderly, but I also am one of the minority that has gone on to get my CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant), I have CPR/First Aid training, I am always doing research and self studies on the internet that will help make me a better caregiver... but the bottom line is I still do not have a medical background, therefore some of the clients that Home Instead makes us take care of are way beyond our scope and either the client should be in a facility or the family should hire someone with a medical background like an LPN/RN.
I have experienced two companies in two States… and even though they are Franchises- but are to follow under one type of business guidelines… these are two VERY different companies. I am not saying that the one in CA is better, but certainly at the time I had no complaints while working there, least not like I do with the one I am currently at. I am a registered CNA, and I have to protect it, which is why I will not be staying with this company. I am afraid they will jeopardize my CNA for their profit.

Home Instead isn't who they say they are. Not just the clients some are good, but some of the office people have such a nasty attitude, and is phony. There are some good ones, but they dont respect their Caregivers, workers in a respectful manner, & they need workers just as much as the workers need to work. Attitude is KEY, stay professional and give your workers the respect, so they can perform much more quality work. Fayetteville NC

oops hire! its late give me a break =)

Hi Tuggle,
This company shouldn't even be administering drugs they can get sued for that if they told the family that the Caregiver could do such a thing...I worked for this company for a few years and they sent me to a client that needed more care than we're trained for and they didn't care they just wanted us to do it bc of the $$$ and they told me there was nothing I could do bc I threatened them that I was going to turn them in and they told me there was no evidence or notes stating that this was happening so basically telling me that I wasn't going to get far but they haven't heard the end of me yet.I think its so sad that they're doing this to families that are under stress and just reaching out thinking that their family member is going to be given the care they deserve for the price they're paying.DO NOT HIRED THIS COMPANY!

I am looking for someone to stay with my husband and I won't be using Home Instead! Good information!

Home Instead has a bad reputation because I have had several friends who had Home Instead with their family members and
ended up getting private help. I think the one in south Huntsville is the worse since I haven't heard anyting really bad from friends who had helpers from the Madison office. I know they call their workers in on short notice and promise vacation pay and overtime and the workers never see it but they charge the customers time and half for holidays. It is a bad outfit. There are others care giver services in Huntsville who are honest and really care. I will not ever use Home Instead for my family.

For $25k a month you would think the technicians would do more than just sit on the couch on their phones. I asked to have several techs be removed from the schedule and I've been ignored for months, in fact they put these people on the schedule more frequently knowing they do a poor job.

I've worked for many company's and many homes and believe me.I've seen it all, I've also walked out of company's because I havnt agreed with things I've seen or heard I've done car since I was 16 I'm now 34 and have recently this year started with Home Instead. I think the company is ran very well and they pride there selves on employing the right employees. We are never asked to go into a client if we have never been before we are always introduced and shown the ropes before any other call is carried out. Our clients have regular faces daily and all our clients are always notified of any changes. We as employees are looked after very well. We are always praised for the work we do and always rewarded if our work shows above and beyond. Home Instead is a company that always works together as a team to male both clients and staff as happy as they can.

Thank you for the advise because I am in the process of setting up a Home Care Agency . It seems current employee in our city is paid $9.50/hr
I hope we can pay the employee $11.50/hr if we can afford it. Because the start up cost to begin a Home care agency(non-medical) is about
125, 000-150, 000. I was told it 'll take 6-13 months before it can be up and running. We decide to go with a Consulting firm instead of a franchise.
We wants to help the seniors to remain home and help to provide jobs for the younger generation

People are inherently greedy...that being said, not all people are greedy. Franchises are like people, they are only as good as the people who run them. Before you sign a contract for services or take employment with one of them, do your homework.

Home Instead in Orlando FL dismissed 2 disabled srs, one was 94yrs old, the other was 61 with MS, both on oxygen, one with walker, other in wheelchair due to lies told by nurse called by former health care agency nurse and other lies told by owner of franchise of HomeInstead. Srs 1st would not let srs make appeal, now they are stranded and have not means of getting around, sad situation, both on pensions, no money for cabs, owner has no feelings for his clients only wants money. srs have tried to be signed up with Lynx by srs 1st haven't heard anything, no one is helping them.can anyone help? Dee and Adele

I called Home Instead to get a quote for a home caregiver for my great uncle in Southern California. And man was Home Instead expensive. I know they talk about screening their employees and all that but is it really worth DOUBLE what other people are charging? I'd love to hear anyone else's stories, but Home Instead should be called Poverty Instead.

Yes Home Instead Of Oakmont was very rude to me on the phone. Lisa I ask he about my care giver she told me to get another agency and don't forget to call the VA. Yes I'm a veteran and no one every talk to me like that Tom Holleran

I've read almost all these reviews, I just had a big disappointment with the 83814 branch. I know very well about the franchise gig; thank goodness some may be far more ethical, common sense inclined or worthwhile than others. I found basic desk staff to be grossly unresponsive (this is dangerous in itself depending on why you called to reach someone) and branch wasn't altogether forthcoming with me, tried to donkey tail pin certain jobs on me I could not align with the CAREgiver job descrip nor my rate of pay. When both myself and the clients I was basically heaved into capitulated to common sense and my own urgent incompatibility, and the owner disagreed, I was so lucky when the family pressed the worrisome issue. My biggest one with HISC here was obviously being ignored, but judging by the ownership from them I do question I would have gotten any strong resolution. Most of the CAREgiver jobs I was served were CNA cases...and my basic common sense relay is to pass along the advice to do your research, ask the fine print questions before you accept- with any homecare agency or job.

Home instead is the worst When I had concerns with the staff I made it known so that they could address and fix like not showing up to care for my mother and not letting me know until 30-45 minutes after the shift was to begin---but as soon as they have a concern they do not let you know so that you can address they just pulled out leaving my mother without care. The staff is not trained on anything other than house work I had to train on the hoyer and how to change my mother and her bed with her in it due to her being bedridden. What makes it so bad is that when I became aware of an issue (without any information from them) I brought it to their attention and fixed it within 24 hours. They are unprofessional, they clearly do not appreciate taking care or cleaning the behind of any person of color ( oh by the way I am African American) and they do as little as possible..DO NOT BELEIVE THE COMMERCIALS ! I have never felt about anyone the way I feel about these people right now.