SitterCity review: Service promised not provided 24

Like Geena20 my SitterCity account/profile was terminated. Unfortunately, unlike her I NEVER received notification of this termination from SitterCity by e-mail, letter or even voice-mail. Instead I found out when my employers sat me down one morning saying they got a SitterCity Notice that I was terminated, that it was for 3 possible reasons, (1. underage, 2. didn't clear background check, or 3. violation of SitterCity terms), that they shouldn't communicate with me, that SitterCity is just being careful, and that they're not implying that I'm a bad person. OMG! I was dumbfounded and sickened!?!? Since then I've gotten the run around via the help/support phone and e-mail from SitterCity. I am certainly not underage. Being TrustLine Certified my background check is far beyond anything SitterCity offers. So then it has to be terms. According to their "terms" I can be terminated with no reason at all and without notice. The worst part however is that they contacted EVERY single family I've ever communicated with via SitterCity over the years warning them of my termination like they did my current employers. I've since lost a referral family I've had on my resume as they won't answer my text and e-mail. I have yet to see the full extent of the repercussions of SitterCity's despicable business practices.

Sitter City is not a scam. Care.com is a scam. I have already booked two jobs through Sitter City, and I've only been a member for a few weeks. What does your profile look like? What kind of messages are you sending out?
That impacts the kind of response you receive. Judging from the complaints on here some of you were 1. applying to way too many jobs to have been able to send excellent first emails to potential clients and 2. Not giving the site enough time to really work for you. Are your certifications in order? Do you have a web presence? What does your profile look like? Do you have experience? All of these things will affect your ability to find work through the site. If you don't have the necessary tools, then you can't expect for people to just hand over their elders, children, or pets to you. It's really competitive, and people are looking for the best caretakers available, not someone who doesn't care about what they are doing, have little experience, and are just looking to make a quick buck.

I'm a parent and want to respond to those who haven't received replies to your applications. It's true that parents can post a job before they really know what they're getting themselves into. I'm currently in that position. I posted a job last week and have received about 9 responses. I'm interested in reaching out to 1 or 2 of them, but in order to even see an applicant's full profile and reply to them I have to pay $35 for one month, $70 for 2 months, or $140 for a year of membership. Again, that's just for the chance to respond - no guarantee the arrangement will work out. I could just put in a little bit more effort to find someone on Craigslist or through word of mouth for free. SItterCity is a decent service but is really really pricey for just the chance to see someone's full profile who applied. I'm sorry to all you caregivers who've applied to jobs with no response. I'd assume that's what's happening.

I've never had a problem with Sittercity in the past. I've had to wonderful jobs with two amazing families through them. However I was recently contacted by what seemed a legitimate family on Sittercity looking to move to my area wanting me to nanny for them. It has now turned out to be check fraud. Luckily the postal service was suspicious and alerted me. I've contacted the bank from which it came and they were able to verify its not a valid check. I've alerted the FTC and my local attorney general. I do feel Sittercity needs to be very wary of who is using their site because it poses quite the threat to those of us who are hard working and honest. I was lucky, some other sweet lady may not be. Girls, be careful out there.

Sittercity is not a scam., There may be some problems with the site.. but it definitely works. I only applied to 4 jobs and got an email in response almost immediately. I'm still currently working with the family I found through the site making $33.33 an hour as a Nanny to one child and a personal assistant to his expecting mother. I also never went through with the background check and still get offers on a weekly basis.

please take off the fakes..ASAP

I (8-29-14) just received from a person looking for a caregiver for there sister answered me by wanting to know my address, cell phone, email address, home address so they could send me a certificate check...sounds like the old scam to take there check to the post office and forward x amount to another for store survey's...Today is Saturday, 8-30-16 so there isn't anyone at sittercity...there are a lot of people in need of money as myself who don't have the street smarts...why is the government letting sitter city get away with this...U put yourself at fraud for doing this...this is getting so out of hand and these websites need to be checked by the government this site sitter city and care...because you have to not understand English answer these frauds ...what a shame and how horrible that this goes on and on without any supervision diana 16828@aol.com

Hello I was a member of sittercity for like a year I found nannies and it was ok for me as a sitehe but I have cancelled and they continue to charge me. I am really sick of this situation and I dont really find a phone number that I can dial from Canada. This is not ok. They should respect when people doesnt want the service anymore.

Having the same problem and it's extremely frustrating! Have applied to over 50 positions and have received only 2 responses!

I found a pet sitter although it turns out that she lives a lot further away than the site said she did, so I ended up paying extra in gas money, BUT that is not what has me so upset at sittercity.
I cancelled the service a month ago, but just found out that they had auto billed me again almost $40. I sent off an e-mail but got the form response back. It's too late to call anyone tonight, but I don't hold out much hope for a resolution by phone (the past two times I've called by phone you get stuck in an endless phone loop until you're disconnected). Sittercity thrives on charging 'fees' and add-ons' on both ends (sitters and posters).
Other people have said that it took them months to stop being auto billed and I just pray that I can get out of this mess as soon as possible and without too much damage to my bank account.

Sittercity terminated my account immediately I paid for my background check. I have never committed any criminal activity in my life and this is what I get and my report is all ruined by that agency for whatever reasons. I have done a lot of CORI checks at school and none of them ever came as a negative feedback.

This is the horrendous message I received from sittercity:

This message is to let you know that we have terminated your account on Sittercity.com. You should only have received this message if you have violated our Terms of Use. If you feel that we have made an error or that you have received this message incorrectly, please contact Sittercity.com customer service and we will look into the matter.
LexisNexis® Authentication & Screening, a consumer reporting agency, provided Sittercity with a pre-employment screening report in connection with your employment screening request. Sittercity’s decision to terminate your account was based in whole or in part on information contained in this report. LexisNexis® Authentication & Screening is located lat 700 East Technology Avenue, Building E. Suite 2200, Orem, Utah 94097 and can be reached at [protected].
LexisNexis® Authentication & Screening did not make the decision to take this action and cannot provide you with information about Sittercity’s decision. You, nevertheless, have a right to contact LexisNexis® Authentication & Screening to dispute any information in the pre-employment screening report that you believe to be inaccurate or incomplete.
You should already have received copies of any relevant reports, but have a right to obtain additional free copies from LexisNexis® Authentication & Screening. You have sixty (60) days from the date you receive this notice to request additional free copies of any such reports from LexisNexis® Authentication & Screening.
If you have violated Sittercity.com's Terms of Use, your account will now be inaccessible and we request that you not contact any Sittercity.com members. If you create a new account it may be terminated as well.
Sincerely,
Sittercity.com Customer Service

I believe sitter city is a total scam with the agency they use. This is so unfair! They probably sold my telephone number too because I keep getting text messages on my phone that say make $100 a day staying at home. If these companies are doing something wrong, I hope they get their ### sued!

Sittercity is not a scam! I am a graduate student and I signed up for sittercity a month ago after hearing about it from my classmates. I apply for about 5 jobs a week and have gotten 3 jobs total (3 different families) from it, and one of the families has already used me twice. My two classmates who also use it have also set up several regular gigs thru sittercity. I was browsing the profiles of the other sitters on the site and I was really surprised at how many people use incorrect grammar/spelling/punctuation/capitalization or speak in run-on sentences or "IM/text-speak". Treat your profile and applications like any other job application! Make sure your profile is complete, professional, and enthusiastic. When you apply for jobs, you are competing against many other qualified sitters, so tell the clients why you are the best person for the job. Parents are not going to want to leave you in charge of their precious children if it seems like you are careless with your application or if you write like you didn't pass 9th grade English. Don't mean to be snotty, just telling it like it is. Hope my tips helped. Even if they didn't, don't call this site a scam if you have not had luck. It's definitely not.

I work for Sittercity, and really, it is not a scam. I talk to a lot of people on a daily basis about the positions they have found through the website. Unfortunately, the job market is tough right now - we are not an agency, and we can not place you into positions or locate them for you. We do recommend the background check, but it is not required, and certainly not forced. Additionally, any and all email notifications can be turned off and on at your discretion. If you would like help with your job search, you can call me directly at [protected], ex: 4754. I can give you tips and suggestions that can help you to find a position.

I actually decided to pay and receive my background report. Once the results came back, sittercity terminated my account saying that I had violated the terms of their policy. Apparently the background report does not specify what happened if you had a violation. So the parents who look at this information get the wrong impression of you and ruin your reputation. I called LexisNexis and they requested a copy of my social and drivers license.

I also have not had any responses from parents. Sittercity is a waste of time.

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.

Oh and one more thing. The company they use: Lexis Nexis which checks your background info is a GREAT company that you can give your personal info to and trust completely. Why? Because just last year 32, 000 peoples' indenties were stolen because LexisNexis had a data breach and 32, 000 people had their personal infomation stolen and compromised. They sound like a secure company that you want to give all your personal data and info to ehh?

Same here! I signed up for Sittercity months ago. And paid for the background check. And guess what?! Not only am I apparently a man, a pedophile, a predator, and at the same time I don't exist. My social security number is "fake" apparently. But everywhere else from my other jobs, bank accounts etc. My background is fine and my SSN is FINE. And I'm not the only one with this problem. THOUSANDS of other people have been scammed into doing this background check and they get crap results that aren't even true. Because they require you and pretty much FORCE you to take a background check you get scammed out of your money and then get labeled as being dangerous. If you don't do the background check apparently from what they say NO ONE will hire you. Also, even though i got m s*hit results back from the outside company they use to run said background checks (LexisNexis). On my profile it still says processing. I have emailed and called countless times to get this cleared up. And I have been rudely hung up on and completely ignored. Their emails they send you are completely computer genereated uncaring and cold. To top it all off I've emailed nearly 50 familes and guess what? I haven't been contacted by NONE. And the best part is that they have sent me hundreds of bot generated emails every day telling me to get my background checked AGAIN to ensure that I recieve the best of their services and get the best experience. I HAVE gotten my background checked 4 times actually like they kept recommending me hoping that I would finally get cleared. And I paid them all 4 times for having to re-submit. And all 4 times my check came back as something completely different each time. How awesome huh? That I've been flagged 4 different times as 4 random different types of threats? Guess I have 4 other clones who've stolen my identity and are maliciously working against to ensure that I can't get a menail part time job and pay off student loans. OR it could be the stupid lazy practices of a stupid lazy company that doesn't bother to live up to what they boast about. "Caring about their employees". If they did - they would hire a better company that wouldn't sloppily handle your very personal and important information like your SSN. Yup that's how much they care about you.

I feel like its a scam too because I messaged over 30 families too and I got a background check on the site and It's been months and I didn't get any responses back.

I probably haven't applied to as many jobs as the other posters but I do find it discouraging when I write eager well intentioned coverletters to jobs and don't get any response. I even paid for the background check but I don't know if it was worth it.
If what ckc7 said about families having to pay $120 to see caregiver profiles is true that is pretty ridiculous.

Another thing that I do not like about the site is that you can't even see the contact information of other petsitters.

I have been using sittercity since 2006 when I went to school in New Hampshire and then again when I moved to San Diego and I have landed mutiple jobs in both states. I have found some great families and have nothing but positive experiences to report. However, my roommate did fall into a scam on sittercity where a guy who was supposedly "moving" to san diego sent her a check in the mail so she wouldnt work for another family. She was supposed to cash it, take half and use the other half to send to a toy company to stock the house with toys before the family moved out here. Bank of America luckily had the check flagged and let her know they were trying to scam her out of her own money. So beware of creeps on the site.

When you send an email to the parents, it cost them $120.00 to see your contact information. You have no way of knowing if it is a parent testing the site or a parent who has already paid for their service fee. They proably didn't contact you because they hadn't paid. $120.00 is too much

Thank you i also signed up with sittercity and i emailed over 30 families in the last 3months and i didn't get so much as a response.But every time you sign on you see they posting a ad for you to pay $10.00 for a background check.Why should i? i worked in a Daycare i had background check done plus finger printing done by the government to make sure i am fit to work with children. Like having a background check will tell the parents if your an honest babysitter that is reliable, show up on time, cook healthy meals !. Yes we all know that there are pedophiles out there but there state registry for that. If you check someone references that alone should be proof enough.
I don't even bother to go on that site one time there was a PT nanny position 1 mile from where i live in Brooklyn and you would think that the family WOULD INQUIRE about me since i am within proximity nothing.
What i think happens is that when people that don't do a background check with sitter city when you email parents looking for a nanny the email never reaches them.I know sitter city have to make money because they are offering a service but how about getting ads on your site or have parents pay a small fee for listing since you all seem to have so much in abundance.

I have since went back to craigslist and since i posted my ad looking for work within a week i was on an interview.I got calls and emails although some where on BS i still got some pretty good response back from parents. Sittercity is a waste of time if you don't pay for their background check.Consider yourself warned, they may appear free but it makes no sense that you send out to over 30 families and non interested. My profile is almost complete the only thing i didn't do was pay for the stupid background check. Sometimes you see the same parents posting their ad over and over, one minute their ad is gone because they find a sitter then 2 weeks later it is back. Sittercity in NEW YORK is not worth listing on.

Oh my gosh have I ever! And have so many other sitters, please you are not alone! When this ridiculous site finally addressed this issue of "no responses" they had around 50 complaints or comments ranging from Jan. 09 to June or July 09' before they took it down. SitterCity is famous for giving hints and suggestions to help us sitters "get on track" and land those jobs but I believe, as far as I know, most of us stay quite busy with families and have built up a wonderful clientele on our own by some means of our own before registering with them. They are just bombarded with "all about me" selfish, self-centered surburban moms thinking they need help on a whim and putting the word out to all of us. The only problem is when us qualified sitters apply, we do not even hear a "thank you for applying" but we have filled the job. I am launching a compliant with the BBB in their state so that some of the sitters feeling my anguish will have a chance to vent also. For me, it has been like e-mailing a ghosts or should I say many ghosts. This all has to be made up, we knock and there is no one there! I believe when the number of high qualified sitters deminishes from the site, SitterCity may suffer once and for all. Hmmm.

I work for Sittercity.com. I'm sorry you didn't get responses from any parents. Can I help you with your job search?

You can email me at suzanne (at) sittercity (dot) com