Care.com

I've used Care.com to get hired and also to hire other people many times over the past five years. I've never had a problem with either end of the process. I had a premium membership at one point, and when I canceled it they never changed me again, so I'm also not sure why people are having problems with that unless they're doing it wrong.

Some people who apply to jobs on this website are not the best, but if you hire somebody without doing an interview, background check, or asking for references, it's your fault. It's a public website. Anybody can make an account. You wouldn't just chose a roommate off Craigslist without meeting and getting to know them first, so I'm not sure why you would do the same with somebody who is going to be looking after your family and helping out around your house. If you're going to be letting somebody into your home from a public website, it's your job to be thorough and approve them, nobody else's.

As a care provider, you can sometimes get random text messages from numbers claiming to be associated with the website, saying they want your resume. They simply data mine your phone number from your account and are not actually a member associated with Care.com. Your phone number isn't viewable by anyone and is only used by the website to text you when you have a new message on the site, if you choose to enable that feature. As with every other website out there, if you get an unofficial message, ignore it. I just delete them without a second thought. They come once every few months or so, sometimes a bit more often. They're always ridiculous and I'm not sure why people even give them a second thought.

Anyway, a lot of these reviews are saying things that I've never experienced in the five years I've been using the website. Most of the negative comments seem to be due to user error.

I contacted two housekeepers but never heard back from either one

I've used the care.com app twice. First in 2019 and interviewed a handful and have hired a wonderful and attentive nanny. There was no issue in shutting off payment after the posting. It was listed in Apple subscriptions section and turned off. Take 2 in November 2020 I registered again to post a role, we ultimately removed it in November and I later checked my Apple subscriptions section again to make sure it wasn't there... well from December 2020 to Today July 2021 they have been deducting $43 every month claiming I signed up for a premium account to chat with providers. Where I hadn't used the app since November, hadn't received a SINGLE email informing of the monthly deduction (you know the way legitimate companies tell you monthly your going to be charged). I called billing... they refunded today's charge and said there's nothing to be done for all of the months they have withdrawn as they have a convenient "no refund" policy. To get me off the phone the billing associate said start a chat with care.com to see if anything further can be done. I asked directly which made her freeze... "your telling me customer care will have the ability to reverse charges, the actual billing department that you are in can not?" She stuttered for abit and said no they can't. My bank has a stop payment with them and I will continue to pursue a claim. It is amazing for me to make a job posting, deactivate it promptly after and a phone application claim for 6 months $43 a month ($258 total) is a perfectly reasonable amount of money to deduct from someone's account while providing NO SERVICE, ZERO legitimate billing and ZERO recourse.

My partner and I signed up for basic service with Care.com in 2018 to find a sitter for our 1 year old. We ended up hiring someone who, after two days, said she needed to quit. We never went back to this service after that. Then today I notice a charge on my credit card from care.com for $86. Confused I checked my email for anything from them and asked my partner if she did anything with them. Nothing from either, so I try to login and see that I have an active 'premium membership' that is billed quarterly. Sure enough, I see that I've been billed between $78 and $86 for this service 4x a year since 2018, despite never using the service and never receiving any emails to the email registered with the account about upcoming payments, account renewal, or anything at all. Not one email. This is a predatory billing practice that is hurting families instead of helping them. We are disgusted that a company with name 'care' and mission to help families find quality child care relies on such unethical billing practices to take money from families in need. Of course, upon reaching out to customer support via chat, because there is no phone support, I was just given a copy and paste of the ToS that states there are on refunds, accounts are auto-renewed via card on file, etc. Standard practice for these companies to justify their actions without considering the humans they are hurting. The support rep was kind enough to open a ticket with a supervisor which I appreciate. While I'm not feeling very optimistic there will be a satisfactory resolution here, which would be at least some of my $1500 + refunded, I am hoping they practice what they preach and care enough to do so.