Review Insights · App Store
Care.com: Hire Caregivers
Care.com, Inc. · 35,614 ratings · ★ 4.3
4.3
★★★★★
35,614 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 82 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"care"
23 negative reviews mention this · 28% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Seems great. Two weeks back surgery post op. We signed up for care while my wife returns to the office 3 days a week. We did this last week when we found out about the service. Tonight I received an email saying they had no care givers. This has pla…" - Onelegkev
2
"service"
15 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Seems great. Two weeks back surgery post op. We signed up for care while my wife returns to the office 3 days a week. We did this last week when we found out about the service. Tonight I received an email saying they had no care givers. This has pla…" - Onelegkev
3
"subscription"
14 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Good luck canceling your subscription!. I disputed the charges after numerous attempts to cancel through the app. Since I didn’t screenshot or document my attempts to cancel, American Express was unable to refund without documentation. You can post a job at no cost; however, to…" - AliciaBeale
4
"refund"
13 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "No refunds, hard to use. They charge you as soon as you try to contact a caregiver. Then they charge you again to provide a background check. All of this before you even got a chance to talk to an actual caregiver. After paying, I spent several days trying to find …" - Adraj777
5
"been"
13 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Accountant cancelled based on a false claim. We had a young woman come to our home to ‘interview’ for a nanny position. She ended up making a police report against us for ‘child abuse’ when my husband warned our granddaughter she’d ‘get a pinch’ if she didn’t stop throwing toys. A PIN…" - dee larsen
6
"account"
12 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Expensive and not helpful!. You have to pay just to message people on this app, which is ridiculous considering how poor the quality is. The caregivers we found would schedule interviews, take our information, confirm the time, and then completely ghost. No call, no s…" - RiLea114
7
"people"
11 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Fix Your App!. Probably one of the most frustrating apps I have ever had to use. The whole first tab has never loaded since downloading the app. The app is extremely slow to load anything and several times images of people appear on other people’s profi…" - Chad Smyth
8
"money"
11 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I want a refund. Zero response messaged 10 different sitters nobody is trying to make money. This app is a joke" - BoofSnack
9
"scam"
11 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Fraud. I paid for monthly, and after a while they just closed my account, this is a scam" - mia125mia
10
"does"
10 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Fix Your App!. Probably one of the most frustrating apps I have ever had to use. The whole first tab has never loaded since downloading the app. The app is extremely slow to load anything and several times images of people appear on other people’s profi…" - Chad Smyth
11
"work"
10 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Works Perfectly Until The Most Important Moment. Followed every single step to post my ad FOUR times only for the app to crash right as i hit post. Does not save ad" - JessSmallNC
12
"customer"
10 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "No refunds, hard to use. They charge you as soon as you try to contact a caregiver. Then they charge you again to provide a background check. All of this before you even got a chance to talk to an actual caregiver. After paying, I spent several days trying to find …" - Adraj777
📋 All 82 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Works Perfectly Until The Most Important Moment
Followed every single step to post my ad FOUR times only for the app to crash right as i hit post. Does not save ad
Can’t even log in
The app always says “try again later” when I try to log in. I even waited a week and tried again to see if something was temporarily broken. Nope, it just doesn’t work.
No refunds, hard to use
They charge you as soon as you try to contact a caregiver. Then they charge you again to provide a background check. All of this before you even got a chance to talk to an actual caregiver. After paying, I spent several days trying to find a nanny, but they don't reply to my messages. I asked for a refund to customer service, but they say they don't do refunds. Customer service is just a bot. This is the kind of app you can build over a weekend by vibe coding with AI. No real value.
didn’t help so don’t waste your time
finding childcare around me is really hard because daycare’s have waitlist and fees and bad reviews, etc. I’m also just not ready for my son to go to daycare. So I thought this would help.. not really sure why because when I was trying to BE a babysitter for this app, I had the worst experiences. But I still gave it a shot as someone looking for a babysitter.. literally nobody applies for your job and then when you go looking for the caregivers yourself to contact them, you have to pay 50 bucks plus and even that doesn’t help because they still don’t respond to you. And then the ones that do respond to you say different information than their profile says. Like I chose someone that had a starting rate of $14 an hour and they told me it’s $20 an hour and it’s gonna go up depending on how far away they drive to me on top of that they saw what I needed and they’re availability match with what I needed, but they changed it when we were talking. Honestly, not worth it didn’t help and I’m still searching for childcare just like I was still searching for a job when I was trying to be a babysitter for them.
I want a refund
Zero response messaged 10 different sitters nobody is trying to make money. This app is a joke
Expensive and not helpful!
You have to pay just to message people on this app, which is ridiculous considering how poor the quality is. The caregivers we found would schedule interviews, take our information, confirm the time, and then completely ghost. No call, no show, nothing.
There are zero consequences for this, so people can waste your time as much as they want. What exactly are you paying for? Because it is not reliability, accountability, or actual help.
Not to mention this is a safety issue. You are expected to share personal information just to interview someone for a very sensitive role, yet there is no accountability when they disappear. That is not a risk anyone should have to take.
This service is overpriced, frustrating, and full of people who do not follow through. Total waste of money. I wish I could give zero stars
There are zero consequences for this, so people can waste your time as much as they want. What exactly are you paying for? Because it is not reliability, accountability, or actual help.
Not to mention this is a safety issue. You are expected to share personal information just to interview someone for a very sensitive role, yet there is no accountability when they disappear. That is not a risk anyone should have to take.
This service is overpriced, frustrating, and full of people who do not follow through. Total waste of money. I wish I could give zero stars
Lost class action lawsuit
Just be careful when you give them your personal information, and bank account details or card number. They will charge you even after canceling it. They already lost a class action lawsuit for this same exact reason, and they still doing the same exact thing. Then when you send them a screenshot and confirmation of the cancellation, they don’t respond. They are just a bunch of dirtbags. I wish you good luck with your next lawsuit, “care” dot com
Accountant cancelled based on a false claim
We had a young woman come to our home to ‘interview’ for a nanny position. She ended up making a police report against us for ‘child abuse’ when my husband warned our granddaughter she’d ‘get a pinch’ if she didn’t stop throwing toys. A PINCH!!!!! The police officer called. He was so annoyed that this was an abuse allegation but was doing his job by following up with us. He assured me this was IN NO WAY abuse & that legally in our state we can spank our own children- which we actually DO NOT DO! The case was closed after a 5 minute conversation with the officer. Our account was closed simply based on this RIDICULOUS allegation of abuse. Instead of asking our side, Care.com closed our account & emailed any other prospective Nannie’s that they may want to reconsider interviewing with us. I worked as a Foster Care Worker with kids who had been removed for abuse/neglect- horrors that would shock most folks, so to be lumped in with that for the threat of a pinch on the bottom of a toy throwing toddler is insane, & wholly unbelievable & unacceptable. I appreciate wanting children safe- 100%, but follow up with the folks you cancel on who have ZERO recourse. Unfair. Unbalanced & malicious. If I could give minus 5 stars I would.
Good luck canceling your subscription!
I disputed the charges after numerous attempts to cancel through the app. Since I didn’t screenshot or document my attempts to cancel, American Express was unable to refund without documentation. You can post a job at no cost; however, to be able to message you have to get the premium subscription. I feel like it’s a sham because even if you don’t hire anyone from care.com you’ll have spent hundreds of dollars in subscription fees.
Fraud
I paid for monthly, and after a while they just closed my account, this is a scam
Slow App
Is it just me or the app and their website is extremely slow? I’ve been waiting for over an hour for verity my profile (I’m still waiting). I can’t even contact any caregiver; I’m extremely disappointed.
Terrible app, scam!
Paid for 3 month sub, now when I try opening the app, it keeps loading (3 dots moving)
App not working
After paying $50 a month for full access and usage, the app is not working. I’m unable to use the app and have to go to the website to view anything.
Months and multiple calls
After months of waiting and multiple calls with multiple care reps, all back up care reimbursement claims rejected. Waste of time and total scam.
My account was canceled with no explanation.
My account was canceled with no explanation. So, I emailed them and no response from them. Horrible customer service and company!
Expensive monthly subscription
You go through the trouble of finding care then when you try to contact anyone, it tells you you need to buy the subscription
HORRIBLE
The amount of times I need to input my information can’t continue onto the next screen makes this app completely not usable. Maybe it’s desktop friendly but as far as mobile goes, it’s useless.
Extremely low quality app with very high price tag
Customer support chat is poor quality. Query options are very low quality. Speed is low quality. Overall lowest quality app at the highest price point. It will get knocked off very, very soon!
Very poor pricing information
Care.com is very unreliable when it comes to pricing! Most service providers on care.com are quoting $30/hr and when you try and hire the they are asking for $60-$70/hr, it’s an incredible waste of time engaging with service providers on the platform
Definitely not worth paying for.
I contacted several people on this app. All of them have replied back but none have followed through with their appointments. They either said that they would show up and then didn’t or they stopped replying or “let me get back to you”.
DO NOT GET THIS APP OR PAY TO SUBSCRIBE!!!
This is a horrible cheat of an app. There are no jobs. The customer service is horrible. Even when I asked for a refund. DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR USE THIS STUPID AND USELESS APP. And do not pay for using it! It’s horrible. A waste of time and money!!!
Terrible
Hard to use; tried to delete my account and was prompted to unsubscribe through Apple, but had never subscribed through Apple. No instructions for browser. Got an email asking me to verify my identity in order to get help to delete an account. Still shows as a premium membership despite my removing my payment 2 months ago because I couldn’t find any help. Cost over a hundred dollars for no babysitter and a difficult deletion process.
costly
it’s not a free app, you can use it for a bit but you can’t use any of its features without paying fee
Does not care about the treatment of caregivers
I reported a parent for wage theft and recording me without my consent to care.com. I spoke to them in an email and a live chat and reported it and sent them proof and nothing was done about it. I’ve referred all of my friends to this app and they’ve all been using it but the fact that they just do not care about their caregivers that are helping them make the app a better place is crazy to me. It’s honestly ridiculous. If you are a nanny or caregiver, just know that they only care about money and will not watch out for you at all! So beyond infuriating!!
In app purchases not available.
The app says it has in-app purchases, but when you try to purchase, it takes you to an external website and asks for your credit card info.
Clunky Poorly Made App
So many issues and errors with this app that I cannot remember them all.
I’ve been using this app for years, and I only put up with them because there are only a few options like this on the marketplace.
It’s clear their software engineers and product managers are B or C grade players that don’t know how to run an app properly.
Not only that, sometimes I’ll post a job, and it’ll get approved. Then I’ll only edit the date or time for the job, and their team will reject it. Does their approval team have major reading comprehension difficulties? It seems like it.
Again, I cannot stand this app.
I’ve been using this app for years, and I only put up with them because there are only a few options like this on the marketplace.
It’s clear their software engineers and product managers are B or C grade players that don’t know how to run an app properly.
Not only that, sometimes I’ll post a job, and it’ll get approved. Then I’ll only edit the date or time for the job, and their team will reject it. Does their approval team have major reading comprehension difficulties? It seems like it.
Again, I cannot stand this app.
Still won’t let me log in
New version of app still won’t let me log in. You guys should fire your app developers, having a broken app in this modern day and age (especially with the existence of AI tools) is ridiculous.
Worthless and hard to use
The app is impossible to use if you don’t pay an ungodly amount for a subscription. And people can “apply” for “jobs” that you don’t even realize you’ve posted but then you can’t read their application until you pay. Such a scam.
Don’t use this app
I never used this app and they still charged me for it. When I asked for a refund they said no refund would be issued because it was against their policy to issue refunds. Worst childcare app ever!!!
Get verified button won’t work
Going through the troubleshooting is not worth the effort
Frustrating
I have been with Care.com over 10 years. I’ve spent four days and hours on the phone trying to figure out issues with my account. Nobody seems to be able to help. This is my livelihood and my reputation, very disappointed.
Not usable
The app does not synch with the website. We are unable to pull up our current openings, applications, and messages. As Care has expanded their offerings, the quality has gone down. Opened a ticket with tech support and it’s been three weeks without a response.
Stay away
Such a disappointing website
Ridiculous Paywall
The app is virtually unusable without a subscription. Defeats the entire purpose of posting a listing if you cant contact anyone or even read what they sent you when they apply. Very disgusted with the money grab structure of this site… especially considering I was on care before as a teen/young adult and don’t remember their being this huge paywall… I suppose every company is jumping on this subscription for everything bandwagon … highly disappointing.
MEMBERSHIP SCAM
The care.com app was only supposed to charge $60 for their membership, for some reason they charged it twice upon signing up. Their customer service is impossible to reach and they don’t care that they stole from you. $120 for nothing lol garbage app
Dog Care - Don’t Use This App
This is a terrible app for dog care. Perhaps if you need child or elderly care it’s beneficial, but the lack of dog care support is disappointing.
Plus, I sincerely hope that Care.com never has a data breach, because you share so much personal information with them, it’s alarming.
Plus, I sincerely hope that Care.com never has a data breach, because you share so much personal information with them, it’s alarming.
Account suspended before I finished signing up
I tried signing up a bit ago and once I paid for the background check my account was immediately suspended, my background is completely clean I’m freshly out of college and haven’t even gotten a speeding ticket I just have a hyphenated last name that occasionally gives me trouble with these kinds of things. I have been reaching out for months trying to have the issue resolved and haven’t even gotten a response.
Scammers
Canceled my subscription because of all the hidden fees and they didn’t even refund me for the months I didn’t use. Shady behavior.
TERRIBLE APP - CHARGES $60 AND DOESN’T WORK
They charged me over $60 for a month of subscription and deleted my account immediately after creating a part-time nanny job posting - with no explanation. THEY WOULD NOT RESTORE THE ACCOUNT OR REFUND ME!!! THEY TOLD ME TO CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT AND BUY A SUBSCRIPTION AGAIN!!
SCAM ALERT! Beware of your card info and ID info!!!!
SCAM ALERT! Beware of your card info and ID info!!!!
TOTAL SCAM!!!
I paid $70, created a job posting, in 2 days there was no applicants. I tried to invite more people and it let me invite 3 per day. After 3 days they just deleted my account and sent me an email that I have to create a new one and basically start everything from scratch. The worst thing I’ve ever tried for hiring nanny.
They also NEVER refunded me!!!!!!
They also NEVER refunded me!!!!!!
Total waste of time and money
Unable to provide viable candidates for nannying. Overall terrible app background checks do not imply that they’re eliminating anybody just says that they’re doing them and you cannot review the background check to even see what it comes up with. I would not trust this site or the caregivers on it
Fraud
This app is absolute garbage. The company has already been sanctioned by the FTC for fraudulent business practices. I encourage everyone who has been wronged by the company to file complaints with the better business bureau, the FTC, and your local attorney general. You can also ask your credit card company for a chargeback since they refuse refunds even when the platform does not function.
Our collective action can make a difference and stop this company from preying on families.
Our collective action can make a difference and stop this company from preying on families.
Reg app to Beta UAT version overnight?
Regular Care App worked pretty well & appreciate the service immensely! Only issue I have is with the background check visibility…if you purchase an extended check, there is no mechanism to track its status except to call/chat with someone from Care. You can’t even see to be sure your candidates have submitted all the info needed.
The reason for 1 star: I woke to having a Beta UAT version this morning that I cannot log into when I had the regular app working fine last night. Am in the midst of my first nanny search before the holidays…this is stress I didn’t need. What gives?!!
The reason for 1 star: I woke to having a Beta UAT version this morning that I cannot log into when I had the regular app working fine last night. Am in the midst of my first nanny search before the holidays…this is stress I didn’t need. What gives?!!
New update has broken app
Can’t log in. It says I need a VPN connection to access and why is does the app logo have “beta” in it when it has been out a long time? Please fix.
The cancel button doesn’t work
The cancel button doesn’t work. They operate like a gym. Would never use them again.
Rip off service due to auto renewal
No refund policy on an autorenewal that I never got an email for reminding me… I hadn’t used the service for a year after signing up (which they could see on their end) and refused to refund me the almost $200. It’s a sneaky way to take people’s money and it’s wrong. We are humans with busy lives and deserve a grace period for a refund-even as I contacted them within the week of the renewal. They refused. I’m done using them and with issues in the past with their messaging platform-I will stick to Facebook local to me Sitter groups. Free. I would rather pay extra with another service for the background checks etc then deal with these crooks again. No refund policies are just stealing.
I paid them for everything they asked for
They did not ever get back to me! Do not trust this app it’s a scam!
GARBAGE APP & no customer service.
The app doesn’t work and even if you finally do get a response from the care team, you get no resolution. I’ve wasted a month now trying to report the app glitch. The developers supposedly can’t figure it out. That has cost me time and potential new clients. Dont waste your money.
NOT WORKING TOOK MY MONEY
I am very upset I downloaded this app looking for work everything was working just fine then I paid for the membership and now I can’t get on the app only from Google then Google tell you it only work through the app I didn’t have money to waste like that and I’m very disappointed
Does work as advertised
They advertise is easy to get help but is not, try getting help for 2 months no a single caregiver. I finally decided to give up and cancel my subscription and they do not wanted to refund my money and on top of it when ask for the reason they keep said because our policy when ask what are you refund policy they refuse to mentioned them and said they are confidential.
+ 32 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
82%
Positive (4-5★)
5%
Neutral (3★)
13%
Negative (1-2★)