Care.com Reviews – Scam or Legit? Exposed!

Are you looking for a Care.com review? But you may wonder if it is a scam.

We decided to look at it because my daughter had just received her babysitting certificate. But from the moment I started reading Care.com reviews, I felt like everyone was saying they were a scam.

In this review, I want to get to the bottom of things and determine if the rumors are true or not.

As a disclaimer, I’m not affiliated with Care.com. It means I’m not paid to write this review. So you can rest assured that you will get an honest and unbiased review from me.

At the end of this review, I’ll also tell you the best alternative to Care.com that has enabled me to make a full-time passive income online.

What Is Care.com?

Care.com is a platform for finding and hiring caregivers and matching them with families who need them.

Founded in North Waltham, Massachusetts, Care.com positions itself as a hub that connects families with babysitters. The company claims to have helped millions of families in more than 17 countries.

Online, caregivers can offer their services, availability and fees to families who could benefit from their care. Families can indicate their need for caregiver assistance, whether on an ongoing basis or for a one-time event like a date night. Those looking for a suitable caregiver can contact people they know in their area.

When thinking of Care.com, many people think of babysitters, but the organization helps a much wider range of caregivers. Care.com not only helps you find a babysitter, but also a nanny, a tutor, a senior care specialist, a house sitter, a pet sitter, and even someone to run errands for you.

Care.com can help you find a reliable person to assist you with your household duties, including taking care of your children and pets, as well as general cleaning and grooming.

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How Does Care.com Work?

Membership Fees

As a job seeker, you’ve the option of using Care.com’s free account or paying for a premium account with more features. If you’re interested, the prices are as follows: $39 for one month, $78 for three months and $156 for six months.

Background Checks

A criminal record check is an optional profile feature that applicants can purchase for a fee. At my previous retail job, it took about five weeks for my background check to be completed. 

So I was afraid to use this option, but Care.com took only thirty seconds to determine that I had no criminal record. Families are less likely to hire you if you do not have this verification.

How Do References and Reviews Work

The References section of Care.com is fairly straightforward: after you provide the company’s contact information, a phone interview with your former boss is arranged and the conversation is recorded for online publication. Other Care.com users can provide feedback in the form of a written review.

Calendar and Stats

There is a weekly calendar where you can indicate your availability, but I have observed that some parents do not even look at it before calling. A member’s page also displays data about the member’s response rate and the average response time to messages sent by other members.

Types of Jobs Are Available on Care.com

Many members use this category to offer their services as babysitters, nannies, pet sitters, senior caregivers or helpers for children with special needs. The nicest aspect is that your profile can be listed in as many different categories as you like.

Educational Requirements for Caregivers

Anyone qualified for the position they seek is welcome, although membership does not require strict qualifications.

When creating your profile, you should submit a detailed description of your skills and expertise, as well as screenshots of relevant certifications, background checks, and other documents. Some of your documents will need to be approved by Care.com staff.

A recent photo, references, and recommendations from previous jobs are also helpful.

How Much Can Care Providers Earn?

The hourly rate you charge as a care provider is entirely up to you and should be based on the going rates for your expertise and geographic area.

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Care.com Pricing

Two family membership plans and two care plans are available on Care.com.

Family Basic Membership: FREE

Basic membership is free for households. With the free membership you can do the following on the website:

• Create a free account
• Create a job offer
• Search and explore profiles of caregivers in your area.
• View profiles of caregivers who have applied to your job posting.
• Send automatic “No, thank you” messages to caregivers you do not want to hire.
• Use the site’s tools and resources

Family Premium Membership: $12.99 – $38.99/month

A monthly premium membership costs $38.99, a three-month subscription costs $78 ($25.99/month), and an annual membership costs $156 ($12.99/month).

To summarise what you can do on the site with a premium membership:

• All the benefits of basic membership plus…
• Ability to contact caregivers directly to schedule an interview
• Request access to background check results.
• Viewing and responding to caregiver applications and messages.
• The ability to subscribe to the Unlimited Background Checks add-on
• Participation in the LifeMart discount program
• Discounts on HomePay tax services are available.

Caregiver Basic Membership: FREE

Caregivers have the option to sign up for a free basic membership. With the free membership you can do the following on the website:

• Create an account and fill out your profile.
• Personalize your public profile
• Search and apply for caregiver jobs.
• Ability to reply to premium members looking for caregivers
• Get paid securely with no additional processing fees.
• Use the tools and resources of the site

Caregiver Premium Membership: $10 – $20/month

The monthly cost for a Caregiver Premium membership is $20, $15 for three months and $10 for six months.

When you upgrade to a Caregiver Premium Membership, you gain access to exclusive features such as:

• With a premium badge, you will be highlighted in search results.
• Receive priority job alerts
• Send and receive messages from family and friends.
• Waive the annual examination fee
• Participate in the LifeMart discount program

Free Membership vs. Premium Membership

Care.com’s free offer is nowhere near as good as it should be. You can set up a free basic membership that allows you to post jobs, search for qualified candidates, and receive applications from caregivers in your area. If you want to communicate with the recruiters and job seekers who contact you, you’ll need to upgrade to the premium membership.

If you cancel the services before the end of your membership, you will be charged for the entire duration of your membership. 

Care.com will automatically renew your subscriptions without further notice. For this reason, you should expect to spend more money on the services than you actually want to.

Care.com Additional Features

The way the different online marketplaces cater to the needs of the customers varies greatly. Read on to learn about some of Care.com’s unique capabilities.

Rate Calculators

It can be challenging to set a fair price for your caregiving services when you are just starting out in this field. Paying someone for house sitting or dog walking can also be difficult.

Fortunately, Care.com offers a number of rate calculators that allow you to tailor your search to your specific needs, including the type of care you need, the number of hours per week, the type of services you need and your geographic location. This prevents you from paying either too much or too little for the service.

Helpful Blog

Care.com is unique because here a specialized team of parenting writers writes about everything related to care. This blog is divided into four sections:

• Child Care
• Senior Care
• Home Care
• Pet Care

You can browse a categorized collection of articles, topics, and guides in each of the available “verticals” The content in each section is also organized by categories of interest to both patients and the family members who care for them.

There’s something for everyone on the Care.com blog, whether you’re looking for new ideas for entertaining children or preparing for a career in pet care.

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Is Care.Com Safe?

The most important aspect of Care.com’s security is to make sure you let someone into your life who’s trustworthy. Care.com’s safety page is a great place to get information on how to find the right caregiver for your family.

Care.com is aware of the anxiety that can come with taking the first steps toward working professionally with a stranger you’ve only met online. Both family members and professional caregivers are provided with guidelines on how to maintain their personal safety during the conversation. They include information on how to read profiles, make contact, and use a background check wisely.

The page dedicated to safety also includes frequently asked questions for both care recipients and providers. The answers to the frequently asked questions are very detailed, so you probably won’t need to contact customer service.

Care.com Reviews and Complaints

In reviewing hundreds of reviews, I had hoped to find some positive feedback; however, I was disappointed that there were relatively few people who had anything positive to say.

There are more than 1200 reviews on sitejabber alone… They’ve the lowest possible rating of one star, and over a thousand people have given them that rating.

The Better Business Bureau has over 600 complaints, and there are another 220 bad reviews compared to only one positive (at the time of writing).

I tend to view claims of fraud and unfavorable reviews with skepticism and give the company the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure Care.com employs many wonderful people, but these problems usually stem from a lack of effective communication.

Is Care.com a Scam?

Care.com has been called a scam in a number of online reviews and comments on sites like Reddit, Facebook and other social media platforms.

Although I am unable to verify these claims, it is worth noting that Care.com is a publicly traded company that employs more than 500 people and generates hundreds of millions in annual revenue. So it’s not a complete scam (the kind of fake website that drains your bank account and disappears in the night).

However. Like other job boards, Care.com is unregulated, which means scammers can post ads to get you to share personal information or cash fraudulent checks.

There have also been reports of employers who have hired caregivers who turned out to be thieves.

A lot has been written about Care.com scams on the Internet. However, this does not prove that Care.com is a fraudulent company.

It is safe to use Care.com because it is a reputable company.

Background Checks

With burglars in mind, a prerequisite for creating your profile (as a caregiver) is a background check.

Care.com offered a service to help you acquire one.

However, Care.com settled a lawsuit in early 2018 for $480,000 in compensation, alleging that the company misrepresented its background check product. There was a lawsuit filed due to customer concerns.

Care.com has been a public company for more than a decade and is not something I would call a scam.

However, all the complaints, recent litigation and ongoing payment issues raise the possibility of deceptive practices. I’ll leave that to you to judge.

What I Like About Care.com

• I admire the “idea” of creating a place where families and caregivers can come together… but it’s obviously more difficult in practice than in theory.
• The Care.com website is clear and easy to use.

What I Don’t Like About Care.com

• I am overwhelmed by the amount of bad reviews and complaints.
• People looking for work are being accused.
• Potential scammers and criminals in the market… Care.com unequivocally states that they do not hire, endorse or recommend caregivers or care seekers.

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Alternatives To Care.Com

Although Care.com dominates the market, it is by no means the only way to find a caregiver. Consider the following alternatives when searching for a caregiver or placing an ad for your services.

SitterCity.com

SitterCity.com is aware of the need to screen potential sitters to find reliable ones. There is a four-step process to help you select the best candidate.

Applicants should go through SitterCity.com’s four-step interview process, which consists of an internal screening, an in-person interview, a reference check, and a background check. 

SitterCity.com offers background checks for $15, which is less than Care.com. If a sitter already has a clean record, you do not have to spend more money for the service.

UrbanSitter.com

Remember when you had to ask around for a good babysitter? Since word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising, this makes perfect sense. With UrbanSitter, you can find a reliable babysitter without having to borrow a nanny from a friend.

Through UrbanSitter.com you can find reliable babysitters suggested by your friends and family. All it takes to register is either Facebook or LinkedIn, and the site will then compile a list of potential prospects based on your social graph.

The best part is that there is no cost involved in using the website in any way, neither for registering, nor for communicating with or hiring a caregiver. For this reason, it is one of the most cost-effective options available.

GreatAuPair.com

A foreign exchange student or “au pair” is a term rarely heard in everyday conversation in the United States. The term “live-in nanny” (or “live-in nanny”) is commonly used throughout Europe and means essentially the same thing.

The American organization GreatAuPair.com makes it easier for host families to find au pairs. 

Since their inception in 2001, they have matched hundreds of au pairs with host families across the country and around the world. You do not have to worry about running background checks because the team screens all possible au pairs.

If you or a loved one need comprehensive medical care, this is a fantastic choice.

Care.com Reviews: Final Verdict

In my view, a workplace culture that requires job seekers to pay for help in finding work is less than ideal.

The numerous complaints and subsequent lawsuit alleging fraudulent representation of background check services support this theory.

I understand that making a profit is important, but I also believe that how a company treats its employees and customers is equally important.

If you are a caregiver looking for extra income, taking online surveys on sites like surveyjunkie.com is an alternative. Earn money with inboxdollars.com by doing simple online activities like googling, visiting websites and watching videos.

If you run an online business, you have the opportunity to earn a good income. Let me tell you the best way to make money online in the next section.

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Best Alternative of Care.com to Make Passive Income

If you want to make a stable and secure stream of passive income, I would suggest you start an affiliate marketing business online.

Affiliate Marketing is perfect for anyone who is new to online business. 

In fact, of all the online business models I’ve tried, affiliate marketing is the easiest and most rewarding so far.  

In affiliate marketing, you can actually run your business almost with zero cost and achieve a steady and sustainable passive income to pay for your bills. You don’t need any initial capital and can even do it as a side hustle.

And if you really want to learn affiliate marketing and build a business from scratch, I’d recommend you to get started with the most reputable platform for affiliate marketing: Wealthy Affiliate.

Wealthy Affiliate is an all-in-one platform for building your affiliate marketing business from scratch. It offers you a free account (including a free website) with comprehensive training on SEO (free traffic methods), which enables you to get started with affiliate marketing right away without paying a penny.

But How Much Can You Earn with Wealthy Affiliate?

A 21-year old student from Wealthy Affiliate was able to earn $7,395 in just 1 week, which means he made more than $1k a day…all while using free traffic methods.

Wealthy Affiliate has existed for 15 years and there are many success stories in the past decade.

To give you more examples, here are some of the other inspiring success stories of Wealthy Affiliate members.

Where to Join Wealthy Affiliate?

Wealthy Affiliate has a very simple pricing scheme. It has free and premium membership.

If you want to feel about Wealthy Affiliate, you can sign up for the free starter membership here (no credit card required). You can select to be a free member with no time limit.

And as a starter member, you can get instant access to the community, live chat, over 500 training modules, 2 classrooms, networking, commenting, 1 free website, access to the keyword tool.

You can enjoy all these values without paying a penny. 

So I strongly recommend you to register a free account and see it yourself.

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