Sittercity vs Care.com? If you are not sure which of these two online sitter services you should join, then this article is for you.
In this article, I will provide you a point-by-point comparison of Sittercity and Care.com. By the end of this article, you’ll be able to decide and start looking for sitters to help you with your family’s needs.
So which service is best for you? Read on to find out.
Here’s what some parents have to say about this article:
“I’m glad I came across your exhaustive article on Sittercity and Care.com. That was truly very helpful. Keep up the great work!” – Elissa T.
“Wow, it seemed like you really spent some time researching the various online child care services. I really appreciate it.” – Alyssa H.
“Thanks for the excellent information you just shared about the service. I wouldn’t have been able to find a sitter if it wasn’t for your review.” – Katherine J.
Sittercity Limited Time Offer: Save Up To 65% With Our Value Plans
Table Of Contents
Highlights Of Review
- The key factors which were considered for this review were as follows: market leadership, ease of use of the service, background checking features of the site, availability of qualified sitters, the price of the service, customer feedback, and other features of the services.
- In terms of ease of use of the service, both Care.com and Sittercity have done an excellent job with their search platform. You can really refine your search results and find a good list of candidate profiles to review.
- Regarding background checking, there is a distinct difference in the pricing schedules, with Sittercity having a more reasonable pricing schedule compared to Care.com. Summary pricing of background checks is provided for both.
- When evaluated based on the available qualified sitters, Sittercity had more sitter results for 7 of the 10 metropolitan areas in the sample search areas based on our specific set of search filters.
- In terms of price points, both Care.com and Sittercity have exactly the same price points for their premium membership plans. Basic access is free for both, which is really a great way to test their services. A summary table of price points is provided. Sittercity currently has a limited-time special promo of up to 65% discount on their plans.
- With regards to the quality of sitters, this is a subjective matter and may vary from person to person, depending on a family’s needs, requirements for a sitter, and the type of person that they get along with. Based on customer feedback from moms who have used both services, Sittercity appears to have more positive feedback and better word-of-mouth buzz compared to Care.com. It also appears that there are significantly more complaints about Care.com than Sittercity.
- Important tips are provided with regards to how to best use these services.
- Warnings on certain things that you will have to watch for when using these two services are provided. This is definitely a must-read.
- Lastly, the service I decided to use for my family is revealed.
Sittercity vs. Care.com: How They Started
Meet Alicia and Laura. Both of them are mothers who found sitters to care for their babies using the services of online child care providers. The difference between them is that Alicia found her trusted and caring sitter for her twins on Sittercity while Laura found her dependable and loving sitter for her baby on Care.com.
Alicia and Laura are just two examples of the millions of people who now use Sittercity and Care.com for their childcare needs.
With the increasing popularity of online sitter services, there has been an influx of players in the market. A few are truly market leaders that employ some of the best practices to help you find trusted and reliable child care while a lot of the second-tier services are not even worth seriously looking into.
For this review, we will only be focusing on Sittercity and Care.com.
Before we provide you with a side-by-side comparison of Sittercity and Care.com to help you make an informed decision as to which you should use for your family’s childcare needs, here is a quick backgrounder on these two services.
» Sittercity, the inventor of online caregiving and America’s largest online sitter service, was started by Genevieve Thiers back in 2001 while she was a Boston College student. This online sitter service was modeled by Theirs after successful online dating services wherein those who need babysitters are matched with those willing to provide the service.
From its small initial base of clients in the Boston area, Sittercity has grown tremendously. The company now serves more than 7 million users in cities across the United States. Sittercity’s scope of offerings includes sitters, nannies, pet sitters, and senior care.
Watch the video to learn more about Sittercity.
Sittercity has a network of more than a million caregiver profiles nationwide, and helps families and individuals across America find the perfect in-home care provider quickly, easily, and safely. Sittercity’s care seekers can use the company’s four-step screening process, which includes checking references, reading caregiver reviews, conducting interviews, and utilizing access to background checks.
The company sends out alerts regarding updates on the babysitters that match your criteria as well as promotions on various retail and family services.
» Care.com was founded by mom and entrepreneur Sheila Marcelo back in 2006. Since its launch, Care.com has become one of the largest and fastest-growing sitter and care services in the US. The service provides families an online place to find high-quality caregivers, as well as easily connect, share care-giving experiences, and get advice from the community of parents on the site.
The company addresses a wide range of care needs that each family goes through — child care, special needs care, tutoring and lessons, senior care, pet care, housekeeping, and more.
Watch the video to learn more about Care.com
The service helps families find and select the best care possible based on detailed profiles, background checks, and references for hundreds of thousands of mom-reviewed providers who seek to share their services.
The site also has special needs care services to help address the distinctive care needs of this significant yet often overlooked segment of the population.
Through its Care.com for Recruiters service offering, Care.com also enables companies to find high-quality caregiving employees. Care.com provides the following: a strict screening process, background checks, and feedback from parents on a person’s performance, personality, character, etc.
Key Factors To Consider When Evaluating An Online Sitter Service
There are a lot of factors that you might have in mind when considering an online sitter service to use. For us, we think that some of the important factors to consider are as follows:
» Proven market leaders. For us, we think that it is important to go with market leaders cause these online sitter services have proven their technology and are the trailblazers in the industry. These market leaders are usually well-funded and have more staying power.
You can therefore be assured that for as long as you need sitters, these online sitter services will continue to be around.
From our perspective, the more choices you have to choose from, the better. Furthermore, the more filtering capabilities a search platform can provide you, the better chance you have of finding a potential quality candidate that fits your needs.
» Ease of use. Since these services are meant to make the search for sitters easy and convenient, you would definitely want to use a service that has a platform that is easy and simple to use. Who needs a complicated platform for search? Not us and we assume, not you.
» Background checking feature. Since you will be entrusting your kids or loved ones to someone that you barely (or do not) know, it is best to go with online sitter services which provide affordable and comprehensive background and security checks to help you assess and choose the best candidates.
This is definitely a very important factor to consider since this concerns the safety of your child, your family, and your home.
» Availability of qualified sitters. The online sitter service should be a good resource to find a good number of available qualified sitters within your area.
From our perspective, the more choices you have to choose from, the better.
Furthermore, the more filtering capabilities a search platform can provide you, the better chance you have of finding a potential quality candidate that fits your needs.
» Price of service. Just like any company that needs to remain in business and offer quality service, subscription fees are to be expected from online sitter services. The only question in our mind is whether the subscription price points are reasonable and affordable.
» Customer feedback. So what do actual users have to say about the service? Were they happy and satisfied with the service? What was the reason they were happy with using the service? Did they provide negative feedback? What did they have to say about their overall experience? Never underestimate the power of user feedback as this can provide you with some great insights about the service.
» Other special features. Does the site offer other special features aside from finding sitters which you might find very useful? Although some online sitter services pretty much have the same main service offerings, there could be some subtle service offerings that might be worth noting which can be very useful to you.
An example of this would be getting discounts from partner stores or an “emergency sitter” feature in case you need a sitter right away.
Which Site Is More User-Friendly?
When it comes to websites, nothing beats a site that is well laid out and easy to navigate and use. The simpler a site is, the better. Below are our thoughts on these sites’ user-friendliness.
» Both Care.com and Sittercity have very similar navigation and search features. Both of the sites are easy to navigate around and are well laid out so you will be able to focus on the task at hand and not be side-tracked by trying to figure out your way around them.
» Posting a job for sitters is easy for both Care.com and Sittercity. Based on our experience, we found this to be very intuitive on both sites. However, there is a difference in the way posting for jobs is done on each of the sites.
For Care.com, you start by writing a description of the type of help you are seeking from a sitter and then complete the forms for schedules, job details, and other sitter criteria that you are looking for.
For Sittercity, it is the other way around. Sittercity would require you to complete the forms regarding the job details first and then provide the job description afterward. Personally, for us, we find Sittercity’s process a lot easier to work with.
Both of the sites are easy to navigate around and are well laid-out so you will be able to focus on the task at hand and not be side-tracked with trying to figure out your way around them.
» Regarding the search feature for both sites, both Care.com and Sittercity have done a great job in developing a really easy and intuitive search platform. All you have to do is specify your criteria for the ideal sitter with a few clicks of the mouse. Within seconds, you can get results, which you can further refine until you have a good list of sitters who qualify for the job.
Below are sample candidate profile pages from Sittercity and Care.com:
Sittercity Example Profile of a Babysitter Candidate
Care.com Example Profile of a Babysitter Candidate
Both Care.com and Sittercity have done an excellent job with their search platform. You can really refine your search results and find a good list of candidate profiles to review.
Which Provides Better Background Checking Options?
The background checking feature is a great option to have for your child and your family’s safety. Classified ads (such as those in Craiglist.com, online forum sites, newspapers, and campus job postings) do not offer you these convenient features.
This means that you really have to go out of your way to do your background checking. And yes, that usually takes a lot of legwork and time.
Both Sittercity and Care.com offer Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) checking and enhanced in-depth background checking on sitters and care providers.
Classified ads (such as those in Craiglist.com, online forum sites, newspapers, and campus job postings) do not offer you these convenient features which means that you really have to go out of your way to do your background checking.
Basic background checking does not come as part of your membership with both services. Care.com no longer offers this option while it will cost you around $15 on Sittercity.
For enhanced background checking as well as Department of Motor Vehicles records checking, you will also have to pay a fee for these additional services.
Below is the Background Check pricing schedule for Care.com.
Care.com Background Check Pricing Schedule
Below is the Background Check pricing schedule for Sittercity.
Sittercity Background Check Pricing Schedule
The bottom line here is that both Sittercity and Care.com offer background checking to help you make sure that the person you are hiring is not a “sitter from hell”.
However, there is a distinct difference in their pricing schedules as we have noted above, with Sittercity seemingly having a more reasonable pricing schedule compared to Care.com.
Care.com’s comprehensive background check package, which is the Investigative Criminal Plus Check, really comes at a very steep price of $300. But then again, this is way more comprehensive than Sittercity’s Enhanced Plus package, which is offered at $80.
Furthermore, Sittercity offers more background check combination bundles with discounts.
Update as of March 2021:
1. Care.com now requires every caregiver to pass a background check before they appear on the site. They call this CareCheck. This change comes at no additional cost to families looking for care. All caregivers then have a CareCheck badge on their profile, which displays the date the CareCheck was run. Care.com still strongly recommends families run checks on their own.)
2. Care.com has also created a Safety Advisory council made up of leaders in child care and safety to provide thoughtful input on product improvements geared toward safety.
Please Note: We just wanted to let you know that background check prices for both Sittercity and Care.com may be subject to change as of this writing. We do not have any control over any pricing changes that Sittercity and Care.com may decide to implement. However, we will do our best to keep up-to-date with the background check pricing schedules.
Which Provides More Choices For Search Results?
The way we see it, having more available potential sitters to choose from gives you a higher probability of finding the quality sitter or sitters you are looking for as you narrow down your list.
To check on these criteria, we did some test searches on both Care.com and Sittercity.
Using the search feature on each of the sites, we placed the following filters for our sitter search: lives within 5 miles, between 26 and 30 years of age, has a college degree, has transportation, non-smoker, and has at least five years of experience sitting for grade school-age kids.
We then did some sample searches on 10 metropolitan areas in the United States to see how they compare. Below are the results:
| Metropolitan Area Zip Code* | Sittercity Search Results | Care.com Search Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York, New York (10024) | 260 | 193 | |
| Chicago, Illinois (60614) | 335 | 189 | |
| Boston, Massachusetts (02116) | 245 | 183 | |
| Brooklyn, New York (11201) | 199 | 158 | |
| Washington D.C. (20016) | 120 | 104 | |
| Seattle, Washington (98115) | 66 | 58 | |
| Los Angeles, California (90049) | 52 | 41 | |
| San Francisco, California (94123) | 43 | 49 | |
| Dallas, Texas (75248) | 18 | 20 | |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (19154) | 17 | 26 | |
| *Please note that the search results above are based on specific zip code searches so the results may vary depending on your location. | |||
Based on our test search, we can see that Sittercity has more sitter results for 7 of the 10 metropolitan areas as specified by our search filters.
In this aspect, Sittercity offers more potential sitters to choose from. The more potential sitters you have to choose from, the better the chances that you can find the quality sitter or sitters that you are looking for.
In this aspect, Sittercity offers more potential sitters to choose from. The more potential sitters you have to choose from, the better the chances that you can find the quality sitter or sitters that you are looking for.
When it comes to further search filters though, we found that there is a distinct difference between the two. Sittercity gives you the option to further filter the results to show only those candidates who already have available background checks.
Care.com does not have this filter. The reason this is significant is because if a candidate already has some background checks done on them, you no longer need to request and pay for that extra service thereby saving you time and money.
When it comes to further search filters though, we found that there is a distinct difference between the two. Sittercity gives you the option to further filter the results to show only those candidates who already have available background checks … Care.com does not have this filter.
Keep in mind that both services allow you to further filter your results depending on your needs. For example, you can further filter your results based on Certifications (First Aid, CPR, or Teacher), Special Need Experience, Hourly Rates, Languages Spoken, Other Services Offered, Preferred Locations for Babysitting (home or sitter’s home), Availability (full-time, part-time, after school, overnight, date night, short notice, long-term) and more.
These filtering features allow you to really find babysitters who may better fit your family’s needs.
Find-Out For Yourself Which Provides Better Search Results For Your Area. Just click on the links below:
Which Service Offers Better Price Points?
Care.com and Sittercity have exactly the same premium membership subscription plans. Below is a table of their subscription schedule.
| Subscription Period | Sittercity Fees* | Care.com Fees* | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-month premium membership | $35 a month (automatic billing every month) | $35 a month (automatic billing every month) | |
| Three-month premium membership | $70, which comes out to $23.33/month | $70, which comes out to $23.33/month | |
| One-year premium membership | $140, this is the best deal at $11.67/month | $140, this is the best deal at $11.67/month | |
| *Please note that the three-month and one-year memberships are billed upfront and not on a monthly basis. | |||
As you can see, both Sittercity and Care.com have 3 types of plans. You can sign up for a monthly membership of $35, go for a three-month membership of $70, or a one-year membership of $140.
So if you prefer a monthly billing of $35, you are more than welcome to do just that with both Sittercity or Care.com. Now if you prefer to save more and don’t mind paying upfront, then the three-month or one-year memberships would definitely be better options.
People always ask whether memberships to these online sitter services are worth it. Yes, we do think it is worth it. These online sitter services make it convenient for you to look for a babysitter (or babysitters) right in the comfort of your home.
Simply turn on your computer, log on to the site, and within just a few keystrokes, you have access to a number of potential sitters and caregivers within or close to your neighborhood that you can shift through and choose from.
You no longer have to bother your family, friends, or neighbors on whether they might know of someone to recommend to take care of your kids.
Please Note: We just wanted to let you know that subscription prices for both Sittercity and Care.com may be subject to change as of this writing. We do not have any control over any pricing changes that Sittercity and Care.com may decide to implement. However, we will do our best to keep up-to-date with the pricing schedules for both of these market-leading babysitter services.
Before you decide to join either one of these online sitter services, do make sure to use any available promo codes so that you can get more savings with your memberships. Promo codes, which often offer deep discounts, definitely make these services much more affordable for parents so we highly recommend that you take advantage of them.
Which Offers More Quality Sitters?
From the standpoint of quality, quality is a subjective matter and may vary from person to person, depending on a family’s needs, requirements for a sitter, and the type of person that they get along with.
From the standpoint of quality, quality is a subjective matter and may vary from person to person, depending on a family’s needs, requirements for a sitter, and the type of person that they get along with.
Hence, this could only be answered by you when you start searching, interviewing, and actually using sitters.
You can do some online searches if you like to find out what other parents are saying about both services. You can also check the comments section of this article for feedback on both services.
However, remember that if you have a larger pool of potential sitters to choose from, you usually will have better chances of finding quality sitters who will suit your family’s needs.
However, remember that if you have a larger pool of potential sitters to choose from, you usually will have better chances of finding quality sitters who will suit your family’s needs.
Which Service Is Better Based On Parental Feedback?
You might like to check the comments section at the end of this article regarding feedback from people who are current and former customers of Sittercity and Care.com. I am sure you will find them very insightful and informative in helping you make a decision as to which service might be suited to your situation.
When it comes to feedback from moms who have used Sittercity and Care.com, it appears that there are more complaints about Care.com than Sittercity.
We have also received numerous feedback from people who tried Care.com. It appears that a lot of them were not happy and have decided to cancel their memberships after signing up with the service.
Yes, it’s true that Sittercity has been more low key when it comes to advertising. However, Sittercity has had better word-of-mouth buzz compared to Care.com, especially in the wake of high profile negative news on Care.com …
It appears that most people perceived Care.com to be a better provider as a result of the company’s more aggressive advertising campaigns, which apparently was successful in creating better brand awareness.
Yes, it’s true that Sittercity has been more low-key when it comes to advertising. However, Sittercity has had better word-of-mouth buzz compared to Care.com, especially in the wake of high profile negative news on Care.com such as this report on the Wall Street Journal and this article.
Again, we recommend that you read through the comments section at the end of this article as people have been providing their feedback and experiences on both services.
Which Service Is Best For You And Your Family?
If you are thinking of using an online sitter service to help you with your sitter needs, you should seriously consider using either Care.com and Sittercity. As we have mentioned above, these two are what we believe are the top choices in the increasingly popular online sitter service market.
Our analysis above shows that both Care.com and Sittercity deliver almost very similar features regarding ease of use and site functionalities, background checks, sitter search functions, and community feedback functionalities to its members.
The ultimate responsibility is yours to make when it comes to interviewing and deciding on the right person to take care of your precious little ones or your family.
Care.com and Sittercity even have exactly the same membership price points.
Some of the differences that we found between the two pertain to the number of filtered search results and the background check pricing schedule.
Care.com’s basic background checking is no longer available and their enhanced background checks appear to be more pricey compared to Sittercity. Sittercity has basic background checking and also has more options for background checking packages, which are priced reasonably.
Also take note that on Sittercity, if a potential sitter that you find interesting already has a background check done on them (which can be seen in their sitter profile), then you do not have to pay for one. Care.com does not offer this feature.
More often than not, sitters on Sittercity have a background check done on themselves to save potential clients like you from having to pay for one. Of course, these background checks are done by third-party service providers so the sitters have no way of influencing the results of these background checks at all.
With regard to potential sitter search results, we found out that Sittercity provides more search results than Care.com for the metropolitan areas we tested.
However, we would like to caution you that this result could potentially be different in your area. Hence we suggest that you test things out in your area as you may have filtering requirements that are completely different from our tests.
Based on what we have seen with Care.com and Sittercity, these two sites have a lot to offer parents who are looking for trusted and well-qualified sitters and care providers. Both sites make it easy and convenient to search for specific types of care providers that you are looking for.
Whether you are looking for someone to care for your child or other members of your family, chances are that you will find them on both Care.com and Sittercity.
Please do understand that Care.com and Sittercity only provide you with the platform to facilitate the search and screening process for potential sitters or caregivers. You need to have a set of requirements or credentials in mind to help you narrow down the screening process to find your ideal sitter.
The ultimate responsibility is yours to make when it comes to interviewing and deciding on the right person to take care of your precious little ones or your family.
With regards to subscription cancellation for these services, keep in mind that Sittercity and Care.com are no different from other companies that you use that offer services for water, electricity, gas, garbage collection, newspapers, magazines, etc. When you need to cancel their services, all you do is pick up the phone and call them or go online via their support contact page, right?
It’s the same for Sittercity or Care.com. It is your responsibility to contact them and inform them that you no longer need their services. In fact, they make cancellation easy but you have to let them know and not assume that they will do this automatically for you.
With regards to subscription cancellation for these services, keep in mind that Sittercity and Care.com are no different from other companies that you use that offer services for water, electricity, gas, garbage collection, newspapers, magazines, etc. When you need to cancel their services, all you do is pick up the phone and call them or go online via their support contact page, right? It’s the same for Sittercity or Care.com.
Going back to the question as to which of the two you should use, this really depends on what suits your needs and priorities. If you prefer more search results and prefer reasonable pricing options for background checking, then Sittercity might be the best option for you.
Here Are Our Final Thoughts
So just like buying a car, you might like to do a test drive.
If you are not sure which service you think will fit your needs based on the information that we have provided, we suggest that you give both Care.com and Sittercity a try.
Take advantage of the FREE Basic Membership so that you can get to use the site and screen for potential sitters right within your area. You can visit their sites and both sites will allow you to do live searches for sitters right within your area.
Again, we highly suggest that you do the free trial. By doing actual searches on their sites, you will have a better feel of what these sites can do for you and more importantly, which site will best suit your needs.
Find-Out For Yourself Which Provides Better Search Results For Your Area. Just click on the links below:
The free basic membership allows you to view sitter profiles, sort, and filter for sitters based on your requirements and needs, view sitter messages, and post limited jobs. It’s really a great way to test drive the service prior to having a paid membership so we highly suggest that you take advantage of this.
The free basic membership allows you to view sitter profiles, sort and filter for sitters based on your requirements and needs, views sitter messages, and post limited jobs. It’s really a great way to test drive the service prior to having a paid membership so we highly suggest that you take advantage of this.
As for us, we ended up using Sittercity after doing a test drive of our own. When we did the free basic access for both Sittercity and Care.com, we found out that we had more sitters to choose from within the city we live in with Sittercity.
As we have mentioned previously, the more available applicants you have to choose from, the higher the chances you have of finding sitters who have the qualities and requirements that you are looking for. As it turned out, that was the case for us.
If you would like to learn more about our experience with Sittercity, you can read more about it here.
This is one of the main reasons why we suggest that you give both of these online sitter services a test drive cause the search results may vary from city to city. Who knows, you also might be able to find your ideal sitter even within a limited pool of available sitters. So again, we suggest that you give both Sittercity and Care.com a test drive.
Only by doing actual searches within your city will you be able to decide which of the two services will best suit your family’s child care needs.
Only by doing actual searches within your city will you be able to decide which of the two services will best suit your family’s child care needs.
Another reason why we decided to go with Sittercity was that we found out during our free access that a lot of the sitters within our area also had their background checks already done so that was truly helpful. That means we did not have to pay for background checks if the potential sitter already had one available.
The bottom line is … we are happy with the service. 🙂
Again, you can read more about our experience with Sittercity here.
So give both services a test drive and see for yourself which service suits your family’s needs the best.
We hope that you found this article informative and helpful in your decision as to which service you should go with.
Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate. Click here for details.
After comparing Sittercity vs Care.com, which do you think suits you best? Have you used either one of these online sitter services? Feel free to share with us your experience.
A nerd at heart (haha), I have been following and analyzing the world of online sitters for a couple of years now and have seen a lot of innovations and changes in this market. In between taking care of my loving (and demanding 😜) family and writing, I also do a lot of “traveling” on the Travel Channel and Discovery Channel. Read More
Sittercity was highly recommended to me about three years ago. I gave it a try and stayed. 😊 I didn’t bother checking the other services since I was able to find someone whom my kids loved right away. There was just no way I was going to let her go.
It matters a lot to me that the author of this post actually uses Sittercity. I’ve come across other comparative reviews online and they aren’t as comprehensive as this one. Plus, who knows if they’re actually using either one of the services, right? I’m glad I came across this post and for obvious reasons, I’m going for Sittercity. Thank you, Stephanie. 😊
I think Care.com has learned a lot from the past. They now do a thorough check on their babysitters unlike before when anyone could just sign up on their site. Unfortunately, their price points for background checks are still a tad bit expensive for me.
Thanks for letting me know about the free access options for both services. To tell you the truth, other websites do not mention anything about the free access so I’m really glad you mentioned that. 😊 I’m going to sign up for both to see which one suits me. I also want to see the profiles of the sitters on both websites. Thanks again.
With reasonably priced background checks, Sittercity is the better choice for me. I was actually going to try both but your review answered all my questions. I also used the promo code (special offer) for signing up. It worked very well. Thank you.
I’m good with paying the yearly fee upfront. I don’t want to have to go through the trouble of cancelling the one-month plan just to avoid a higher monthly fee. It’s just not an option for me.
Sittercity’s best advertisement is the feedback from happy parents. It would be pretty hard to say the same thing with Care. That’s why it’s not surprising that they have to advertise.
Our regular sitter from Sittercity does more than just watch my kids. She also helps them with their HW even though that’s not even part our deal. She’s a darling and my kids love her.
For some valid reasons, I would trust the screening of Sittercity more than Care.com. There have been too many alarming incidents involving the care providers of Care.com.
The background checks of Sittercity are more affordable than Care.com. Even if the background checks are combined with motor vehicle check, they’re way more affordable than Care.com. That’s one of the reasons I decided to go with Sittercity.
Yes, the price points for both Sittercity and Care are almost the same. However, the rates and depth of their background checks vary and I have to say that I’d rather go for Sittercity. The rates of their background checks are more reasonable and they check ten years of records. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show how many years of records are traced in the Investigative Criminal Plus Check of Care.com. The price is pretty steep as well.
Has anyone tried Bambino? In our neighborhood (Dallas), it is absolutely amazing? Literally hundreds of babysitters in our neighborhood. For babysitters, there’s no reason to go elsewhere.
Care.com is finally verifying the babysitters who sign on with them. It’s about time! It sure took them long enough to realize that they should be doing it.
When it comes to market leadership, it’s got to be Sittercity. It came way before Care.com and it pioneered the way we can find sitters online. The other services that followed pretty much just copied Sittercity.
The Enhanced Plus of Sittercity is more practical than what Care.com has to offer. Although it’s bit more expensive than the Criminal + MVR Check of Care.com, it’s definitely more in depth. Database searches on the Enhanced Plus of Sittercity allow you access 10 years of records and that’s a lot. That is something that’s not offered on any of the background checks of Care.com
Care.com also offers daycare services. They encourage daycare services to list their business on their site. There are also sitters listed on the site. This is for parents who opt to hire a sitter. My only concern is that Care.com wasn’t too vigilant with their sitters a couple of years ago. They pretty much allowed anyone to sign up as a sitter. Now, they are encouraging daycare services to sign up. How are we to know that these daycare services are licensed in the first place? I just find that too scary.
This article was definitely worth my time. 😊 Thanks for sharing it. When I saw the search results of both Sittercity and Care.com, I didn’t bother trying out the latter. I went straight to Sittercity. I feel more comfortable with the search results of Sittercity. I guess sitters trust them more.
Wow! You even have search results for each sitter service. 😊 This is definitely the best comparative review I’ve read online. By the looks of it, Sittercity has more search results than Care. Makes more sense to go for Sittercity. Thanks again.
Thanks for this article. It was definitely worth my time. I wanted to have an in depth look at both sitter services. You covered everything I wanted to know about them and that was really very helpful. It’s good that Care.com finally screens their sitters but it might take some time to get their good reputation back. I would rather try out Sittercity, for the sake of safety.
Sittercity profiles are very straightforward. I like the layout and the way it provides all the important info of the sitter. From years of experience to various skills, I can see all that right away. The video helps as well but the best thing I like about the profile is the instant access to the sitter. It’s a time saver.
I signed up for Care.com for a month just to test it out. Well, I had no success on it. I couldn’t find any decent sitter to watch my kids. That’s not the worst because they ended up charging me every month. I couldn’t freaking believe it. It was a good thing I checked my cc. I was wondering why I being billed for Care.com when in fact, I had only signed up for a month.
Of course, I had already disclosed my cc number so it’s pretty easy for them to charge me monthly. It doesn’t even end there because when I called for a refund, they refused to even give it to me. Stay away from Care.com. Don’t even dare try it. I regret it.
I had the same thing happen recently. I filed a dispute with cc, and won based upon the horrible service experience so may have received from care.com. you are not able to reach them by phone and they will not respond to emails.
Is Care.com still in service? They posted bogus sitters some years back. I wouldn’t risk using their service. If they were the only choice I had, I’d definitely just stay home with the kids.
Have you tried using Care here? It’s scary. It seems like anybody can get connected to families. I tried using it and all I had to do was to put in a zip code to connect to families. I wouldn’t sign up as a family looking for a sitter. It’s such an easy target.
To say that Sittercity is a pioneer in childcare services is an understatement. At that time when Sittercity first came into the scene, it was really more of a game changer. Then a lot of childcare services came along but you know what? It’s still Sittercity for me up to this day. It’s only one I trust especially now.
You said it! I really thought that I could do away with their service since I was working from home. But with two kids at home as well, working from home is a struggle. It was a good thing that I was still able to get help from Sittercity. I like that I can directly message the sitters. That way, I can ask them anything I want just so I have some peace of mind. The good news is that I was able to find someone who didn’t mind the safety parameters I had in place.
Care.com has been known to have bogus sitter profiles and that’s super scary. I rely a lot on the sitter profiles and Sittercity has an in depth manner of presenting their sitters. Aside from that, they make sure their sitters have undergone a background check. Considering the stringent selection process of Sittercity, it’s pretty impossible to come across a bogus sitter profile.
I see no reason why I should even try out care.com. My husband and I have peace of mind with the background checks of Sittercity. I really recommend Sittercity.
I have two boys. Before Sittercity, I found it very hard to hire a sitter who could watch over my toddler boys. Since they’re just a year apart, no sitter would want to take a risk in watching them.
When I signed up with Sittercity, I was feeling hopeless already. I didn’t think I would be able to find someone who would have the patience to be with my boys.
Cut the long story short, I was wrong. I found one lovely lady who just adores my boys (no matter how rowdy they can get). It pays to be upfront with the sitter. If you are, you are bound to find someone who suits all your requirements.
It doesn’t surprise me that you decided on Sittercity. Two years ago, I was also torn between Sittercity and another provider. Sad to say that I never bothered with Care.com because of the negative reviews I was hearing about them at that time.
Between Sittercity and the other provider, I also chose Sittercity because of their longevity in the industry. If they can stay long in the childcare industry, then they must be doing something right.
There was a time when I was using care.com. I think that was about 6 years ago. They were okay but the sitters I found on sittercity were phenomenal. It was easy to establish a rapport with them and that eventually led us to stick with sittercity. But I never had any bad experience with care.com. Just so you know.
I’m surprised that Care.com is even making the list of top online sitter services. They don’t just have negative reviews, they have scary reviews! A sitter was able to sign up using the name Harvey Weinstein. That itself is a good reason to stay away from them!
Yes, that was in 2018 when a student tried to sign up on Care.com as Harvey Weinstein. Shockingly, the profile was approved, which only meant that Care.com was not doing any background checks. It gets worse than that. Read this https://www.golocalprov.com/news/more-warnings-raised-about-care.com-tech-company-pushed-by-raimondo-to-rhod and you’ll never want to sign up with Care.com ever. Sittercity is a lot safer.
Thanks for sharing this. I can’t believe I even considered Care.com as an option. Despite the fact Sittercity has more sitters, it gives me peace of mind that they have undergone some kind of background check. That only means that they take the sitters who sign up seriously. Well, they should.
I’m keen on signing up for a childcare provider. That’s why I’m carefully looking into the leading providers. I came across this article about Care.com. Here’s the article: https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/31/18289627/care-com-deleted-tens-of-thousands-of-providers-verification-procedures-safety. The article was published early this year. I would think that things have changed considering the negative write-up. I went into the Care.com website and there’s nothing there that can assure me that they do some background checks. It’s scary. Any thoughts on this?
I suggest you stay away from Care.com. There are other childcare providers that you can look into. The latest article posted here shows the top babysitting websites. Take a look at it first.
I’m not going to say which online sitter service I’m using. My only advice is that you should always do a background check on the sitter. I’m not saying that you should have to pay for a background check but at least go online and google the name or something. There are so many ways to get to know someone these days. You should never be too lazy to do a background check.
It’s also important to know what other people are saying about a particular childcare provider. If you see a lot of negative reviews from parents, then maybe you should stay away. Now, if a particular childcare provider is in the news because of neglect and abuse, then you should definitely stay away from it. That’s a no-brainer.
I’ve read a couple of those incidents online and they are pretty scary. It’s really important to get to know these child care service providers before signing up. That’s exactly what I did before signing up with Sittercity.
Agree! It’s also important to know the background of the sitters signed up with these child care service providers. Even if they’re approved by a certain service provider, it’s a must to run a background check.
AND the Employers as well! I have had men trying to set up evening appts. I had a woman who had serious mental health issues who then stopped pymt on a check. It turned out after I researched her she was renowned for doing this in order to get free cleanings,etc. I had numerous positive reviews over the years and yet when she complained my membership was terminated. I also reported her as she was abusing her children. So with that I would say that Care.com is no longer what they used to be in checking out the potential Employer as well.
Background checks are very important to me and that’s why I like Sittercity. At least I also know that the company screens them too and I can order in-depth background checks on those I’m interested in hiring.
One of the features that I really like on Sittercity is the calendar that shows the availability of the sitter. It makes it so much easier for me to contact the ones who are available on my terms.
Yes, that saves me a lot of time as well. It helps me narrow down my list of applicants. I really like the interface of the Sittercity app.
Hi. I have been a sitter for Sittercity for 5 years now and I just want to share with you my story. When I joined Sittercity, I was contacted by a family that needed a nanny for their 3 boys. At first, I was hesitant because taking care of three boys is not a joke. Still, I gave it a try and I fell in love with the family instantly. They treated me like family. Too bad, they had to move overseas but we still communicate with each other. They’re just one of the many amazing families I’ve worked with in Sittercity.
That’s such a touching story. Thanks for sharing it. Yes, there will come a time when the kids will be attached to their sitter and it’s going to be heartbreaking to see them part. You must have been good to the those boys.
My kids also have a regular sitter from Sittercity and they love her. She has been with us for two years now so she’s like part of our family. I really don’t know I we would manage without her, especially with my crazy work schedule.
I have used both services but prefer Sittercity. The background checks are more affordable plus, I’ve been really happy with my hires through them.
There was really no need for me to try other sitter services. I’ve been with Sittercity for years … as in, years! My twins were babies then. Now, they’re tweeners and I’m still with Sittercity. Their service is great. I am able to find someone I can trust all the time. That’s what matters to me.
I’m happy with Sittercity. The sitters I found via Sittercity have been with me for almost 2 years now. If it wasn’t for this service, there was no chance I would have found them. Give Sittercity a try. Nothing is lost by using the free membership. That’s how I started with them and I’m really glad I did.
My very own experience with Sittercity has been great. I used it for the very first time last year and I was very impressed. I got a sweet sitter. My kids loved her. The second sitter wasn’t any different. There was no need for me to try other childcare services as I was happy with Sittercity.
I don’t think I’m ever going to choose Care.com. The reviews I’ve been reading about them is quite alarming. More than that, this news article on thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article229684784.html is really scary. Can you believe it? The babysitter was able to sign up with Care.com. Why was she even allowed to be on that site? I’m staying away from Care.com. That’s for sure!
Question is, how many infants and kids were under her care before she got busted? If I were one of the parents of those kids, I’d be crushed by now. That kind of person shouldn’t even be in the childcare service industry. I think this is a major faux pas of Care.com.
Two words for all parents out there. Background check! Even a basic background check searches sex offender registry databases. There’s no excuse for skipping a background check on the sitter. This is something every parent or guardian should always do, most especially if it involves an infant or a toddler.
You’re right. Parents should do background checks. But Care.com should do that on their sitters as well. Before they approve any sitter on their site, they should have done their proper background check as well. It starts from them. If they easily approve all the sitters who sign up with them, then they’re not any different from Craigslist.
Care.com is definitely not an option for me now. After reading all your comments, I’m staying away from it. If they’re allowing just anyone to sign up, then there’s no way I’m even going to try their services. It’s too much of a risk to take. I don’t want to endanger my child.
Sittercity gives me great options to find the right babysitter for my kids. Since I’ve been with them for quite some time now, I have a pool of sitters to contact whenever I need someone to watch over my kids.
OMG! Avoid Care.com. No matter what, just avoid them. I came across this article, “Care.com: Multiple Deaths and Child Abuses, Fraudulent Billing, and a Harvey Weinstein Babysitter”. It’s written by Edwin Dorsey and it’s really scary.
I stopped using Care.com a long time ago. Their service sucks. On the surface, they look okay. But when you actually try to hire a sitter from them, they will charge you endlessly. The bad part is that you end up with nothing but charges. Be careful with Care.com.
There is no way I’m ever going to use the services of Care.com again! I canceled my membership with them and it took them soooooo long to get it done. You see, I tried hiring someone from them only to end up being stood up. It was a very traumatic experience for me since my schedule got all screwed up. Never again I swear!
You got stood up by the babysitter? That’s very unprofessional for both the sitter. I’m signed up with Sittercity where I also have a backup sitter lined-up just in case.
As a mom, I’ve tried both and prefer Sittercity hands down when it comes to easy-of-use and quality of sitters that reply. But Care however gets me more replies, so I subscribe to both.
Two big issues I have with Care are 1. my default browser is Safari, and Care does not work with my browser, so I always have to go out of my way to open Chrome to use Care. I don’t have this problem with any other sites. And 2. Care tends to be much more paternalistic, in that it asks questions and writes the job description for you, which doesn’t work for me, so I always need to go back and “edit” the job to have it my preferred way. It also deletes email addresses in messages from myself to sitters – I understand it’s for privacy, but it should be my choice if I decide to do that (again, paternalistic, they could opt to just show a warning about the risks).
The after-school sitter I hired from Sittercity takes some time to tutor my son. She’s doing an amazing job plus my son really loves her.
That’s pretty awesome. I have one question though. Do you compensate her for doing something additional like tutoring? I’m just wondering. 🙂
My sitter does the same thing. She really takes some time to sit down with my daughter to help out with homework. I really appreciate that she does it but I don’t give her additional compensation. We’ve already talked about her fixed rate and that’s that. But I do give her spa vouchers from time to time. She loves it.
It’s pretty obvious that Sittercity provides more options. Based on the search results, they have more babysitters in their network. The ones that showed up on Care.com aren’t even screened at all, right? The small numbers of sitters on Care.com don’t even have any kind of background check. Now if that’s the case, Sittercity is a safer choice.
Summer’s gone and I’m in a desperate state of finding a babysitter who could fetch my kids at school and stay with them for about 2 hours at home. Thanks to all your thoughts here, I went with Sittercity as well.
I can only afford to pay for one service. Although I’ve signed up for free basic access for both, I can only afford to pay for one. Based on what I have seen on both sites, what I’ve learned about both services from my research, and the key points you have in your article, I decided to go with Sittercity. Their background check pricing is more reasonable. For me Care.com pricing was also a deal breaker.
The fact that Care.com doesn’t do any basic background check on their sitters is a total deal breaker for me. It’s kind of dangerous that they don’t have any kind of screening process for their sitters. It’s not that I just rely on that because I usually run my own background check. But I won’t be able to afford to do that with Care.com because their Enhanced Background Check is going to cost me an arm and a leg.
The sitter I’ve had for two years is now off to college. I’m sad and so are my kids but that’s life. The good part is I can finally avail of the services of Sittercity. By the looks of it, I don’t see myself having a hard time finding a replacement. That’s a big relief on my part.
Background checks and feedback from parents are very important to me. I would never hire a sitter without running a background check on her. Besides, it only takes one background check to get valid information about the sitter. One background check doesn’t really cost a lot, especially with Sittercity. Feedback from parents is free. It’s just a matter of getting with them.
What good is a childcare service if it doesn’t allow parents to run background checks? Running background checks is a sure way for parents to feel safe with their choice of babysitter.
I used to have a hard time finding someone who could watch my kids after school. It’s such an odd time that there were hardly any sitters available or so I thought. Only when I joined Sittercity that I realized the availability of after-school sitters.
I have a background in protective services and have seen a lot of trainwrecks due to lack of background information or incompatible care matches. I’m just curious how many people that use these services actually purchase the background checks or just settle for an interview.
Considering your background and scope of work, I’m not surprised that you’d wonder about that. Some cases could really be avoided if background checks were in place. There is a good reason why services like Sittercity and Care.com offer affordable background checks. Parents wouldn’t have to hesitate in running one. In my case, I have been with Sittercity for two years and have never hired anyone without running a background check.
With all the negative comments about care.com, I’m not comfortable moving forward with them. Where would you recommend finding housekeeping help? I’m assuming sittercity doesn’t cover that? Btw, our local police department conducts background checks for $30. Even if care.com’s includes some more expansive information, given the volume discounts they receive, charging us $300 per search is highway robbery.
Hello SoFIGrl. For housekeepers, you might have a better chance of finding someone on HomeAdvisor.com. Thanks for visiting our site and for contributing to the discussion here. 🙂
I have the the most unique childcare needs because of my very erratic schedule. I am always on call so I need someone who can work with my schedule. Sittercity has helped me find the perfect match for the past year. I now have a couple of sitters I rely on from time to time. They live within my area so it’s very convenient.
The first time I tried Care.com. It was okay. Although it was a bit pricey, it was okay. I was happy with the sitter. Then I tried it again and that was when it was bad. I had some issues with the sitter. After that, I didn’t bother with their services anymore.
I have used both in a couple medium sized cities after moving out of my small town where word of mouth offered me more work than I could handle some days. I have had decent luck on Sittercity and absolutely NO luck with Care. And by “luck” I really mean parents responding to my messages (even with a “thanks but not thanks”). This drives me absolutely crazy, especially on Care where responding in 24 hours is pretty much required for caregivers. I have also experienced way more spam/fake profiles with Care than Sittercity. I routinely think about deleting my Care profile.
I haven’t tried Care.com because I’m quite happy with Sittercity already. Although I do want to try it for the sake of having another option but based on your feedback, I think I should just avoid it. I will have to look for another sitter service as a second option. 🙂 Those fake profiles are too scary.
The reviews of Care.com are horrible. The rates are too high, issues are unsolved, and overall, service is bad. I even read one review saying it was a scam. I didn’t take a chance anymore and went with Sittercity instead. I’m okay with it so far.
i live in new york and signed up for the free access with both sittercity and care.com. i just want to confirm that i did find more sitters who fit my requirements with sittercity than care.com. just wanted to share that.
I believe it’s a case to case basis. What works for you may not work for others. So it’s really good to have options. 🙂 I live in Chicago and interestingly, I also found more sitters who live nearby in Sittercity. 🙂 Just the same, I would encourage other parents to consider the two leading childcare services.
I found that the sitters on Care.com are not as responsive to inquiries compared to Sittercity. I ended up cancelling my Care.com membership.
I just couldn’t get over the fact that Care.com charges that much for background checks so I did some research on it and apparently, you were right. Care.com charges a whopping 300 bucks for a one-time premier check. Who pays for that? Even their one-time criminal records check ($50) and their criminal + motor vehicle report check ($69) are unreasonably expensive. I can run a lot of background checks for less than with Sittercity.
I also believe they expire relatively quickly, significantly less than a year. For a sitter, that’s an unreasonable investment.
I had no idea how expensive Care.com can be until now. Their one-time Investigative Criminal Plus Check is $300? No way I can afford that rate. I find that too absurd especially since Sittercity offers almost the same kind of background check for a lot less than that.
Aside from Sittercity, I have never tried any other sitter service. I immediately felt comfortable with their website that I didn’t check out the others. Also, I like the way Sittecity connects me to sitters who live nearby. I can see them on my dashboard easily. So most of the time, I just send them a message. That works well for me.
I’ve used both Sittercity and Care.com. I’ve canceled my Care.com membership and kept Sittercity as I’ve found more quality sitters with Sittercity within my area. I agree with this article that you really have to test both to find out which service better suits your needs. Just my 2 cents. By the way, I’ve been with Sittercity since 2014. I’m happy with them.
In my case, I tried out Sittercity first. I didn’t want to try out two services at the same time. Lucky for me, I immediately found Sittercity pretty helpful that I didn’t need to try out any other service. But that’s just me. It could be different for some other folks.
Looks like there are a lot of complaints about the services of Care.com. One complaint that really scared was the security of the site. According to one member, it was pretty hard to delete the account and she was receiving a lot of dubious emails that were asking for more personal information. That is scary.
In that case then, I would have to go with Sittercity. If they can’t secure their website, then their clients’ data are in danger. I can’t risk my personal data in a website that’s not protected.
I know exactly the kind of babysitter I want. Finding that kind of babysitter was the hard part for me. Up until I found Sittercity, I was trying all sorts of services that weren’t getting me anywhere. Then I tried Sittercity and I like the way I can go and search for the kind of babysitter I need. Their search process pins me down on the ones I want to get with.
At first, I really couldn’t decide between the two. Both Sittercity and Care.com sounded very reliable to me. After reading a couple of comments about Care.com and speaking to some moms about the two online sitter services, I decided to go for Sittercity
Same here. With most of my friends signed up with Sittercity, it was natural I went for it as well. I’ve been a member for 5 months now and it’s pretty convenient especially when I need someone right away.
Has anyone here heard of Urbansitter? I’m adding that to my list of options but there’s nothing here about it.
I’ve heard of it but haven’t tried it. I’m okay with Sittercity so far.
I am a nanny and have been involved with all three agencies. I belonged to Care.com for seven years. I am a long term live in or out nanny so most of my charges are from 0-three years old. I have excellent references and highly experienced.
Urban sitter seems a bit unorganized. I did all my usual background and training was approved but seldom get any referrals for a family, I see the post on other sites so I know there are jobs available in my area. So I am deleting my account with them.
Back to Care.com in May I finished my commitment to my family and called to activate my account. They refused me membership and of course aren’t allowed to divulge why. I was back and forth for almost a month and then finally gave up.
Now Sittercity out of three would be my choice on both sides of the coin, parents/nanny. I receive my notices daily and though the position I want with infants or newborns are rare. I’m willing to wait because I love that age bracket to find the right family for me.
Good Luck in your search. Hope you find a reliable, efficient, devoted and loving nanny for your children.
Hello Frances. We really appreciate your insights and adding to the discussion here. Insights coming from a nanny like you, provide our readers with some great information to help them with their decision as to which sitter provider to use. Again, thanks so much for dropping by and sharing your thoughts and experience.
Hello Ethel. You can check out our article on Urbansitter here: https://www.iparentinglife.com/sittercity-vs-urbansitter/. Hope that helps. Thanks for visiting our site. 🙂
Sittercity offers a great variety of sitters who have different kinds of specialized skills. That helps me a lot in finding the exact person I need for the job. It’s easy for me to pinpoint the sitter whom I feel is a perfect match for my kids.
Sittercity or Care.com? It’s a no brainer for me. I choose Sittercity. I think I’ve heard enough scary stories about Care.com from my friends.
I find it easy to figure out the availability of the sitter on Sittercity, Her schedule is plotted out on the calendar embedded on her profile. I’m not really sure how it goes for Care.com but I heard it’s not that easy.
Yes, it’s not that easy with Care.com. I’ve encountered some issues with the availability of their sitters. Just when I think I have found the right sitter, I find out she’s not available. That for me is time wasted. It’s really better with Sittercity since there’s a calendar on the profile of the sitters. You can always check the calendar first before communicating with the sitter. That way, no time is wasted. You wouldn’t have to deal with someone who is not going to be available anyway.
Care.com is corrupt and unethical. They are thieves. I have two experiences supporting this and if you go to any website with reviews, you will find that thousands have had similarly bad experiences.
Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of reviews online about Care.com and they’re pretty nasty. It’s a good thing that I don’t have to decide because I’ve been with Sittercity for years; way before all the other online sitter services came about.
There were just too many negative reviews about Care.com that I couldn’t ignore. I didn’t want to take a chance so I went with Sittercity. Anyway, it was highly recommended.
I’d have to agree with you. I spent a good amount of time researching on the various sitter service providers online and Sittercity seems to be the one I can trust. I like that their system of selection depends a lot on the parents or on the guardians to choose the most ideal sitter . It really should work that way anyway.
I read on another website that Care.com doesn’t really care. That scared me a lot so I went on to choose Sittercity instead. To this day, I have no complaints about Sittercity so far.
I have both Sittercity and Care.com subscriptions. The one thing I notice each time I post a job on both is that I get a response on Sittercity a lot earlier than Care.com. What usually takes three days with Care.com only takes hours on Sittercity.
Sittercity started it all. It has been around for the longest time. I feel safer with it.
It’s not that there’s something wrong with Care.com. It wouldn’t be fair to say that at all. It’s just that Sittercity suits my childcare needs perfectly and I’m pretty happy about that.
There’s a lot of information on the profile page of the sitter. If you want more information about her, you can always run a background check right on her profile page as well. It’s very easy to use Sittercity.
You could say that I’m in a quandary right now because I’m really torn between Sittercity and Care.com. I like that both sitter services put importance on background checks. Unfortunately, only Sittercity shows non members how to run background checks. By the looks of it, it’s pretty easy. Apparently, members can easily run a background check right on the page of the sitter’s profile. I still haven’t found any kind of information on how Care.com does it. I’m most likely going to go for Sittercity.
Getting a free background check from a sitter provider isn’t really much of an attraction for me. Personally, I would rather pay for a background check than get it for free. That’s the reason why I feel safer with Sittercity. The background checks of the sitters aren’t free at all.
Do not use care.com. I recently found out care.com had signed me up for auto renewals without my expressed consent. I never received any kind of reminder or receipt of any kind of auto renewal and have now paid for a service I never used. I am now trying to seek reimbursement for this amount but it is still unresolved. I believe this is highly unethical and likely happening to many other parents and expecting parents.
Auto renewal should be an option for you to decide on. It shouldn’t be up to the service provider to sign you up for it. Unfortunately in your situation, that wasn’t the case. Hence, I understand why you feel that way. Thanks for sharing your experience even if it’s a negative one. It’s just too bad it happened to you but I really appreciate your comment because I’m seriously looking into signing up for a sitter service. As of now, I have dropped Care.com from my list. Thanks again.
Sittercity is now far superior than Care.com. I used to like Care.com and had been a member of it for the past 10 years (I’ve been with sittercity longer though) but they completely changed their website and now it is not very user friendly at all. I deactivated my care.com account this week and I was a highly ranked sitter. They now make you sort of swipe through jobs, one at a time and you must accept or reject before moving on. You cannot scroll to see positions available. I prefer to see all my options before applying to the first one that sounds appealing. I went on also to try to find companies that I could sign up for during the holiday season, but I think they got rid of that feature, unless it’s simply too difficult to find with the new format. Sittercity it is!
As someone seeking a nanny job- DO NOT USE CARE.COM! I paid for the month and within a week, a started getting fraudulent texts from out of state numbers! Even after I changed my profile settings not to show my phone number, i am still getting texts! I cancelled my subscription after a week. Never recieved one legitimate offer.
The fact that Sittercity still allows parents to run a background check on the babysitter makes it a much better choice than Care.com. I’m definitely going for Sittercity instead.
I get care.com scammers texting me several times a day. It is becoming ANNOYING!